Young and inexperienced, John F. Kennedy battles across America to win his party's nomination and, during the famous first television debate, redefines how image, as much as substance, could win you the White House.

The journey from prairie lawyer to president might seem impossible, but Lincoln's oratory and ruthless underhand tactics to win his party's nomination gave him the chance to beat one of the most formidable politicians of his generation, Stephen Douglas.

Vice President George H.W. Bush fights off the scandal of Iran Contra in his campaign against Democrat Michael Dukakis, attacking him in a series of devastating TV ads that ultimately sunk Dukakis' campaign.

Presiding over a divided party and lagging far behind in the polls, an unpopular Harry Truman travels across America by train in a race against time to win the White House and beat his opponent, Thomas Dewey.

General Andrew Jackson believed he lost the election of 1824 to John Quincy Adams through political trickery. In 1828, he returns to battle Adams again in a campaign that would be notorious for its vicious personal attacks.

Labelled an adulterer and a draft dodger, Bill Clinton is at rock bottom in the polls when he and his team begin one of the most effective political comebacks in US presidential campaign history.