Before the election Lincoln served as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War.

Before the 2002 election FC Bayern General Manager Uli Hoeneß expressed his support for Stoiber and the CSU.

Before election to the papacy, Pacelli served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany ( 1917 – 1929 ), and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin American nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany.

Before his election as Pope, he served as Bishop of Caere, which made his election controversial, because, at this stage of history, a bishop was expected never to leave office to move to another see.

Before his election to the papacy, he had previously served as Bishop of Sutri.

Before his papal election, Cardinal della Rovere was renowned for his unworldliness and had even written learned treatises entitled On the Blood of Christ and On the Power of God.

Before the election, he founded the Young Nationalists as his party's youth wing and served as its first president.

Before Reagan's election, supply side policy was considered unconventional by the moderate wing of the Republican Party.

Before the 2008 presidential election he said, " On social issues, I lean Libertarian, minus the crazy stuff ," but said in December 2011 that if he were president he would do whatever Bill Clinton advised him to do because that " would lead to policies that are a sensible middle ground.

Before Harding's election, the nation had been adrift ; President Woodrow Wilson had been ill by a debilitating stroke for eighteen months and before that Wilson had been in Europe for several months attempting to negotiate a peace settlement after World War I.

Before John XXII's election a contest had begun for the imperial crown between Louis IV of Bavaria and his opponent, Frederick I of Austria.

Before his royal election, he was by inheritance Duke of Swabia ( 1147 – 1152, as Frederick III ).

Before this election, the United States had no chief executive.

Before the election, the War Democrats joined the Republicans to form the National Union Party.

Before the 1923 election, he resolved his dispute with Asquith, allowing the Liberals to run a united ticket against Stanley Baldwin's policy of tariffs ( although there was speculation that Baldwin had adopted such a policy in order to forestall Lloyd George from doing so ).

Before Clay's election as Speaker of the House, the position had been that of a rule enforcer and mediator.

Before the 1966 election, the widow ’ s pension was tripled and redundancy payments for laid-off workers were introduced.

Before and shortly after this election, the HZDS supported the creation of a looser federation — a confederation — between the two republics.

Before the 2002 election, former Moderate Party MP Sten Andersson defected to SD, citing that the party had gotten rid of its extreme right elements.

Before the election of 2004, Karzai led the country after being chosen by delegates of the Bonn Conference in December 2001 to head an interim government after the removal of the Taliban Emirate.

Before 2010, commissioners were elected on a nonpartisan basis, but Sullivan County's commission election became a partisan election in 2010 after the county Republican Party decided to conduct a primary election for commission seats.

Before the 2010 United Kingdom general election it was divided into three constituencies contained wholly within the borough-Brent South, Brent East and Brent North.

The Kung Bushmen were described as ' The Harmless People ' in a popular work by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas in 1958, while Lawrence Keeley's 1996 War Before Civilization suggested that regular warfare without modern technology was conducted by most groups throughout human history, including most Native American tribes.

Approached in 1926 by publisher R. R. Donnelley to produce an illustrated edition of Richard Henry Dana, Jr .' s Two Years Before the Mast, Kent suggested Moby-Dick instead.

Before the release of the Pixies ' debut mini-album Come On Pilgrim in October 1987, Ivo Watts-Russell, head of 4AD, suggested they return to the studio to record a full length album.

Before that fight, it was suggested to Louis that Conn might outpoint him because of his hand and foot speed.

Before the battle, the generals suggested that they replenish their weapons before clashing with the enemy, but Lü Meng held a different opinion: he felt that by the time the equipments were replenished, the enemy would surely have reinforced and prepared their defenses ; also, he warned that in a few days the river would return to low tide, which would make the retreat back to their ships difficult.

Before she graduated in 1960, her mother suggested that Tammy Faye would become a minister.

Before the beginning of Operation Barbarossa ( the eastern front campaign against the Soviet Union ) on 22 June 1941, the Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg suggested the administrative division of conquered Soviet territory in the following Reichskommissariate, only the first two of which would become reality through military success:

Before the The Chronic album came out, Kurupt & Daz were solo artists, however having heard the chemistry the two had whilst recording the album, Dr. Dre suggested they make a group.

Before the 1950 season, Feller suggested to Indians management he take a pay cut.

Before this, IRAS observations had suggested that the asteroid was 120 km in diameter.

" Before becoming the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson apologized for any offence caused by an article in which he sarcastically suggested that " the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies.

Before his death, however, it had aroused the attention of French physician René Laennec, who, following up the ideas suggested by it, discovered auscultation.

In his 2009 treasury Pearls Blows Up, 2000s cartoonist Stephan Pastis of Pearls Before Swine, who cites Schulz as one of his many influences, suggested in relation to a series of strips paying homage to Peanuts with baseball, that Shermy as well as Violet may have died in some way after a game, commenting that " I'm fairly certain the games in Peanuts weren't played to the death ... Shermy and Violet did seem to disappear at some point.

Before the station opened Underground Electric Railways Company of London ( forerunner of London Underground ) suggested names for it including Oakwood, Merryhills and East Barnet, but it was named Enfield West at opening and renamed Enfield West ( Oakwood ) the following year.

Before leaving for Germany, Prof. H. H. Turner of Oxford suggested that the Mount Wilson Observatory in America will be the best place for his kind of work and advised him to write to George Ellery Hale, Director of the Mount Wilson Observatory.

Before the final, former Australian captain Ian Chappell suggested that for the good of Indian cricket, Gavaskar should continue as the captain till Shastri could take over from him.

Before the test, experimental designer Dr. Brownlee had performed a highly approximate calculation that suggested that the nuclear explosion, combined with the specific design of the shaft, would accelerate the plate to six times escape velocity.

Before releasing her first single with Motown's Tamla subsidiary, " I Can't Believe You Love Me ", Gordy suggested a name change.

Before the bombardment began it was suggested to Tewfik that he should leave the city and embark either upon a man-of-war belonging to one of the neutral powers, or in his own yacht, or in a mail steamer which was then in the port.

Before the game, the Clippers coach, Gene Shue, had suggested to the Rockets coach, Tom Nissalke, that the players shake hands at center court prior to tipoff.

Before the introduction of hops, the fruit were used to flavour beer, which may be related to the ancient symbol of a pub being the chequer-board ( although it has also been suggested that the pub name itself was originally brought by the Romans.

Before his swearing-in, rumors suggested that the Republican Party was courting Manchin to change parties, although the Republicans later suggested that Manchin was the source of the rumors.

Before the Test series, Chapman was not a unanimous choice among press correspondents ; several critics believed he should not be in the team on account of his rapidly increasing weight — former England captain Pelham Warner suggested he needed to lose at least two stone — and concern over his poor batting form.