2008
George W. Bush, the incumbent President, was ineligible to run for a third term due to the Twenty-second Amendment, and Dick Cheney, the incumbent Vice President, did not seek the office, so the field was wide open. Rudy Giuliani was the frontrunner in the polls for most of 2007, but made a critical mistake by skipping the early primaries and staking his fortune on a win in Florida the week before Super Tuesday. This backfired badly as John McCain, whose campaign had been written off long before as a lost cause, surged suddenly in New Hampshire (where he had won before during the 2000 primaries) and rode a wave of momentum through South Carolina to defeat all other contenders in Florida. Giuliani quickly dropped out and endorsed McCain, but Mitt Romney, a well-organized candidate who up to that point had won only his native Michigan and a couple minor caucus states, fought on. McCain easily beat him on Super Tuesday, with assistance from Mike Huckabee, a conservative contender who stole a few crucial Southern primaries, shutting Romney out. Romney suspended his campaign during the CPAC convention that week, leaving only Huckabee, who said he would stay in until the nomination fight was over. He dropped out in early March after McCain won Texas and Ohio, thus clinching the nomination. Ron Paul, who had generated a lot of Internet buzz, did not win a single contest but stayed in the race until the last primary votes were cast in June.
Read more about this topic: Republican Party Presidential Primaries