Liberty's election rankings

[they don't love you like i love you]

He won his home state of Maryland.

Fillmore was from New York, not Maryland. He won Maryland  due to it's strong anti-Catholicsm block.

funny considering how strongly Catholic Maryland is now. I would rank Fillmore as one of the worst men ever to be president for his run on that ticket alone. One of the most dispicable parties in American history.

[The Duke]

He won his home state of Maryland.

Fillmore was from New York, not Maryland. He won Maryland  due to it's strong anti-Catholicsm block.

funny considering how strongly Catholic Maryland is now. I would rank Fillmore as one of the worst men ever to be president for his run on that ticket alone. One of the most dispicable parties in American history.

Maryland has always been strongly Catholic.  It was foudned by Lord Baltimore, a Catholic, who was sent to the New World because the King didn't want any Catholic lords in the Isles.

[12th Doctor]

He won his home state of Maryland.

Fillmore was from New York, not Maryland. He won Maryland  due to it's strong anti-Catholicsm block.

funny considering how strongly Catholic Maryland is now. I would rank Fillmore as one of the worst men ever to be president for his run on that ticket alone. One of the most dispicable parties in American history.

Maryland has always been strongly Catholic.  It was foudned by Lord Baltimore, a Catholic, who was sent to the New World because the King didn't want any Catholic lords in the Isles.

Wrong!   It was strongly Catholic for about two seconds.  Then Lord Baltimore was forced to admit Protestants because he was getting ruined on the profit charts.  There was frequent violence btween the groups and the Catholics (only about 5% of the colonies population by 1650) were constantly being harased by the Protestant majority.  In 1655, Protestants boarded a Catholic congregation in their church while mass was being performed and set fire to the builing, killing all inside.  They then did the same thing to a near-by abbey.  The nuns knelt on their knees and prayed while being burned alive.  Three nuns escaped to the outside and were shot on sight.  Catholics were eventually barred from voting by the overwhealming Protestant majority.  Protestants eventually rose up to over throw the Catholic proprietors of Maryland and installed a Protestant government.

[Schmitz in 1972]

Moving right along...

In 27th Place: 1940
Democrats were talking about who they might nominate when Roosevelt shocked the world by proclaiming he would run again. His opponent, the highly colorful former Hoosier Wendell Wilkie. Wilkie was able to make the election more interesting than the previous two but FDR's popularity was too great. By now though FDR's landslides were starting to get somewhat repetitive even though Wilkie did better than Hoover or Landon.

In 26th Place: 1832
Jackson got a blowout win in what would be the last Democratic landslide in the 19th century. One important developement during this election was the formation of America's first third party, the Anti-Masons. The Anti-Masons also hold the distinction of holding the first national nominating convention (The party was fated to die shortly after the election). Not as down and dirty as 1828 was, but still uncompetitive. The National Republicans fell apart as Jackson's term began.

In 25th Place: 1789
So what if it was unanimous and there was absolutely no question who was going to win? For the first time in the history of the world a civilized nation was going to have the people (indirectly) elect their leader. The election was a milestone to freedom, liberty, and self government, and who better to give a unanimous vote of confidence to than the man who was "First in war, first in peace, and first in the heart of his countrymen"?

All for tonight

[7,052,770]

good job Liberty

[jimrtex]

In 39th Place: 1792
Unique for being one of two unanimous elections (along with 1789). It also featured the first political race for an executive office: Adams versus Clinton for the office of VP (Adams won 77-50). It didn't have the newness of 1789, but it was still exciting any time the country got a chance to elect 'Father of our Country' Washington president.

Only election in which an elector voted for two persons from the same State.  The 4 Kentucky electors voted for George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of Virginia.  Even under the terms of the 12th Amendment, the constitutional impediment is for an elector casting both his votes for someone from the elector's State.  Maybe the newly admitted Kentuckians wanted to emphasize that they were no longer part of Virginia.

[jimrtex]

In 36th Place: 1920
The first election women could vote in

All 48 States.  There may have been a grandmother or two who was casting her 8th presidential vote, who was accompanied by a grandaughter who was voting for the first time.

[Schmitz in 1972]

Thanks for the correction jimrtex

In 24th Place: 1964
This election represented a monumental shift in electoral politics which cannot be ignored despite the landslide. Goldwater's brand of Conservatism has been called the forerunner of Ronald Reagan, plus you gotta love the clever AuH20 slogan. How big an electoral shift was this election? It was the first EVER where Vermont didn't vote for the Republican. It was the first since reconstruction where several southern states voted for Republican. Maybe a landslide, but also a collosal shift which would dictate future elections

In 23rd Place: 1952
After not winning an election in nearly 24 years, some Republicans were beginning to panic, but Eisenhower proved the perfect tool to getting the Republicans back in the White House in a time of disgust over the Korean War. Although it was a blowout, it produced one of the most memorable moments in the history of presidential elections: The famous Checkers speech. That speech alone carried this election most of the way to 23rd Place in these rankings.

In 22nd Place: 1892
If you're seeing double that may be because we've reached 1892, the election that made Cleveland both 22nd and 24th President. Although all elections involving Cleveland were somewhat close, this was least tight of the three. Harrison couldn't shake how he hadn't had a popular plurality in the previous contest. Oh, and way to go North Dakota, in your first ever election you demonstrate the true meaning of indecision with one vote for Cleveland, one for Harrison, and one for Weaver.

Starting to reach the closer elections now!

[platypeanArchcow]

Your rankings seem to completely ignore third parties.  Surely an election where the Populists got 1,000,000 votes shouldn't be in the bottom half!

[Schmitz in 1972]

No platypeanArchcow, half of 54 is 27, 1892 is in the top half. Anyway, the rankings...

In 21st Place: 1848
For the sceond time in a row (after #20 1844 below) an anti-slavery third party made the difference in the election. This time it was Van Buren of the Free-Soil party in a race with Lewis Cass (described by one as a cucumber) and Zachary Taylor (with no political experience whatsoever. Sadly this mildly close election would continue the trend of the Whig military heroes dying once in office. More importantly though, it demonstrated the country's support for abolition.

In 20th Place: 1844
Manifest Destiny! 54'40" or Fight! Such was the cry of the Democrats. For the first time a darkhorse was fated to win the presidency, and also for the first time it was a third party which delivered the election to a candidate. Birney of the Liberty Party (First anti-slavery party, I kinda like their name ) swung New York to Polk. Poor Clay came his closest yet to the presidency but was instead banished to the lonely group of 3-time losers to be joined by Bryan 64 years later

In 19th Place: 1896
Notable for Bryan's fabulous "Cross of Gold" speech which earned him the nomination at age 36! Notable also for the endlesss charges that McKinley was merely a puppet of goldbug Mark Hanna. One thread has recently discussed the possibility that the classic The Wizard of Oz was loosely based on the '96 campaign. Although all of it speculation, there does seem to be some truth in it. In any event it was a colorful campaign that ended in a McKinley blowout.

All for tonight

[platypeanArchcow]

No platypeanArchcow, half of 54 is 27, 1892 is in the top half. Anyway, the rankings...

My bad.  I was thinking of the number of presidents, which is 43 (or 42 if you only count Cleveland once).

[Schmitz in 1972]

Sorry I couldn't get to the rankings yesterday

In 18th Place: 1992
Although this was one of the best performances ever by a third party candidate, Perot would fail achieve what hadn't happened to a third party candidate since 1972, getting an electoral vote. Fairly interesting campaign with a cool Democratic primary. It was hardly a sweeping victory for Clinton though, DC and Arkansas were the only states to give him more than 50% in the most three sided election since 1912. Being placed at 18 does not mean it is a bad election, it merely means that all others are better quality

In 17th Place: 1836
In the Whig's first election they tried one of the oddest and most unique strategies ever by running three candidates in different regions in an attempt to throw the election into the house where they might have a good chance to unseat Van Buren (in fact, they actually did manage to throw the Vice-President election in the Senate because Johnson fell one vote short (He won)).  The strategy broke down but it is still one of the more interesting elections.

In 16th Place: 1880
The controversy between the Stalwarts and Half-Breeds led to the nomination of dark horse Garfield who had served on the electoral commision in 1876. He and his opponent Hancock battled in one of the closest elections (in popular vote) of all time. When Garfield came out on top it extended the Republicans winning streak to 6, the longest since the Virginia Dyanasty of the first quarter of the 19th century.  As this was the first post-reconstruction election, disenfranchisement of blacks was widespread.

Getting closer...

[© tweed]

Even odds 2000 is No. 1.

[Akno21]

Even odds 2000 is No. 1.

It should be. Nothing else was that close in the college and in the PV. It also had all the lawsuits.

[KEmperor]

Even odds 2000 is No. 1.

It should be. Nothing else was that close in the college and in the PV. It also had all the lawsuits.

Wrong.

[Fritz]

1876 had a lot in common with 2000.

[StevenNick]

1960 should be up there too.  And did he already do 1800?  I don't remember if I saw that earlier or not.

[Schmitz in 1972]

Just so everyone knows, I haven't already planned the rankings, even I don't know what No. 1 will be yet

In 15th Place: 1840
The Whigs created the jolliest and most idiotic campaign ever in 1840 with one of the most memorble slogans of all time, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too".  Harrison became a log cabin hard cider man, and Van Buren was turned into a rich uncaring aristocrat. Harrison was so concerned over people thinking he was a simple minded common due to the campaigning that he wrote a two hour inauguration speech to dispel that notion. We all know the rest of the story...

In 14th Place: 1884
If not for a misplaced comment from a noted Republican, the Democrats very well may have lost their seventh straight election, instead it was the Republicans turn to have the rugs pulled out from under them. Rev. Burchard's remark that the Democrats were the party of "rum, romanism, and rebellion" upset New York's catholic voters so much that it swung New York to Cleveland and gave him the presidency, ending a nasty, close election with the fiery James G Blaine.

In 13th Place: 1912
The closest thing we've had to a four way contest since 1860 turned out to be an electoral landslide but a rather interesting election nonetheless. It was the only election to feature the previous, current, and future president. Roosevelt and his bull moose party provided most of the interest, but the Democratic nomination needs mentioning too, as it took Wilson 46 ballots to beat opponent Champ Clark. You have to feel sorry for Taft, the guy runs again and as the incumbent gets a total of 8 votes.

Any other bets to the number 1?

[7,052,770]

Any other bets to the number 1?

I was thinking 1912
maybe 2000, 1968, or 1876

[TheWildCard]

Any other bets to the number 1?

What about 1888? That should make the top 10 easily.

[Bunnybrit]

2000 or 1960 for number 1.

[??????????]

1968 for #1!!!

[© tweed]

1968 for #1!!!

An dead, stick-it lock for top 3 in my bag.

[Akno21]

1876 had a lot in common with 2000.

Yes, except there was no huge media back in the 1800's to spend a month talking non-stop about the disputes.

[??????????]

1876 had a lot in common with 2000.

Yes, except there was no huge media back in the 1800's to spend a month talking non-stop about the disputes.

And no internet so Democrats could whine how it was 'stolen' for four years.