n.
- One who achieves unexpected support and success as a political candidate, typically during a party's convention.
- A little-known, unexpectedly successful entrant, as in a horserace.
dark horse
| Dictionary: dark horse |
n.
| Idioms: dark horse |
A little known, unexpectedly successful entrant, as in You never can tell--some dark horse may come along and win a Senate seat. This metaphoric expression originally alluded to an unknown horse winning a race and was so used in a novel by Benjamin Disraeli (The Young Duke, 1831). It soon began to be transferred to political candidates, among the first of whom was James K. Polk. He won the
1844 Democratic Presidential nomination on the eighth ballot and went on to win the election.
| US History Encyclopedia: Dark Horse |
Dark Horse, a compromise candidate selected as party nominee when a deadlock arises among leading candidates. The candidate is usually substantially colorless with respect to current issues, unidentified with party factions, and unobjectionable in his public and private life. In 1844, James K. Polk became the first dark horse presidential candidate when Martin Van Buren, the expected Democratic choice, rendered himself unpopular to many in his party by arguing against the immediate annexation of Texas. In 1852, Franklin Pierce followed in the dark horse tradition. Other more recent examples of dark horses include James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, and Warren G. Harding.
Bibliography
Doenecke, Justus D. The Presidencies of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1981.
Gara, Larry. The Presidency of Franklin Pierce. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991.
Haynes, Sam W. James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse. New York: Longman, 1997.
—W. B. Hatcher/A. E.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: dark horse |
dark horse, in U.S. politics, a person unexpectedly chosen by a major party as a candidate for public office, especially for the presidency. A presidential dark horse is usually chosen at a party national convention and often has acquired only a local or limited reputation at the time of his nomination. He is invariably the offspring of compromise after rival factions have deadlocked the convention. Probably the best-known example of a dark horse is James K. Polk, who was selected at the Democratic convention of 1844 on the ninth ballot, although he had not been nominated until the eighth ballot.
| US Presidents Q&A: What is a "dark horse" candidate? |
The early convention atmosphere and a fear of deadlock among the most popular candidates (based on the Democratic Party rule that a presidential candidate needed to win two-thirds of the convention delegates to capture his party's nomination), led to the occasional selection of a "dark horse" candidate. The term is used to describe a minor candidate or party figure who was not originally considered but who steps in as a compromise choice. A dark horse, in betting parlance, is not among the betting favorites. The first dark horse candidate to win nomination was Tennessee politician James K. Polk, who emerged from the Democratic Convention of 1844 and went on to win the presidency. The opposition Whig Party had used the slogan, "Who is James K. Polk?"
Other dark horse candidates in history include New Hampshire politician Franklin Pierce, New York politician Horatio Seymour, Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. representative James A. Garfield of Ohio, U.S. senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio, and former U.S. representative John W. Davis of West Virginia. Of these, Pierce, Hayes, Garfield, and Harding were elected president.
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| Politics: dark horse |
An unexpected winner. In politics, a dark horse is a candidate for office considered unlikely to receive his or her party's nomination, but who might be nominated if party leaders cannot agree on a better candidate.
| Wikipedia: Dark horse |
For other uses, see Dark horse (disambiguation).
A "dark horse" is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence.[1]
Contents |
Origin
The term began as horse racing parlance. A dark horse is a race horse that is not known to gamblers and thus is difficult to place betting odds on.
The earliest-known use of the phrase is in Benjamin Disraeli's novel The Young Duke (1831). Disraeli's protagonist, the Duke of St. James, attends a horse race with a surprise finish: "A dark horse which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grandstand in sweeping triumph."[2]
Use
Politically, the term was first applied to James K. Polk, a relatively unknown Tennessee Democrat who won the Democratic Party's 1844 presidential nomination over a host of better-known candidates. Polk won the nomination on the ninth ballot, and went on to win the presidential election.
Other famous dark horse candidates for the United States presidency include:
- Franklin Pierce, chosen as the Democratic nominee and later elected the 14th president in 1852
- Abraham Lincoln, chosen as the Republican nominee and elected as the 16th president in 1860.
- Rutherford B. Hayes, elected the 19th president in 1876.
- James A. Garfield, elected the 20th president in 1880.
- Warren G. Harding, elected the 29th president after his surprise nomination.
- John W. Davis, the unsuccessful Democratic nominee in 1924.
- Wendell Willkie, the unsuccessful Republican nominee in 1940.
More recently, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have been described as dark horses[citation needed], after they overcame a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls to win the 2008 presidential election and 1992 presidential election, respectively. The same has been said about Jimmy Carter and the 1976 presidential election[citation needed] .
Outside of the United States, the term was also applied to Alberto Fujimori, who rose to the Presidency in Peru.
The term dark horse is also used outside the political context. Surprising or unlikely nominations for such prizes as the Academy Award are referred to as dark horses. It is also used in sport beyond horse racing, in connection with competitors or teams that—despite not being initial favorites—have done well and may win.
George Harrison was nicknamed the "dark horse" of the Beatles, as his visibility as a songwriter and vocalist increased later in the Beatles' career, particularly on Abbey Road.
Season 8 American Idol winner Kris Allen was also nicknamed the "dark horse" of the competition by judge Kara DioGuardi.
References
See also
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| US Presidents Q&A. The Handy Presidents Answer Book. 2004 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Politics. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dark horse". Read more |
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