“There’s just absolutely no downside and only upside,” Antonia Ferrier, a longtime Republican strategist, said of quixotic presidential runs. “It is an industry of self-promotion. What better way to self-promote than run for president?”
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has leveraged two losing presidential campaigns into an empire of folksy conservative ubiquity across television, radio and print. Ben Carson transitioned from renowned neurosurgeon to national hero of the right during a 2016 run that included an extended midcampaign hiatus to promote his book. His efforts were rewarded with a job in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, clawed back to national prominence seven years ago despite posing little threat to take the nomination.
“It gives you a certain stature the rest of your life, kind of like having once been speaker of the House,” Gingrich said in an interview. “They introduce you, and then they say, ‘... and former presidential candidate!’ It’s not bad.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who sought the Democratic nomination in 2004, said the experience aided his civil rights advocacy and increased his personal clout, expanding his opportunities even though he never approached serious electoral strength.
He recalled hosting “Saturday Night Live” just before the primaries and later securing an invitation to meet with President George W. Bush. “No one in New York, when I was a tracksuit-wearing local activist, would ever dream I would sit down with a Republican president or host ‘Saturday Night Live,’” Sharpton said.
Of course, it was Trump’s belief in the branding powers of a presidential campaign that pulled him into the 2016 race — and his triumph that has helped inspire successors. But Trump was already famous when he declared his intentions. And his blistering campaign style revealed a potential complication for those who see only benefits in running: Some of the top-tier contenders in 2016 — like Jeb Bush, appraised as “low energy” on Trump’s Twitter feed — came away plainly diminished as national figures.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.