Does it blow your mind every Democratic candidate of the past 44 years is still alive?

[Samof94]

Kind of impressive, especially as only four Republicans from that timespan still are.

Dole and Romney are the only living candidates who never became President.

[Samof94]

Kind of impressive, especially as only four Republicans from that timespan still are.

Dole and Romney are the only living candidates who never became President.

Well, tbf, the only other GOP nominee after Goldwater's defeat in 1964 who never became President was McCain.

True, quite true.

[Samof94]

Give it 5 to 10 years and Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis will all be dead. Not being morbid, just the youngest is Dukakis who is 87.

Former presidential candidates older than 80:

Dole (born in 1923)
Carter (1924)
Mondale (1928)
Ed Clark-Libertarian (1930)
Dukakis (1933)
Ralph Nader-Green/Reform/Independent (1934)
Ron Paul-Libertarian (1935)
Andre Marrou-Libertarian (1938)
Pat Buchanan-Reform (1938)

For presidents, Carter will die one day soon, and then Clinton, Bush, and Trump were all born in 1946 (so all are 74 now). Biden born in '42, Kerry in '43, Romney in '46, Hillary Clinton in '47, and Gore in '48. Quayle in '47 and Lieberman in '42. Yes, the Baby Boomers and their antecedents really believed in running the world forever (Pelosi born in '40, Hoyer in '39, and Clyburn in '40).

But I never hear about Mondale and Dukakis in the media. They are quiet. We hear about Gore because of the environment issues and we hear about Kerry because he was secretary of state.

I never hear about Gore or Kerry now.

Kerry was one of Biden's staunchest supporters in the primaries and actually went to Iowa to campaign on his behalf.

You can look at the results, a lot of good Kerry's endorsement did Biden in the Iowa Caucus.

Dan Quayle has absolutely disappeared from public life after his 1996 presidential run. He really wasn't even discussed much at George H.W. Bush's funeral. (Saw a post on Facebook last night that said Quayle was elected Vice President in 1988. He's 5 years younger than Biden.)

Kamala Harris is basically a Gen Xer for all practical purposes even if she is a little before the line.

[Samof94]

Sadly, in the time since this thread was created, Mondale died. His death means that 1996 is now the earliest presidential election in which both major-party candidates are still alive. Given Bob Dole's cancer diagnosis and his advanced age, this may not be true for much longer.

2012 seems to be the only election where both tickets feature a current elected official on them.