Word: populists
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...contenders who ran first and third in Iowa will define the Democratic debate. Dukakis' opposition to Gephardt's agenda of get-tough trade policies and an oil-import fee is only part of the equation. More telling are their differences in orientation and outlook. For all his new populist pretensions, Gephardt remains a man of the House, a legislative tactician whose vision is shaped by years of trying to assemble 218-vote majorities. Dukakis, in contrast, offers the skills of a can-do Governor who has prospered by marrying liberal goals with pinchpenny policies...
...Gephardt's aides believe they have taken the measure of Dukakis and found him less formidable than once imagined. Their new orthodoxy is that Dukakis' almost willful blandness is the perfect foil for Gephardt's populist pyrotechnics. "Duke's is a very unclear message," says a ranking Gephardt adviser. "He doesn't know what he's trying to say, and it's been the same since ((Campaign Manager John)) Sasso left last October." Sasso's departure in the wake of the Joseph Biden "attack video" caper has left the Dukakis campaign with no one of that stature to override...
Everyone -- except some voters, it seems -- loves to loathe Dick Gephardt. Since Iowa, the press has castigated him for his politically inspired conversion from a nerdy Mr. Inside to an Establishment-baiting Joe Populist. His rivals have jeered him as an inconsistent opportunist pandering to whims of a variety of special-interest groups. Others have derided him as a chameleon who darkened his blond eyebrows (otherwise they disappeared on television) and made himself into a populist prophet who would lead America out of economic servitude. Gephardt just grins: such criticism tells him he must be on to something...
...that did not occur in Iowa was Gephardt's elimination--which would have resulted from anything short of victory. Down in the polls as recently as two months ago, Gephardt concentrated his national staff in Iowa and unleashed a blitz of new commercials portraying him as an anti-establishment populist. A win was absolutely essential for the congressman, who had campaigned strenuously in Iowa for nearly two years...
Gephardt's risk has paid off. An Iowa victory gives him a tremendous boost in national media attention. However, his populist image, responsible for his campaign's rejuvenation, may prove unsaleable in New Hampshire. Calls for protectionism and an oil import fee may be popular among the disgruntled residents of the depressed Midwest, but they won't fly with New Hampshire voters...