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Full Description
In the presidential elections of 1980, 1984, and 1988, the three Democratic nominees won an average of about 10 percent of the Electoral College vote—a smaller share than any party in any three consecutive presidential elections in US history. In the next seven elections, Democrats won the popular vote in all but one (2004), a feat not achieved by a political party since the Democratic Party's inception in the 1820s. What separated these record-setting runs was the election and presidency of Bill Clinton, whose pivotal role in ushering in a new era of American politics—for better and for worse—this book explores.
Perhaps because Clinton's presidency was hobbled by six years of divided government, ended in a sex scandal and impeachment, and was sandwiched between Republican administrations, it is easy to forget that he revived a presidential party that had become nearly moribund. In Clinton's Elections Michael Nelson describes how, by tacking relentlessly to the center, Clinton revived the Democrats' presidential fortunes—but also, paradoxically, effectively erased the center, in the process introducing the new political reality of extreme partisan divisiveness and dysfunctional government. Tracing Clinton's place in American politics from his emergence as a potential nominee in 1988 to his role in political campaigns right up to 2016, Nelson draws a deft portrait of a savvy politician operating in the midst of divided government and making strategic moves to consolidate power and secure future victories. With its absorbing narrative and incisive analysis, his book makes sense of a watershed in the modern American political landscape—and lays bare the roots of our current era of political dysfunction.
Contents
Foreword, by Richard J. Ellis
Preface
1. The View from 1988: The Field of Democrats Forms
2. The View from 1988: The Field of Republicans Forms
3. Divided Government: George Bush and the Democrats (and Ross Perot), 1989-1991
4. The Battle for the 1992 Republican Nomination and the Rise and (Temporary) Fall of Ross Perot
5. The Battle for the 1992 Democratic Nomination
6. Uniting Government: The General Election for President and Congress in 1992
7. Redividing Government: Bill Clinton and Congress, 1993-1995
8. The Election of 1996
9. Bill Clinton and a New Era of De Facto Divided Government
Appendix A. 1992 Republican Primary Results
Appendix B. 1992 Democratic Primary and Caucus Results
Appendix C. 1992 General Election Results
Appendix D. 1996 Republican Primary and Caucus Results
Appendix E. 1996 General Election Results
Appendix F. Bill Clinton's First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1993
Appendix G. Bill Clinton's Second Inaugural Address, January 20, 1997
