The Race for the White House from Reagan to Clinton: Reforming Old Systems, Building New Coalitions

250 Pages·2013·1.781 MB·English

by  Anthony J. Bennett (auth.)

The Race for the White
House from Reagan
to Clinton
Also by Anthony J. Bennett
The American President’s Cabinet: from Kennedy to Bush (1996)
The Race for the White
House from Reagan
to Clinton
Reforming Old Systems,
Building New Coalitions
A J. B
NTHONY ENNETT
THE PURSUIT OF THE PRESIDENCY
VOLUME I
THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE FROM REAGAN TO CLINTON
Copyright © Anthony J. Bennett, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-26859-4
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-44349-9 ISBN 978-1-137-26860-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137268600
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bennett, Anthony J., 1950– author.
The race for the White House from Reagan to Clinton:
reforming old systems, building new coalitions / Anthony J. Bennett.
volumes cm
1. Presidents—United States—Elections—History—
20th century. I. Title.
JK1976.B457 2013
324.973(cid:2)092—dc23 2012034859
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: February 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Sue for her love, patience, and unstinting support
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Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Preface xi
1. The Making of the Process 1
2. 1980: “A New Beginning” 19
3. 1984: “It’s Morning Again in America” 53
4. 1988: “Read My Lips: No New Taxes” 85
5. 1992: “It’s the Economy, Stupid!” 123
6. 1996: “A Bridge to the Twenty-First Century” 161
7. Reforming Old Systems, Building New Coalitions 187
Appendix A: Presidential Election Results by State: 1980–1996 213
Appendix B: States Giving Republican Presidential Candidate More
Than 50 Percent of the Vote: 1980–1996 215
Appendix C: States Giving Democratic Presidential Candidate
More Than 50 Percent of the Vote: 1980–1996 217
Notes 219
Select Bibliography 233
Index 237
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Figures and Tables
FIGURES
2.1 Electoral College vote winners by state, 1980 42
3.1 Electoral College vote winners by state, 1984 79
4.1 Electoral College vote winners by state, 1988 117
5.1 Electoral College vote winners by state, 1992 154
6.1 Electoral College vote winners by state, 1996 181
Tables
1.1 States in which both parties held caucuses: 1980 and
1996 compared 6
1.2 National party convention venues: 1980–1996 8
1.3 Popular and Electoral College votes: 1980–1996 16
2.1 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1980 26
2.2 Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1980 29
2.3 Reagan states in which the Anderson vote exceeded the
difference between the votes for Reagan and Carter 47
3.1 Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1984 61
3.2 Reagan’s support in the South: 1980 and 1984 compared 80
4.1 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1988 93
4.2 Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1988 98
5.1 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1992 130
5.2 Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1992 134
5.3 Popular vote of presidents defeated for reelection 153
5.4 Third party and independent candidates who received more
than 10 percent of the popular vote 153
6.1 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses results, 1996 167
7.1 Number of presidential primaries by party: 1980–1996 189
7.2 Percentage of delegates chosen in primaries: 1968–1996 189
7.3 Number of primaries/caucuses held by challenging party
per week: 1980–1996 193