Presidential Primaries and Caucuses: The 2000 South Carolina Republican Primary
In 2000, incumbent President Bill Clinton had served two full terms and was ineligible to run for a third. On the one hand Clinton was popular despite having just been impeached. Americans were content with a healthy economy thanks to the economic prosperity that flowed on the heels of the rise of the internet. Clinton had presented the first surplus budgets in recent memory. On the other hand, many Americans hadn't forgotten Clinton's smug denial to the nation that he "did not have sexual relations" with intern Monica Lewinsky, only to be later caught in this lie thanks to DNA evidence discovered on a little blue dress. Clinton had never directly apologized to the nation for his boldfaced lie, and the Republican Party did not intend to let voters forget that.
The primary contest began with a fairly wide field. For the Republicans, Texas Governor George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, the most recent Republican president, took an early lead in early polling numbers. He had the support of much of the party establishment and he also had a strong fund-raising machine. Former cabinet member George Shultz played an important early role in gathering and securing Republican support for Bush. In April 1998, Schultz invited Bush to discuss policy issues with a number of leading experts including Michael Boskin, John Taylor, and Condoleezza Rice, a group known as the Vulcans. This group was looking for a candidate for 2000 that shared their world view and they were impressed by the younger Bush. Shultz encouraged Bush to enter the race. Due in large measure to this establishment backing, Bush dominated in early polling and fundraising figures.
Bush stumbled in some of the early primary debates, but despite this, he easily won the Iowa caucuses. Initially, many believed that his biggest challenger would be wealthy businessman Steve Forbes, who finished second to Bush in Iowa. But the man who ultimately gave Bush his biggest challenge was former Vietnam prisoner of war, Senator John McCain of Arizona. McCain surprised the front-runner when he won the New Hampshire Primary with 48% of the vote, compared to Bush's 30% in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary. McCain did not have the same fund-raising power or establishment support that Bush had, but his surprise win in New Hampshire gave his campaign a boost of energy and donations.
For McCain's campaign, the key issue was campaign finance reform. McCain had announced his candidacy for president on September 27, 1999, in Nashua, New Hampshire, saying he was staging "a fight to take our government back from the power brokers and special interests, and return it to the people and the noble cause of freedom it was created to serve". McCain had focused on the New Hampshire primary, where his message appealed to many independents. He traveled on a campaign bus called the Straight Talk Express and held many town hall meetings, answering every question voters asked. In a successful campaign style that came to be known as "retail politics", he used free media to compensate for his lack of funds. One reporter later said, "McCain talked all day long with reporters on his Straight Talk Express bus. He talked so much that sometimes he said things that he shouldn't have, and that's why the media loved him."
The Bush campaign and the Republican establishment feared that a McCain victory in the crucial South Carolina primary might give his campaign unstoppable momentum. In South Carolina, voters had the option of crossing party lines in primaries such that McCain might draw support from independents and Democrats.
Bush's campaign ran on a program of "compassionate conservatism," calling for a greater role for the federal government in education, subsidies for private charitable programs, and large reductions in income and capital gains taxes. But the South Carolina Primary became known not for its compassion, but rather for its negative tone. There McCain's campaign was met with attack ads and dirty tricks. Although the Bush campaign said it was not behind any of these attacks on McCain, local Bush supporters were alleged in the media to be handing out fliers and making telephone calls to prospective voters with a number of absurd accusations against McCain. These included suggestions that McCain was a "Manchurian candidate" and had been brainwashed when he had been a POW in Vietnam. He was also accused of having fathered a child out of wedlock with an African-American New York-based prostitute. The rumor played on the fact that McCain and his wife had adopted a daughter from Bangladesh.
Bush also drew fire for giving a speech made at Bob Jones University, a school that still banned interracial dating among its students. Despite this, Bush appeared to be the winner in a debate hosted by Larry King on CNN. Here is a clip from the King debate showing the tension between the two candidates.
On primary day, Bush he won in South Carolina by a nine point margin of 52% to 43%. The victory hurt McCain's momentum as well as his fund raising.
McCain went on to win primaries in Michigan, in his home state of Arizona, and in a handful of New England states. But he faced difficulty in appealing to conservative Republican primary voters. In Michigan, despite winning the primary, McCain finished second among Republican voters. In the Virginia primary, he tried to win independent and crossover support by giving a speech blasting the religious right. The tactic backfired, and Bush won the state by a 53% to 44% margin. Bush's subsequent Super Tuesday victories in California, New York and the South made it almost impossible, mathematically, for McCain to catch up. He suspended his campaign the next day.
McCain endorsed Bush two months later, and made occasional appearances with Bush, but the tension between the two men was palpable. After Bush became president, McCain broke with the Bush administration on a number of issues, including HMO reform, climate change, and gun control legislation. Bush also opposed the McCain-Feingold campaign reform proposal.
The primary contest began with a fairly wide field. For the Republicans, Texas Governor George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, the most recent Republican president, took an early lead in early polling numbers. He had the support of much of the party establishment and he also had a strong fund-raising machine. Former cabinet member George Shultz played an important early role in gathering and securing Republican support for Bush. In April 1998, Schultz invited Bush to discuss policy issues with a number of leading experts including Michael Boskin, John Taylor, and Condoleezza Rice, a group known as the Vulcans. This group was looking for a candidate for 2000 that shared their world view and they were impressed by the younger Bush. Shultz encouraged Bush to enter the race. Due in large measure to this establishment backing, Bush dominated in early polling and fundraising figures.
Bush stumbled in some of the early primary debates, but despite this, he easily won the Iowa caucuses. Initially, many believed that his biggest challenger would be wealthy businessman Steve Forbes, who finished second to Bush in Iowa. But the man who ultimately gave Bush his biggest challenge was former Vietnam prisoner of war, Senator John McCain of Arizona. McCain surprised the front-runner when he won the New Hampshire Primary with 48% of the vote, compared to Bush's 30% in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary. McCain did not have the same fund-raising power or establishment support that Bush had, but his surprise win in New Hampshire gave his campaign a boost of energy and donations.
For McCain's campaign, the key issue was campaign finance reform. McCain had announced his candidacy for president on September 27, 1999, in Nashua, New Hampshire, saying he was staging "a fight to take our government back from the power brokers and special interests, and return it to the people and the noble cause of freedom it was created to serve". McCain had focused on the New Hampshire primary, where his message appealed to many independents. He traveled on a campaign bus called the Straight Talk Express and held many town hall meetings, answering every question voters asked. In a successful campaign style that came to be known as "retail politics", he used free media to compensate for his lack of funds. One reporter later said, "McCain talked all day long with reporters on his Straight Talk Express bus. He talked so much that sometimes he said things that he shouldn't have, and that's why the media loved him."
The Bush campaign and the Republican establishment feared that a McCain victory in the crucial South Carolina primary might give his campaign unstoppable momentum. In South Carolina, voters had the option of crossing party lines in primaries such that McCain might draw support from independents and Democrats.
Bush's campaign ran on a program of "compassionate conservatism," calling for a greater role for the federal government in education, subsidies for private charitable programs, and large reductions in income and capital gains taxes. But the South Carolina Primary became known not for its compassion, but rather for its negative tone. There McCain's campaign was met with attack ads and dirty tricks. Although the Bush campaign said it was not behind any of these attacks on McCain, local Bush supporters were alleged in the media to be handing out fliers and making telephone calls to prospective voters with a number of absurd accusations against McCain. These included suggestions that McCain was a "Manchurian candidate" and had been brainwashed when he had been a POW in Vietnam. He was also accused of having fathered a child out of wedlock with an African-American New York-based prostitute. The rumor played on the fact that McCain and his wife had adopted a daughter from Bangladesh.
Bush also drew fire for giving a speech made at Bob Jones University, a school that still banned interracial dating among its students. Despite this, Bush appeared to be the winner in a debate hosted by Larry King on CNN. Here is a clip from the King debate showing the tension between the two candidates.
Click to viewOn primary day, Bush he won in South Carolina by a nine point margin of 52% to 43%. The victory hurt McCain's momentum as well as his fund raising.
McCain went on to win primaries in Michigan, in his home state of Arizona, and in a handful of New England states. But he faced difficulty in appealing to conservative Republican primary voters. In Michigan, despite winning the primary, McCain finished second among Republican voters. In the Virginia primary, he tried to win independent and crossover support by giving a speech blasting the religious right. The tactic backfired, and Bush won the state by a 53% to 44% margin. Bush's subsequent Super Tuesday victories in California, New York and the South made it almost impossible, mathematically, for McCain to catch up. He suspended his campaign the next day.
McCain endorsed Bush two months later, and made occasional appearances with Bush, but the tension between the two men was palpable. After Bush became president, McCain broke with the Bush administration on a number of issues, including HMO reform, climate change, and gun control legislation. Bush also opposed the McCain-Feingold campaign reform proposal.