Posts Tagged ‘Jerry Brown’
1992
“Jerry Brown was amazing.”
Clinton vs G.H.W. Bush vs Perot
Voted: Clinton
My Conscience: None of the above. Put bumper stickers for all 3 on my car.
My Conscience in the Democratic Primary: Jerry Brown!!! Yes!!!
Impressions Heading into Election Day
Clinton: Car salesman
G.H.W. Bush: Grumpy-ass man getting more grumpy and bitter
Perot: Also reminded me of a car salesman, but the kind that is self-featured in his cheaply-produced car lot commercials
Clinton: 43% with 370 electoral
Bush: 37% with 169 electoral
Perot: 19% with 0 electoral
Looking Back: Jerry Brown was amazing. I remember during the campaign he didn’t have much money, so he was couch-surfing across the country. I sent him my address in case he needed to crash. During the debates and on the radio he’d just start reading off his 800 number (think he was the first to do this). My parents sent him $100, the maximum donation he’d accept. I loved how he’d pointedly cut into car salesman Clinton and taunt him during their debates, buoyed by grassroots support, union-power, and his contrasting non-slick grit. Things started to look hopeful when he won a string of states after Super Tuesday, but eventually cheesiness powered through and Slick Willie took the Democratic nomination (without Brown’s endorsement at the convention). I didn’t know it then, but Jerry had run a few times in the past. His gallant but often forgotten ’92 battle against Bubba was his most successful effort, but unfortunately it was his last presidential run.
Election Map: Clinton creates what is now the the modern Democratic victory map. California goes Democratic for the first time since 1964, and the rest of the West Coast stays blue. The Northeast, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida are all blue, in addition to a few southern states. Very different than Carter’s 1976 southern and eastern solid wall of blue.
