Political Junkie

Since World War II, only three incumbent Presidents have lost re-election.  All three of them had something in common.  They all faced strong primary challengers that weakened them heading into the general election.  Incumbent President Gerald Ford found himself uniquely vulnerable in 1976, considering the fact that the American people had never elected him President or Vice President.  President Richard Nixon picked Ford, who served as the House Minority Leader at the time, to become Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned the post.  Ten months later, President Nixon himself resigned ahead of almost-certain impeachment.  Ford picked liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President. Ronald Reagan, the former Governor of California, emerged as a strong primary challenger to Ford.  Ford found himself at odds with the party’s increasingly conservative base.  His biggest legacy, the appointment of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, ended up having disastrous c

Roughly a decade ago, Michael Steele, then the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, spearheaded a “Fire Pelosi” bus tour ahead of the 2010 midterm elections.   Republicans had hit rock bottom following the 2008 Presidential election, which culminated with President Obama capturing nearly 370 electoral votes, Democrats obtaining a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate, and an increased majority in the House of Representatives.   The “Fire Pelosi” bus tour , which lasted for a month and a half, did not exclusively stop in competitive districts and states and hoped to generate enthusiasm among the Republican base in the contiguous 48 states. To a degree, the “Fire Pelosi” bus tour paid off.   On Election Day 2010, the American people decided to fire Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives by giving Republicans a net gain of 63 seats; more than enough to retake the House majority.   Unfortunately, these coattails did not prove strong enough to allow