“House members don’t win Presidential nominations these days.”
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And for 48 years we didn’t have a senator winning the presidency, then in 2008 we got two of them as nominees.
One of them is a Kenyan. Well scratch that even, there is no proof.
I think the conventional wisdom is in a state of collapse. Most house members aren’t as well known as Michelle Bachman. He wasn’t my choice but Ron Paul did exceptionally well considering the fact that he was wrong on many of the issues.
I’m talking about nominations. The last GOP House member to win a nomination was Garfield in 1880, and even he was a Senator-elect at the time. It’s basically an office for whom whose nominees are either sitting or former Vice-Presidents, Governors or Senators and rarely anything else. Here’s a rundown since 1856:
2008: Senator (D) vs. Senator (R)
2004: President (R) vs. Senator (D)
2000: Governor (R) vs. Vice-President (D)
1996: President (R) vs. Senator (D)
1992: Governor (D) vs. President (R)
1988: Vice-President (R) vs. Governor (D)
1984: President (R) vs. Ex-Vice President (D)
1980: Ex-Governor (R) vs. President (D)
1976: Ex-Governor (R) vs. President (D)
1972: President (R) vs. Senator (D)
1968: Ex-Vice-President (R) vs. Vice-President (D)
1964: President (D) vs. Senator (R)
1960: Senator (D) vs. Vice-President (R)
1956: President (R) vs. Ex-Governor (D)
1952: Ex-General (R) vs. Governor (D)
1948: President (D) vs. Governor (R)
1944: President (D) vs. Governor (R)
1940: President (D) vs. Businessman (R)
1936: President (D) vs. Governor (R)
1932: Governor (D) vs. President (R)
1928: Ex-Cabinet (R) vs. Governor (D)
1924: President (R) vs. Ex-Ambassador/Ex-Congressman (D)
1920: Senator (R) vs. Governor (D)
1916: President (D) vs. U.S. Supreme Court Justice (R)
1912: Governor (D) vs. President (R) vs. ex-President (Prog)
1908: War Secretary (R) vs. ex-Congressman (D)
1904: President (R) vs. State Judge (D)
1900: President (R) vs. ex-Congressman (D)
1896: ex-Governor (R) vs. ex-Congressman (D)
1892: ex-President (D) vs. President (R)
1888: ex-Senator (R) vs. President (D)
1884: Governor (D) vs. ex-Cabinet (R)
1880: Congressman/Senator-elect (R) vs. Ex-General (D)
1876: Governor (R) vs. Governor (D)
1872: President (R) vs. Newspaperman/Ex-Congressman (D/Lib.R)
1868: Ex-General (R) vs. ex-Governor (D)
1864: President (R) vs. ex-General (D)
1860: ex-Congressman (R) vs. Senator (North Dem) vs. Vice-President (South Dem) vs. ex-Senator (Const. Union)
1856: ex-Ambassador (D) vs. ex-Senator (R) vs. ex-President (Know-Nothing)