George W. Cleveland

In a somewhat mean-spirited essay, Timothy Noah raises an intriguing possibility--that President Bush, should he lose this election, might be tempted to run again in 2008, though the 22nd Amendment would require that he serve only one term should he do so. The only other president to serve non-consecutive terms was Grover Cleveland.

By the way, I don't entirely agree with Noah's assessment that while Democrats blame their candidate when he loses, the Republicans blame the opposition. The elder President Bush was persona non grata in Republican circles for a while following his defeat at the hands of Bill Clinton. If GW loses in a landslide--unlikely if he loses at all--I doubt that he would be able to convince his party to give him the nomination again.