HPAVC/HPAVC CD-ROM.iso/HOMEWORK.ZIP/1066.TXT

Text File | 1998-07-25 | 9KB | 228 lines

This file is copyright of Jens Schriver (c)
It originates from the Evil House of Cheat
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Essay Name       : 1066.txt
Uploader         :
Email Address    :
Language         : English
Subject          : Politics
Title            : A Change for Dole
Grade            : 97%
School System    : Beavercreek Local Schools
Country          : USA
Author Comments  : What Dole could've done to change the outcome of the Election
Teacher Comments : Very good, thorough
Date             : 11/14/96
Site found at    : IRC
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    Bob Dole made several errors when planning and executing his recent

campaign for the presidency.  These errors eventually cost him the election, and

allowed Bill Clinton to win a second term, despite Dole's adherent belief that the

American people would not re-elect him.  Bob Dole's errors stemmed from his

inability to take advice from his campaign managers, his unwillingness to stick

with a consistent message throughout his campaign, and his inability to begin his

war against the incumbent early in the election year.

    Bob Dole is an old-fashioned man of the generation on its way out of

governmental control.  He is a man from an age before the intense rigors of

running a national election, before the multitude of spin-doctors needed to

conduct a successful campaign, before the television era swept through the

country forcing a whole new plethora of requirements upon candidates seeking

national office.  Because of this Bob Dole is a man who wanted to run his election

as he believes is right, on his own terms, by his own decisions.  He continually

refused to take the advise of wife, and his campaign advisors, allowing Clinton to

discover his huge lead in the polls and allowing Clinton to hold on to that lead.

Dole failed to talk about values early in his campaign, instead deciding that "he

would talk about values, if that's what it took."  Yet by making this decision, Dole

resigned himself to speaking about values only when every other attempt had

failed, making it seem like a last-ditch effort to ressurect his failing campaign.

"This time around would have to be different from 1988.  Dole would have to

delegate responsibility and not try to run his own campaign on whim."  Dole was

doomed if he tried to take too big of a hand in how his campaign was run, he

failed in 1988 when he tried it then, and he failed again in 1996 when he did it

again.  Dole's inpetness in the field of political campaigning on a national level is

to be expected, that is not what he is paid to do, he is paid to create laws, and to

govern, yet he took it upon himself to do a job that he was not suited for, and that

cost him the election.


    Bob Dole had a problem with reaching the American people.  The

American people respond well to repitition.  By repeating a certain viewpoint, it

shows that it is a viewpoint that one believes heavily in, and that one believes is

very important.  By switching focus from one issue to another, it gives the

impression that one is grasping for some issue that will have some effect on the

consituency, rather than telling the people what is important from a leader's

perspective, it is asking them what is important while they are simultaneously

wondering the same thing.  Bob Dole had this problem, for he switched the focus

of his campaign multiple times throughout the campaign process.  At first, his

campaign had no focus, he was just there as the Republican alternative to

Clinton.  He responded little to Clinton's attacks, and showed no dashing vision

for America, nor any specific qualities that made him better then his opponents.

Then he invented his 15% tax-cut plan, appealing to supply-side economic

supporters as well as to the public in general, in an attempt to attract the massive

numbers that tax-cut candidates have enjoyed in previous elections.  When that

showed only marginal results, focus was quickly moved to the fact that Clinton

was truuly an Old Democrat, not the New, more conservative, Democrat he

claimed to be.  This had some truth behind it, but coming late in the campaign

appeared to be more of a desperation attempt by Dole, and was dismissed easily

by thre Clinton campaign as such.  Obviously focus was switched again when the

Old Democrat approach did not seem to work, this time to the character issue.

This, following Bush's 1992 desperation attempt at the character issue, appeared

as the same thing, and the consituency had grown tired of hearing this.  The lack

of guidance towards the important issues, and the wishy-washy nature of the

Dole campaign allowed the focused and finely-tuned Clinton campaign to easily

attract many of the normal Republican voters to his camp, while protecting the

standard Democratic vote for the Clinton campaign as well.


    Bob Dole started the election year with a lack-lustre apporach to his

election.  He saw the oppurtunity to possibly win national office, decided that

there were no other really good candidates for the position, and so he gave it the

"old college try" one last time.  Unfortunately the "old college try" is not good

enough to win the presidency, and Bob Dole's failure to begin his campaign early,

and follow through with a consistently strong campaign doomed him to lose the

election.  Before the primaries even begun, Bob Dole failed to present the rest of

his party with an idea of the issues that Dole would be running on to become

nominated, and then elected.  This caused certain elements of the party to seek

candidates that were known for issues that the people felt needed to be taken

care of, such as tax-cutters.  These tax-cutters sought out Steve Forbes as a

possible Republican nominee.  While this ensured the tex-cut issue a place in the

Republican party platform, it also virtually added $22 million to the Clinton

campaign.  This amount of money was spent soley by Forbes in anti-Dole ads

about Dole's tax-increase tendencies.  This money was spent in certain areas in

high concentration in order for maximum effect on the number of delegates won

by Forbes, however when Forbes failed to win the Republican nomination, these

ads effected normally Republican areas, and turned many of them to be anti-

Dole.  This heavy infighting amongst the possible nominees cost Dole greatly in

the general election, and much could have been avoided had Dole actually

advertised his convictions and his plans for his presidential run.


    In general, Bob Dole could have done much to change the election

outcome.  If he had given the Republican party his plans for his campaign, and

prevented the harsh primary season, several states, such as Arizona, that

normally vote Republican, would have given him their electoral votes instead of

giving them to Clinton.  If he had provided a clear, consistent message from

beginning to end, rather then scrambling for a new focus very often, Dole

probably could have carried states in which he seemed to be closing the gap

rapidly in the last few weeks of the election, such as California and Florida. If

Dole had allowed his campaign advisors to take control of his campaign, Dole

would have been in key areas speaking and campaigning, areas that might've

been vital, but not obviously so, to his success, giving him the needed boost to

push him over the edge on electoral votes.  Finally, Bob Dole also could've taken

hints from Clinton's campaign.  Clinton ran on many Conservative issues to

balance out his liberal nature, presenting a more moderate appearance, and

appealing to many Conservatives, where he was weak.  Bob Dole also ran on

Conservative issues, places where he needed to tie back together the Republican

party and preserve his core consituency.  Bob Dole seemed to be defending his

territory, while Clinton was not worried about losing his liberal vote, as Bob Dole

was not threatening it at all.  Without at least some of this liberal vote, Dole would

find it difficult, if not impossible to win the election.  In retrospect, many things

Bob Dole should 've done, and could've done to win the election, or at least to

make it come out closer, and perhaps allow the pick-up of more Senate and

House seats, as well as definitively deny Bill Clinton the mandate from the people

he was looking for with this election.

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