by Chris Kling

Created on: November 08, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2008

What do Henry Cabot Lodge, Jack Kemp, John Edwards and - perhaps - even Sarah Palin have in common?

Each of the gentleman ran for the second-highest office in the United States, that of Vice-President, and lost. Further, each of them went on to run again for President in a later race. Each of the gentlemen continued to serve their country in various degrees even after losing "the big one".

The lady? Time will tell.

Lodge, the grandson and great-great-grandson of US Senators served in that august group himself before campaigning as Richard Nixon's running mate in 1960, the year Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy.

In the ensuing years, Lodge served as an Ambassador to South Vietnam from 1963 to 1964, and was an unexpected write-in winner of the New Hampshire primary in 1964, ultimately losing that race to Barry Goldwater.

Jack Kemp, a former NFL star and sitting Congressman from New York ran for President in 1988, losing out to sitting Vice-President George H. W. Bush, who would emerge the eventual winner of the General Elections that year. Kemp stayed in the limelight politically, and ran as Senator Bob Dole's running mate in 1996, losing that year's general election to Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

John Edwards gained fame as a trail lawyer in North Carolina, riding that fame to the NC Senate seat previously held by Republican Lauch Faircloth. In what emerged as a blatant use of the office as a stepping stone, Edwards ran for the President in 2004, losing in the primaries to John Kerry, whom Edwards would later serve as running mate in that year's general election.

Edwards refused to give up and ran again four years later in the 2008 Democratic Primaries, losing early to Hillary Clinton and eventual President-Elect Barack Hussien Obama.

Which brings us to Republican John McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

In what seems to have been a walk-on part, John McCain stomped out his primary challengers early in the electoral process, striding without challenge to his party's nomination. It's easily said that his was a lackluster campaign that failed to ignite the excitement of his party's base - until he selected Gov. Palin that is.

Gov. Sarah Palin drew thousands of otherwise disheartened Conservatives back into the fold, giving McCain's campaign the energy it so desparately lacked. Gov. Palin also gained significant celebrity status (which apparently is now a necessity) with high-powered interviews with Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson and Sean Hannity (sometimes with positive results - sometimes not), and even a dead-on skewering of the Gov. by Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey.

I believe that we have yet to hear the end of Gov. Palin's political footprint, and look forward to the coming years as she strives to demonstrate the "gravitas" which I believe many have overlooked.

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