Word: traction
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Just as he was finding his target, Dole abandoned the drug message and switched to the charge that Clinton was a "spend-and-tax liberal." The Clintonites were relieved. "With the drug spots," says Penn, "Dole was getting some traction by painting Clinton as a social liberal. The notion that he was an economic liberal was less effective because the economy is sound...
...year began with two reigning cliches. One was that the incumbent would win because the economy was good; the other was that Dole was too old. Normally in an election the early cliches are replaced by newer cliches, but not this time. The good economy denied the challenger the traction he needed to move forward. As for Dole's age, the best political commentary I heard all year came one morning on C-SPAN during the Republican Convention in San Diego. An elderly woman called in to say why she couldn't back Dole. I am his age, she said...
...staying positive, but there is a creeping realization that things will not turn out in his favor. Weeks ago the campaign had more energy, and Dole was more angry, lashing out at the New York Times and so on." In recent days, Dole has tried to get some political traction over the issue of the President's relationship with John Huang, the former Democratic fundraiser who steered millions from the billionaire Riady family of Indonesia into Democratic coffers. Unfortunately for the GOP, Dole's persistent questioning of the Clinton Administration's ethical standards probably won't resonate with voters come...
...Washington these days, there's a feeling of political deja vu. The time: 1972. The candidates: George McGovern and Richard Nixon. President Nixon was headed for a landslide re-election. McGovern was assailing the President on ethics and trying to get some traction on a little-known scandal called Watergate...
...more politics than principle behind the gesture. How better to portray Clinton as an extremist than by reminding voters that he had defended a practice that big majorities find repugnant? What better gift to give Bob Dole, as he searches for the wedge issues that might give him traction with the conservative and Roman Catholic voters who should form the base of his support...