The Week

“Anonymous” has a new novel in the works about the Gramm campaign. Working title: Colorless Primary.

How’s this for a bizarre twist: Phil Gramm is a Bob Dole supporter. The Gramm campaign—predictably— couldn’t recover from the wound inflicted on it by Pat Buchanan in Louisiana. But in many ways it was self-inflicted. The foray into Louisiana—fertile territory for New World Order-baiting Buchanan—was misconceived from the start, a too-clever attempt to get a contrived bounce into Iowa, where, ironically, Gramm was doing just fine prior to his bayou debacle. There were other more fundamental problems with the campaign as well: its failure to court social conservatives vigorously or early enough; its myopic focus on “ready cash” (the campaign foolishly discounted Buchanan because he didn’t have it); Gramm’s unsympathetic public persona. But, all that said, Gramm looked like the candidate best suited to unite the rapidly parting economic and social wings of the conservative movement. The GOP had better find another, or Gramm won’t be the only loser.

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“Anonymous” has a new novel in the works about the Gramm campaign. Working title: Colorless Primary.

How’s this for a bizarre twist: Phil Gramm is a Bob Dole supporter. The Gramm campaign—predictably— couldn’t recover from the wound inflicted on it by Pat Buchanan in Louisiana. But in many ways it was self-inflicted. The foray into Louisiana—fertile territory for New World Order-baiting Buchanan—was misconceived from the start, a too-clever attempt to get a contrived bounce into Iowa, where, ironically, Gramm was doing just fine prior to his bayou debacle. There were other more fundamental problems with the campaign as well: its failure to court social conservatives vigorously or early enough; its myopic focus on “ready cash” (the campaign foolishly discounted Buchanan because he didn’t have it); Gramm’s unsympathetic public persona. But, all that said, Gramm looked like the candidate best suited to unite the rapidly parting economic and social wings of the conservative movement. The GOP had better find another, or Gramm won’t be the only loser.