The day was November 1, 2004. William Henry Cosby Jr. turned out the lights and laid his head down on his pillow. The next day was Election Day. Would Americans vote to reelect President Bush...or opt for a change?
How did America's Dad pivot from beloved world-famous comedian to contender for leader of the free world? Well, it wasn't too hard. Cosby jumped into the race late in July 2003. At the time, it was a horserace between Iraq hardliner Joe Lieberman (who appealed to the hawkish faction of the party), liberal institution John Kerry, Missouri moderate Dick Gephardt, and progressive firebrand Howard Dean.
Cosby had natural appeal to all four of the candidate's supporters - he didn't have strong positions on many of the issues - plus he stood to take black voters away from Al Sharpton. By August, he was ten points ahead of any of his competitors. Cosby came in first in the Iowa caucus, but lost New Hampshire to Howard Dean.
Dean also carried Nevada but Cosby crushed him in South Carolina and got over 60% of the vote after a late endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn. He also won every state on Super Tuesday besides Dean's home of Vermont, and the last remaining contenders dropped out of the race.
Now began the long campaign. Cosby picked John Edwards as his running mate. Couldn't go wrong with him, right? Popular in the South, moderate, inoffensive. So Cosby/Edwards it was.
Cosby led Bush in most polls but was dogged by questions about his personal life. He had admitted to an extramarital affair in the past and rumors circulated into the summer that something more may have happened. But Bill wasn't having it: "I've done things in the past that I now regret deeply. And Camille and I worked through that. I'm a changed man now." Nothing concrete ever came out, though, and by debate time in September the rumors had died down.
Bush interrogated Cosby on Iraq in the debates. He also attacked him for having zero political experience, but Cosby's comedic comebacks humiliated the President.
Still, Bill was nervous. In a way he didn't want to become president. He had more than a few skeletons in his closet that could come back to bite him one way or another - and with a Congress full of your political enemies, who knows what happens?
He didn't get much sleep that night.
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