The Also-Rans
Mark A. Lempke explores what losing presidential candidates can tell us about United States history. There's a lot more than elections here; we'll explore U.S. culture, religion, politics, and society along the way. Intended for politics nerds, history buffs, and all those who have suffered some kind of humiliating defeat.
Episodes
29 episodes
Episode 29: They Shall Run and Not Be Weary
Our last episode! Join Mark A. Lempke as the Also-Rans says goodbye.
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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9:04
Episode 28: Monument to the Unelected
This time of the year, we are bound to see plenty of yard signs around our neighborhood. What if our favorite also-rans of years past had yard signs-- including very antiquated figures like Aaron Burr or Rufus King? Such is the nature of Nina K...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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28:52
Episode 27: Kamala Veepstakes
We have a quick, emergency episode of the Also-Rans on deck! With President Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 race, we have a new presumptive nominee with VP Kamala Harris. This means she's got to pick a running mate-- and fast! With help from T...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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1:18:48
Episode 26: Hillary Clinton, Unsung Methodist (w/ Gary Scott Smith)
Everybody has an opinion about Hillary Clinton. But in order for it to be an informed opinion, one needs to be aware of the religious background that has guided her throughout her public career. We trace Clinton's Methodism in this episode with...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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48:42
Episode 25: 99 Problems and a Ditch Ain't One (w/David Spanagel)
DeWitt Clinton was put forward for president in 1812 in unusual circumstances: during the middle of a war, and by a party to which he didn't belong. He came within striking distance of taking out James Madison, the father of the Constitution. B...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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1:01:34
Episode 24: The Animated Feather Duster (w/ Maury Thompson)
Charles Evans Hughes may not have become president, but he still has one of the most impressive resumés in American history: Governor of New York, Secretary of State, and both Associate and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Any town in t...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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52:45
Episode 23: The All-Star Congress, pt. 1 (w/ Jon Grinspan and Tom Balcerski)
For the first and possibly only time ever, three historians pick their All-Star Congress: one person from each state. While silly and esoteric, this project offers some intriguing questions. Do you celebrate someone who is ruthless but signific...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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1:12:56
Episode 22: Here Comes the Judge (w/Bruce Dearstyne)
Being an unsuccessful presidential candidate usually results in obscurity. Don't expect the wider public to remember who you were, unless you were a truly exceptional figure like Henry Clay. Today, we'll look at perhaps the most obscure person ...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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56:31
Episode 21: Unbought and Unbossed (w/ Anatasia Curwood)
Shirley Chisholm ran what appeared to be a quixotic campaign for the presidency in 1972. Yet, her legacy in American politics runs deep, and a new generation of lawmakers, particularly women of color, look to her as an inspiration. Even so, it'...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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58:06
Episode 20: The Fifty States Draft
We brought the band back together! This time around, my grad school friends and I draft the fifty states to cobble together our own countries. What will we prioritize: Politics? Trade? Nuclear arsenal? You'll have to listen to find out. Guests ...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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2:04:37
Episode 19: Rock Us, Dukakis (w/ Robert Fleegler)
The year is 1988 and the choice is stark: a patrician Vice-President from a prominent New England family or a first-generation Greek-American who became Governor of Massachusetts. 1988 is remembered for its dirty campaign tricks, and for being ...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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48:53
Episode 18: The Vice Squad (w/ Michael Lovito and Lars Emerson)
All U.S. presidents are products of their time and place. So...what would happen if we plucked them out of that time and place and into 21st century America? How would their politics change? Would they even be electable? And most importantly......
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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1:29:40
Episode 17: Almost Lincoln (w/ Jeff Ludwig)
For the first time, we'll look at a man who didn't even earn his party's nomination. In 1860, the Republican Party met in a gigantic wigwam in Chicago to choose their nominee for president. The smart money was on a conscientious antislavery man...
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1:02:28
Episode 16: The Great Compromiser (w/ David and Jeanne Heidler)
He might be the most consequential also-ran in American history. And the best Speaker of the House. And one of its ten greatest senators. Harry of the West, the Sage of Ashland, the Great Compromiser...it's Henry Clay. How did this man, who los...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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1:07:46
Episode 15: Eggheads of the World, Unite! (w/ Scott Farris)
If you are a Baby Boomer, there's a good chance that Adlai Stevenson was the first Also-Ran of your lifetime. The Illinois governor ran against Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, losing both times. Stevenson's loss showed a growing prob...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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1:22:37
Episode 14: The Nature of the Beast (w/ Elizabeth Leonard)
For the first time, The Also-Rans explores a third-party candidate. It's Civil War General/industrialist/suffragist/abolitionist/labor advocate Benjamin F. Butler, who ran as the Greenback candidate in 1884. In Dixie, he's mostly known as...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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58:33
Episode 13: A Cabinet of Never-Weres
Last episode, we drafted a presidential cabinet of Also-Rans with Lindsay Chervinsky. Today, we are drafting a presidential cabinet of fictional characters. Rock Hall expert Philip Bergman and academic outlaw Han Ong join me in scouring pop cul...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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1:21:05
Episode 12: Consigned to the Cabinet (w/ Lindsay Chervinsky)
There was a time when serving in the cabinet was the fast track to the presidency. Today, it seems that being in the cabinet destroys presidential aspirations, as happened to Hillary Clinton. Or else a cabinet office is a consolation prize to o...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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56:35
Episode 11: The Turncoat Vice-President (w/ Tom Balcerski)
We're back! The Also-Rans returns with a look at John Breckinridge, the dashing young vice-president who was the silver medalist in the 1860 election that brought Lincoln to the White House. Joining me is Tom Balcerski, author of "Bosom Friends...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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53:12
Episode 10: The 2022 Presidents' Day Fantasy Draft
Presidents' Day is coming up, so we are going to do something special to celebrate. With four grad school friends, Mark undertakes the world's first and only fantasy-style presidents draft. Each person gets 9 picks, all 45 people who served as ...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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2:08:31
Episode 9: Jim Crow's Gentleman Lawyer (w/ Leland Ware)
In 1924, a divided Democratic Party met in Madison Square Garden to pick their presidential nominee. It took 103 ballots to arrive at John W. Davis, a talented but obscure Wall Street lawyer who had served in the Wilson administration. With the...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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1:16:02
Episode 8: Liberalism on the Fritz
It was the first presidential election of my lifetime-- and a resounding victory for Ronald Reagan and conservatism. But what about the man underneath the landslide? We'll explore Walter Mondale-- the first modern vice-president and the exempla...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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1:23:37
Episode 7: We Want Willkie!
In 1940, with World War II already underway in Europe, the Republicans nominate...a former Democrat who had never held office before. How did Wendell Willkie, "the barefoot boy from Wall Street", come to take the GOP by storm? And why is it so ...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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1:26:12
Episode 6: The Railsplitter's Shadow
Just about everything we know about Stephen Douglas can be tied back to the man who defeated him for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln. No other also-ran is defined, in popular memory, by his opponent quite so much as he. With help from special g...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:01:47
Episode 5: The Divorcee Who Struck It Rich
We discuss James M. Cox who lost the 1920 election to Warren Harding, a man who is, by historians' acclamation, one of our worst presidents. Our guest expert is David Pietrusza, author of 1920: The Year of Six Presidents. We'll explore...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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1:11:49