Bob Dole
President Gerald Ford chose Bob Dole as his running mate in the 1976 election after Vice President Nelson Rockefeller did not want to be Ford's vice president. Ford lost the election to Democrat Jimmy Carter in the general election. Bob Dole ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 but quickly dropped out of the race. Bob Dole ran again for the nomination in the 1988 Republican primaries but lost to Vice President George H. W. Bush. Bob Dole won the Republican nomination in 1996, however lost in the general election to President Bill Clinton. Bob Dole resigned from the Senate during the 1996 campaign and did not run for public office again after the election.