The election will come down to the wire. Like Nixon-Kennedy, no one can possibly know until all the ballots are counted. Maybe a major newspaper will screw up an early deadline story a la "Dewey beats Truman." No one will know the outcome. But I have this creeping feeling in the pit of my skull, unfortunately, that Jack Kemp will win. The year 2000 elections have begun.
Yup, you read that right. I've given up. The election of 1996 will go down in history as one of the most boring, bland and pointless elections since 1864.
The one important question asked in this election is who will lead America from the election of 2000? Here's my prediction.
From the party that gave us Ted Kennedy, the 2000 Democratic Convention will most certainly nominate Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. A man of the land, a lover of the environment, who will run a happy campaign, talking about his involvement in selectively "good" aspects of the Clinton Administration. Tipper Gore will give a speech condemning the "moral depravity" of America to lure in the Reagan Democrats. The lame-duck president will endorse his man, and Al Gore will attempt to become the 43rd President of the United States.
From the party that gave you Jesse Helms, the year 2000 Republican Convention will choose Jack Kemp. Unlike Bob Dole, Kemp is personable and able to both come up with and articulate his ideas. Kemp will come up with another supply-side plan to stimulate the economy. Not that supply-side economics don't work - I expect Kemp to use it to run an excellent campaign - really make it a close race.
The 2000 Election has begun, and its principals are presently vying for Vice President. But unlike his boss Bob Dole, Jack Kemp is really thinking - putting policies into the arena to be dissected by the American people. He actually ignored Bob Dole and had the Republican Economic Plan - the rusted centerpiece of the Dole Campaign - put up for independent review. This approach differs greatly from that of Dole, a man who hires men to come up with ideas for him and then crams them down America's throat. No wonder he's 20 points down.
Gore, most certainly, will "stay the course." That is, the status quo probably won't be so bad that America will need to change leaders. Gore will brilliantly run his own campaign, and against Kemp will make it doubly interesting. And if things are bad, he's smart enough to separate himself from the president.
Aside from a catastrophic stock-market crash, a repeat of the Great Depression or another Civil War, the election of 2000 is set to be a barn-burner. Two younger candidates will be going at it, head to head, a real Rumble in the Jungle II.
We'll need it to wake us up after the Yawner Election of 1996.