Word: robertson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...flip side of Dole's Iowa victory was Vice President George Bush's defeat. Despite his status as Reagan's heir apparent, the advantages of office and more than $5 million in campaign funds, Bush finished a distant third, with a slim 19% of the vote. Pat Robertson, the former religious broadcaster who has never held public office, stunned the Republican establishment with 25% of the vote and a second-place finish, emerging as a powerful and potentially disruptive force...
...head and shoulders above George Bush as a potential President." Pete du Pont (7%, fifth place) will soon be heading back to Delaware's chateau country. Jack Kemp (11%, fourth place) had counted on outflanking Bush and Dole on the right as the true-blue conservative candidate. But Robertson's message of moral regeneration proved more appealing than Kemp's pep talks on economics, and the Buffalo Congressman could only hope that a strong finish in New Hampshire would keep him in the game...
Even if Bush rallies for a clear win in New Hampshire, he faces tough tests ahead. Robertson could prove to be more of a spoiler in the South than he was in Iowa. Robertson credited his dazzling showing in Iowa to God and his "invisible army" of supporters. Actually, Robertson supporters functioned less like an army than a skilled commando brigade. They understood the caucus system well and adroitly concentrated on group voting. Robertson organizers even rented buses to deliver their supporters to meetings en masse. Throughout the South and in such states as Michigan and Minnesota, Robertson has built...
...some Republicans, the Dole-Bush-Robertson conflict taking shape is a sign of fragmentation and discord in the G.O.P. "All the cultural contradictions of the party are coming home to roost," says John Buckley, a senior Kemp aide. "We are paying for the coalition we put together in 1980." Unlike Reagan in that year, no Republican in 1988 seems capable of winning the support of both moderate conservatives and right-wing evangelicals. Moreover, Robertson voters seem unlikely to throw their weight to a more electable, coalition candidate. "They hold their views with a ferocity that makes compromise impossible." says John...
...coalition that surfaced in Iowa could deepen if the three-way battle drags out and grows bitter. For months the Bush campaign counted on its broad support and organization in the Southern states as a "fire wall" against any damage suffered in the early contests. But if Dole and Robertson continue to scorch him, Bush may not reach his fire wall intact -- and the others must hope that the spreading conflagration does not destroy the party's chances of keeping the White House...