What saved Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 was the presence in the race of third-party conservative candidate Ross Perot -- and the image of Clinton as a Southern moderate, which seemed to reassure voters that this particular Yale-trained lawyer was nevertheless not quite another Democratic nominee like Walter Mondale or Dukakis.
Of course, there have been Republican nominees and presidents who were lawyers -- Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Bob Dole -- but recently far less so than the Democrats, as the administrations of Ronald Reagan and the two Bushes attest.
So, what's wrong with the Democratic nominee once again being a lawyer?
After all, legal minds are trained to think precisely and evaluate both sides of an issue.
The problem is that lawyers usually do not run companies, defend the country, lead people, build things, grow food or create capital.
If this year Democrats were looking for populist candidates from diverse backgrounds and training who talked and thought differently from those of the past, then why didn't they nominate someone who was not trained in writing legalese and working the government legal labyrinth?
Instead, they needed different sorts, candidates who might have sounded a little rougher, a little less condescending and a little more like most voters. Most Americans have never been in -- and never want to be in -- a courtroom.
In the past, law school has not necessarily been considered ideal presidential training. Harry Truman was audacious perhaps because he had tried and failed as a haberdasher. Dwight Eisenhower learned about leadership from his years as a general. George H.W. Bush was a businessman and Ronald Reagan an actor. Even unpopular presidents like Jimmy Carter
(farmer) and George W. Bush (businessman) brought different perspectives to the job.
Change for Democrats this year was not a new strain of liberal politics or a different race or gender. Instead, they needed to have run candidates who talked, thought and acted differently from their usual run-of-the-mill sorts.
And that meant someone other than the same old, same old legal eagles who appear glib -- but so often manage to lose in November.