Candidate

In Ancient Rome all those wishing to be elected to official positions wore white togas before the elections were held. The word "candidate" comes from the Latin word "candidus" meaning white.

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The first losing candidate in a US presidential election was Thomas Jefferson. He lost to John Adams in 1796. George Washington had been unopposed.

In the Southern states of America, during the first presidential campaign of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, candidates for elections would parade through the streets led by a band of musicians performing on a horse-drawn wagon. As a publicity stunt, a candidate would mount the wagon as it passed through his own constituency in an effort to woo voters. From this comes the phrase climbing the bandwagon.

Europe's first women members of parliament were Finns. They were elected in 1907 in the first continental election to include female candidates.

In 1972 Dr Benjamin Spock, the author of The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, stood as a candidate for the People's Party in the 1972 US presidential election.

The word "hustings," meaning the political campaign process, comes from the Old Norse words hús (house) and þing (assembly). Originally it referred to a deliberative assembly held inside a building, long before it came to mean the rough-and-tumble of electioneering.

The first US presidential candidate to actively campaign in person was Stephen Douglas in 1860. Before him, it was considered undignified for a presidential candidate to openly seek votes — rival Abraham Lincoln stayed home in Springfield, Illinois and let others speak on his behalf, in keeping with the tradition of the day.

In the 1840 US presidential election, William Henry Harrison's campaign invented the modern political slogan with "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" — one of the most celebrated catchphrases in American electoral history. Harrison won the election but died just 31 days into his presidency.

Australia became the first country to introduce the secret ballot for public elections in 1856, in the state of Victoria. The method quickly spread worldwide and is sometimes still called the "Australian ballot" in recognition of this innovation.

The youngest candidate ever elected President of the United States was John F. Kennedy, who was 43 years old when he took office in 1961. Theodore Roosevelt, however, was younger when he assumed the presidency at 42, but he was not elected — he succeeded to the office after the assassination of William McKinley.

Source Daily Mail