Judging by the direction of this year's US presidential election
campaign, the name of James Carville is already little more than an
historical footnote. Carville, for those whose memories need
refreshing, was the campaign manager of Arkansas governor Bill
Clinton's bid for the White House in 1992. He it was who thought up
one of the most famous election slogans, just eight syllables long:
"It's the economy, stupid." It was one of the three themes he
deemed so crucial that he had them written up on a whiteboard and
stuck on a pillar in the centre of the campaign headquarters for
all to see. The other two, incidentally, were "Change vs more of
the same," and "Don't forget healthcare".
No one will forget healthcare - it was an early, and damaging
defeat for president Clinton, who certainly was a change from Bush
and Reagan, although not always in the manner voters...
