The campaign of candidate Bob Dole invited many "moderates" and social liberals to speak prominently at that convention. Then-Rep. Susan Molinari of New York, who is pro-choice, was keynoter. Then-New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, Colin Powell and former President Gerald Ford played major roles. So, too, did George Pataki and John McCain, who are featured again this year.
But in this "big tent," there was no room for any prime-time voice of unapologetic, traditionalist conservatism. On Election Day, the big tent collapsed, and Clinton won an Electoral College landslide, 379 to 159.
The argument for keeping Buchanan and other outspoken conservatives off the podium at the 1996 convention was that Buchanan's conservative speech on the first night of the 1992 convention had sunk the senior George Bush. But this is demonstrably untrue.
Two separate polls showed that the senior Bush received a big bounce from the first three nights of the 1992 convention. A CBS poll gave him a seven-point jump, and a Houston Chronicle/Hotline poll gave him an 11-point jump. "The Republicans," the Associated Press reported on Thursday morning of the convention, "picked up support among voters under 45, Catholics, those in the Midwest and South, and those with family incomes over $50,000, according to a CBS analysis."
That's a good profile of the swing voters most crucial to President George W. Bush's campaign this year: Socially conservative middle-class voters in the Midwest and South. These are voters who can tilt key "blue" states that Bush narrowly lost in 2000 (Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin) and "red" states that he narrowly won (Missouri, Florida).
But, so far, their voice, their future leaders and the promise the GOP offers them in the years beyond Bush are not adequately represented on the speaker's platform at the 2004 Republican convention. Beyond the president, the vice president and Democrat Miller, most of the voices there will be officials from deep in the blue states or who share blue-state values.
When Bush leaves office, conservatives will battle these blue-state Republicans for the fate of the GOP. It will be a ferocious fight. But in the noble cause of moving that fight to a starting date in Iowa in 2007, the Bush campaign ought to add some conservatives to their lineup in New York this August.