During most elections when the United States President leaves office, the Vice President is considered a leading candidate and a likely nominee to succeed the President. However, the 2008 election will mark the first time since the election in 1928 that there is no incumbent president or an incumbent vice president running for presidential nomination and not running in the presidential election. The last time neither an incumbent president or vice president ran in the general election was in 1952, as Vice President Alben Barkley didn’t win the Democratic nomination.
According to USA Election Polls, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are leaders in the Democratic race while the Republican race is up in the air with several candidates vying for top tier status such as Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul.
During the last three presidential administrations of Eisenhower, Reagan and Clinton who were outgoing after two-terms their incumbent Vice President was running for president. Richard Nixon lost in 1960, George Bush won in 1988 and Al Gore lost in 2000. In 1952 the election was between Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower and Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson. Earlier during that year incumbent President Harry S. Truman let his name stand in the New Hampshire primary but he didn’t campaign. As a result he lost to Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver and then withdrew his name from consideration.
In 1968 Lyndon Johnson decided to seek re-election and won the New Hampshire primary. But when a national poll was conducted and results showed against his favor then he announced to the public in a nationally televised speech that he wouldn’t seek re-election. The incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey then chose to run and was eventually the Democratic nominee. If Johnson had stayed in the race and won then he would have served more than nine years total.
For poll results updated daily,
http://www.usaelectionpolls.com
