If Hillary Clinton does not win this thing, she will fail to become the first woman to be president. She will also become one of the more accomplished candidates -- male or female -- to fall short of the presidency.
Her 20-year resume is unrivaled among the current candidates: First Lady for eight years, U.S. Senator for eight more, and Secretary of State for four years.
But where does she stand in U.S. history? Has anyone with more impressive credentials sought and failed in multiple attempts to be president?
The answer is yes and most definitely yes.
Henry Clay is arguably the most impressive American politician never to be president. A lion of the U.S. Senate, Clay also served multiple stints as Speaker of the House and also as Secretary of State.
A lawyer and highly skilled orator, the Kentuckian negotiated some of the most famous legislative compromises of the pre-Civil War 19th century. From 1811 to 1850, few major events happened in American politics without Clay's input.
If ever a person seemed destined to be president, it was Clay. And he wanted it very badly. But Clay ran three times -- in 1824, 1832 and 1844 -- and lost each time.
I haven't read any biographies of Clay, but recently read several biographies of the men who served with him and bested him. Sometimes that can give a better read on a person.
He made one major miscalculation, otherwise, Clay was bedeviled by circumstances. Simply put, if it weren't for bad luck, he'd have had no luck at all.
"I am the most unfortunate man in the history of parties," he reportedly said after the Whigs bypassed him for the elderly William Henry Harrison in 1840.
The 1840 contest represented Clay's best chance at the presidency. President Martin Van Buren was on the ropes due to the Panic of 1837. Inexplicably, the Whigs settled on the 67-year-old Harrison, who won and died one month into his term.
But the President Clay plan went off the rails much earlier. In hindsight, it's fascinating to consider just how close Clay came to becoming not just a POTUS, but possibly an all-time legendary American figure.
By 1824, the 47-year-old Clay was an established power in Washington, D.C. He was elected freshman Speaker of the House in 1811 and used his forceful personality to remake the largely ceremonial position into the powerful post it remains to this day.
One anecdote tells the story: in one of his first acts as speaker, Clay banned Rep. John Randolph's dog from the House. Members feared the prickly and pugnacious Randolph and Clay was the first who dared confront him on the issue.
Fast forward to 1824 and Clay's plan seemed sound. In a four-man field -- Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and William H. Crawford were the others -- Clay rightly assumed that none of the four would get the required number of electoral votes.
In that scenario, the 12th amendment calls for the House of Representatives to choose the president. Clay needed only to finish in the top three in electoral votes and then let his House influence do the work from there. He finished fourth.
It is likely that, at 47, he was viewed as too young by the standards of 1824 America. What Clay did next would burden him politically for the rest of his life.
In his defense, Clay only did what he did best: he struck a deal. As the three candidates fished for support in the House, sectional loyalties led to gridlock. Already a foe of Jackson's, Clay held a lengthy meeting with Adams one evening.
Soon after, Clay delivered the votes of the three states he won -- Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky -- to Adams. Five days later, the new president named Clay as his secretary of state.
The Jacksonians howled about the "corrupt bargain." For all his gifts, Clay was an intractable sort and no match for the Jackson touch. Clay's political compass failed him one last time during the 1844 campaign, when he vexed many by opposing annexation of Texas.
By this time infirmed and nearing death, Jackson smugly observed that his old adversary was "a dead political duck."
There are many similarities between Henry C. and Hillary C. Both were and are skilled Washington insiders who chased power their entire lives and lusted after the presidency.
Clinton hopes to write a different ending.
