But remember that Lincoln himself, interestingly enough, lost some a few elections (including congressional elections) before making something of himself.
Lincoln lost one election. And in fact, he won the popular vote in that election, but the state legislature chose Douglas. Keyes has lost four elections, and the most he's ever gotten is 39%.
Actually, we're both wrong. =)
Lincoln lost his first bid for statewide office (he came in 8th out of 13 candidates). He won his next election to the state legislature three times, then congress, then the state legislature again. He then (as I correctly noted before) won the popular vote agianst Douglas in his bid for the Senate in 1958, but lost it in the state legislature. He then won the Presidency in 1860.
Still, Keyes is hardly comparable.