The position of caucus chairman may or may not lead to higher office. Republican conference chair John Anderson and Democratic Caucus Chair Richard Gephardt unsuccessfully sought their party's Presidential nominations in 1980 and 1988 respectively. Anderson took his following and ran as a third party presidential candidate the same year, and never again achieved national prominence as a Republican. Gephardt though was elected as the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives in 1989, and stayed in that position through 2002, before stepping down to run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for President again in 2004. Gephardt helped nominate John Kerry by promptly endorsing him after Kerry defeated him in the Iowa caucuses.