The Contenders: 16 for '16

In a combative arena awash in double-talk and spin, the straight-shooters stand out. In her non-nonsense 1972 campaign, Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman in Congress, redefin...

The presidential runs of Howard Dean and Pat Buchanan. Former Vermont governor Dean shook up the Democratic Party when he sought the nomination in 2004; and Buchanan did the same t...

The presidential bids of two governors from Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis (1988) and Mitt Romney (2008 and '12). Both were unprepared to combat the unflattering portraits their op...

During the Republican-dominated Reagan years of the 1980s, two charismatic Democratic presidential contenders came to the forefront, hoping to define their party as the one of visi...

Sometimes a losing candidacy can alter the political landscape irrevocably. Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater’s visionary conservatism lost in 1964 but it would influence the Republican...

One of the toughest tasks in modern presidential campaigns is mounting a competitive third party bid that can siphon attention—and votes away—from the major party candidates. Texa...

Before Hillary Clinton’s cracked the glass ceiling for presidential nominees in 2016, two other American women made their own mark on that ceiling: vice presidential nominees Geral...

Despite vastly different backgrounds, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, two of the best campaigners in presidential history, both won two-term presidencies in the 21st century. Bush...