Color It Republican

Reaping the credit for peace and prosperity, Bush holds most of Reagan's key voting blocs -- and even overcomes the gender gap

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The Bush campaign was terrified of making a mistake that might doom the election in the home stretch. Bush's running mate, Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, was kept virtually out of sight, consigned almost exclusively to . small, solidly Republican Southern and Midwestern towns, where he spoke before audiences largely made up of high school students too young to vote. In the 30-minute Bush campaign commercial that aired Monday night, Quayle's name was never mentioned.

By the morning of Election Day, the Bush camp's confidence was replaced by a case of last-minute jitters. The Vice President's pollster, Robert Teeter, was horrified to learn that Bush's lead had shrunk to 4 points overnight. Early exit polls showed the candidates running neck and neck in several key states. Bush and his staff were getting edgy. At one point the Vice President's son Jeb yelled, only half in jest, at two senior aides, "For crying out loud, lighten up! Go have a drink or something, but stop worrying out loud."

Bush did not begin to rest easy until he learned that he had won Connecticut, Maine and Missouri, in addition to sweeping the South. At 10 p.m., Reagan phoned with his congratulations. Ten minutes later, Dukakis called to concede. Among the others calling with their congratulations: Dukakis' running mate Lloyd Bentsen and Jesse Jackson.

Bentsen, who handily won re-election to his Senate seat, will remain chairman of the Finance Committee and probably become a venerated figurehead and statesman of the Democratic Party. Jackson, who was gracious in his round of network interviews but clearly believes his more forceful populism would have been better for the party, has made it known that he plans to join the swarm of people likely to seek the Democratic nomination four years from now. And Dukakis, while not ruling out another run, will concentrate for the time being on winning re-election as Massachusetts Governor in 1990.

Bush, after a Houston press conference Wednesday morning, flew to Washington to meet with Quayle and start planning the transition. On election night, he fulfilled a lifelong dream. But however grueling the process, becoming President is easy work compared with being President. Bush comes to power at an odd and troubled juncture in U.S. history, when a desire for cautious change and unhappiness over the decline in the nation's economic dominance coincide with a general satisfaction with the mixed prosperity of the Reagan era. Having proved he can win a rough-and-tumble election, Bush must now prove he can manage the nation's pent-up fiscal problems and set the stage for its entrance into the 21st century.

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