CAMPAIGN '96: FROM SAVIOR TO SCAPEGOAT

DISPIRITED BY DOLE, REPUBLICANS HAD PUT THEIR HOPES ON HIS ENERGETIC RUNNING MATE. BUT THEN THEY WATCHED HIM DEBATE

Remember how in sandlot baseball games sometimes nobody on your team could hit the ball, and you'd be behind by, say, 16 runs in the final inning? And yet, if you were the last kid to strike out, you were considered the one who lost the game? Well, that's how Jack Kemp felt after last Wednesday night's debate against Vice President Al Gore.

Never mind that the Dole-Kemp ticket trailed Clinton-Gore by 16 points in the polls. Never mind that Bob Dole had gained no ground against President Clinton in a televised debate only three nights earlier. Never mind all that,...

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