Long-Shot Presidential Candidates Have Impact

Some unlikely candidates win, others bring important issues to light

Long-Shot Presidential Candidates Still Can Have Major Impact

"I would rather be right than president," the 19th-century American statesman Henry Clay once said, and many candidates lagging behind the leaders in the 2008 presidential race may take consolation in his words as they contemplate their situation.

Being overwhelmed in a presidential race never is fun, and it can be particularly difficult for those accustomed to success such as senators and governors, noted military leaders and business leaders. For such high achievers, it can be particularly galling to run at the back of the pack, unable to gain the funds needed to earn serious attention.

In a recent Democratic debate, former Senator Mike Gravel, who received few questions from the moderator, complained mildly that he felt "like a potted plant" on stage. In a similar situation, Representative Dennis Kucinich, when asked to speak about God, said, "I've been standing here for 45 minutes praying to God you were going to call on me."

What compels some men and women to undergo invasive public scrutiny, nonstop fundraising, an exhausting schedule and an endless circuit of chicken dinners in hotel ballrooms to compete for an office they have virtually no chance of gaining?

One reason is that a candidate trailing badly in the polls may yet capture the public imagination and win the party's nomination.

"There's a variety of hopes that spring forth in the breasts of these candidates who are not likely to get the nomination," says Bill Lunch, professor of political science at Oregon State University. He adds that it takes a strong ego to run for president and that some of these trailing candidates "may think that they've got a reasonable chance."

A second reason a candidate may decide to continue campaigning despite poor prospects may be long-term planning. According to Lunch, even a failing campaign can be "a good way to make national contacts and generate an organization for a future contest. For some of these candidates, this is a building process." Former President Ronald Reagan's campaigns in 1968 and 1976 fell short, for example, but in 1980 he earned his party's nomination and the presidency.

Lunch also notes that some candidates lagging behind in the presidential race may target the vice presidential nomination as an acceptable consolation prize and a building block for a future campaign. Since 1960, four sitting or former vice presidents have become president, and four others have been their parties' nominees.

Even if a candidate has no chance of winning the party's nomination for president or vice president -- or even the likelihood of running another campaign -- the struggle still can be meaningful. By running for president, candidates air their strongly held positions in national debates and hope to influence public opinion.

Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado currently is running far behind in the Republican race. Yet when USINFO asked Tancredo spokesman Alan Moore what the congressman still hopes to gain by his campaign, he had a clear reply.

"Congressman Tancredo first jumped into the presidential race because no other candidates were strong on immigration reform. If the nominee, whoever it may be, commits to securing our borders and enforcing the law, then his goals for entering the race will be accomplished," Moore said.

In fact, it is a rare campaign in which the leading candidates do not adopt some of the views of those behind them. Throughout American history, many losing campaigns have made an enormous difference, especially when one or both of the country's main political parties are looking for a new direction.

Tancredo and others in the current race might take heart in remembering that Reagan's unsuccessful 1976 bid for the Republican nomination not only put him on track for the 1980 nomination and the presidency, but set the course of the Republican Party for a generation. Senator Eugene McCarthy's 1968 campaign, though unsuccessful, showed the depth of opposition to the Vietnam War within the Democratic Party and influenced President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election.

Candidates with a longer sense of history can find inspiration in the 1924 presidential campaign of Senator Robert La Follette, who left the Republican Party and ran on the Progressive Party ticket. Although he lost badly, gaining only 17 percent of the vote, his campaign stirred such a lively national debate on consumer rights, direct voter control and other reforms that both major parties adopted many of his positions and enacted them into law. Though never president, La Follette saw himself proven right politically.

So great was his achievement that La Follette later was voted by a group of American historians as one of the two greatest senators in U.S. history -- tied with Henry Clay.

ENDS

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