Clip from the Past: Alben Barkley

United States Senator Alben Barkley of Kentucky died on April 30, 1956.  He was a Congressman, United States Senator, and Vice President.  After his term as VP under President Harry S. Truman ended in 1953, he ran for the Senate once again and won.  Most Presidents and Vice Presidents slowly fade away into private life.  There are exceptions, however.  John Quincy Adams became a member of the House of Representatives  in 1831 after his defeat to Andrew Jackson in 1828.  After losing a re-election bid in 1912, President William H. Taft became the Chief Justice of United States Supreme Court in 1921.

In Lexington, Virginia, at a convention, Senator Barkley’s last words were recorded.

Why do you believe it is rare to see Presidents and Vice Presidents run for or serve in other national offices (other than President)?

Incumbent Presidential Vote Totals

President Barack Obama, as of this post, received 60,892,345 popular votes in his Presidential re-election bid.  This was down from the 69 million votes+ he received in 2008.  This is not the first time an incumbent President who was   re-elected for another term received fewer popular votes in his next go around than in his previous election.  The last that this happened was in 1944 when Franklin D. Roosevelt received fewer votes in his fourth bid for the Presidency than in his third.  The last time before that?  Roosevelt once again in 1940.  Here are the victorious incumbent Presidents and their popular vote totals in back to back elections.

Andrew Jackson

1828:  642,533; 1832:  701,780

Abraham Lincoln

1860:  1,855,593; 1864:  2,218,388

Ulysses S. Grant

1868:  3,013,790; 1872:  3,598,235

William McKinley

1896:  7,102,246; 1900:  7,228,864

Woodrow Wilson

1912:  6,296,284; 1916:  9,126,868

Franklin D. Roosevelt

1932:  22,821,277; 1936:  27,752,648; 1940:  27,313,945; 1944:  25,612,916

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1952:  34,075,529; 1956:  35,579,180

Richard Nixon

1968:  31,783,783; 1972:  47,168,710

Ronald Reagan

1980:  43,903,230; 1984:  54,455,472

Bill Clinton

1992:  44,909,806; 1996:  47,400,125

George W. Bush

2000:  50,460,110; 2004:  62,040,610

Barack Obama

2008:  69,498,215; 2012:  60,892,345

What accounts for the drop in Obama’s total from 2012 to 2008?