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.

Before filming began, several of the film's stars, including Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, and Tom Hanks, endured ten days of " boot camp " training and work on the film set to prepare for their roles.

Before the Battle of Agincourt, victory looks uncertain, and the young king's heroic character emerges in his decision to wander around the English camp at night, in disguise, so as to comfort his soldiers and determine what they really think of him.

Before leaving the camp all the troops, including the officers, also boxed their sabers and sent them back with the wagons.

Before 1837 the area was occupied by Native Americans who utilized it for hunting grounds ; the Sioux tribe had a camp near Oneco.

Before the founding of Tishomingo in 1852, the area was known as Good Springs, named for the presence of several springs that made the place a suitable camp site along the road between Fort Washita and Fort Arbuckle.

Before the post office was established in 1912, Reedsport was a camp for railroad construction workers.

Before and after the war the camp was used as a camp for migrant farm workers.

Before its closure, the fort was used as a German prisoner-of-war camp.

Before they were sent as guards to the concentration camps, most Soviet POWs who served as camp guards underwent special training in Trawniki, originally a holding center for refugees and Soviet POWs whom the Security Police and SD had designated potential collaborators or dangerous persons.

Before that time, he helped to relieve the vanguard at the Battle of Dorylaeum after it had been pinned down by the Seljuk Turks under Kilij Arslan I, with the help of the other crusader princes in the main force and went on to sack the Seljuk camp.

Before the end of August 1914 Hughes had already created a training camp at Valcartier, Quebec, which was capable of housing 32, 000 men.

Before being named commander of Drancy internment camp near Paris, Brunner deported 43, 000 Jews from Vienna and 46, 000 from Salonika.

Before World War II, Flossenbürg was a men's camp primarily for " antisocial " or " criminal " prisoners.

Before Azai Nagamasa committed seppuku he decided to make one last siege on Nobunaga's main camp ; in the end, however, he failed and was instead captured.

Before dawn on 19 June, his little army was taken by surprise and almost destroyed, because Bruce had accepted Valence at his word and failed to take the precaution of placing pickets around the camp.

Before the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the UK to the People's Republic of China in July 1997, the DP was the largest party-following the earlier success of the pro-democracy camp in the 1991 Hong Kong legislative election, the party won 19 seats in the 1995 Legislative Council election.

Before World War I Lydd became an important artillery practice camp.

Before Howard was a teenager, Tim Mulqueen, a one time assistant coach for the United States men's national under-17 soccer team, saw his potential at a soccer camp Howard attended and took the boy under his wing.

Before the camp was a Scout Reservation though it was inhabited by the Miwok Indians.

Before Cochrane was founded, it was already used as a summer camp ground by the indigenous people, and a stopping place for fur traders traveling to Moose Factory.

Before leaving the camp, Isaak tells Solek to never reveal his story to anyone, saying it would never be believed.

Before mail service to the Miami area improved, Munroe would camp out on Key Biscayne every Tuesday evening so that he could sail out to the edge of the Gulf Stream early Wednesday morning to retrieve a package of newspapers and magazines dropped for him in waterproof pouches by a passing steamship.

Before the eruption of Mount St. Helens, there were four camps on the shore of Spirit Lake: a Boy Scout camp, a Girl Scout camp, a YMCA camp, and another for the general public.