Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Election Tidbits

Today is Election Day, a very important day for American citizens. Over the years there have been many fascinating stories and outcomes from this day, and I went to one of our Kids' Databases, Grolier Online, to find some interesting tidbits for you today as we celebrate our democracy.

There have been many amazingly close races for the presidency—the Garfield-Hancock contest in 1880 and the Bush-Gore campaign in 2000, for example—and several landslides—as in the Roosevelt-Landon contest of 1936—as well. Since 1956 election outcomes have swung dramatically, with landslides for Republicans (1956, 1972, 1980, and 1984) and Democrats (1964). There have been numerous oddities and quirks in presidential election outcomes. James Monroe was unopposed for reelection in 1820, whereas in 1824, Andrew Jackson led three challengers in the popular and electoral vote; because he lacked a majority of the latter, though, the election was decided in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he lost.

With the presence of serious third- and fourth-party challengers, such candidates as Abraham
Lincoln in 1860, Woodrow Wilson in 1912, Harry Truman in 1948, and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 have been elected president by less than a majority of the popular vote. Because of the operation of the electoral college, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and George W. Bush in 2000 were elected president even though they received fewer popular votes than their leading challengers.

For more information, search "presidential elections" in the database, Grolier Multimedia Encyclepedia.

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