"I’ve always felt there was a simpler, more prosaic explanation for Cuomo’s reluctance to run – one that usually proves decisive for most politicians contemplating a campaign for higher office: he didn’t think he could win."
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"I’ve always felt there was a simpler, more prosaic explanation for Mario Cuomo’s reluctance to run for president – one that usually proves decisive for most politicians contemplating a campaign for higher office: he didn’t think he could win."
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by [email protected]
The 1992 campaign was the first one where I was old enough to be politically involved, and the main thing I remember from the Democratic primaries that year was the enormous shadow of Mario Cuomo looming over them as everyone waited to see if he would jump in. And then he never did. Cuomo was the pistol on the wall in the first act that didn't go off in the third
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by [email protected]
If you were not around in 1992, it would be hard for me to explain to you how much Bill Clinton was a C-tier politician then. He was the unpopular governor of an unimportant state. He was just one of a bunch of no-names that everyone expected would get swamped when an ACTUAL candidate decided to jump in.
And then the big names all decided to sit out that year
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OO, Clinton's "triangulation is genius" schtick makes a lot more sense from this perspective
Lukewarm liberal gonna lukewarm, especially when there's nobody with any fire even a little to their left.
And triangulation is definitely one of the early horsemen of our particular apocalypse
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jeremy Kahn last edited by [email protected]
@trochee There was absolutely no desire for a left-of-center candidate in 1992. None. Even 20 years later, Democrats were still smarting from the beating George McGovern had taken in '72 and the long string of losses that followed. Unions were on the ropes, the Soviet Union had just collapsed. Leftism was at the lowest point I ever saw it.
The closest thing we got that year was Jerry "Governor Moonbeam" Brown, who at the time was best known less as a progressive than as a classic California flake.
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@jalefkowit In 1988 we had the Seven Dwarfs. They seemed like nobodies at the time, though two of them (Al Gore, Joe Biden) went on to win the popular vote in later presidential campaigns. I vaguely remember Cuomo and Ted Kennedy casting those shadows that year.
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Joel VanderWerf last edited by [email protected]
@joelvanderwerf I still remember the spectacular implosion of Gary Hart that year.
James Fallows raised the possibility in the Atlantic a few years ago that Hart had been set up by Lee Atwater. (It's paywalled, but archive.today can get you past it.)
Was Gary Hart Set Up?
What are we to make of the deathbed confession of the political operative Lee Atwater, newly revealed, that he staged the events that brought down the Democratic candidate in 1987?
The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com)
