# Worst presidential campaighn ever?/ **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 9, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837 "2018-05-09T01:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/81 "2018-06-03T12:40:10Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Part of the credit for what happened in '92 simply has to go to the fact that Bill Clinton ran one of the _best_ campaigns ever. He may not have been a _perfect_ candidate, but he was, in so many way a perfect _candidate._ > > Consider the whole “rapid response” team thing that Carville and Co. put into operation. Instead of letting charges go unanswered, they were so fast with their refutations that the charge, the refutation, and often a countercharge went out in the same news cycle (when we actually had news cycles). Given the benefit of another 26 years hindsight, I think the rapid response thing is just fighting the last war. Democrats thought that Dukakis not answering charges is what beat him, but it probably wasn’t that. Since 1988, candidates have ignored charges or responded ineptly and won anyway. Fundamentals are 90% of elections, a core message the remaining 10%. To the extent the Clinton team was responsible for his win, it was the message, his positioning on the ideological scale, and his populism. No one understands the electorate better than Clinton and he knew exactly how to market himself to the electorate as it was in 1992. Democrats since then have been marketing themselves to an electorate they wish existed. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/82 "2018-06-03T17:23:54Z")
Also, the Republicans couldn’t just scream, “LIBERAL!” and have it stick to Clinton. The Republicans had gotten fat on that strategy, and it was easy to pin that label on Dukakis and Mondale, two men who looked like elitist college professors and were the type to tell you to eat your broccoli and like it. And I still think that Clinton telling off Jesse Jackson early in the campaign helped seal it for him. I remember the news coverage in 1988 when Dukakis selected Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate. Was the coverage focused on Dukakis? No. Was the coverage focused on Bentsen? Again, no. It was focused on Jesse Jackson whining that he hadn’t been notified. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/83 "2018-06-04T17:53:00Z")
In terms of results, the worst might be William Howard Taft, who ran for re-election in 1912, and came in _third_ place, behind Wilson and Roosevelt (his former mentor, they had a falling out). > **[1912 United States presidential election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1912)** > > William Howard Taft > Republican > Woodrow Wilson > Democratic > The 1912 United States presidential election was the 32nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1912. Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and defeated former President Theodore Roosevelt, who ran under the banner of the new Progressive or "Bull Moose" Party. This is the most recent, and the only post-Civil War presidential election in which the second-p... ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/84 "2018-06-04T19:56:17Z")
I guess I’m the only one here who remembers Barry Goldwater. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/85 "2018-06-04T20:19:31Z")
And how soon we forget Ben Carson. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/86 "2018-06-04T20:36:29Z")
And the Lunacy of Ron Paul… ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/87 "2018-06-04T21:11:28Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I guess I’m the only one here who remembers Barry Goldwater. I remember Goldwater’s campaign. Yes, some of his comments were, let’s say, “inartful.” But he was running against the ghost of JFK, and it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference if the Republicans had run Nixon, Rockefeller, Scranton or anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837/88 "2018-06-04T22:47:00Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > And the Lunacy of Ron Paul… Is he related to that guy Google Ron Paul? I kept seeing signs for him. Funny how his first name was the name of a search engine. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-presidential-campaighn-ever/813837.md?page=4)