United States Elections 1998

As the nation's Republican governors gathered here this week to ponder the lessons of the 1998 election, it was clear that at least for now, the GOP future would be dominated by a four-letter word--Bush. George W. Bush, triumphantly reelected governor of Texas and the eldest son of the last Republican president, stole the show at the three-day conference, starting with a joint news conference with his younger brother, Jeb, freshly minted governor-elect of Florida.

A Santa Ana church is among eight accused by Americans United for Separation of Church and State of intervening in partisan politics by distributing Christian Coalition voter guides two days before last month's election. In a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service, the group charges that the churches violated federal tax law prohibiting nonprofit organizations from distributing partisan campaign material. The Rev. Barry W.

Now that it's almost over, what is it all about? Tuesday's election will be instantly--and probably endlessly--examined for signals about whether voters want Congress to move forward with impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. But despite a late flurry of ads from the two national parties on the scandal surrounding Clinton's relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky, very few candidates on either side have spent much time talking about impeachment or the president's behavior.

A church-state watchdog group has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate eight churches that allegedly violated their tax-exempt status by distributing Christian Coalition voter guides the Sunday before the November elections. The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the "partisan" guides were "deliberately designed" to help elect conservative Republican candidates.

Even as Democrats celebrate their surprisingly strong showing in this month's midterm elections, one glum and largely overlooked reality has emerged from the returns to cast a shadow over the party's future. Although winning back the middle class for his party has been one of President Clinton's political priorities, exit polling on election day by Voter News Service indicates that Democrats have made little headway with this vital component of the electorate. The polling found that on Nov.

From the basement of a Machinists Union lodge just south of downtown, Ray Crider is marshaling his troops for the last battle in campaign '98. With just one week left until election day, candidates around the country increasingly are shifting their attention from courting the broad mass of potential voters to motivating turnout by narrow slivers of committed partisans. That's where Crider, the state director for the AFL-CIO's campaign effort, comes in.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle said Republicans will dominate in the November election, in part because voters are yearning for a return to traditional family values and "integrity from our leaders" in the wake of the Clinton scandal. Quayle, in town for a political fund-raiser for congressional hopeful Randy Hoffman, repeated his call for President Clinton to resign, saying he has tarnished the presidency and damaged the country.

Washington, where minorities hold some of the top political reins of power, has become just the second state in the nation to end most of its affirmative action programs. Advocates hope Tuesday's vote will reignite the move to end race-based preferences across the country.

More than two months ago, the White House set its game plan: President Clinton would conduct a low-key campaign for Democratic candidates, avoiding large, public rallies and a frenetic cross-country dash in the closing days before the election. The idea was to avoid giving Republicans--and others skeptical about Clinton--impetus to vote against candidates supporting him.

From New York to Hawaii, 1998 is shaping up as a banner year for Republicans running for governor--the best, perhaps, in history. And once again, California is shaping up as a possible exception. With less than four weeks to go before the election, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, the GOP nominee for governor, remains in the thick of a competitive race against Democratic Lt. Gov. Gray Davis.

As the nation's Republican governors gathered here this week to ponder the lessons of the 1998 election, it was clear that at least for now, the GOP future would be dominated by a four-letter word--Bush. George W. Bush, triumphantly reelected governor of Texas and the eldest son of the last Republican president, stole the show at the three-day conference, starting with a joint news conference with his younger brother, Jeb, freshly minted governor-elect of Florida.

Even as Democrats celebrate their surprisingly strong showing in this month's midterm elections, one glum and largely overlooked reality has emerged from the returns to cast a shadow over the party's future. Although winning back the middle class for his party has been one of President Clinton's political priorities, exit polling on election day by Voter News Service indicates that Democrats have made little headway with this vital component of the electorate. The polling found that on Nov.

The midterm election results that led to the surprise resignation of House Speaker Newt Gingrich also bolstered the status of each party's early front-runners for the 2000 presidential campaign: Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. Bush gained ground not only as a result of the size of his more than 2-to-1 reelection margin of victory as Texas governor but also because of its scope.

Who would have thought Newt Gingrich would lose his job before Bill Clinton did? To call it ironic is to slight the true reversal of fortune. Gingrich was not only Clinton's rival, he was his shadow. Both were hyperarticulate, visionary and undisciplined. However imperfectly, Clinton embodied the baby boomers who embraced the cultural tumult of the 1960s; Gingrich embodied those who stood apart. Each man saw himself as the fulcrum of a new majority in American politics.

A resurgent labor movement took a page from the Christian conservatives' playbook in its successful effort to mobilize the union vote in Tuesday's midterm elections. Twenty-two percent of those who voted came from union households, a very high level, although precise figures from the 1994 midterm election were not available for comparison. The heavy union turnout was credited for providing a significant boost for some Democratic candidates.

Two big-state choices for governor--the victories of Democrat Gray Davis in California and Republican George W. Bush in Texas--sent a resounding message to strategists in both political parties this week: The nation's voters are looking for moderation, not ideology. "California scares the hell out of me," said GOP pollster Frank Luntz, one of the architects of the 1994 conservative upsurge that gave Republicans control of Congress. "Social conservatism is not a dominant force anymore. . . .

From the vantage point of Hillary Rodham Clinton's living room, things suddenly weren't looking so hideous. Democratic congresswomen arrived from all over the country, juggling schedules and catching red-eyes. Ten of them took a bus from the Capitol. They gathered in the elegant White House residence early last week, drinking coffee from china cups and eating danish. Nobody mentioned the M-name. They knew what to say, and they knew what not to say.

Two big-state choices for governor--the victories of Democrat Gray Davis in California and Republican George W. Bush in Texas--sent a resounding message to strategists in both political parties this week: The nation's voters are looking for moderation, not ideology. "California scares the hell out of me," said GOP pollster Frank Luntz, one of the architects of the 1994 conservative upsurge that gave Republicans control of Congress. "Social conservatism is not a dominant force anymore. . . .

Washington, where minorities hold some of the top political reins of power, has become just the second state in the nation to end most of its affirmative action programs. Advocates hope Tuesday's vote will reignite the move to end race-based preferences across the country.

More than two months ago, the White House set its game plan: President Clinton would conduct a low-key campaign for Democratic candidates, avoiding large, public rallies and a frenetic cross-country dash in the closing days before the election. The idea was to avoid giving Republicans--and others skeptical about Clinton--impetus to vote against candidates supporting him.