(08-20-2019 12:25 PM)Eldonabe Wrote: Dole / Kemp - Ha! That was like running Mondale out there against Reagan.
NO CHANCE
’Twas a fool’s errand, no doubt.
It was a political mistake to nominate Bob Dole that year, although I’ll say in his defense he really was no worse as a candidate than what I’d expected. But Kemp — what a disappointment! I had spent years wishing that he would be placed on a national ticket. It finally happened and he proved to be absolutely, positively useless as a campaigner. The election wasn’t that close, so normal people weren’t really paying much attention to it, but Kemp was just chewed-up and spit-out by Gore in the VP debate. And Kemp really did nothing throughout the rest of the campaign, either.
For about 3 years leading up to that election, the Clinton Administration had eagerly sought and received campaign-$$$$ from agents/proxies of the People’s Republic of China. The full extent of that support — and a full accounting of what the PRC got in exchange — has never been thoroughly documented, but some of the facts began leaking out into US media for the last 3-4 weeks or so of the campaign. As much as the media tried to spin the scandal as bipartisan or nonpartisan, I’m convinced that the story played a key role in knocking Clinton’s lead in the polls from the 13-18 points he enjoyed in early October, to the 8.5-point win he actually gained once all the votes were counted.
When it was all said and done, Clinton was re-elected with 49% of the vote, and a 49% voter-turnout. So,
24% of the people who were eligible to vote for him actually did so, and 76% did not. I don’t think you’ll ever see another incumbent President win re-election with such a low #.