Word: bentsen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...enrollment in correspondence courses at the Sorbonne. Ridicule is as contagious in politics as it is in show business: even a few Bush aides privately call Quayle the blond bombshell. He needs a chance to show some gravitas. Quayle is not exaggerating when he describes his debate with Bentsen as "the most important event in my political life...
Flanked by a posse of lawmen, some sporting ten-gallon hats, Lloyd Bentsen cheerfully introduced his running mate. The Law Enforcement Officers Association of Texas had gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas last week to endorse the Governor of Massachusetts and certify that he is not a patsy on crime. Bentsen, silver-haired and presidential, surveyed the audience with his mild and benign gaze and then said casually, "Mike, have you rented a hotel room here tonight?" Dukakis appeared slightly mystified but nodded his head. "Good. In some people's minds that makes you a Texan...
...Bentsen's jab at George Bush for calling a rented Houston hotel suite his home got an appreciative laugh. But it will take more than a clever line for Bentsen to make Texans think Dukakis is one of them. As his running mate, Bentsen has one overriding responsibility: to put the Lone Star State's 29 electoral votes in the Democratic column in November. No Democrat has won the White House in this century without Texas...
...battle for Texas' soul is a microcosm of Dukakis' national problem: luring Reagan Democrats back to the fold. Bentsen has been spending more time in Texas than in any other state trying to do just that. So how does a courtly and conservative Senator get his fellow Texans to vote for a Greek Yankee from the most liberal state in the union? "Basically, what Bentsen does," says his press spokesman, Mike McCurry, "is credentialize Dukakis in Texas...
...speech in Longview, an east Texas oil town, Bentsen stands in front of a 60-ft. American flag and a silent, black oil rig. "Let's get down to us folks," he tells the crowd of about 100, old and young, black and white. "Five out of six prigs that were active in 1981 are now inactive." Yes . . . Yes! some exclaim. "The Reagan-Bush Administration's energy policy has been as empty as Dan Quayle's resume." A few yee-his ring out. But when Bentsen segues to Dukakis and the Massachusetts Miracle, the crowd becomes silent. After the speech...