Word: nunn
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Nunn was just back from a holiday in Switzerland, where he had digested a sheaf of memos explaining how he could win the Democratic nomination. But doubts about shouldering a presidential campaign on top of his Senate duties plagued him. There were moments when he thought he would make the plunge, but he woke in the middle of one night last week convinced that he should not. So Thursday morning, he activated what he called Operation Red Light -- the distribution of a no-go statement. His wife Colleen phoned his mother Elizabeth in Perry, Ga., with word of the verdict...
...Nunn difference is as much ideological as it is a manifestation of Southern boosterism. With his right-of-center views on foreign policy and military spending, Nunn would provide a counterweight to the seven current Democratic candidates, who are united in their opposition to contra aid and Ronald Reagan's Star Wars program. He has also taken a more moderate stance on many social issues, thus appealing to disaffected Democrats worried about their party's long love affair with various special-interest groups. Without Nunn in the race, the prevailing sentiment among centrist Democrats in the South (and perhaps elsewhere...
That is precisely the dilemma that the Democratic creators of the Southern Regional Primary hoped to avoid. But it is possible that no electoral mechanism can offset the dominance that a disproportionately liberal electorate has in the early tests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Nunn, for example, would have to defend not only his foreign policy views but also a conservative domestic voting record that includes support for Reaganomics, the nomination of William Rehnquist as Chief Justice and a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Supreme Court abortion decision. Nunn flunks almost every liberal Democratic litmus test...
...runs, Nunn's strategy is likely to be South Toward Home. He would probably downplay Iowa and hope to survive New Hampshire in the middle of the pack. "Nunn understands that he can't run as the 'conservative' in the race," says a Democratic strategist who has helped develop a possible campaign plan. "He would have to run as the tribune of the rank-and-file Democrats, the people who are locked out by the special interests and the activist establishment." Vital to a Nunn candidacy would be his likely support by the black leadership of Atlanta, especially John Lewis...
When he returns to Washington this week, Nunn will have had two weeks in Europe to weigh the appeal of a race for the White House against his qualms about disrupting his family and shortchanging his Senate duties. He will not have long to signal his intentions: beyond the end of September, a late-from- the-gate candidacy could be almost impossible. Now Nunn must decide whether he wants to remain as the perfect non-candidate or become another presidential contender who will inevitably lose some of his luster in the rough-and-tumble of a difficult campaign...