Matthew Dowd has this column in the Huffington Post on the chances of a powerful presidential candidate in 2012 who is not the nominee of either the Democratic or Republican Parties. The column says that if no one gets a majority in the Electoral College, and the U.S. House chooses the President, Republicans have an advantage. The piece says that Republicans virtually always carry more states. This is not correct. In 2008, Republicans only carried 22 states; in 1996, they only carried 19; in 1992, they only carried 18.
One must go back to 1976 to find an election at which the Democrats won, but the Republicans carried more states. In 1976, Gerald Ford carried 27 states but still lost the election. Thanks to Peter Gemma for the link. The article originally appeared in the National Journal.