[SAJ]

The question says that Bryan failed three times, so it wouldn't be 'winning party conventions' because he most certainly did that.

The key point in the question is that BOTH Goldwater and Johnson did it. They ran against each other. What can both the winning candidate and the losing candidate do in the SAME election.

Got me stumped (for now), and boy that's annoying!

[linda_22003]

Maybe the "it" is something non-presidential in nature.

[CT-Freeper]

Won the state in which they were born?

Nixon was born in California
Reagan was born in Illinois
Cleveland was born in New Jersey
Kerry was born in Colorado
Carter was born in Georgia
Clinton was born in Arkansas

I'm not sure if that's the correct answer though...just a thought, and I dont want to Google it all.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Maybe it was to cast a vote in their own presidential election.

[No Truce With Kings]

"The key point in the question is that BOTH Goldwater and Johnson did it. They ran against each other. What can both the winning candidate and the losing candidate do in the SAME election."

Win a state that:

They were born in.

They came from.

Held elected office in.

Were married in.

graduated from college in.

[returnofthemack]

It could deal with their final vote total. Wasn't that the election where George Wallace stole some seats? Could it deal with percentage of vote? Maybe they didn't get 50%? 40%?