New York: Presidential elections have been taking place in the US for about 188 years. But in the history of so many years, it has happened only once that a current vice president has been able to become president after the election. This time Vice President Kamala Harris is also in the race for the White House from the Democratic Party. She is starting her campaign for this. But will she be able to set a new record in the history of 188 years or will her dream not be fulfilled? Well, Kamala Harris has put all her strength into the election. After President Joe Biden was out of this race, Kamala Harris was considered the most suitable candidate from her party.
Let us tell you that since the year 1836, only one current Vice President George HW Bush was elected to the post of President in 1988. After this, no current Vice President could achieve this good fortune. Among those who failed to reach the White House while serving as vice president were Richard Nixon in 1960, Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and Al Gore in 2000. All three lost in elections dominated by issues ranging from war and scandals to crime and televised debates. But two other factors also proved important for each vice president: Was the outgoing president popular and did the president and vice president have a good relationship?
How Bush went from vice president to president in 1988
In 1988, Bush easily defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts, whom Republicans had cast as weak and out of touch. Bush was helped by a solid economy and a reduction in Cold War tensions. President Ronald Reagan’s approval ratings rose after a sharp drop in the wake of the 1986-87 Iran-Contra scandal, and Reagan and Bush worked well together on the campaign trail. Reagan openly supported his vice president, who had run against him in the 1980 primaries. He praised Bush as a committed and invaluable partner at the Republican convention, appeared with him at a rally in California and spoke at gatherings in Michigan, New Jersey and Missouri. “Reagan was not a man to hold grudges. And Bush did a good job of overcoming the complexity of their relationship while vice president,” historian-journalist Jonathan Darman said.
Gore’s time was also bad
When Gore ran for office in 2000, he had the same advantages as George H.W. Bush. The economy was strong, the country was peaceful and President Bill Clinton had high approval ratings despite his impeachment over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Gore had worked closely with Clinton in the previous eight years, but the scandal caused tensions between them. He kept the president’s presence to a minimum during the campaign and portrayed himself as a self-made leader in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Experts believe that it was his distance from Clinton that cost him the election. Like Gore, Nixon could not or did not want to take advantage of the popularity of then-President Dwight Eisenhower.
