acroyear | (Recent) History is being made this year, no matter what.

Whether it's McCain, Obama, or, Hillary (Barr doesn't stand a chance) this will be the first time that a President will be elected from a standing U.S. Senator since JFK. Every Senator candidate since him has lost to either a governor or to a vice president, or never made it past the primaries.

1964: Barry Goldwater
1968: Ed Muskee lost in the primaries to become Humphrey's running mate...and lost there, too.
1972: George McGovern
1976: Henry Scoop Jackson and Frank Church lost in the Democratic Primary; James Buckley lost in the Republican
1980: Ted Kennedy mounted a failed campaign to take the nomination from Carter
1984: 4 Standing senators, plus McGovern, all lost to Mondale in the Primaries
1988: Lloyd Benson lost in the Primaries to Dukakis
1992: 2 Senators and 2 former senators all lost to Clinton in the Primaries; several others chose not to run thinking that year's race unwinnable. Shows what they know...
1996: Bob Dole (who lost in the primaries every election since '76, save '84 when he didn't bother fighting Reagan)
2000: Bill Bradley failed to secure the Democratic nomination; we all know what happened to McCain then
2004: John Kerry