I think the problem is that the writers killed off both the Herman Cain and the Rick Perry characters. One or the other would have been fine, but without either this show's become a lot less entertaining.
The problem was they had already killed off the Cain character and were planning on focusing on the Perry character when they discovered he kept flubbing his lines. Part of the problem they have is that everyone they have on the show now pales in comparison to Reagan. Now that was a true actor!
I quite agree, that really was the golden era for the show. Since then its been going downhill every season, though I suspect that firing that script-writer, Rove or something, improved the 2008 season.
I disagree only on the basis that there wasn't much tension in the second Reagan season (the first was pretty interesting, if depressing to me as someone who was honestly more intrigued by the Carter character, flaws and all). I think the run of seasons from 1960 to 1980 was generally pretty great, though; even the 1964 and 1972 seasons, while they ended in entirely predictable landslides, had a lot of really interesting stuff happen getting there.
