Everyone Wants to be Jackson

The election of 1836 was a referendum on Andrew Jackson. He was stepping down after two terms and his hand picked successor was Martin Van Buren. Van Buren was the incumbent Vice-President. He would be the last V.P. to win election to the White House until George Bush in 1988. Van Buren won the White House because he was Jackson's heir apparent and the anti-Jackson forces were not united.
First, the people loved Jackson and Jackson loved Van Buren. Something similar happened in 1988. Although Reagan did not necessarily love his V.P., Bush was the heir apparent. Jackson's popularity can not be underscored. He had been on the national scene since 1815 and continually defended the nation and the "common man" in his own uncompromising style.
Second, opposition to Jacksonian policies split three ways. Van Buren did not have to face a single candidate. Instead, he faced three. Daniel Webster, Hugh White, and William Henry Harrison all ran for the presidency. Popular myth has it that these three were Whigs and the Whig Party was attempting to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There is no hard evidence of this. With the Anti-Jacksonians split, Van Buren wins.
Four years later, Van Buren ran for re-election and faced a hostile electorate. The economy tanked in 1837 and the president took the blame. The Whigs were able to attack Van Buren's handling of the economy labeling him Martin Van Ruin. William Henry Harrison returned and was Van Buren's only opponent this time around.
Harrison ran the first modern political campaign. He was packaged as a cider drinking commoner that grew up in a log cabin. At the same time, they contrasted Harrison with Van Buren's allegedly lavish lifestyle. They attacked him as a wine drinking dandy that wore silk shirts. (The modern equivalent occurred in 2004 when the GOP labeled Kerry-Edwards as the ambiguously gay duo).
Harrison won an easy victory. At his inauguration, he refused to dress for a cold, steady rain. He caught pneumonia. One month into his term, Harrison died and John Tyler became president.