Draft (politics)
Encyclopedia
In elections in the United States
, political drafts are used to encourage or pressure a certain person to enter a political race, by demonstrating a significant groundswell of support for the candidate. A write-in campaign
may also be considered a draft campaign.
to run as a candidate for President of the United States
appeared in both the Democratic and Republican parties in 1948 and again during 1951. Eisenhower did his best to ignore them, but Henry Cabot Lodge
entered Eisenhower in the 1952 New Hampshire Republican primary
without the general's authorization. Eisenhower won all the Republican delegates and defeated Senator
Robert Taft
of Ohio
, who had campaigned intensively in the state, by a vote of 50% to 38%. Eisenhower told a reporter, "Any American who would have that many other Americans pay him that compliment would be proud or he would not be an American", and announced his candidacy the next day. He defeated
Adlai Stevenson — himself drafted as the Democratic nominee — in November 1952.
, an unlikely and unwilling candidate back then. Goldwater initially gave such remarks as "I'm not a candidate. And I'm not going to be. I have no intention of running for the Presidency", and "'Draft' nothing. I told you I'm not going to run." However, the effort eventually convinced Goldwater and won him the Republican nomination in 1964 in the face of the self-financed campaign of Nelson Rockefeller
, the ridicule of the national press, and the refusal by Goldwater to run.
resulted from a draft. Clark, who had recently retired from the military and taken a job as a CNN
military analyst, had no intention of running until multiple "Draft Clark" sites appeared on the web urging Clark to run. Over about a two month period the draft became a nationwide effort due to TV coverage and the use of the internet. In September 2003, Clark said he would make up his mind on whether to accept the draft or not in the near future. Soon after that statement, Clark announced his candidacy in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas
, citing that he was pulled in by the people to run for the presidency.
There was a draft campaign for former Vice President
Al Gore
prior to the 2008 election. Al Gore, who had won the Nobel Prize while out of office, repeatedly ruled out running for president in the 2008 election. Gore eventually endorsed Senator Barack Obama after he became the presumptive nominee.
Also worthy of notation are the unsuccessful draft campaigns of Gary Hart
(former Colorado Senator) and Steve Jobs
(Founder & CEO of Apple Computer), and in 1995 there was a notable attempt to draft retired four-star general (and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
) Colin Powell
for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996.
Prior to the 2008 election, a group of citizens tried to draft Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice
for president. The group went so far as to buy television and radio time in Iowa
, New Hampshire
, North Dakota
, and Florida
, and even roadside billboards. Though Rice had publicly declined to run, the groundswell of support for this cause continued to gain notoriety in national and international media. The most prominent "Draft Rice
" group, called Americans for Rice, claimed more than 4000 active members in the U.S. and abroad, and showed up at major events, organizing local cell groups, and made the preparations to put Rice's name on the ballot in 2008. Another group, The United States Students Committee, or TUSSC, has set their ambitions on gaining support among college and high school students for the same cause.http://www.americansforrice.comhttp://www.runrice2008.com Rice eventually did not run in 2008.
In the fall of 2008, the Washington Times and the Boston Herald
reported on a campaign to draft Joe Wurzelbacher
to run against Rep. Marcy Kaptur
of Ohio's 9th congressional district
. The draft campaign began with the website, joewurzelbacher2010, created by Trevor Lair, presently the chairman of the Massachusetts College Republicans. Since the draft campaign began, Wurzelbacher has stated that he is interested in running in the 2010 election for Ohio’s 9th congressional district. Laura Ingraham
asked Wurzelbacher, on October 24, 2008, if he would run against Rep. Marcy Kaptur. Wurzelbacher responded that he had considered the run and would be “up for it.”
Elections in the United States
The United States has a federal government, with elected officials at the federal , state and local levels. On a national level, the head of state, the President, is elected indirectly by the people, through an Electoral College. In modern times, the electors virtually always vote with the popular...
, political drafts are used to encourage or pressure a certain person to enter a political race, by demonstrating a significant groundswell of support for the candidate. A write-in campaign
Write-in candidate
A write-in candidate is a candidate in an election whose name does not appear on the ballot, but for whom voters may vote nonetheless by writing in the person's name. Some states and local jurisdictions allow a voter to affix a sticker with a write-in candidate's name on it to the ballot in lieu...
may also be considered a draft campaign.
The movement to draft Dwight D. Eisenhower
Movements to draft five-star general Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
to run as a candidate for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
appeared in both the Democratic and Republican parties in 1948 and again during 1951. Eisenhower did his best to ignore them, but Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See . He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.-Early life:Lodge was born in Nahant,...
entered Eisenhower in the 1952 New Hampshire Republican primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
without the general's authorization. Eisenhower won all the Republican delegates and defeated Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Robert Taft
Robert Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...
of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, who had campaigned intensively in the state, by a vote of 50% to 38%. Eisenhower told a reporter, "Any American who would have that many other Americans pay him that compliment would be proud or he would not be an American", and announced his candidacy the next day. He defeated
United States presidential election, 1952
The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was escalating rapidly. In the United States Senate, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had become a national figure after chairing congressional...
Adlai Stevenson — himself drafted as the Democratic nominee — in November 1952.
The movement to draft Barry Goldwater
Also, in the early 1960s two volunteers started a movement to draft Barry GoldwaterBarry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, an unlikely and unwilling candidate back then. Goldwater initially gave such remarks as "I'm not a candidate. And I'm not going to be. I have no intention of running for the Presidency", and "'Draft' nothing. I told you I'm not going to run." However, the effort eventually convinced Goldwater and won him the Republican nomination in 1964 in the face of the self-financed campaign of Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
, the ridicule of the national press, and the refusal by Goldwater to run.
Recent political draft movements
The candidacy of General Wesley ClarkWesley Clark
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...
resulted from a draft. Clark, who had recently retired from the military and taken a job as a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
military analyst, had no intention of running until multiple "Draft Clark" sites appeared on the web urging Clark to run. Over about a two month period the draft became a nationwide effort due to TV coverage and the use of the internet. In September 2003, Clark said he would make up his mind on whether to accept the draft or not in the near future. Soon after that statement, Clark announced his candidacy in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, citing that he was pulled in by the people to run for the presidency.
There was a draft campaign for former Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
prior to the 2008 election. Al Gore, who had won the Nobel Prize while out of office, repeatedly ruled out running for president in the 2008 election. Gore eventually endorsed Senator Barack Obama after he became the presumptive nominee.
Also worthy of notation are the unsuccessful draft campaigns of Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
(former Colorado Senator) and Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
(Founder & CEO of Apple Computer), and in 1995 there was a notable attempt to draft retired four-star general (and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, and is the principal military adviser to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Defense...
) Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996.
Prior to the 2008 election, a group of citizens tried to draft Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
for president. The group went so far as to buy television and radio time in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, and even roadside billboards. Though Rice had publicly declined to run, the groundswell of support for this cause continued to gain notoriety in national and international media. The most prominent "Draft Rice
Draft Condi movement
The "Draft Condi" movement was a grassroots effort to convince United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to run for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. election....
" group, called Americans for Rice, claimed more than 4000 active members in the U.S. and abroad, and showed up at major events, organizing local cell groups, and made the preparations to put Rice's name on the ballot in 2008. Another group, The United States Students Committee, or TUSSC, has set their ambitions on gaining support among college and high school students for the same cause.http://www.americansforrice.comhttp://www.runrice2008.com Rice eventually did not run in 2008.
In the fall of 2008, the Washington Times and the Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
reported on a campaign to draft Joe Wurzelbacher
Joe the Plumber
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher , is a conservative activist, author, and commentator. A resident of Holland, Ohio, United States, he gained significant attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential election after he was videotaped questioning then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama about his small...
to run against Rep. Marcy Kaptur
Marcy Kaptur
Marcia Carolyn "Marcy" Kaptur is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1983. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, anchored by the city of Toledo, includes all of Ottawa and Erie counties, and part of Lucas and Lorain counties.Serving her fourteenth term in the House of...
of Ohio's 9th congressional district
Ohio's 9th congressional district
Ohio's 9th congressional district has been represented by Representative Marcia C. Kaptur since 1983.This district is in the northern part of the state, bordering Michigan and Ontario, Canada , and includes the counties of Erie, Lorain, Lucas, and Ottawa.-List of largest municipalities:All or part...
. The draft campaign began with the website, joewurzelbacher2010, created by Trevor Lair, presently the chairman of the Massachusetts College Republicans. Since the draft campaign began, Wurzelbacher has stated that he is interested in running in the 2010 election for Ohio’s 9th congressional district. Laura Ingraham
Laura Ingraham
Laura Anne Ingraham is an American radio host, author, and conservative political commentator. Her nationally syndicated talk show, The Laura Ingraham Show, airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...
asked Wurzelbacher, on October 24, 2008, if he would run against Rep. Marcy Kaptur. Wurzelbacher responded that he had considered the run and would be “up for it.”