Has any nominee EVER put his primary opponents in his cabinet????

[AP]

I suspect (LBJ-JFK notwithstanding, which ended up working out pretty well for LBJ) the best a primary opponent has ever done is an ambassadorship.

[codegreen]

1. Bush the First and Reagan were competing in 1980, i believe

[funky_bug]

3. You are correct!

And they were quite adversarial. Bodes well for my guy Clark.

[AP]

4. And like Kennedy, Reagan got shot at ... by someon whose father had dinner

with the VP's son just before the shooting.

That's fucked up!

[MoonRiver]

8. 2012!

:kick:

[DjTj]

2. Reagan-Bush

...cabinet-level positions are probably looked upon as a step down from Presidential candidate perhaps.

[demigoddess]

5. On buzzflash they were discussing having all the candidates in the

major cabinet positions and I thought it a great idea and I posed the question to my son and he thought it would be great. I especially like it if the candidates would all put their money in a pot to defeat bush and all campaign as supporters of the candidate. It would be so innovative that I think a lot of people would come to our side.
forgive me if you have read this before haven't had time to read everything.

[lastknowngood]

6. Too much bad blood most of these guys will never talk to

each other again.

[Frances]

7. Then why did Clark endorse Kerry

and why is Edwards making such a show of being so positive and upbeat?

[DjTj]

10. Clark and Edwards may be exceptions...

...they both don't have long political careers and don't have their own elected offices to return to - perhaps an anomaly in Presidential politics.

[Bill of Rights]

9. GWB made Ashcroft

his Attorney General to keep some of Ashcroft's fans happy. Ashcroft had run for the Repug nomination in 2000.

[wuushew]

13. Are you sure about that? I was under the impression he ran for Senate?

in 2000, lost and was saved from political oblivion by Bushco.

[krkaufman]

15. Correct. Ashcroft lost MO Senate race to a dead man in 2000...

.. whose wife was then appointed to the position, on an interim basis until the next Senatorial election cycle. (And who subsequently lost in 2002.)

[frazzle]

11. Bush #1 Had One

Jack Kemp as HUD secretary ... lasted all four years, as I remember.

[newyawker99]

16. Hi frazzle!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[LTR]

12. Reagan appointed Haig as Sec. Of State

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Haig run in '80?

[NNadir]

14. Well this was a long time ago...

...but Abraham Lincoln put both of his most serious challengers in his cabinet: Salmon Chase and William Seward.

Chase was actually maneuvering for the Republican Presidential Nomination (against Lincoln), albeit not openly although Lincoln was aware of it, while he was serving as Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury. Lincoln ultimately fired Chase from the Cabinet but later appointed him to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Chase in the 1864 campaign did finally endorse the ABM (anyone but McClellan) stance saying, "I will do for Lincoln everything that I would do for a better man."

Seward and Lincoln ultimately became close allies and friends.