It is hard on the psyche to lose a U.S. presidential election. Al Gore, when he lost, fled to Europe, grew a beard and started making up a global warming plot that has kept him going since.
George H.W. Bush received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth and began parachuting out of airplanes and paling around with Bill Clinton.
Michael Dukakis became a college professor after purchasing an old tank.
Bob Dole made Viagra ads and wore out Elizabeth until she finally, through exhaustion, lost her Senate seat.
Bill Clinton went trailer-hopping.
And John McCain? Well, he returned to his day job, in the 100-member U.S. Senate, and went back to work.
More so than many recent presidential candidates who did not make it to the White House, McCain, 72, seems to have had a quick adjustment back to what he had been doing
before he began his quest for the presidency.
"They told me that this is where I was before the election so, I came right back. And you know what, once I entered the office, I remembered the whole shebang!"
