Ford was never elected. He was appointed VP midterm by Nixon and confirmed by the Congress. He ascended under the 25th when Nixon resigned and was then beaten by Jimmy Carter in '76.Nixon, Ford, LBJ, and Bush all used their Vice Presidential experience, not their Congressional experience to get elected.
Harding at least served as Lt. Governor of Ohio before becoming a Senator, so he brought some, albeit limited, executive experience to the White House.For people who went directly from Senator to President, you have:
Harding, (Truman), JFK, Obama
Then Ford gets his own category too. Besides, when it came time for Truman's reelection, he had almost four years of executive experience.
Ehhhhh, Ford was only VeeP from 1973-1974. Not a lot of experience to tout there.
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