<P> In the 1912 election, Roosevelt won 27.4% of the popular vote compared to Taft's 23.2%, making Roosevelt the only third party presidential nominee to finish with a higher share of the popular vote than a major party's presidential nominee . Both Taft and Roosevelt finished behind Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson, who won 41.8% of the popular vote and the vast majority of the electoral vote . The Progressives elected several Congressional and state legislative candidates, but the election was marked primarily by Democratic gains . The 1916 Progressive National Convention was held in conjunction with the 1916 Republican National Convention in hopes of reunifying the parties with Roosevelt as the presidential nominee of both parties . The Progressive Party collapsed after Roosevelt refused the Progressive nomination and insisted his supporters vote for Charles Evans Hughes, the moderately progressive Republican nominee . Most Progressives joined the Republican Party, but some converted to the Democratic Party, and Progressives like Harold L. Ickes would play a role in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration . In 1924, La Follette established another Progressive Party, and a third Progressive Party would be established in 1948 under the leadership of Henry A. Wallace . </P> <P> Roosevelt left office in 1909 . He had selected Taft, his Secretary of War, to succeed him as presidential candidate, and Taft easily won the 1908 presidential election . Roosevelt became disappointed by Taft's increasingly conservative policies . Taft upset Roosevelt when he used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to sue U.S. Steel for an action that President Roosevelt had explicitly approved . They became openly hostile, and Roosevelt decided to seek the presidency . </P> <P> Roosevelt entered the campaign late, as Taft was already being challenged by progressive leader Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin . Most of La Follette's supporters switched to Roosevelt, leaving the Wisconsin Senator embittered . </P> <P> Nine of the states where progressive elements were strongest had set up preference primaries, which Roosevelt won . But Taft had worked far harder than Roosevelt to control the Republican Party's organizational operations and the mechanism for choosing its presidential nominee, the 1912 Republican National Convention . For example, he bought up the votes of delegates from the southern states, copying the technique Roosevelt himself used in 1904 . The Republican national convention rejected Roosevelt's protests . Roosevelt and his supporters walked out, and the convention re-nominated Taft . The next day, Roosevelt supporters met to form a new political party of their own . California governor Hiram Johnson became its chairman, and a new convention was scheduled for August . Most of the funding came from wealthy sponsors, magazine publisher Frank A. Munsey provided $135,000; George W. Perkins, a director of U.S. Steel and chairman of the International Harvester Company, gave $130,000 and became its executive secretary . Roosevelt's family gave $77,500 and others gave $164,000 . The total was nearly $600,000, far less than the major parties . </P>

What was the impact of the bull moose party on the 1912 election