----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Minette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 11:20 AM
Subject: why Gore lost
>
> > Just as a side note - I would find the use of the term "Shrub" offensive
> if
> > it weren't so pathetic. So you don't like him. I know that civility
has
> > become a purely conservative virtue nowadays - certainly judging by
campus
> > politics liberals stopped believing in it a long time ago - but that's
> > really kind of sad, and it probably does more to explain why Bush won
> > (when, given the economic background, Gore should have pulled 60% of the
> > vote) than any other single factor.
> >
>
> How can you miss the main legacy baggage that Gore had? If you had the
> ecconomy as it was in 2000 to campaign on, and a popular president, why
> wouldn't you have him campaign for you?
>
> The reason is that the Clinton legacy was a two edged sword for Gore.
> People liked Clinton personally, they liked the ecconomy, but they were
> upset that he didn't, to put it bluntly, keep his pants on in the oval
> office. There were tremendous negatives concerning the Clinton legacy
> during the campaign. Gore's folks may have been inept, and may have
> miscalled it, but I've seen a lot of analysis stating that Gore needed
> distance from Clinton to win.
>
> I cannot imagine Gore losing if Clinton had his pants on during those 8
> years. Further, much of the incivility in Washington was the group who
> hated Clinton so much that they would say or do anything to bring him
down.
> I took that bring honor back to the White House and civility back to
> Washington as a shorthand for "you won't have this sort of problem with
me."
>
> The trick for Bush was to get the nation to focus on their disgust with
> Clinton's behavior instead of the good condition of the ecconomy. The
exact
> opposite was the trick for Gore. Bush was better at doing his job
> campaigning than Gore was, I won't argue with that.
>
I disagree somewhat. I think Gore lost due to his gun control stance. It was
a key
issue in extra-urban areas in southern states where Gore should have won.
Clintons gun control policies made many rural folk uncomfortable and Bush
offered
an alternative.
xponent
rob
