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Does this mean that GHWB could win in 1992?

Personally, I have my doubts-I find Atwater's influence somewhat overrated in 1988 and I think would be in 1992 as well. But I'm willing to entertain other theories. Atwater after all was the only one in the GOP (other than the elderly Richard Nixon, which really doesn't shock me given his feelings on Bush I and Clinton as political operators) to take Bill Clinton seriously before it was 1992 and it was too late.

https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/c/conason-president.html


I find the idea of an Atwater behind GWB and Karl Rove pretty terrifying though. Or Atwater during the Clinton Wars, though I don't think he could get Dole elected either. People were happy with Clinton, Dole was old, and Clinton was perfectly OK with fighting dirty in a way that no other Democrat since LBJ in '68 was willing to.
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