PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN PROJECT1996 ELECTION

CLINTON

VS.

DOLE

PRIMARIES AND CAUCUSES• State law and party rules determine what a voter is actually casting a ballot for in

presidential primaries and caucuses. In most states voters cast their ballot to award delegates legally bound to vote for a candidate at the state or national convention. A few states have a non-binding primary, which means the vote is to select a candidate to a state convention that select delegates. “Unpledged” delegates are chosen during primaries and caucuses as well as delegates. These unpledged delegates include top party officials for Republicans and “superdelegates” (party leaders and elected officials) for Democrats.

• In a caucus, registered party members meet by precinct, district, or county, to discuss candidates and select delegates to the next round of party conventions. After arriving at a caucus, participants are grouped according to the candidate they support, and then they speak on behalf of their candidate in an attempt to convince other participants to join their group. Participants have the opportunity to change their support if they choose to, and at the end of the caucus a final count is done. The largest group of supporters receives the largest number of delegate votes. Caucuses are more time-consuming that primaries, so those who show up are most likely either extremely liberal or conservative.

PARTY NOMINATIONBeing the incumbent Democratic President, Bill Clinton was the obvious choice for the Democratic presidential candidate nominee in 1996, which made his search for renomination easy and uneventful. This allowed him to focus on the general election early on in his campaign. Lyndon LaRouche, an incarcerated fringe candidate, won a few Arkansas delegates that were barred from the convention, and former Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey considered challenging Clinton until health problems made him leave the bid. Clinton won 88.98%, LaRouche won 5.47%, and 3.77% were unpledged.

The coveted “bad-ass” look

CONVENTION• The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential

nominating conventions held by the United States Democratic Party. The goal of the DNC is to nominate a candidate for President and Vice President and adopt a party platform as well as unify the party. Delegates from all fifty U.S. states and from American territories such as Puerto Rico attend the convention to vote for the presidential candidate. The Party’s nominee is typically known months before the DNC because of how early in the election year caucuses and primary elections are held.

• The 1996 Democratic National Convention was hosted in Chicago. The convention was fairly uneventful since Clinton was nominated unanimously for a second term, and incumbent Vice President Al Gore was nominated as well by voice vote. Possibly one of the most memorable moments from the convention was Al Gore dancing to the Macarena while standing still.

PARTY PLATFORM1996 Democratic National Platform

http://www.perkel.com/congress/platform.htm

Some main points:-Economic growth through balancing budget, tax relief for working families

and small businesses, technology, and more jobs through trade-Education: strengthening public schools, preparing students for jobs, higher

education for all Americans, and tax cuts for college.-Fighting crime through community policing, protecting citizens from criminals

with guns, and fighting youth violence and preventing youth crime.-Strengthen security through strengthening our military and reducing threat

of weapons of mass destruction.-Promote peace and democracy

$DOLLA DOLLA BILL$ -Under U.S. law it is illegal for non-American citizens to give money donations to

politicians and political parties. The Washington Post published a story stating that a U.S. Department of Justice investigation had discovered evidence that agents of China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the DNC before the 1996 presidential campaign. Intelligence information had showed the Chinese Embassy in was used for coordinating contributions to the DNC. Seventeen people were eventually convicted for fraud or for funneling Asian funds into the U.S. elections.

$DOLLA DOLLA BILL$ continued$$$$$

-Al Gore held a fundraising event at Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California. The Temple event was organized by DNC fund-raisers John Huang and Maria Hsia. It is illegal under U.S. law for religious organizations to donate money to politicians or political groups due to their tax-exempt status. The U.S. Justice Department alleged Hsia facilitated $100,000 in illegal contributions to the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election campaign through her efforts at the Temple. Hsia was eventually convicted by a jury in March 2000. The DNC eventually returned the money donated by the Temple's monks and nuns. Twelve nuns and employees of the Temple refused to answer questions by pleading the Fifth when they were called to testify before Congress in 1997.

ELECTION STRATEGY

In the ’94 House and Senate elections, the Republicans gained majority control of the Congress. Clinton sought to run more in the middle of the isle. With the economy on the up and up Clinton won back the public’s trust by ‘96. Clinton’s strategy was similar to Reagan’s in ‘84. The plan was to place attention on the prosperity and to not make any bold new policy statements. His talking points switched from a few big ideas to many small gimmicks. The Clinton team began using the media as well. They also began an ad campaign that focused on the positive changes in the last couple of years. The goal was to accentuate the positive. The strategy worked as Clinton never made a misstep in preserving his sizable head start.

POLL RESULTS BREAKDOWN

PRIMARIES Clinton: 9,706,802 votes (88.98%)LaRouche: 596,422 (5.47%)GENERALClinton: 47,401,185 votes (49.24%) 379 electorsDole: 39,197,469 votes (40.71%) 159 electors