Hillary Clinton may or may not be the all-around worst presidential nominee in the history of the Democratic party. That party has, over the years, thrown up some pretty unappealing characters. It’s also nominated candidates whose policies did (James Buchanan, Jimmy Carter) or would have done (George McClellan, George McGovern) great harm to the nation.
The Republican party has, on the whole, had higher standards or at least better luck. Since its first convention in 1856, it has nominated 27 men to serve as president of the United States. Not all have been of sterling quality. Even the most loyal Republican will acknowledge that there have been times when perhaps GOP nominees fell short of the standard for the presidency set forth in Federalist 68, that “it will not be too strong to say, that there will be a constant probability of seeing the station filled by characters pre-eminent for ability and virtue.” It would not perhaps even shock a loyal Republican to say that over the long history of the GOP there have been times when it was perhaps as well that the Republican nominee did not prevail in the general election.
