What will happen to losers of White House race?

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One may wind up as the first woman to lead the U.S. Senate. Another is relatively young and could run again for president. The third may simply resume his role as a congressional maverick and retire in two years.

These are among the options that await the losers in the three-way race for the White House.

John McCain, who has wrapped up the Republican presidential nomination, will square off in November against Hillary Clinton, 60, or Barack Obama, 46, both fellow senators locked in a battle for the Democratic nomination.

McCain, who turns 72 in August, would be the oldest first-term U.S. president. Clinton would be the first female president; Obama would be the first black president and one of the youngest.

"The three face very different situations, but in each case they have to show some grace if they lose -- or they will be in trouble," said James Thurber of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.

The first test will be how quickly they are able to set aside the disappointment of failing to capture the White House. It's not easy.

"Who says I've let go yet?" Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democrats' failed 2004 presidential nominee, said with a chuckle and a shrug.

"It's difficult. But you have to move on. Being a senator is a great job. You can do a lot of good," Kerry said.

For the first couple of years after his 2004 defeat, Kerry kept a relatively low profile. He emerged much more in the past year or so, criticizing the handling of the U.S. war on terrorism.

This year's election will be the first in which two sitting U.S. senators will face each other in the general presidential election. The last sitting senator to win the White House was John F. Kennedy in 1960.

NOBEL PRIZE FOR ONE LOSER

Al Gore, a former senator turned vice president, rebounded from a gut-wrenching loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 White House race to win a share of the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his efforts as a private citizen to combat global warming.

George McGovern, another former Democratic nominee, recalls the silence after President Richard Nixon defeated him in a 1972 landslide.

"Suddenly it's quiet and you feel a little lonely. Everyone vanishes. The national press corps leaves. The Secret Service (protective detail) says goodbye. You are no longer on the front page of the newspaper every day," said McGovern, 85.

In a telephone interview from his home in Mitchell, South Dakota, McGovern said after a period of readjustment he decided to remain in the Senate and won re-election in 1974.