Race You For the US Presidency! Quiz

Answer: Walter Mondale

Walter Mondale was Jimmy Carter's Vice President during his one term, and then ran against Ronald Reagan (the "Great Communicator" whose campaign ad famously proclaimed that it was "morning in America") in 1984. Ronald Reagan handily won re-election, with Mondale taking *only his home state*. It was not a close election in 1984.

Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Herbert Hoover was president from 1929 to 1933, the 1932 election was a sweeping win for FDR, as the Great Depression had set in during Hoover's term. Hoover was largely blamed and FDR crushed Hoover as a consequence of this. Al Smith, one of the incorrect choices, was Hoover's first challenger in 1928 when he won the presidency.

Answer: Adlai Stevenson

Adlai Stevenson ran against Dwight Eisenhower twice, both in 1952 and 1956, and lost both times. Though he did not lose as often as one of the wrong answers on this list: William Jennings Bryan was a nominee for president three times and never won.

Answer: George McClellan

Abraham Lincoln was challenged by one of his former generals, George McClellan, with whom he'd had several military disagreements. McClellan was so slow to fight that Lincoln allegedly quipped that "if McClellan wasn't using the army" that he'd like to "borrow it" for a while. Oh Lincoln. McClellan was unable to unseat the sitting president, though, and Lincoln was elected to a depressingly short term, cut off by the assassin John Wilkes Booth.

Answer: John F. Kennedy

Richard Nixon was Eisenhower's Vice President, but could not fend off the challenge from John F. Kennedy in 1960. One classic story from the campaign is that the televised debate came off wildly differently if you just heard the debate versus if you saw it. Those who heard the debate thought that Nixon had won, but those who saw it thought that Kennedy had prevailed.

Answer: Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton was from Hope, Arkansas and used the moniker "The Man From Hope" in the 1992 election where he defeated one-term incumbent George H. W. Bush.

Answer: Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland was first elected president in 1884, but then was defeated by Benjamin Harrison in the 1888 election. However, Cleveland came back and won to become the as-of-2012 only president to ever serve non-consecutive terms.

Answer: William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan lost to William McKinley in both the 1896 and 1900 elections, not quite able to translate his populist following into an electoral victory either time. He would later lose to William Howard Taft in 1908 as well.

Answer: Thomas Dewey

Thomas Dewey challenged Harry S Truman in 1948 and the race was famously close, with newspapers even declaring Dewey the winner before the ballots had actually come in to show that Truman had won. A famous picture exists of Truman triumphantly holding a newspaper with the blaring headline "Dewey Defeats Truman".

Answer: John Kerry

John Kerry challenged President George W. Bush in 2004, and while the election was close he was unable to defeat him. John Kerry is still a Senator for the state of Massachusetts as of 2012.