Rutherford B. Bush

Imagine this: a Democrat wins the popular vote only to have the electoral vote snatched away after a dispute in several states including -- drum roll, please -- Florida.

Another President Gore rehash? Hardly -- the year was 1876, the repuke was Rutherford B. Hayes, and the victimized Dem was Samuel Tilden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election%2C_1876

The U.S. presidential election of 1876 was perhaps the most disputed presidential election in American history. Samuel Tilden handily defeated Ohio's Rutherford Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes yet uncounted. These 20 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared illegal (on account of being an "elected or appointed official") and replaced. The votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter electoral dispute.

This one pretty much had it all, even a third-party candidate from the Greenback (not "Green") Labor Party, except for intervention by the Extreme Court. And yet somehow the republic survived -- in large part because Hayes kept his pledge not to run for a second term. Ah, if only...

So how come Hayes* did not put the country, not to mention the entire planet, in as much danger as Bush** has?

24/7 media to back him up with the incessant drone of "patriotic" lies.

not only did he serve only one term, he also ended Reconstruction, which at the time was the primary political goal of the Democrats. Thus, the GOP got a president, and the Dems got what they wanted -- everybody won.

Reconstruction over, no protection for black citizens for nearly 100 more years. The Devil's bargain.

I hardly think the Republicans at the time realized just what a whole they were digging.

we live in a totally different world these days, we're much more sophisticated these days "Don't cha know"

in some ways as well. Roosevelt, unhappy with fellow republican Taft's first term, ran as an independent. Though Roosevelt had the most successful third party candidacy ever, he still lost and only succeeded in splitting the republican vote, enabling democrat Wilson to win.

Another case of a third party only managing to split the vote, enabling the candidate that they REALLY disagree with to win.

Obviously there is more to 2000 than Nader as the spoiler.

"So how come Hayes* did not put the country, not to mention the entire planet, in as much danger as Bush** has?"

Probably because the ideals of Dems and Reps were reversed back then. Based on what I just read Tilden did not seem like a bad candidate, but Hayes was also more liberal allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

How nice to have two liberals running for President.

American presidents didn't really start going overseas until the beginning of the 20th century. The Great Compromise of 1876 which the Democrats agreed to withdrew federal troops from the south and effectively ended reconstruction. I don't really know enough about Hayes and Tilden to know what would have happened if Tilden had been president.