The Power Populist

What nerve did Bush strike? A noted historian argues that he won because he embraced Robertson's cause while Dukakis rejected Jackson's

When they were not firing muskets loaded with rusty nails into each other's faces, they were engaged in a competitive warmth-out -- Michael Dukakis trying furiously to grin, with meager results; Bush's grin wandering, with random abundance, all over his face and off into the air. Given his wrinkles (and his plight), Lloyd Bentsen's grin was hard to distinguish from a wince. Off to the side, Dan Quayle was giving high school students his version of the Stephen Sondheim lyric "Lovely is the one thing I can do."

% The candidates were encouraged to talk about everything but what was happening...

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