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From McGovern to Romney: How they (and others) weathered presidential losses Some were almost president. In some cases (George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter), they had four years in the White House — before being voted out. How did presidential losers endure the stigma and go on with their lives?
Mitt Romney: Rebuilding a life ...
After his loss to President Obama, Mitt Romney prompted criticism from both political parties at crediting Obama's victory to ''gifts'' bestowed by the Democratic incumbent upon youth, people of color or Americans of modest means. After the election, the Republican went with family members to Disneyland, saw "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part II'' with his wife, Ann, and has stayed in shape by cycling near his home outside San Diego.
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Sharpshooter Images/Splash News and Pictures
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... still a work in progress
Romney, shown at Thanksgiving with his wife, Ann, has taken office space from a venture capital company outside Boston. On Nov. 29, Romney made it to the White House -- as a guest at a private lunch with President Obama. On Dec. 3, it was announced that Romney would rejoin Marriott International's board of directors.
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Official Mitt Romney Facebook page
John Kerry: Back to the Senate
Unlike Romney, John F. Kerry (D) had a job in Washington to return to after his 2004 loss to incumbent President George W. Bush (R).The senator formed a political action committee to help other Democrats, endorsed Barack Obama early in his 2008 presidential run and has been mentioned as a possibility for a Cabinet position in a second Obama presidential term.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
Al Gore: A concession and forced smiles ...
By a one-vote margin in December 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an election result from a contested Florida vote -- and Republican George W. Bush's Electoral College triumph over Democrat Al Gore, who had won more popular votes. ''I know that many of my supporters are disappointed. I am, too,'' Gore said when conceding. "But our disappointment must be overcome by love of country.''
Mario Tama
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AFP/Getty Images
... but months of despair followed
For months after the election, Gore acknowledged he was hard to be around. He put on weight and grew a beard. It wasn't until the summer of 2001, when he and his wife, Tipper, went to Europe for six weeks, that he said he began to turn the corner. Later, he updated a slide show he'd used for a 1992 book, ''Earth in the Balance.'' His followup book about climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006), pushed Gore toward a triumph in 2007: the Nobel Peace Prize.
Arthur Mola
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Invision/AP
Bob Dole: Defeat with humor
The Kansas Republican appeared on Saturday Night Live less than two weeks after his defeat, said Scott Farris, author of "Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race But Changed the Nation.'' On TV comedy show "Saturday Night Live," Bob Dole also spoofed his loss and his tendency to speak in the third person, telling the TV audience: "That's not something Bob Dole does. It's not something Bob Dole has ever done, and it's not something Bob Dole will ever do!" Dole has written two books on political humor since. READ: Bob Dole: No one wants to be a losing presidential candidate
Damian Dovarganes
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Associated Press
George H.W. Bush: A cruise
The 41st president sought to take the edge off his post-inaugural downs in early 1993 with a Caribbean cruise with his wife, Barbara. The ex-president was out jogging at 7 a.m., chatting with fellow passengers in the bar, even greeting a couple who had just renewed their vows at sea. Bush '"put his arms around the couple and wished them the best,'' said the officiant, the Rev. Bob Moorhead. READ: Bush at sea
David Ake
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AFP/Getty Images
Michael Dukakis: A tough road
Michael Dukakis still had two years to serve as Massachusetts governor after his loss to George H.W. Bush in 1988. Although he reported right back to work in Boston, he encountered tough criticism as the economic success of his state flattened -- and he had to raise taxes. In recent years, Dukakis served as an Amtrak board member and taught at Northeastern and UCLA.
Patricia McDonnell
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Associated Press
Jimmy Carter: From defeat (and debt) to a Nobel
Jimmy Carter (D) returned to Plains, Ga., in early 1981 after his defeat by Ronald Reagan (R) to find his blind trust had been mismanaged, leaving him $1 million in debt. He turned to writing, helping to build affordable housing and promoting democracy and human rights abroad (for which he won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize). His approval rating, just 31 percent in late 1980, was measued in a CNN poll at 69 percent in 2009. At the end of the recent movie ''Argo,'' Carter, much maligned as ineffective, acknowledged he approved a daring rescue of six U.S. Embassy workers in Tehran in 1980 but added he couldn't publicize it, for fear of jeopardizing the fate of other Americans then held by the Iranians.
Choo Youn-Kong
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AFP/Getty Images
George McGovern: Not gracious in defeat
The South Dakota Democrat, author Scott Farris said, skipped Richard Nixon's second inauguration in 1973. A day later, at Oxford University, George McGovern likened Nixon to the worst of Britian's royal line. "You have been spared a King Richard IV,'' McGovern told the audience. "I am convinced that the United States is closer to one-man rule than at any time in our history.'' Nixon resigned the following year, brought down by a coverup over a break-in at a Democratic party office. Weeks before McGovern's death this year, he compared losing a presidential race to an old wound that never heals .
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Associated Press
James M. Cox: Don't look back
James M. Cox (D), at left, lost in a landslide to Warren G. Harding (R) in 1920. But he devoted the rest of his life to expanding his media empire, now known as Cox Enterprises. Harding, another Ohio newspaper publisher, was hardly a winner, though: He died in 1923 at age 57, best known for the Teapot Dome scandal that engulfed his administration.
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Associated Press
Horace Greeley: The saddest story
Praised as editor of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley had the swiftest fall as a presidential aspirant, author Scott Farris said. Greeley's wife, Mary Cheney Greeley, died within days of his loss in 1872 to incumbent Ulysses S. Grant. Greeley also lost his longtime conntrol of his newspaper. Before the month was out, Greeley, too, was dead.
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Associated Press
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