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Who Will Lead?
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10420 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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2 / 1993 |
2,934 Words |
| Author
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Bill Pascoe
Bill Pascoe, a campaign strategist with 20 years of experience
in the political trenches, is a Washington-based political
writer. |
Even as official Washington welcomes Bill Clinton and his new administration, others are scheming and plotting to ensure that he does not become the first Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to complete two full terms in office. Their names: Jack Kemp, Bob Dole, Pat Buchanan, Dan Quayle, Phil Gramm, and a host of others interested in winning the right to face Clinton in November 1996. For while most of the Washington establishment will be focused on what Clinton says and does for the next four years, these people will be interested in that only to the extent that Clinton's actions affect their own future plans. Who are these leaders? What are their backgrounds? How will they likely position themselves in the coming years? And, perhaps most importantly, which one has the best chance of recapturing the White House for the Grand Old Party four years hence?
Already off and running
To begin, a startling fact: The race for the 1996 GOP nomination is already under way and has been, since December 1991. That's when conservative commentator and former White House aide Patrick Buchanan announced his challenge to George Bush for the 1992 Republican nomination. Buchanan, an experienced political warrior with service under three GOP presidents--including Richard Nixon (perhaps the best political strategist ever to hold the office) and Ronald Reagan (the best communicator of the last half century) knew that his odds of capturing the nomination against a sitting president of his own party were elected office, and is considered too conservative by many to win broad-based support.
But he ran anyway, largely to mitigate those handicaps. By running in 1992, he would gain the experience of having been a national candidate: He would learn how to stump for himself instead of for others; he would build a national cadre of supporters; he would create a national fund-raising base; and he would gain massive media exposure for himself and his views.
That he did as well as he did--holding the incumbent president to a bare 53 percent majority in the New Hampshire primary and then consistently denying Bush the overwhelming knockout punch he so desired--was merely icing on the cake. Simply by running in 1992, Buchanan announced his intentions for 1996, and put other potential candidates on notice that he intends to play hardball.
In addition, he declared himself full participants in the battle for control over the party's future. His appeal to the so-called
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