Finding the Third Way: Bill Clinton, the DLC, and the Democratic Platform of 1992

Journal of Policy History

Volumn 13, Issue 4, 2001, Pages 429-462

  Borrelli, Stephen A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85010902731     PISSN: 08980306     EISSN: 15284190     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jph.2001.0013     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. The classic formulation of the responsible parties model as a normative standard for the U.S. is American Political Science Association, Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System (New York, 1950).
2. Keith Krehbiel, Pivotal Politics (Chicago, 1998), 8.
3. Gerald Pomper and Susan Lederman, Elections in America, 2d ed. (New York, 1982)
4. Jeff Fishel, Presidents and Promises (Washington, D.C. 1985)
5. Terry Royed and Stephen Borrelli, “Political Parties and Public Policy: Social Welfare Policy from Carter to Bush,” Polity 29 (Summer 1997): 539-64.
6. For international comparisons, see Terry Royed, “Testing the Mandate Model in Britain and the United States: Evidence from the Reagan and Thatcher Eras,” British Journal of Political Science 26 (1996): 45-80;
7. Hans-Dieter Kleingemann, Richard Hofferbert, and Ian Budge, Parties, Policies, and Democracy (Boulder, 1994).
8. See note 3 for research on platform pledge fulfillment; on the surprising productivity of U.S. government institutions, see David Mayhew, Divided We Govern (New Haven, 1991).
9. For research on platform construction, see Michael Malbin, “The Conventions, Platforms, and Issue Activists,” in Austin Ranney, ed. The American Elections of 1980 (Washington, D.C.), 138-39;
10. L. Sandy Maisel, “The Platform-Writing Process: Candidate-Centered Platforms in 1992,” Political Science Quarterly 108, no. 4 (1993-1994): 671–98;
11. Martha Weinberg, “Writing the Republican Platform,” Political Science Quarterly 92 (Winter 1977-1978): 655–62.
12. Malbin, “The Conventions, Platforms, and Issue Acitivists,” 138-39.
13. Maisel, “The Platform-Writing Process,” 671-98.
14. Referring to the 1980 Democratic platform process, political scientist (and 1984 Hart delegate) Thomas Cronin said, “At this point in 1980, Senator Kennedy and President Carter were going at it tooth and nail. They viewed the platform process as the ultimate, the last primary.” Quoted in Diane Granat, “Democratic Platform Writers Facing Conflicts,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 42 (16 June 1984): 1464.
15. The classic texts are Nelson Polsby, Consequences of Party Reform (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), and
16. Byron Shafer, The Quiet Revolution: The Struggle for the Democratic Party and the Shaping of Post-Reform Politics (New York, 1983).
17. James Davis, National Conventions in an Age of Party Reform (Westport, Conn. 1983), 111.
18. Quoted in Malbin, “The Conventions, Platforms, and Issue Activists,” 135.
19. Malbin, “The Conventions, Platforms, and Issue Activists,” 124.
20. Diane Granat, “Democratic Platform Writers Facing Conflicts,” 1464.
21. Ronald Elving, “Democratic Platform Debate: Is Brevity the Soul of Wins?” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 46 (14 May 1988), 1321.
22. Robert Merry, “Dukakis and the Search for a New Hurrah,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 46 (16 July 1988), 145;
23. Norman Mineta, personal interview, 17 June 1999.
24. Ronald Elving, “Democratic Platform: Bridging a Political Gulf,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 46 (18 June 1988), 1655.
25. Ronald Elving, “Democrats Attempt to Carry Mackinac Mood to Denver,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 46 (25 June 1988), 1738.
26. Ronald Elving, “Hoping to Attract More Votes, Democrats Offer Fewer Words,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 46 (2 July 1988), 1797.
27. Quoted in Jon Hale, “The Making of the New Democrats,” Political Science Quarterly 110 (Summer 1995): 219.
28. This account of the DLC's history draws heavily on Hale, “The Making of the New Democrats.”
29. For the DLC's role in the 1988 campaign, see Robert Kuttner, “What's the Beef? The Once and Future DLC,” The New Republic, 202 (2 April 1990), 18.
30. Hale, “The Making of the New Democrats,” 219.
31. Hale, “The Making of the New Democrats,” 221; Al From, Personal Interview.
32. Democratic Leadership Council, The New Orleans Declaration: A Democratic Agenda for the 1990s (Washington, D.C. 1990).
33. Democratic Leadership Council, The New American Choice: Opportunity, Responsibility, Community (Washington, D.C. 1991).
34. Maisel, “The Platform-Writing Process,” 675-76.
35. E. J. Dionne, “Democrats’ Draft Platform Attacks Bureaucracies,” Washington Post, 13 June 1992, A12;
36. Jeffrey Katz, “Party Reaches for ‘Third Way’ in Reshaping Its Policy,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 50 (18 July 1992), 2087.
37. Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report
38. U.S. House Democratic Caucus, Taking Charge of America's Future: A Report of the Issues Task Forces, Draft 5/28/92 (Washington, D.C. 1992). Found in Democratic National Committee Box Platform #2, National Archives.
39. Stephen Borrelli, “Finding the Third Way Without Getting Lost: The Story of the 1992 Democratic Platform,” unpublished manuscript, University of Alabama. Pledge data were collected by Terry Royed.
40. The source for all citations and quotations of the Santa Fe meeting is Democratic National Committee Standing Committee on the Platform, “Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript),” 12 and 13 June, Picacho Plaza Hotel, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Democratic National Committee Box Platform #4, National Archives.
41. Kathleen Vick, ed. Democratic National Convention 1992, Official Proceedings (Washington, D.C. 1992), 16.
42. The source for 1992 DLC membership was Democratic Leadership Council, 1992 Annual Conference Program: The New Choice in American Politics (Washington, D.C. 1992), 7-32.
43. 1992 Annual Conference Program: The New Choice in American Politics 6.
44. 1992 Annual Conference Program: The New Choice in American Politics 10.
45. Democratic National Committee Standing Committee on the Platform, “Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript),” 46–48.
46. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript), 37–38.
47. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 26-32.
48. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 191.
49. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 29.
50. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 69-72.
51. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 107.
52. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 125 (Achtenberg), 112 (Pelosi).
53. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 242-43 (Berry), 110-11 (Pelosi).
54. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 123, 125.
55. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 126-27.
56. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 123-24.
57. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 249-50;
58. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 97, 54, 95.
59. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 291.
60. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 287-88.
61. Democratic National Committee Drafting Committee Meeting (transcript) 292-93.
62. E. J. Dionne, “Road Map for a Party in Transition: Candidate's Views Define Platform,” Washington Post, 14 July 1992, A-12.
63. See discussion of errata on page 48 and discussion of technical amendments on pages 264-67 of Democratic Standing Committee on the Platform, “Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript),” 27 June 1992, Stouffer Mayflower Hotel, Washington D.C. printed from floppy disks in Democratic National Committee Box Platform #4, National Archives.
64. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 222.
65. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 155-56.
66. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 185.
67. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 145.
68. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 93-102.
69. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 178-80.
70. Berry's revised amendment is in Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 173–75;
71. The amendment and Brady's objection to it are in Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 200–202. The compromise language can be found on page 284.
72. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 120-25 and 186-87.
73. E. J. Dionne, “Democratic Platform Reflects Clinton Goals,” Washington Post, 28 June 1992, A21.
74. See also Maisel, “The Platform-Writing Process,” 680–81.
75. On the 1976 Republican platform, see Weinberg, “Writing the Republican Platform.” Her conclusion is ambiguous; although she says neither Ford nor Reagan forces tried to “control” the process and that members of the platform committee were not “divided neatly into candidate camps” (659), she concludes that “the platform was essentially a consistent document, more conservative than the Ford supporters would have written, but basically acceptable to the party as a whole … (as such) it helped unify the party by providing the Reagan delegates and other conservatives a consolation prize” (661, emphasis mine). On the fractious 1980 Democratic platform process
76. see Malbin, “The Conventions, Platforms, and Issue Activists.”
77. The amendment that includes some of Brown's environmental language can be found in Democratic Standing Committee on the Platform, “Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript),” 27 June 1992, 316–17. Platform Committee Chairman Roy Romer's discussion of Brown's influence on the NAFTA position is on page 277: “There was a great deal of attention to the advocacy of the Brown position in the drafting of this.”
78. Democratic National Convention 1992 Platform Committee Meeting (transcript) 47.
79. Maisel, “The Platform-Writing Process,” 682 (emphasis mine). Maisel ends up concluding that the 1992 platform was as conservative as the Bush-Quayle campaign wanted it to be, and that the media exaggerated the degree to which right- THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 1992 462 wing activists took over the platform committee (687). However, given Maisel's statement about the candidate's lack of control over his or her own delegates in the GOP, such a takeover was clearly a possibility.
80. Douglas Usher, “Rules, Strategy, and Participation: Issue Activists in Republican National Conventions, 1976-1996” (Ph.D. diss. Cornell University, 1999), 113.
81. Alan Greenblatt, “Conservatives Hear Hollow Ring in Platform Victory,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 54 (17 August 1996), 2298–99.