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"Scam" ads the norm Trail Mix: Hillary haters spam cyberspace Gunning for the center Democrats make Hillary legit The blundering pundit Don Giuliani Campaign video: |
Two for the price of one
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Feb. 28, 2000 | LOS ANGELES -- As a Republican, however, I could hardly be more excited. My reaction is not yet typical of Republicans, however. Friday, for example, I spoke to a Republican congressman who told me he was terrified by the "discipline" of the Democrats who voted for McCain in Michigan even though (he believes) they will vote for a Democrat in November.
And Thursday, I was on a local television panel here with Democrats who were happy about the McCain challenge because Republicans were at each other's throats and thus spending their political war chests. So why am I happy? Well, to begin with, forget the money problem. As McCain himself has shown in this primary season, the conventional wisdom about political money is wrong. McCain started out with a tiny war chest, a cash reserve only a sixth that of Bush's. But, now, as the result of a campaign that has had little to do with his ability to buy political ads, McCain is almost financially even with Bush. If the eventual Republican nominee can maintain the enthusiasm of his primary constituencies, there will be no money problem. Forget also the fear of Democratic Party discipline. I'm sure there were a few union apparatchiks who did march to the polls on orders. But that is not the real story of what is happening here. What is happening here is the "Jesse Ventura phenomenon," nothing short of a political earthquake. The difference is that this earthquake is not happening inside a third party, as pundits predicted, but inside the GOP. What is the cause of this earthquake? Former Democratic advisor Pat Caddell, who was on the television panel with me Thursday, described it as a "vomit-up Clinton" mood among the American electorate. There is also a "fed-up with the system" mood out there. That's why the story of a war hero who risked his life for his country and who is willing to challenge his party orthodoxy has made McCain -- even in the absence of significant money reserves -- a very serious contender. But that was also why Jesse Ventura, another straight-talking, unorthodox and irreverent hero of the popular culture, could blow out two seasoned politicians in Minnesota to win the governor's race. The salient fact of the Ventura phenomenon is this: While only 35 percent of the electorate turned out for both parties nationwide, 65 percent of Minnesota's voters cast their ballots on Election Day. Ventura registered more Reform Party voters in the final week of his campaign (19 percent) than either Democrats or Republicans were able to register (17 percent and 18 percent) over the course of the entire campaign.
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