The urge that sends Ted Kennedy to challenge an incumbent President is as old as the Republic. It has possessed dozens of men who saw clearly the failures" of those in power and held their own "different view" of leadership. But only once has an elected President been unsuccessful in bidding for renomination by his own party.
The fellow who was shabbily treated was Franklin Pierce. He provides a thin precedent; yet it is instructive. In most personal ways he was not at all like Carter Back in 1852, when a messenger galloped...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
