September 18, 1996: Bob Dole, the former U.S. Senator from Kansas and Senate Majority Leader, now the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States, spends the day in California, hoping to win the State, which would be a big step toward beating the Democratic Party's nominee, the incumbent President, Bill Clinton.
It turns out to be, as author Judith Viorst would say, a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. Though it could have been considerably worse.
The night before, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 9-0 at Coors Field in Denver. The fact that a no-hitter had been pitched at the ballpark with the highest altitude in Major League Baseball history, making it easier to hit home runs there than anywhere else, ever, was astounding enough.
It was pitched by Hideo Nomo, whose arrival in the North American major leagues the season before opened the door to players from Japan, and indeed from all over Asia. It makes him the 1st pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the North American majors. Five years later, with the Boston Red Sox, he would pitch another, making him one of the few pitchers to throw a no-hitter in each League.
The Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in the 1957-58 off-season. At the time, Dole was 34 years old, and the attorney for Russell County, his home County in Kansas. He was a sports fan, and had even played basketball at the University of Kansas, which was already one of the top programs in college basketball.
His hope of continuing a sports career ended in World War II, when he was wounded in the shoulder while serving in the U.S. Army in Italy, rendering his right arm all but useless. From that point onward, he shook hands with his left hand, raised his left hand to be sworn into offices, saluted with his left hand at veterans' events and other patriotic occasions, and kept a pen in his right hand, to show people, in his words, "That hand's occupied."
Dole was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1950, County Attorney in 1952, the U.S. House of Representatives in 1960, and the U.S. Senate in 1968. In 1971 and 1972, he was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, including during the break-in at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, at the office of his opposite number, Larry O'Brien, later the Commissioner of the NBA. Dole's successor as RNC Chairman was George H.W. Bush.
Dole was nominated for Vice President by the Republicans in 1976, on the ticket with Gerald Ford. In 1980, he ran in the Republican Primaries, as did Bush, but both lost to Ronald Reagan, who took Bush as his running mate. In 1985, Dole was named Republican leader in the Senate. In 1988, he and Bush both ran for the Party's Presidential nomination, and Bush won it. When Bush was beaten by Bill Clinton in 1992, Dole effectively set himself up as the Republicans' "opposition leader."
Everyone knew he was running for President in 1996, but nothing seemed to work. He took a chance, and, once he had the nomination wrapped up, resigned from the Senate completely, to show that he was willing to give up the job he loved to protect the jobs of everyday Americans from the damage Clinton was doing to the economy. But most people didn't buy it: They saw that Clinton was making the economy grow faster than at any time since the 1960s.
The Electoral College map favored Clinton, but Dole thought that if he could take away the State with the most Electoral Votes, California, with 54, he could win on that basis, even if he, always respected but never especially popular, even within his own Party, couldn't win the popular vote.
Dole was 73 years old -- the age Reagan was when he was elected to a 2nd term in 1984. He was aiming to become the oldest person ever elected President. He seemed relatively healthy for his age, but people remembered how dotty Reagan seemed at the same age, and worried about whether Dole could do the job at his age.
(Since then, John McCain has been nominated at 72, Donald Trump has been elected at 70, and Joe Biden has been elected at 78.)
Early in the day, Dole campaigned at Chaminade High School, 30 miles from Los Angeles City Hall, but still within the city limits, in the neighborhood of West Hills. He showed how out of touch he was, citing Nomo’s no-hitter for the Dodgers the night before. The Dodgers had been in Los Angeles, the very city he was in, for 38 years. Instead, Dole said, "The Brooklyn Dodgers had a no-hitter last night. I'm going to follow what Nomo did, and we're going to wipe them out between now and November 5!"
The enthusiasm was great. The memory was not. And it restarted the questions about his age. It also made him look insensitive to Dodger fans in their own city, and brought up memories previous insensitive moments for Dole.
But things got worse for him a few hours later, nearly 500 miles to the north in Chico -- further north in the State than San Francisco, Sacramento, and even Lake Tahoe. This was a section of California that, then as now, tended to vote Republican, and he thought that if he could get a big vote in that part of the State, he could offset the heavy Democratic vote in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.
He was reaching down to shake the hand of a supporter, when the railing on the stage gave way, and he fell 4 feet to the ground. Considering that his right arm had been rendered nearly useless due to his World War II combat injury, he only had one (old) arm to brace himself with.
Fortunately, he only sustained a minor injury. Through the 2020 election, no major-party Presidential nominee has ever died, or had to drop out for medical reasons, in mid-campaign. Vice Presidential nominee Jack F. Kemp, a former quarterback, Congressman, and Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, did not have to step in for Dole.
(He might have done better, though: He was 60, more popular within his own party, and even Democrats admitted that he was considerably better-looking and more likable. He even had convenient initials: He was known as "the Republican JFK.")
But the televised image of Dole falling and landing in pain, reminded everyone that he was 73 years old, and Clinton was only 50, and, despite his hair having gone entirely gray, still seemed a lot younger than that.
Dole was back on the campaign trail the next day. On October 6, he had his 1st of 2 debates with Clinton, in Hartford, Connecticut. He did all right, making his policy positions clear, making his policy differences with Clinton clear, showing a sense of humor, and doing his best to make himself look 63 instead of 73.
Debate moderator Jim Lehrer, co-anchor of PBS' evening news, asked Clinton if he thought Dole was too old for the job. As he so often did, Clinton had the perfect answer: "No, I don't think the Senator is too old to be President. It's the age of his ideas that I question."
On November 5, Clinton won 379 Electoral Votes, including California's 54 with 51 percent of the vote, to Dole's 38, with Reform Party candidate Ross Perot winning 7 percent. Dole did manage to win nearly 200,000 more votes in California than Bush had in 1992.
In the end, the main reason Clinton won wasn't the Republican nominee's age, it was, indeed, the Republican Party's ideas, against his. Dole being the Party's nominee was mostly irrelevant, and his age almost entirely was.
Two months later, shortly before Clinton was inaugurated for his 2nd term, he awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As both George Bushes went on to do, Dole later worked with Clinton in charitable causes. Dole died in 2021, at the age of 98, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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September 18, 1996 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Roger Clemens of the Red Sox struck 20 batters out. To that point, it was only the 2nd time that a pitcher had done this in a 9-inning game, and Clemens had done it both times. I have a separate entry for this event.
* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Rubén Rivera, once the Rivera the Yankees thought was going to be the star, not his cousin Mariano, singled home Derek Jeter, soon to be the American League Rookie of the Year, home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. This made Mariano the winning pitcher, in relief of Andy Pettitte.
* The New York Mets lost to the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Dave Mlicki loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th, and hit F.P. Santangelo with a pitch, forcing Moisés Alou home with the winning run.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins, 8-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 6-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Greg Maddux went the distance, outpitching Mike Hampton. Fred McGriff went 2-for-3 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 4 RBIs.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Paul Molitor went 0-for-4 with a walk.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-4 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-5 at 3Com Park (as Candlestick Park was then known) in San Francisco. For the Padres, Ken Caminiti went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Tony Gwynn pinch-hit, stayed in the game in right field, and went 2-for-2. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. For the Giants, Barry Bonds went 0-for-1, but drew 3 walks, and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Jay Buhner went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-3 with a walk. Rookie Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a walk.
