Gary Hart was not forced out of the 1988 Presidential Campai

[john07]

Gary Hart was the clear front runner for the 1988 Democratic Primary campaign. He was forced out of the race after the Donna Rice affair.

Hart could have been a much stronger candidate than Mike Dukakis and May well have beaten George H W Bush.

Thoughts?

[finsobruce]

Jan 19, 2019 19:45:00 GMT john07 said:

Gary Hart was the clear front runner for the 1988 Democratic Primary campaign. He was forced out of the race after the Donna Rice affair.

Hart could have been a much stronger candidate than Mike Dukakis and May well have beaten George H W Bush.

Thoughts?

[Deleted]

I don't think his Hart was in it.

[heslingtonian]

Probably he’d have still lost but slightly less badly than Dukakis. He might have had a shot at winning California, New Mexico and his home state of Colorado and would have done better in the Western states.

[gwynthegriff]

Jan 19, 2019 21:28:23 GMT heslingtonian said:

Probably he’d have still lost but slightly less badly than Dukakis. He might have had a shot at winning California, New Mexico and his home state of Colorado and would have done better in the Western states.

Skimreading this I was surprised by the suggestion that Gary Hart would have done better in the Western Isles ...

[pragmaticidealist]

Biden would have been a decent candidate had he not decided to 'borrow' a Neil Kinnock speech excerpt.

Hart was destroyed in a 1984 debate by Walter Mondale of all people, i.e. in the "where's the beef?" moment.

In general the 1988 Democratic candidates were a poor selection.

[heslingtonian]

Jan 20, 2019 8:58:00 GMT pragmaticidealist said:

Biden would have been a decent candidate had he not decided to 'borrow' a Neil Kinnock speech excerpt.

Hart was destroyed in a 1984 debate by Walter Mondale of all people, i.e. in the "where's the beef?" moment.

In general the 1988 Democratic candidates were a poor selection.

Somewhat incredible to think that 31 years later, Biden is the favourite for the Democratic nomination in 2020. Biden is a very decent man who has had some horrendous bad luck in his domestic life. He was a good Vice President and I would much prefer him to be President than the current incumbent but I can’t help but feel the Democrats need a younger candidate in 2020.

[john07]

Jan 20, 2019 8:58:00 GMT pragmaticidealist said:

Biden would have been a decent candidate had he not decided to 'borrow' a Neil Kinnock speech excerpt.

Hart was destroyed in a 1984 debate by Walter Mondale of all people, i.e. in the "where's the beef?" moment.

Hardly ‘destroyed’ I think.

Mondale only won the primary race narrowly despite having all of the party establishment and the Labor Unions behind him.

I think that the 1988 election was one that the Democrats could have won with the right candidate. Under the right circumstances Hart could have been such a candidate.

[greenhert]

For what it is worth, disgraced author/politician Jeffrey Archer predicted a Gary Hart presidency in his book "First Among Equals."

[The Bishop]

Jul 1, 2020 8:12:47 GMT greenhert said:

For what it is worth, disgraced author/politician Jeffrey Archer predicted a Gary Hart presidency in his book "First Among Equals."

Not very much?

[neilm]

Although remarkably foresighted by Archer, given the rest of the stuff in the book that simply didn't happen, like the electoral performance of the SDP.