Continued from the entry, To Pull a Grover Cleveland…

Historically, there have been rematches. Stevenson faced Eisenhower twice. William Jennings Bryan faced McKinley twice (and then went on to face Taft). Dewey couldn’t defeat Roosevelt, but tried again against Truman (and was thought to be a shoe-in at one point). Yet, none of these men were president first. They lost every time they ran. Still, it leaves room for someone to run again.

William Henry Harrison was unsuccessful in his first bid against Martin Van Buren. Then, the Whig Party consolidated its power, and Harrison became president in the rematch. Nixon had a similar fate. He lost to Kennedy, but then came back and defeated Humphrey. It’s funny, however, how both these presidents met ignominious endings. Nixon resigned, and Harrison died only a month into the presidency after the longest inaugural address. Yet, these men did not start out as president.

Martin Van Buren, after losing to Harrison in 1840, ran again in 1848, but as a third party candidate, and garnered no electoral votes. TR’s results are better. TR did win a second term, but did not run again, as was the tradition. Yet, he did not approve of his successor’s record (Taft) and once more ran for president. After failing to gain his party’s nomination, he too, ran as a third party candidate. This third party did better than the Republican party in the election, but the Republicans were split, and Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, was victorious. (The combined popular vote is greater than Wilson’s popular vote.)

The only real precedent that backs me up is Grover Cleveland’s presidency.

I know these conclusions are a little different than what I put in the original entry, but bear with me… So, although history isn’t in Bush’s favor to win, it isn’t altogether unlikely that he will at least run again.