Fred Dalton Thompson| a closer look

Fred Dalton Thompson, former Republican senator from Tennessee, is perhaps best known to the country from his acting roles on film and television.
But before he was the conservative district attorney Arthur Branche on NBC’s “Law & Order” or a rear admiral in “The Hunt for Red October”, Thompson was a lawyer, even serving for the [...]

Mitt Romney| a closer look

Mitt Romney, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, has raised millions and invested his own millions in a race for the Republican crown.
The campaign’s only Mormon, Romney is the youngest son of George Romney, the three-term governor of Michigan who ran for president in 1968.
But Romney made his estimated $250 million net worth in the [...]

Bill Richardson| a closer look

 Bill Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico, has a deep political resume.
A former congressman, U.N. ambassador and Energy Department secretary, Richardson aims the nation’s first Hispanic president on an increasingly left of center platform.
Though some speculated Richardson, who worked in the Clinton administration, might be running for a slot as vice president more than [...]

Ron Paul| a closer look

 Ron Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas, has emerged as perhaps the most surprising candidate in the 2008 campaign.
An obscure member of Congress from Southeast Texas for most of his political career, Paul has metamorphosed into the favorite of legions of die-hard fans across the country who have been exposed to his contrarian views through [...]

Barack Obama| a closer look

Barack Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, began the election with a surprise: besting rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in fundraising for six months of the year.
But Obama, a political wunderkind in his first Senate term after working as a community organizer and in the state senate in his home state, has yet to turn all [...]

John McCain| a closer look

 John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, has had a topsy-turvy campaign.
The Vietnam Veteran, who recently honored the solemn 40th anniversary of his POW capture in that conflict, nearly put his campaign into bankruptcy mid-summer and was forced to shed key staff.
But, the two-time presidential contender who dealt then-Gov. George W. Bush a rare primary [...]

Dennis Kucinich| a closer look

 Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic congressman from Ohio, ran against the Iraq war in 2004 and is doing the same in 2008.
The last to cede defeat to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, Kucinich has also laid out a detailed plan for universal, single-payer, not-for-profit healthcare, and an FDR-inspired ‘Works Green Administration’.
But, in an eight-person field with [...]

Duncan Hunter| a closer look

 Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California, is putting all his chips on his presidential prospects.
A Vietnam Veteran with a son who served in Iraq, Hunter, who has served in Congress since the age of 32, announced he will retire from the House at the end of his current term.
A strong supporter of the military [...]

Mike Huckabee| a closer look

 Mike Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, still believes in a place called Hope.
The folksy, affable Huckabee was born in the same small town of Hope, Arkansas, as former President Bill Clinton. But that’s about all he and the Clintons have in common.
Huckabee has run as an outsider all year, courting conservative Republicans dissatisfied [...]

Mike Gravel| a closer look

Mike Gravel, a former Democratic Senator from Alaska, was the first to get in the 2008 presidential race — all the way back in 2006.
A fiesty and staunch anti-war candidate, Gravel, 76, is the oldest candidate running from either party, first making a political name for himself protesting the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
Gravel rarely [...]

Rudy Giuliani| a closer look

Rudy Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York, was a lame duck riding out a controversial tenure when 9/11 changed everything.
Dubbed ‘America’s Mayor’ and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his steady leadership in the face of the nation’s worst terrorist attack, Giuliani has surprised many early critics.
Socially moderate, particularly on abortion and gun [...]

John Edwards| a closer look

John Edwards, familiar to most Americans as John Kerry’s Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2004, is making a second bid for the White House.
Edwards spent most of his life outside the political arena working as trial attorney, once securing a North Carolina record-breaking $25 million personal injury judgment.
The death of his own son, Wade, 16, [...]

Chris Dodd| a closer look

 Chris Dodd, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, is in the family business.
His father, the late Senator Thomas J. Dodd, was a special agent in the FBI, assistant to five successive attorney generals, and a prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal before serving in Congress.
The younger Dodd served two years in the Peace Corps and [...]

Joe Biden| a closer look

 Joe Biden, a Democratic senator from Delaware, has spent 30 years in the Senate.
First elected at the age of 29, Biden was persuaded to take office despite the tragic death of his wife and 13-month-old daughter only a few months after his upset over a long-serving Republican incumbent.
Specializing in foreign affairs and running primarily on [...]

Hillary Rodham Clinton| a closer look

Hillary Rodham Clinton, easily the best known of any presidential candidate in either party, was recently elected to a second term in the Senate from New York, after having been the nation’s first lady for eight years.
A polarizing political figure, Clinton has spent much of her historic campaign improving her image among an electorate that [...]

Background of Political Parties in the U.S.| Post No. 123107-8

 
Background of Political Parties in the U.S.
“The Constitution makes no provision for political parties. They developed on their own as the country grew, and by the 1830s were an established part of the political environment. Today, the Republicans and Democrats are the two main political parties. Most elected officials serving as president, congressional representative, state [...]

Historical Political Parties in the U.S.| Post No. 123107-7

 
Historical Political Parties in the U.S.

Democratic-Republican Party
“Early political party in the U.S., originally led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; it was the forerunner of the present-day Democratic party, which name it formally adopted in 1828. When the party was originally conceived in the 1790s to oppose the Federalist party, it was known simply as [...]

Republican Party| Post No. 123107-6

History of the Republican Party

On July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan, the Republican Party formally organized itself by holding its first convention, adopting a platform and nominating a full slate of candidates for state offices.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to win the White House.
In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to [...]

Reform Party| Post No. 123107-5

History of the Reform Party of the United States of America

Founded by Ross Perot after he ran as an independent candidate in the 1992 presidential election, in which he garnered 19% of the popular vote, or about 19.7 million votes.
In 1996, the Reform Party was on the ballot in all 50 states. Ross Perot again [...]

Libertarian Party| Post No. 123107-4

History of the Libertarian Party

1971: The Libertarian Party was founded.
1979: Permanent ballot status achieved in California as more than 80,000 voters register Libertarian.
1988: Ron Paul, on the ballot in 46 states and the District of Columbia, comes in third, receiving more than 430,000 votes nationwide — almost twice the total of any other ‘third’ party.
1996: [...]