(8 of 8)
The debates changed no one's mind. Even now, so close in time, all that lingers is the memory of Dole's pillow punches--and Clinton's deftness at ignoring them. Near the end, a frustrated Dole struck at the media for being too liberal and at voters in general for failing to "wake up" to Clinton's shortcomings. As desperation reigned, Dole's down-ticket Republican colleagues fled their leader, which is likely to be recorded as a smart move indeed. The G.O.P.'s ability to retain control of the Congress resulted at least in part from arguing that the President's second-term plans should be checked by a Republican legislature--just as the President gained greatly from avowing that he was needed to check them.
Could dole have run differently? Was victory ever in the cards? Perhaps if he had been himself, the difference too few Americans perceived may have resonated more profoundly. At each downturn in his fortunes, Dole promised that "from now on, you'll see the real Bob Dole." In retrospect it seems that the real Bob Dole emerged only once: when he resigned from the Senate. It was a moment when he could have tacked many ways. He was fond of saying that "in a record of more than 12,000 votes, you can make a case for just about anything." So the accomplishments he chose to highlight in that tearful moment were instructive. Dole spoke movingly of his role in creating and expanding the food-stamp and school-lunch programs. He recalled sponsoring both the Women, Infants and Children Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those achievements, he said without saying so explicitly, were his legacy. They embodied his belief that "government does a lot of good things," a line he sometimes dashed off on the stump at the end of one of his tortured, run-on sentences.
So, yes, Dole could have run as the hardheaded but scarcely harsh politician his 35-year congressional career proved him to be. He could probably have won the votes of more women by sticking to his call for "tolerance" in the G.O.P.'s abortion plank. He could have avoided the tax-cut scheme that colored him as just another pandering pol, even though he seemed genuinely to have been converted to supply-side theory by the time 15% became his battle cry in August. He could have built on his critical 1983 participation in the commission that saved Social Security by speaking forcefully about the difficult choices necessary to ensure that it and Medicare will be available in the future. He could, in sum, have run so as to inoculate himself against the charge that he was no better than Clinton, about whom he had said, "No one knows what the President really believes."
Perhaps, given his amazing glibness, Clinton would have won in any case. But as remarkable and professional and airtight as the President's campaign was, the verdict at this remove is that Dole lost it.