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In politics, adraft is used to encourage or pressure a certain person to enter a political race, by demonstrating a significant groundswell of support for the candidate.
Movements to draft five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower to run as a candidate forPresident of the United States appeared in both the Democratic and Republican parties in 1948 and again during 1951.Eisenhower did his best to ignore them, butHenry Cabot Lodge Jr. entered Eisenhower in the 1952New Hampshire Republican primary without the general's authorization. Eisenhower won all the Republican delegates and defeatedSenatorRobert A. Taft ofOhio, who had campaigned intensively in the state, by a vote of 50% to 38%. Eisenhower told a reporter, "Any American who would have that many other Americans pay him that compliment would be proud or he would not be an American", and announced his candidacy the next day. HedefeatedAdlai Stevenson — himself drafted as the Democratic nominee — in November 1952.
In the early 1960s, two volunteers started a movement to draftBarry Goldwater, an unlikely and unwilling candidate back then. Goldwater initially gave such remarks as "I'm not a candidate. And I'm not going to be. I have no intention of running for the Presidency", and "'Draft' nothing. I told you I'm not going to run." However, the effort eventually convinced Goldwater and won him the Republican nomination in 1964 in the face of the self-financed campaign ofNelson Rockefeller, the ridicule of the national press, and the refusal by Goldwater to run.
The candidacy of GeneralWesley Clark was the result of a draft. Clark, who had recently retired from the military and taken a job as aCNN military analyst, had no intention of running until multiple "Draft Clark" sites appeared on the web urging Clark to run. Over an approximate two-month period the draft became a nationwide effort due to TV coverage and the use of the internet. In September 2003, Clark said he would make up his mind on whether to accept the draft or not in the near future. Soon after that statement, Clark announcedhis candidacy in his hometown ofLittle Rock, Arkansas, citing that he was pulled in by the people to run for the presidency.
There was a draft campaign for formerVice PresidentAl Gore prior to the 2008 election. Gore, who had won the Nobel Prize while out of office, repeatedly ruled out running for president in the 2008 election. Gore eventually endorsed Senator Barack Obama after he became the presumptive nominee.
Prior to the 2008 election, a group of people tried to draftSecretary of StateCondoleezza Rice for the presidency. The group went so far as to buy television and radio time inIowa,New Hampshire,North Dakota, andFlorida, and even roadside billboards. Though Rice had publicly declined to run, the groundswell of support for this cause continued to gain notoriety in national and international media. The most prominent "Draft Rice" group was calledAmericans for Rice.[1]
In the fall of 2008,The Washington Times and theBoston Herald reported on a campaign to draftJoe Wurzelbacher to run against Rep.Marcy Kaptur ofOhio's 9th congressional district.[2][3] The draft campaign began with the websitejoewurzelbacher2010.com, created by Trevor Lair, presently the chairman of the Massachusetts College Republicans.[4][5] From the beginning of the draft campaign Wurzelbacher stated he was interested in running in the 2010 election for Ohio's 9th congressional district;[6][7] when asked byLaura Ingraham in October 2008 if he would run against Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Wurzelbacher responded he had considered doing so and would be "up for it."[8][9][10]
From 2013 to 2014, polls were conducted by media sources such asThe Washington Post which suggested that if the2012 US presidential election were held then, incumbentBarack Obama would lose to challengerMitt Romney.[11] Later on, from the middle of 2014 to 2015, polls that included Romney showed an overwhelming double-digit lead over evenJeb Bush,[12] who was considered to be a front-runner of the party. This data combined helped to spark a movement to draft Mitt Romney into the race, the most notable example being found in the Draft Mitt Campaign. Romney would initially deny the possibility of a third run, eventually did end up flirting with the idea, but in late January 2015 confirmed he would definitely not be making another campaign for the Presidency,[13] stating "I've decided it is best to give other leaders in the Party the opportunity to become our next nominee”.
In 2015,The New York Times reported thatMoveOn.org andDemocracy for America said they would support efforts to draftElizabeth Warren into the 2016 US presidential race.[14] The two groups created and ran the websiteRun Warren Run.[14] Some Republicans saw her as potentially weakeningHillary Clinton's campaign, whilst Democrats hoped that the threat of Warren would push Clinton towards more populist stances on issues. Libertarians share Warren's disdain for the bank bailout, but for different reasons.[14] In Iowa, where she was then largely unknown, an October 2014 poll showed that 44% of likely Democratic caucus goers had a favorable opinion of her, though more felt favorably about Clinton. In a January 2015 interview with Fortune Magazine, Warren denied interest in running.[14] Warrenran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in the2020 presidential election.
