The 2008 United States Presidential election was a contest held between Democratic President John Edwards of North Carolina and his Republican challenger, George Allen of Virginia. Thanks to a severe recession and a series of foreign policy blunders by the Edwards administration, Allen won a resounding victory in the popular and electoral vote, making Edwards the first President since Jimmy Carter to lose his reelection bid. Allen and his running mate, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, also marked the first time in history that two Governors had been elected on the same ticket.