Word: backgrounding
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...troubled Bush campaign last week was one of repeated misjudgments and miscalculations. Bush should shoulder most of the adverse political consequences, stemming from both faulty staff work and his deep concern with secrecy, which kept politically experienced aides from participating in and learning much about Quayle's background check...
This kindliness had consequences. A parade of would-be Veeps coming hat in hand would be demeaning, so Bush primarily communicated with the candidates through the relatively inexperienced Robert Kimmitt, who was in charge of the background checks. Kimmitt -- the top attorney at Treasury when Campaign Chairman James Baker was the Cabinet Secretary -- was under firm instructions to share most of his findings only with Bush. Thus, despite the broad-ranging search for a running mate, the most vital information of all was in the end filtered through a two-man channel...
...local Congressman J.T. Rutherford, kept an eye on Bush as a Republican threat, "You know, just to load up and be ready." That Bush would consider running from Midland, soon to become a center of John Birch activism, might seem strange, given his father's patrician Republican background, but Bush, who never convincingly took on Texas mannerisms, accepted the values of Midland County as unquestioningly as he had those of Andover. When he had acquired the minimum fortune for a Texas businessman (under a million) and moved to Houston, he ran for the Senate in Barry Goldwater's year...
BUSH certainly doesn't come from a background to which Hispanics can relate. But all of a sudden, Bush sees the need to attract the Hispanic voter. He can't do it on his background. He probably can't do it on the past eight years of the Reagan Administration. So he turns to Jeb and his wife and the kids...
Dukakis, on the other hand, can identify with Hispanics just on the sole reason that he spoke Spanish, and very fluent Spanish, at the Democratic Convention. Dukakis can go out and directly talk to Hispanic voters without anyone having to translate for him. He can talk about his background as the son of an immigrant family and Hispanics will relate to him more than Bush...