Biggest state surprises of the 1992 election

[old timey villain]

I wish I had been old enough to pay attention to the 92 election. It really was a big realignment with so many states changing allegiances.

Surprise Clinton States: NJ, VT, NH, CA, NV (All of them has been strong R previously)

Surprise Bush States: Basically every southern state he won. I'm sure in 1992 people would have expected a victorious southern Democrat to sweep the south, but Bush was still strong here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuabs7WCQKQ

[old timey villain]

You gotta hand it to Clinton. A year out from the election Bush seemed invincible and out of the Dems who had a prayer Clinton was last on the list. But he ran a great campaign that managed to win back a lot of support from southerners while finally picking up the blue states that had been slowly moving away from the Republicans. I would love to see another Clinton who could win Tennessee, California, Vermont and Montana.

[old timey villain]

The biggest surprise in my opinion was New England (not a single state, but still). The only Election where the Democrats had won all the states of New England was Johnsons landslide victory in 1964. Bush did a lot better than Goldwater, but he still lost every single state in New England and the Northeast in general to Clinton. Even when Ford lost the General Election in 1976 he won several of these states.

Bush was desperate in 1992 and made his campaign all about the "culture wars" (ugh) which probably handed him several southern states but alienated him in New England and the northeast. I think 1992 was the final straw for yankee Republicans.