President Clinton is back. He is campaigning in New Hampshire and the media reaction is interesting. What we are hearing is something along the lines of Manny Mota (the great baseball pinch hitter) coming out of the dugout to drive in the winning run for the team.
We can tell you that Manny Mota had 150 pinch hits. However, where is the evidence that Bill Clinton drives in or wins elections for Democrats?
Let’s take a look:
1) Yes, he was elected and reelected president. And that’s no small achievement, by the way. However, he did it with a little bit of help. In 1992, Clinton got 43% of the popular vote in a 3-way race.
2) In 1994, it was President Clinton who destroyed the Democrat Party between Washington DC and San Francisco. The 1994 defeat was Bill Clinton’s defeat. He brought down Governor Ann Richards in Texas and Governor Mario Cuomo in New York. He cost the Democrats two Senate seats in Tennessee. It was GOP vs Clinton, and Clinton lost big!
3) In 1996, President Clinton was indeed reelected but the numbers were not overwhelming: 49% of the popular vote despite relative peace and prosperity. Once again, a majority of voters split between the GOP and Perot.
4) In 1998, the GOP kept the House and the U.S. Senate. Yes, it is true that the GOP did not make the usual “6th year” gains, as we heard from some pundits back then. At the same time, there weren’t that many more GOP opportunities after the 1994 rout.
5) In 2000, and this is the most important of all, a supposedly very popular President Clinton could not deliver Arkansas’ 6 electoral votes to VP Gore. Governor Bush won the state 51-46%. What was the importance of that election in Arkansas? VP Gore would have won the 2000 election with 273 Electoral Votes if he had won the president’s home state.
Don’t get me wrong. President Clinton is slick, although he is not as fast on his feet as we remember him. He is charming. Some women will vote for him no matter what, as Joy Behar just told us.
Bill Clinton will help Hillary Clinton on the Democrat side of the street. He will bring more people out to the rally. He will remind them of his successful presidency, although his wife seems to be running against much of it.
Bill Clinton was the 42nd president of the U.S. and we respect him for that. However, he is not the Manny Mota of politics. Don’t expect him to drive in the winning run no matter how many experts tell you that he is the greatest campaigner in the history of campaigning.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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