U.S. presidential election, 1996
This election took place on November 5, 1996.
In 1995, the United States Republican Party was riding high on the gains made in the 1994 congressional elections. In those elections, the Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, captured the majority of seats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for the first time in forty years.
A number of Republican candidates entered the field to challenge the seemingly weak incumbent Bill Clinton. The list included:\n* Lamar Alexander - Former Governor from Tennessee\n* Pat Buchanan - television political commentator and former aide to Richard Nixon\n* Bob Dole - U.S. Senate majority leader and Senator from Kansas\n* Bob Dornan - U.S. Representative from California\n* Steve Forbes - son of Malcolm Forbes and editor of Forbes Magazine\n* Phil Gramm - U.S. Senator from Texas\n* Alan Keyes - radio commentator\n* Dick Lugar - U.S. Senator from Indiana\n* Arlen Specter - U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania\n* Morry Taylor - Ohio tire magnate
The fragmented field of candidates debated issues such as a flat tax and other tax cut proposals, and a return to supply-side economic policies popularized by Ronald Reagan. More attention was drawn to the race by the budget stalemate in 1995 between the Congress and the President, which caused temporary shutdowns and slowdowns in many areas of federal government service.
Former United States Army General Colin Powell was widely courted as a potential Republican nominee. However, on November 8, 1995, Powell announced that he would not seek the nomination.
Going into the 1996 primary contest, Bob Dole was seen as the most likely winner. However, in the primaries and caucuses, Pat Buchanan received early victories in Louisiana and New Hampshire which put Dole's leadership in doubt. However, Dole won a string of victories, starting in South Carolina, which cemented his lead over his rivals, and resulted in his eventual nomination. The G.O.P. nominated Bob Dole on August 15, 1996 as the Republican candidate for the fall election.
The United States Democratic Party nomination process was very uneventful. Bill Clinton was nominated without serious opposition from any other Democrat.
The United States Green Party nominated Ralph Nader as its presidential candidate. Nader accepted the nomination, but vowed to spend only $5,000 in his election campaign.
The United States Reform Party once again nominated party founder Ross Perot in its first election as an official political party.
During the runup to the general election, Bill Clinton maintained comfortable margins over Bob Dole and Ross Perot. The televised debates featured only Dole and Clinton, locking out Perot and Nader from the discussion. Perot, who had been allowed to participate in the 1992 debates, would eventually take his case to court, seeking damages from not being in the debate, as well as citing unfair coverage from the major media outlets.
\n1 On the California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas election ballots, James Campbell, Perot's former boss at IBM, was listed as a stand-in Vice-Presidential candidate until Perot decided on Pat Choate as his choice for Vice President.\n----\nSee also: President of the United States, U.S. presidential election, 1996, History of the United States (1988-present) Category:U.S. presidential elections |
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"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite." - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) |
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