Jerry Brown in 1992 - what caused his campaign to fail?

[ringmastery]

If I recall, he gave Clinton a run for his money toward the end winning a bunch of primaries.

In many ways, his unique 800 number was a precursor to Dean and all the internet fundraising. Raising money from small contributors. What caused his campaign to fail?

[LoZoccolo]

1. I remember there was something about someone doing coke in his house...

...I really can't remember though. Anyone remember this?

I actually remember someone who told me they were NBB - nobody but Brown - back then, but that was like in the spring and I don't know if he actually went and voted or voted for Clinton finally.

[ixion]

2. character assassination

by the 'liberal' media.

[mdmc]

4. I think it was Brown's decision

he won the state that I was in at the time, Colorado.

[LoZoccolo]

7. ...from the Columbia Journalism Review...

Day before NY primary sees Brown and Clinton mano a mano on Donahue. The show's no-moderator, no ground-rules format is breakthrough TV, but Brown's third-place finish (well behind non-candidate Tsongas) puts his campaign on the critical list. Then ABC's John McWethy shoots the wounded with a two-parter charging Brown let his house be used for pot and coke parties. Story, based entirely on anonymous sources, gets massive pickup and then disappears from view . . . as does its target.

http://archives.cjr.org/year/92/6/tracking.asp

[LoZoccolo]

8. That having been said...

...there were probably other reasons.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. Tsongas was a very real candidate. What BS!

Brown (who I voted for here in NY) had a repuation for being a "flake".
Blame it (again) on Trippi- (probably thought of the 1-800 number.)

[dsc]

12. Tsongas dropped out before the New York primary

his showing in New York stunned everyone and made many think he might change his mind. But at the time of the New York primary he was not a candidate. I know this due to having been a supporter of his.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. I don't think it was official- don't remember any withdrawl

and he got a lot of press the day after due to the strong 2nd.
Perhaps it was only rumoured? Like Dukakis, the Greek community here was pouring money into his campaign, so it doesn't seem logical that he would have dropped out before NY.

[dsc]

20. He did

He lost Illinois and Michigan and dropped out. He was still in the ballot there, just like he was in Ohio, but he dropped out.

[dsc]

13. In addition

He was called Governor Moonbeam by Mike Royko in the 1970's long before he met Trippi.

[genius]

21. Jerry would not have allowed drugs anywhere around his campaign

He avoided anything like that. The whole thing was a lie. Those of us who worked on his campaigns for governor knew how phoney that story was.

[K8-EEE]

24. AssClown Ted Koppel Did A "Pot At Linda Rondstandt's" Smear

I'll never forget that as long as I live it was soooo stupid. They found two guys that said that in the 70s they saw JB not DOING the pot but IN A ROOM WITH MUSICIANS DOING POT.

OOOOH BROTHER.

His was the first campaign I ever gave money to. $50. Called the 800 number, had the 800 number on my bumper. I was so disappointed that he didn't do better -- but now he is the mayor of Oakland, he's still around!

[goodhue]

35. I was NBB!

And I never ever voted for DLC Clinton.

The drug stories are baselesss and date back to the fact that as governor in the late-70s he was a bachelor who dated Linda Ronstad. Jerry himself was very clean living and anti-drug, Jesuit background and all.

[AP]

3. Like Dean, he aimed for the far left, but he really wasn't all that ...

...liberal.

The one thing he did well was that he helped Clinton look like a moderate, which set him up for a GE win.

I'm not sure if that was orchestrated by the DNC, or just a fortunate accident.

[arewethereyet]

5. you've heard of "Mass Liberal" ?

he was "California Nut".

[Carolina]

6. he was described

as Governor Moonbeam ... wacky, weird, out of touch however you want to interpret the epithet. In short, he became marginalized.

[NashVegas]

26. Governor Moonbeam

He got that name from a proposal he made: to link up all of Cali's government computers via satellite communication.

People who are about 15 years ahead of their time tend to be ridiculed.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

34. Interesting.

[dsc]

9. HIs support of a uniquely bad idea called the flat tax

and the fact that several states with fairly high taxes were early states. Illinois and New York being two. There were other things but that was a huge factor.

[AP]

17. Which was an example of how he was a surface liberal/ core conservative.

It was a terrible mix.

[Julien Sorel]

10. He had no money, and he was perceived as a flake.

Those are two pretty big strikes. He won one state near the end, I think it was Colorado, mainly because no one was paying attention any longer -- he didn't really give Clinton a run for his money at all, as the thing was pretty much sewn up by then. It was annoying as hell seeing the diehard Brown people -- and I was living in CA at the time, Brown's home state, so I saw lots of them -- drag the whole thing to the convention, but so they did. It's about to happen again apparently, this time with Dean.

[rumguy]

14. Dean is a more serious candidate than Brown ever was - eom

[DemPopulist]

18. Key word: "was"

I remember watching the Scream speech and thinking that Dean was turning himself into Brown with that "we will not give up!" stuff. That's the classic mantra of the defiant underdog with no chance, and not the right message for a guy who was still conceivably a frontrunner.

[genius]

23. Ha. Jerry was a more honest candidate than Dean will ever be.

You could always count on Jerry to tell you where he stood on the issues.

[tinanator]

29. and lie to your face

Jerry Brown is sewage.

[DemPopulist]

16. Connecticut

You're mostly right but it was CT that he won - by a single percentage point - a week after Clinton appeared to wrap up the nomination in Illinois and Michigan, after which Tsongas dropped out. In that state, it was basically Tsongas supporters switching to Brown at the last minute to throw Clinton off-balance and keep the race going until New York. But he didn't really do anything in NY except be the Democratic mouthpiece for the anti-Clinton crowd. He was never really viable in any other state until, naturally, CA at the very end. As a Clinton supporter, I can remember holding my breath on Election Night hoping that Brown wouldn't take CA since that would've been really embarrassing to BC, who at the time was running third in the polls behind Bush and Perot. Fortunately, Clinton ended up winning the state by six or seven points and he started to turn the race around with the famous Arsenio appearance a little after that.

Brown did win Colorado and a couple other states earlier in the cycle.

[OneBlueSky]

15. he never EXhaled . . . n/t

.

[genius]

22. He didn't have Clinton's momentum. He's running for Calif AG in 06

I'm glad he's staying in politics.

[andym]

25. He was too idealistic

His 100/donor limit cost him alot of potential monetary support. Still he raised at least 5 million via email and his 800 number and his campaign was in the black the entire time. He also won several states, and almost gave Clinton a run for his money.

His reputation from the 70s hurt him most. It's difficult to live down "Governor Moonbeam."

He also lacked a defining issue like the Iraq war, but in some ways (outside of his eccentricity) there are similarities to Dean. He was passionate and polarizing and spoke his mind. He was also innovative and worried about deficits.

His campaign theme was that corporations owned both parties and that it was time for "we the people" to take America back!

http://www.4president.org/speeches/jerrybrown1992announcement.htm

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22gulf+war%22+%22jerry+brown%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=3Rgulf-hollywood_221%40clarinet.com&rnum=1

[LTR]

27. He wore turtlenecks

and was a bit too weird for the average person.

[NashVegas]

The Original Metrosexual Candidate

Well .. depending on whether you listen to rumor much.

[WonderGrunion]

28. He had Joe Trippi as a campaign manager. (EOM)

(EOM)

[goodhue]

32. BS! Trippi was NOT Brown's campaign manager n/t

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[goodhue]

31. Brown

was painted as loony Gov Moonbeam by the national media who treated him with almost as much derision as they currently treat Kucinich. But at least Brown got a decent amount of coverage and he did a lot better than the media/pundits/conventional wisdom expected him to.

Brown won ME, VT, CN, CO, NV & AL. Down the stretch he became the only other candidate besides Clinton in the race. Brown refused to drop out before the national convention.

"Let Jerry Speak!" his delegates chanted from the convention floor, much to the irritation of the DNC/DLC powers that be.

[Stuckinthebush]

33. Governor Moonbeam?

Isn't that what people called him. That hurt a lot, I'm sure.

[theboss]

36. Brown had/has almost too many ideas

He is one of those politicians that seems to view government as a lab experiment. It's exciting as hell at times, but most voters just want someone stable, who will build roads, keep taxes reasonable, and keep the country from sinking into the ocean. Sometimes, Brown is ahead of the times with his ideas and looks like a genius. Sometimes, his ideas are too stupid for words (the flat tax proposal). Eventually, he just exhausts you and lose trust.

[ShaneGR]

37. Easy question: Bill Clinton happened to him

Clinton will roxxor your world.