The Also-Rans

Our last episode! Join Mark A. Lempke as the Also-Rans says goodbye.

This time of the year, we are bound to see plenty of yard signs around our neighborhood. What if our favorite also-rans of years past had yard signs-- including very antiquated figures like Aaron Burr or Rufus King? Such is the nature of Nina Katchadourian's fascinating new art piece, Monument to the Unelected. In this episode we enjoy a lively discussion about art, history, and public space.

We have a quick, emergency episode of the Also-Rans on deck! With President Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 race, we have a new presumptive nominee with VP Kamala Harris. This means she's got to pick a running mate-- and fast! With help from The Postrider's Michael Lovito and Lars Emerson, we break down Harris's options from the Democratic bench and even consider a few wild ca...

Everybody has an opinion about Hillary Clinton. But in order for it to be an informed opinion, one needs to be aware of the religious background that has guided her throughout her public career. We trace Clinton's Methodism in this episode with the help of Grove City College's Gary Scott Smith, author of "Do All the Good You Can: How Faith Shaped Hillary Clinton."

DeWitt Clinton was put forward for president in 1812 in unusual circumstances: during the middle of a war, and by a party to which he didn't belong. He came within striking distance of taking out James Madison, the father of the Constitution. But as we upstate New Yorkers know, his real significance is through his vital support for the Erie Canal. To make this project a reality, Clinton often...

Charles Evans Hughes may not have become president, but he still has one of the most impressive resumés in American history: Governor of New York, Secretary of State, and both Associate and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Any town in the U.S. would be glad to have a native son of such accomplishment. And indeed, his home town of Glens Falls is happy to promote their connection to Hughes....

For the first and possibly only time ever, three historians pick their All-Star Congress: one person from each state. While silly and esoteric, this project offers some intriguing questions. Do you celebrate someone who is ruthless but significant? Or someone who "did the right thing"? Do the officeholders of today stack up against the legendary greats of the past? Join us as we break th...

Being an unsuccessful presidential candidate usually results in obscurity. Don't expect the wider public to remember who you were, unless you were a truly exceptional figure like Henry Clay. Today, we'll look at perhaps the most obscure person ever nominated by a major party: Alton Parker. This NY Court of Appeals judge was the Democrats' choice to run against Theodore Roosevelt in...

Shirley Chisholm ran what appeared to be a quixotic campaign for the presidency in 1972. Yet, her legacy in American politics runs deep, and a new generation of lawmakers, particularly women of color, look to her as an inspiration. Even so, it's easy to reduce her importance to "firsts"- first black woman in Congress, first black woman to run for president, and so on. To help paint...

We brought the band back together! This time around, my grad school friends and I draft the fifty states to cobble together our own countries. What will we prioritize: Politics? Trade? Nuclear arsenal? You'll have to listen to find out. Guests include: Sarah Handley-Cousins, Rick Mikulski, Billy Pritchard, and John Riley.

The year is 1988 and the choice is stark: a patrician Vice-President from a prominent New England family or a first-generation Greek-American who became Governor of Massachusetts. 1988 is remembered for its dirty campaign tricks, and for being the last presidential election of the Cold War. Today we look at the man at the receiving end of so much of the dirt and abuse: Michael Dukakis. Robert Flee...

All U.S. presidents are products of their time and place. So...what would happen if we plucked them out of that time and place and into 21st century America? How would their politics change? Would they even be electable? And most importantly...who would they pick as running mates?  To answer that last question, we're going to look at 10 presidents and try and figure out their best running mat...

For the first time, we'll look at a man who didn't even earn his party's nomination. In 1860, the Republican Party met in a gigantic wigwam in Chicago to choose their nominee for president. The smart money was on a conscientious antislavery man and the party's most prominent public figure: New York's William H. Seward.  The public was shocked when delegates instead chose a...

He might be the most consequential also-ran in American history. And the best Speaker of the House. And one of its ten greatest senators. Harry of the West, the Sage of Ashland, the Great Compromiser...it's Henry Clay. How did this man, who lost his quest for the presidency three times, become one of the most impactful statesmen of his day? To help answer this riddle, we talk to Clay biograph...

If you are a Baby Boomer, there's a good chance that Adlai Stevenson was the first Also-Ran of your lifetime. The Illinois governor ran against Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, losing both times.   Stevenson's loss showed a growing problem within the electorate: eloquence, urbanity, and wit-- all of which he had in abundance-- were now seen as political liabilities in a Cold War era that req...

For the first time, The Also-Rans  explores a third-party candidate. It's Civil War General/industrialist/suffragist/abolitionist/labor advocate Benjamin F. Butler, who ran as the Greenback candidate in 1884. In Dixie, he's mostly known as the tyrannical "Beast" governing conquered New Orleans with an iron fist. Elizabeth Leonard of Colby College is our guest expert for this di...

Last episode, we drafted a presidential cabinet of Also-Rans with Lindsay Chervinsky. Today, we are drafting a presidential cabinet of fictional characters. Rock Hall expert Philip Bergman and academic outlaw Han Ong join me in scouring pop culture to make the best administration possible. 

There was a time when serving in the cabinet was the fast track to the presidency. Today, it seems that being in the cabinet destroys presidential aspirations, as happened to Hillary Clinton. Or else a cabinet office is a consolation prize to one of your party's also-rans, as was the case for John Kerry. How did this change happen?  We are joined by Lindsay Chervinsky, author of "The Cab...

We're back! The Also-Rans returns with a look at John Breckinridge, the dashing young vice-president who was the silver medalist in the 1860 election that brought Lincoln to the White House. Joining me is Tom Balcerski, author of "Bosom Friends," which looks at the role of masculinity and friendship in the Jacksonian Age.

Presidents' Day is coming up, so we are going to do something special to celebrate. With four grad school friends, Mark undertakes the world's first and only fantasy-style presidents draft. Each person gets 9 picks, all 45 people who served as president will get drafted. Who goes first? Who goes last? Who picks the best team? Find out in what I believe is our most fun and uproarious epis...

In 1924, a divided Democratic Party met in Madison Square Garden to pick their presidential nominee. It took 103 ballots to arrive at John W. Davis, a talented but obscure Wall Street lawyer who had served in the Wilson administration. With the Roaring Twenties roaring, he didn't have a prayer of upsetting Calvin Coolidge. Thirty years later, he returns to the public eye to work on the legal...

It was the first presidential election of my lifetime-- and a resounding victory for Ronald Reagan and conservatism. But what about the man underneath the landslide? We'll explore Walter Mondale-- the first modern vice-president and the exemplar of Midwestern liberalism, with help from Jeffrey Bloodworth of Gannon University.

In 1940, with World War II already underway in Europe, the Republicans nominate...a former Democrat who had never held office before. How did Wendell Willkie, "the barefoot boy from Wall Street", come to take the GOP by storm? And why is it so important that both parties nominated an internationalist that year? To fully understand these questions, we need to delve deep into the final cha...

Just about everything we know about Stephen Douglas can be tied back to the man who defeated him for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln. No other also-ran is defined, in popular memory, by his opponent quite so much as he. With help from special guest Tim Connors, we will look at Douglas as a frontier stump-speaker, an advocate of American expansion, and finally, a staunch defender of the Union at th...

We discuss James M. Cox who lost the 1920 election to Warren Harding, a man who is, by historians' acclamation, one of our worst presidents. Our guest expert is David Pietrusza, author of 1920: The Year of Six Presidents . We'll explore James Cox's dubious significance as the first divorced presidential contender, FDR's debut as the running mate, and our experiences growing up...