At a private Washington reception this past week, one GOP strategist was asked virtually the same question by three prominent Democrats: “When is Dole going to begin doing something?” One of the Democrats, a senior member of the White House staff, expressed amazement at how easy it had been for the president to preempt so many of Dole’s issues and initiatives. The second Democrat, a member of the Clinton cabinet, was incredulous when told it appeared that Dole would hold off unveiling his economic plan until the Republican convention in August. The third Democrat, heavily involved in the reelection campaign, couldn’t believe that months of Clinton campaign advertising had gone unanswered by the Republican National Committee.
It’s true that, in politics, over-confidence often goes before a fall, and there was a fair amount of over-confidence in these comments. But Republicans around the country are asking similar questions. At a lunch in Boston attended by about 400 people, mostly Republicans and conservatives, one prominent businessman stood up, identified himself as a Dole supporter and donor, and asked the speaker (who works for this magazine, but we won’t tell you which of us) whether Dole could possibly continue to run as bad a campaign as he has so far. “It’s worse than any of us suspected,” said the businessman. Heads nodded in agreement.
And so the buzz about Dole goes among both Democrats and Republicans around July 4, 1996 just 20 months after the biggest and most significant Republican victory of our time. Happy Independence Day.
