Posted by ahrens on 5/22/2013 7:56:00 PM (view original):
Posted by caesari on 5/22/2013 7:35:00 PM (view original):
No one cares who wins second. There is some food for thought.
WHo was the runner up in the 1914 election of Woodrow Wilson? See? That's my point. And don't tell me you know, cuz we all know you googled it.
Not sure what my point is here, but providing ammunition. Either side is welcome to it.
1914 didn't have an election. 1912 did, and Theodore Roosevelt was 2nd I believe. Also Howard Taft was in the election (he got 3rd). Or if you meant the election of 1916, no idea who was 2nd there.
In fairness to caesari, since he gave a non presidential year, he could have just as easily meant the 1916 Woodrow Wilson election, which unlike the one before it it didn't see Teddy Roosevelt fail to get the Republican nomination, start his own party and thus break a near stranglehold for the Republicans on the top office by splitting the Republican vote. (For the record, Republicans won the office in 1896, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1920, 1924 and 1928, losing only the Wilson years until the Great Depression allowed FDR to come to power.
Now, who came in second in 1916, that is a tough question. Even I had to look it up, largely because it bugged me that I didn't know. That said, what it really proves is that different years have different levels on importance on the election. Much like I remember polabonez finishing second to bellatrix in this game, but couldn't tell you for the life of me who mr_mojo beat.
Just going off the top of my head, though, Presidential losers I can do without looking it up.
1800: John Adams
1824: Andrew Jackson
1828: John Quincy Adams
1856: Fairbanks (first republican nominee)
1860: Stephen Douglas, Bell and Breckinridge
1876: Samuel Tilden (in an election he really won but three states pretended he didn't
1888: Grover Cleveland
1892: Benjamin Harrison
1896: William Jennings Bryan (Cross of Gold Speech)
1912; Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Eugene V. Debs
1932: Herbert Hoover
1948: Thomas Dewey (No matter what the papers in Chicago said)
1960: Richard Nixon
1964: Barry Goldwater
1972: George McGovern (After the Nixon campaign managed to kill the Muskie campaign early)
1976; Gerald Ford
1980: Jimmy Carter and some third party guy named Anderson
1984: Walter Mondale
1988: Micahel Dukakis
1992: George HW Bush
1996: Bob Dole
2000: Al Gore and Ralph Nader
2004: John Kerry
2008: John McCain
2012: Mitt Romney
(Obviously, in my lifetime, its less about significance than me remembering the elections)