At the other end of the spectrum, he's hoping to appeal to the urbane and tech-savvy. "The Internet today will be for Steve Forbes what television was for John Kennedy in 1960," boasts Forbes campaign manager Bill DalCol. That would leave Al Gore wishing he'd never invented the damn thing.
Netizen Forbes Launches His Presidential Bid
Last time around he was the one-trick pony with a lot more money than
charisma; now he's at pains to show that there's more to Steve Forbes than
a flat tax. The billionaire publisher launches his bid for the Republican
nomination Tuesday directly from his campaign web site, hoping to "demonstrate the importance the Internet
will play returning democracy to the individual." The idea may not be
particularly novel, but Forbes appears set on retreading campaign themes
that have worked for others. "He's spent heavily recruiting veteran
organizers of the Buchanan brigade and the Christian Coalition to build a
strong organization that will be so crucial in the early contest," says
TIME correspondent John Dickerson. "He's courting the GOP's social
conservatives, whom he so angered in 1996."