Democratic Presidential Losers Quiz

Answer: Lewis Cass

Cass ran for president in 1848 but lost to Zachary Taylor. Martin Van Buren ran as a third party candidate and took many New York votes from Cass. This is how Taylor won the election. In 1860, the Democrats split up into two factors. Breckinridge was the candidate of the south. Douglas was the candidate of the north.

This helped Lincoln win the election. In 1864, Lincoln's victories in the Civil War helped him win the election against McClellan.

Answer: Horatio Seymour and Horace Greeley

Seymour was nominated as a dark-horse in 1868. Grant's pledge to "let us have peace" and the Republicans charge that the Democrats were seccessionists caused Grant to easily win the election. Greeley was nominated in 1872 as a Democrat and as a liberal Republican. They had a hard time co-operating and agreeing on issues. Grant's popularity also helped him win a second term.

Answer: Samuel J. Tilden

On election night, Tilden led with a 184-165 vote. This was one vote short of a majority. The Republicans were determined to win the election and retain the presidency. They challenged twenty votes from Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida, plus one vote in Oregon. Hayes was declared the winner a few days before the inauguration.

The Democrats, however, charged Hayes with stealing the election.

Answer: Winfield S. Hancock

Although Garfield was charged with participating in the Credit Mobilier Scandal, he won the election due to Hancock's lack of experience and the wariness of laborers, who held a grudge against Hancock for breaking a railroad strike.

Answer: William J. Bryan

The issue in 1896 was the currency issue. Bryan was for silver while McKinley was for gold. In 1900, McKinley promised the prospering nation the "full dinner pail". In 1908, Taft campaigned to continue the popular policies of Theodore Roosevelt. After this defeat, Bryan declared "three strikes and you're out". He meant he would never run for office again.

Answer: Alton B. Parker

Parker charged that Roosevelt's policies were dangerously progressive and would lead to socialism. The campaign was basically a popularity contest, since they agreed on most other issues. Roosevelt was considered the candidate of the people.

Answer: James M. Cox

The senate blocked membership into the League, which was the brainchild of outgoing president Woodrow Wilson. Plus, the majority of voters wanted the nation to return to normalcy. Harding beat Cox with 61 percent of the popular vote, one of the largest in history.

Answer: John W. Davis

The Democrats were hoping that the late Harding's involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal would win the election for them. However, Coolidge's popularity and lack of involvement, plus the division of the Democratic convention and the candidacy of Independent Robert M. LaFollette severely damaged Davis's chances.

Answer: Alfred E. Smith

Smith's religion and his opposition to prohibition cost him his home state of New York and many traditional Democratic states in the south. The prospering nation and Republican charges that Protestant marriages would be annulled and that Smith would give power to the Pope also damaged his chances.

Answer: Adlai E. Stevenson

Eisenhower's popularity as a war hero and the country's weariness of 20 years of Democratic rule caused Eisenhower to win in 1952. His popularity as president and pledge for peace and prosperity gave him an even bigger victory in 1956.

Answer: Hubert H. Humphrey

At first, Humphrey's candidacy seemed like a long shot. However, when Johnson announced he would not seek another term and the assassination of Robert Kennedy cleared the way for Humphrey. Johnson's unpopularity for escalating the war did not do Humphrey any good.

Answer: George McGovern

McGovern even lost his home state, the heavily Republican South Dakota. The lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18, which was expected to benefit McGovern, did nothing for him. Nixon's gradual withdrawal of troops from Vietnam put McGovern even further behind.

Answer: Walter Mondale

Mondale only carried his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Reagan's enormous popularity and the improving economy was the major point of the campaign. Mondale's charges of Reagan's age had no effect on the outcome.

Answer: Michael Dukakis

Bush was vice-president under the extremely popular Ronald Reagan. His charges that Dukakis was soft on crime and unpatriotic were damaging to Dukakis. Bush's selection of the unpopular and controversial Dan Quayle only temporarily stood in his way.

Answer: Gore

Gore beat Bush by a little over 500,000 popular votes. Bush won an extremely close vote in Florida, where the election was decided. Gore's attempts to recount the votes were halted and he finally conceded in December, 2000.