Hotter, Badder, and Unpopularer Takes

[MT Treasurer]

- Gore did the right thing by keeping some distance from Clinton in 2000.
- 1998 and 2002 were hardly resounding victories for the incumbent party, and evidence that voters rejected the "partisan obstructionism" of the opposition in those years is far from convincing. Both Republicans in 1998 and Democrats in 2002 would have done better if they had focused more on base turnout instead of letting the White House set the tone of the campaign.
- 2018 was far from a "neutral" year in the Senate just because Republicans won a few races that never should have have been in doubt in the first place.
- The 1996 presidential election was more winnable for Republicans than the 2008 presidential election.
- Pat Buchanan would have done better than Bob Dole in 1996.
- Howard Dean wouldn’t have done worse than John Kerry in 2004.

[MT Treasurer]

- The 1996 presidential election was more winnable for Republicans than the 2008 presidential election.

As it was (Clinton vs. Dole) or with a different caniddate (Clinton vs., say, Colin Powel)?

Different candidate. I don’t think even a different candidate could have won in 2008, although McCain clearly wasn’t the right Republican for 2008.