She ran in the 2004 Lithuanian presidential election against Valdas Adamkus, hoping to receive votes from supporters of impeached president Rolandas Paksas, but finished in second place in the first round and was defeated in the runoff.

[1] Known as a jolly musician who played many instruments at country weddings, including the guitar, fiddle, concertina, and a pipe of his own making, Stankevičius was killed by the NKVD in the Labanoras Forest when Kazimira was one year old.

[4] In 1988 Prunskienė helped found the grass-roots Lithuanian restructuring movement Sąjūdis, which eventually grew into Lithuania's leading pro-independence group.

She immediately faced the problems brought on by an economic embargo set in place by Mikhail Gorbachev in an attempt to force Lithuania back under control of the crumbling USSR.

Prunskienė flew to countries all over the world, including the United States, to try to gain support for negotiations with Gorbachev about the embargo through such committees as the Helsinki Commission.