Wilson '96 : An Upcoming Western Storm

[Ragnaroni]

It is early in the morning of August 22nd 1996 and Wilson was waiting for two very different yet equally important news.

The first were some polls from the three states on the Pacific Coast, including his native California. This batch would be the first polls conducted by a major pollster in the region and it would show Wilson what the nation felt about him. He hoped that the results showed a significant improvement for the Republicans. California was still a Republican state and Wilson should be able to win it, Oregon and Washington however would require some effort in the eyes of the Wilson campaign. The polling will either confirm or deny their theory.

The second was something Wilson dreaded, the debates. Bill Clinton was far more charismatic, likeable and dare he say, attractive than he was. Wilson's team were afraid that Wilson would get clobbered during the debates and would have to depend on Gramm's performance face to face with Al Gore. He was going to have to prepare and talk of his resigning the Governor's mansion was frequent among the press in Sacramento. Many were surprised he hadn't resigned earlier while many California Republicans were engaged in a passionate (and losing) argument about the state falling into Democrat hands. The idea of having Gray Davis as Governor made many Republicans worried but Wilson recognized that this was also just mere partisanship and scaremongering. Some advisors suggested pressuring Davis into resigning as well probably setting off a new batch of elections. Wilson shooed off the advisors and promised to look into it. He now turned his attention to the debate schedule.

[Ragnaroni]

August 22nd 1996 the document was handed to Wilson by an unnamed consultant, it came from the Committee of Presidential Debates.

There were to be 4 debates, three between him and Bill Clinton and one between Gramm and Gore. He noted, with a hint of amusement, the similarity between the names Wilson and Clinton. How many voters would be confused by this similarity, if there was any at all, he chuckled to himself. He peered down to the document. It reads :

First Presidential Debate September 27th 1996

Dartsmouth College, Hanover New Hampshire

_{https://www.ivywise.com/blog/how-to-get-into-dartmouth-college-all-you-need-to-know/}

Second Presidential Debate, October 9th 1996

Washington University, St. Louis Missouri

_{https://wustl.edu/about/campuses/danforth-campus/}

Third Presidential Debate October 16th 1996

University of San Diego, San Diego California

_{https://www.sandiego.edu/}

Vice-Presidential Debate October 3rd 1996

Trinity University, San Antonio Texas

_{https://www.trinity.edu/news/trinity-ranked-top-100-best-colleges-nation}

Wilson noted that two of the debates took place in his and Gramm's home states of California and Texas respectively. Could this help him? Who knows...
It was time for Wilson to start slowly ramping up his campaign, he had plans for two rallies one in Augusta Maine and the other in Manchester New Hampshire that weekend and was going to finalize a decision about his position of Governor of California, he wasn't afraid to point out that winning the state was more imporant than winning the Governor's mansion. The polling was actually supposed to arrive the next day.

[Ragnaroni]

It is the afternoon of August 24th 1996 and Pete Wilson was preparing a few speeches.

His resignation speech in Los Angeles, the location of which was chosen to permit him to take the earliest flight to JFK in New York and then head to New Hampshire, two rallies one in New Hampshire and the other in Maine.

He was getting a lot of angry phone calls from senior Republicans in California but decided to ignore them. In response, he hinted at possible cabinet positions if he happened to win the Golden State and of course the election.

Speaking of the Golden State, the polls have arrived, he didn't read them the day before due to fatigue after fundraising in Yorba Linda. He grabbed the paper and read the document. It came from Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy. It was a head-to-head poll with Ralph Nader being absent despite gaining considerable traction since May 1996. It read :

**************************************************
                  California Voter Intention Poll
                   August 13-20 1996, 805 RV
**************************************************

If the Presidential election were held today,
who would you vote for?

| Candidate                           Percentage
|------------------------------   ------------
| President Bill Clinton (D)        44%    
| Governor Pete Wilson (R)       39%     
| Undecided                             17%   
 

**************************************************

**************************************************
                    Oregon Voter Intention Poll
                   August 17-22 1996, 984 LV
**************************************************

If the Presidential election were held today,
who would you vote for?

| Candidate                           Percentage
|------------------------------   ------------
| President Bill Clinton (D)        43%    
| Governor Pete Wilson (R)       36%     
| Undecided                             21%   
 

**************************************************

**************************************************
                    Washington Voter Intention Poll
                   August 14-21 1996, 600 RV
**************************************************

If the Presidential election were held today,
who would you vote for?

| Candidate                           Percentage
|------------------------------   ------------
| President Bill Clinton (D)        42%    
| Governor Pete Wilson (R)       37%     
| Undecided                             21%   
 

**************************************************