Editing Bill Clinton (section)

==Failed congressional campaign and tenure as Attorney General of Arkansas==
{{Further|Electoral history of Bill Clinton}}

After graduating from [[Yale Law School]], Clinton returned to Arkansas and became a law professor at the [[University of Arkansas]]. In 1974, he ran for the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. Running in the conservative [[Arkansas's 3rd congressional district|3rd district]] against incumbent Republican [[John Paul Hammerschmidt]], Clinton's campaign was bolstered by the anti-Republican and anti-incumbent mood resulting from the [[Watergate scandal]]. Hammerschmidt, who had received 77 percent of the vote in 1972, defeated Clinton by only a 52&nbsp;percent to 48&nbsp;percent margin. In 1976, Clinton ran for [[Arkansas Attorney General|Arkansas attorney general]]. Defeating the secretary of state and the deputy attorney general in the Democratic primary, Clinton was elected with no opposition in the general election, as no Republican had run for the office.<ref name=AllPolitics1>{{cite news|url=http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/candidates/democrat/clinton/political.career.shtml |work=CNN|title=Bill Clinton Political Career |year=1997 |access-date=August 30, 2011 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020920104113/http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/candidates/democrat/clinton/political.career.shtml |archive-date=September 20, 2002 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="First in His Class" />