Wait. Are people really going to elect a guy back into office that they never elected to office in the first place? Does that make any sense? Did he even want to run for reelection in the first place?
1. Yes. Ford ran an incredible campaign and almost pulled off a win. I saw somewhere that if the election were held a few days later, Ford would have won outright. And the American people do have a history of reelecting unelected presidents. Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson were all elected to terms in their own right after being elevated from the vice-presidency.
2. Ford had plenty of opportunity and reason to not run for reelection. Yet he struggled through a bitter primary season, a divided convention, and a losing presidential campaign, and in the end nearly won. So it seems logical to assume that ford probably wanted reelection.