The Losers: Losing Presidential Candidates Explain their Losses

C-SPAN's The Weekly

Time now … for the losers.

Time to hear from presidential candidates who ran for the White House – and lost … and the reasons they gave for losing.

Like Democrat John Kerry after the 2004 election

Fear and the war were shoved at America in an exploited way that made it very difficult for people to get out from under that 9-11. And when Osama bin Laden appeared on the Friday before the election in that tape, it shifted the last days of that election.

And Republican George Bush after the 1992 election:

I think by beating back against tremendous odds, some lousy legislation, we ended up with getting good legislation. I'm afraid in the campaign, in the process, we were accused of being against people because of having to take a stand for fiscal responsibility

Losing a presidential election is back in the news. In September 2025, Kamala Harris will publish a memoir on her losing run for the White House in 2024.

Which makes this the perfect time to hear other presidential candidates explain why they lost.

What do they say about losing? What went wrong? Why failure? Who's to blame? – And -- is it ever the losers' fault?

Find out in the latest episode of C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly" — when we hear exclusively from just one group of people — the losers.

Find C-SPAN's "The Weekly" wherever you get podcasts.

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