El largo paréntesis en la carrera política de Gingrich

Smart Politics:

A Smart Politics review of presidential election history finds that if Newt Gingrich were to win the White House in 2012, his 13+ year hiatus from political office at the time of his inauguration would be the largest among all U.S. Presidents who previously held political office.

The time between Gingrich's departure from the U.S. House on January 3, 1999 and his hypothetical inauguration as president on January 20, 2012 would be 13 years and 17 days.

That would be over a year longer than the current longest break from political service by a victorious presidential candidate - a mark currently held by Abraham Lincoln in the Election of 1860.

Lincoln's last day as U.S. Representative from Illinois' 7th Congressional District was March 3, 1849 - some 12 years and 1 day before he was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States on March 4, 1861.

(...) While there is ample precedent for the American electorate voting a nominee into the White House who is not currently holding a political post, it is very rare for a candidate to get elected president who has been out of office for more than a decade like Gingrich.

Excluding the three career military officers elected president who never previously held political office (Zachary Taylor in 1848, Ulysses S. Grant in 1868, and Dwight Eisenhower in 1952), only Lincoln, William Henry Harrison and Franklin Pierce had gaps of 10+ years from their last day in office to Inauguration Day.

After Lincoln, Harrison had the next longest hiatus at 11 years, 5 months, and 6 days, between the end of his Ambassadorship to Columbia in 1829 and his presidential inauguration in March 1841.

Pierce - who spent his intervening years practicing law and fighting in the Mexican-American War - recorded 11 years and 4 days between his last day as U.S. Senator from New Hampshire in 1842 and becoming president in March 1853.

The lion's share of successful presidential candidacies in the 20th and 21st Centuries have been launched by those currently serving in political office (or incumbents who, by definition, are in office). The exceptions are:

· William Taft, who had a gap of 8 months and 4 days after his tenure as Secretary of War and his presidential inauguration in 1909.

· Herbert Hoover, who left his long-held position as Secretary of Commerce to become the Republican nominee some 6 months and 11 days before his inauguration in 1929.

· Richard Nixon, who notched the fourth longest hiatus among the presidents at exactly eight years between the last day of his Vice-Presidency in 1961 and the first day of his presidency in 1969.

· Jimmy Carter, who had a scarce 1 year and 6 days out of office between serving as Governor of Georgia and president.

· Ronald Reagan, whose final term as Governor of California ended 6 years and 14 days before his inauguration in 1980.

(...) But Gingrich would be in rare company by just winning the Republican nomination, even if he lost to Barack Obama in this hypothetical scenario.

Of the more than 50 failed major party presidential candidates in U.S. history, only two notched a larger gap than Gingrich between their last day in political office and their would-be presidential inauguration: Horace Greeley in 1872 (24 years, 1 day) and William Jennings Bryan in 1908 (14 years, 1 day).