I was watching tee vee with a bunch of Democrats on Election Night 1988, the year the original George Bush trounced Michael Dukakis in the polls. All the anchors came on the air before 7 p.m. and announced Mr. Bush would be our next president. “That’s not fair!” screamed the angry Democrats. “The polls on the west coast won’t be closed for hours!” Of course, all the votes on the west coast couldn’t have saved Mike Dukakis, but there were congressional and local races and conventional political wisdom says an early projected winner hurts the losing party all the way down the slate.
So what are we to make of the recent announcement by one national polling firm, that George W. Bush has locked up not just the Republican nomination, but the whole presidential race? Will we all stay away from the ballot booths? I don’t think it’s going to come to that, but election 2000 will be like none we’ve seen before.
The primary season is still six months away and Mr. Bush has $37 million in the bank. That’s an astounding amount for any politician, but for someone who’s only been in the business five years and has not taken a discernable stand on any issue, it’s mind-boggling. I think it indicates two things. One, the Republican party – and by that I mean the special interest groups who pay for everything – have determined to avoid a bruising primary and they don’t care if there are another half-dozen candidates out there. Two, the very fact that Mr. Bush has so little track record and has taken so few positions is what makes him so attractive to all the people who give money to politicians. It means to them that Mr. Bush is willing to be persuaded – if persuasion is what you want to call it.
Many of these people who would persuade Mr. Bush have joined the Pioneer Club, an elite group within his campaign. Pioneer Club members have each promised to go out and collect one hundred thousand dollars in campaign contributions for Mr. Bush. Many of Mr. Bush’s Pioneers have collected all that and more, because when the time comes to fill in the blanks in Mr. Bush’s “vision thing,” it will be the champion fundraisers who will hold the pen. It’s going to take a decade for the inspectors at the Federal Election Commission to sort through all those receipts.
George W., by raising so much money, has rejected public funding. This means he can spend as much as he wants, when he wants and that means blowing his Republican competitors out of the water before the primaries begin. Not only does Mr. Bush have all the money, he’s been endorsed by virtually every Republican office holder in the country. If there’s one thing Republicans love more than a winner, it’s a bandwagon.
While all this is great political theater, it’s not so great for democracy. Real people don’t get to begin voting for six months and the pundits are saying it’s over already.
But it’s not over. I doubt it’s even begun. The unlucky thing about George W.’s position right now is that his poll numbers have nowhere to go but down. A few gaffes and a bit of dirty laundry and we may have a Republican primary yet.
A worse case may be that Mr. Bush wins the White House but is so indebted to his Pioneer Clubbers that his administration is bankrupt before he finishes the oath of office.
Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley look like they’re headed for a slugfest, but a contested primary has been known to help a candidate, not just hurt one.
In the last century and a half, only one vice president has followed a sitting president into the White House – but his name was George Bush.
Vote Early, Vote Often
I was watching tee vee with a bunch of Democrats on Election Night 1988, the year the original George Bush trounced Michael Dukakis in the polls. All the anchors came on the air before 7 p.m. and announced Mr. Bush would be our next president. “That’s not fair!” screamed the angry Democrats. “The polls on the west coast won’t be closed for hours!” Of course, all the votes on the west coast couldn’t have saved Mike Dukakis, but there were congressional and local races and conventional political wisdom says an early projected winner hurts the losing party all the way down the slate.
So what are we to make of the recent announcement by one national polling firm, that George W. Bush has locked up not just the Republican nomination, but the whole presidential race? Will we all stay away from the ballot booths? I don’t think it’s going to come to that, but election 2000 will be like none we’ve seen before.
The primary season is still six months away and Mr. Bush has $37 million in the bank. That’s an astounding amount for any politician, but for someone who’s only been in the business five years and has not taken a discernable stand on any issue, it’s mind-boggling. I think it indicates two things. One, the Republican party – and by that I mean the special interest groups who pay for everything – have determined to avoid a bruising primary and they don’t care if there are another half-dozen candidates out there. Two, the very fact that Mr. Bush has so little track record and has taken so few positions is what makes him so attractive to all the people who give money to politicians. It means to them that Mr. Bush is willing to be persuaded – if persuasion is what you want to call it.
Many of these people who would persuade Mr. Bush have joined the Pioneer Club, an elite group within his campaign. Pioneer Club members have each promised to go out and collect one hundred thousand dollars in campaign contributions for Mr. Bush. Many of Mr. Bush’s Pioneers have collected all that and more, because when the time comes to fill in the blanks in Mr. Bush’s “vision thing,” it will be the champion fundraisers who will hold the pen. It’s going to take a decade for the inspectors at the Federal Election Commission to sort through all those receipts.
George W., by raising so much money, has rejected public funding. This means he can spend as much as he wants, when he wants and that means blowing his Republican competitors out of the water before the primaries begin. Not only does Mr. Bush have all the money, he’s been endorsed by virtually every Republican office holder in the country. If there’s one thing Republicans love more than a winner, it’s a bandwagon.
While all this is great political theater, it’s not so great for democracy. Real people don’t get to begin voting for six months and the pundits are saying it’s over already.
But it’s not over. I doubt it’s even begun. The unlucky thing about George W.’s position right now is that his poll numbers have nowhere to go but down. A few gaffes and a bit of dirty laundry and we may have a Republican primary yet.
A worse case may be that Mr. Bush wins the White House but is so indebted to his Pioneer Clubbers that his administration is bankrupt before he finishes the oath of office.
Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley look like they’re headed for a slugfest, but a contested primary has been known to help a candidate, not just hurt one.
In the last century and a half, only one vice president has followed a sitting president into the White House – but his name was George Bush.