Winning the Presidency After Inheriting It: Theodore Roosevelt Makes History in 1904
When a President dies in office, steps down or is forced to leave the Oval, the job passes to the next in the line of succession, the Vice-President, until the end of the term. That has been the case since the Constitution was written. An incumbent with an inherited Presidency running for re-election to the […]
The 1948 Presidential Election: When Almost Everyone Thought Dewey Would (And Did) Defeat Truman
The 1948 Presidential Election will be remembered for two things: being one of the biggest upsets in US political history and the famous photograph of incumbent President Harry S. Truman holding up a newspaper announcing his defeat during his victory speech. Going into the election, it looked like the Democratic Party’s traditional voting base would […]
The First Televised US Presidential Debate: Kennedy vs. Nixon (1960)
When it comes to political game changers, it’s hard to top the Kennedy-Nixon Debates during the 1960 US Presidential Election. In particular, the first one that aired live from Chicago on Monday, September 26th. Not only was this the first ever face-to-face Presidential Debate, it was also the first US political debate broadcast on television. […]
Christine O’Donnell’s I’m Not a Witch Ad
When Christine O’Donnell ran for a US Senate seat in Delaware in 2010, comedian Bill Maher aired a clip from his old show Politically Incorrect where the now Tea Party-backed Republican candidate admitted to dabbling in witchcraft.
This caused a bit of an uproar, but it was O’Donnell’s response that brought the story to the next level. She started off a campaign ad by looking directly into the camera and saying “I’m not a witch.”