Most influential election

[MaC]

Reagan in 1980.  Before then, liberal Democrats did okay in elections.  Take into consideration, most people who voted  against Bush only did because it wasn't Bush.  Kerry had no real strengths and waffled on positions.  In 2000 Bush got elected due to the glitch in the system where electors, and not the people put him in office;  most people until this point never really even thought about it.  Gore's real sucess was based solely on riding on Bill's coattails. So, we have Reagan, Two Bushes, and Bill Clinton who's a moderate and campaigned in 1992 that he could be more Bush than Bush by being harder on crime and such.  So since then, Democrats in congress know that it's politcal suicide to call themselves liberal.   Maybe not THE most influential, but it's definately in the top 5.