Presidential Campaigns
Elections: 1980's
There he goes again
February 8, 1984
Ink over pencil on layered paper (16)
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President Ronald Reagan opened his campaign for a second term on January 30, 1984,
making education and the deficit his principal issues. In his weekly radio
broadcast on February 4, he accused the Democrats of attacking his call for a
bipartisan effort to reduce the deficit, and, in a speech before a Republican crowd
in Las Vegas on February 7, he accused his Democratic predecessors of having
"ravaged" the nation with inflation. Earlier that day, he addressed a national
meeting of secondary school principals in which he claimed to have put education at
the top of the American agenda, producing a grassroots revolution. "There he goes
again" is a reference to a favorite Reagan putdown in presidential campaign debates
and to Reagan's own reputation as the "Teflon president" to whom nothing stuck.
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President-elect George Bush met with a group of leading environmentalists on
November 30, 1988, having declared during his campaign "I am an environmentalist."
Most major environmental groups had faulted his record on the environment, however,
and had supported the Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. While
speaking at a news conference on December 6, Bush's appointee for chairman of the
White House Council of Economic Advisers, Michael J. Boskin, endorsed Bush's pledge
to bring the deficit under control without a tax increase. This should be done, he
said, by slowing the growth in government spending. Bush had brought down the house
at the Republican convention in August with his proclamation, "Read my lips—No new
taxes!"
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[Watch my lips—I'm gonna be the environment
president!]
December 7, 1988
Ink and white out over pencil on paper (18)
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Election:
1992
[Howdy! I'm Ross Perot and I'm running for
president.] June 1, 1992
Ink and white out over pencil on layered paper board
Swann Fund Purchase (29)
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Exit polls from primaries in California, Ohio, New Jersey, Alabama,
New Mexico, and Montana showed that both Democrats and Republicans would have voted
for unannounced independent presidential candidate Ross Perot had he been on the
ballot. There was a growing sense that Perot, a Texas entrepreneur and celebrity
maverick, was a major presidential contender. Analysts, noting that Perot's exposure
to voters occurred almost exclusively during his television talk-shows, argued that
the Perot campaign was short on specifics.
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Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton was elected the forty-second president of the United
States on November 3, 1992. During the final days of the campaign President George
Bush asserted that Clinton and Gore were untested leaders; "My dog Millie knows more
about foreign policy than these two bozos," he said during his visit to Michigan.
During the campaign, Clinton had been derided by Republicans for the limitations of
his experience as the governor of a rural, sparsely populated state, whose economy
relied heavily on chicken farming.
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'Either all our chickens came home to roost, or this is the
Arkansas transition team.' (30)
November 6, 1992
Ink and white out over pencil on paper (30)
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The Democratic Field at this time
March 19, 1992
Ink and white out over pencil on paper (27)
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Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, who had engaged in bruising primary battles with
former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas and former California Governor Edmund G.
"Jerry" Brown, emerged as the victor in the Democratic primaries in Illinois and
Michigan on March 17, 1992, demonstrating that he could run well outside the South.
As a result, Tsongas announced he was suspending his campaign. Clinton, who had
more than half of the delegates necessary for nomination, was now almost assured of
it, although it was expected that he would receive more attacks on his personal
life. While Brown continued to run, he appeared to pose little threat to Clinton.
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President Bill Clinton presented his economic program on February 17, 1993, in a
nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress. The proposal included
tax increases and the most ambitious deficit reduction plan since World War II.
Clinton's call for fiscal reform was widely seen as shaping the entire legislative
agenda for his term and as a dramatic reversal of the fiscal policies of the
Reagan-Bush presidencies. Republicans were quick to criticize the tax hikes, and
congressional support for the plan appeared unsteady, even among Democrats. Clinton
had been featured playing his saxophone on numerous occasions throughout the
campaign and at the inaugural festivities.
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It's reveille in America!
February 18, 1993
Ink and white out over pencil on paper
Swann Fund Purchase (31)
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Election:
1996
"‘It's no good–I am who I am!'"
February 22, 1996
Ink and white out over pencil on paper
Swann Fund Purchase (45)
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Responding to criticism that his public demeanor lacked warmth and empathy, Senate
Majority Leader Robert J. Dole apparently attempted to project a more affable
persona during the 1996 presidential primaries.
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Having succeeded in his bid to become the Republican presidential nominee, Bob Dole
was criticized on July 10 by retired General Colin L. Powell, whom he was heavily
courting as a vice-presidential running mate, for failing to attend the NAACP
convention. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was at a peak of
visibility and popularity with the recent publication of his autobiography, My
American Journey.
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[Powell]
November 13, 1996
Ink and white out over pencil on paper (46)
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'I want to build a bridge!' said one.
October 21, 1996
Ink and white out over pencil on paper (47)
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President Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Committee convention on August
29 was entitled "Join Me to Build that Bridge to the Future," a theme that was
played constantly for the next few months.
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A poll published on October 22, 1996, revealed that 63 percent of Americans thought
that Dole spent more time attacking Clinton than explaining what his policies as
president would be. Dole attacked Clinton's ethics and said of the White House at an
October 27 Republican gathering, "It's the animal house!"
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[Dole and Clinton: the pot calling the kettle black]
October 30, 1996
Ink and white out over pencil on paper (48)
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