Clinton Election

Poli 423 Final Paper

1992 Presidential Elections

Dr. Straus

Ravinder S. Arneja

The outcome of the 1992 presidential elections was surprising for multiple reasons. First, at the beginning of the year, President George H.W. Bush was the incumbent President and he enjoyed high approval ratings following operation Desert Storm ("Presidential Approval for President Bush (G.H.W.)", n.d.). Consequently, this meant that the more “serious” Democratic presidential contenders bowed out of the race early believing they did not stand a chance against Bush (Samels & Burns, 2003). Second, the candidate selection process for the Democrats was a messy affair. Initially, New York Governor Mario Cuomo was the frontrunner. Governor Cuomo, however, never formally entered the race (Samels & Burns, 2003). As a result of the length of time that it took for Governor Cuomo to make his decision, many other potential candidates waited to get into the race. This left the Democratic Party’s nomination wide open (Grant 1993). Finally, the third party candidate Ross Perot running as an Independent was a wild card. Perot ended up stealing enough popular votes from the major party candidates to affect the outcome of the election. He had enough popular votes to have a significant impact, but not enough electoral votes to matter at all ("270 To Win", n.d).
The Candidates & Campaigning Styles
The Democrats: Clinton & Gore

Leading into the 1992 presidential election season, the Democrats had difficulty choosing a nominee, as many of the first tier candidates were deterred because of President Bush’s high approval ratings and “look of invincibility” (Grant 1993, 240). Ultimately, a small group of Democratic candidates contested the primary, including Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, California Governor Jerry Brown, and former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas ("1992 Presidential Democratic Primary", 2008). The three candidates that ran for the primary were widely considered

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