Presidential Election 2012

Riding off of the 2010 Midterms with a strong showing of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, it was believed in conservative circles that Barack Obama could be defeated for a second term as President.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the quiet part out loud early in 2009 that the number one goal of the Republican Party in Congress is to make Barack Obama a one term president.  As the incumbent president, Barack Obama had secured the Democratic Nomination easily.  The Republican Party, however, saw such candidates as Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Ron Paul of Texas, Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

Having had a strong second place showing for the Republican Nomination in 2008, Mitt Romney was the strong frontrunner despite his more centrist stance compared to a conservative stance from Newt Gingrich.  By May 2012, Romney secured the Republican Nomination.  After choosing Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate, Romney and Ryan were ready to take on Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the fall campaign.

But perhaps the biggest surprise candidate was one who would not be a candidate for president until the Presidential Election in 2016; Donald Trump.  In 2011 Trump had the celebrity and the means to bring about a movement to force President Obama to produce a long form birth certificate to prove that the President was in fact, born in the United States.  This group in the movement were known as Birthers.  Their argument went back to an old early Twentieth Century court case that tried to define just who was and who was not a United States citizen based on where your parents were born.  If that were the issue then George McGovern, Michael Dukakis, Rick Santorum, and even Donald Trump would be ineligible to be President as these men had at least one parent born outside of the United States.  At the 2011 White House Correspondence Dinner Obama poked fun of Donald Trump over the birth certificate.  Well, if looks could kill, Donald Trump had a face ready for revenge against the President.

The other main issue was the Affordable Care Act of 2010, set to take effect in 2014.  Mitt Romney had a hard time campaigning against that issue given the universal health care system in Massachusetts under Romney's watch as governor.

In the end, Barack Obama was re-elected to a second term winning 332 Electoral Votes to Mitt Romney's 206 Electoral Votes.  This was at current the last national election where a woman was not running on the two major party tickets as President or Vice President.  It was also a campaign where neither the candidates for President or Vice President did not serve in the military.

See also:

• Presidential Election 1940
• Presidential Election 1944
• Presidential Election 1948
• Presidential Election 1952
• Presidential Election 1956
• Presidential Election 1960
• Presidential Election 1964
• Presidential Election 1968
• Presidential Election 1972
• Presidential Election 1976
• Presidential Election 1980
• Presidential Election 1984
• Presidential Election 1988
• Presidential Election 1992
• Presidential Election 1996
• Presidential Election 2000
• Presidential Election 2004
• Presidential Election 2008
• Presidential Election 2012
• Presidential Election 2016
• Presidential Election 2020