Paleoconservative in the context of "Paul Gottfried"

The 1992 United States presidential election was the presidential election, held in the United States, on November 3, 1992. The Democratic ticket of Arkansas governor Bill Clinton and Senator from Tennessee Al Gore defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent president George H. W. Bush and vice president Dan Quayle and the independent ticket of businessman Ross Perot and vice admiral James Stockdale. The election marked the end of 12 consecutive years of Republican rule of the White House, as well as the end of a longer period of Republican dominance in American presidential politics that began in 1968, with the exception of Jimmy Carter's narrow victory in 1976.

Bush had alienated many conservatives in his party by breaking his 1988 campaign pledge not to raise taxes, but he fended off a primary challenge from paleoconservative commentator Pat Buchanan without losing a single contest. Bush's popularity following his success in the Gulf War dissuaded high-profile Democratic candidates such as Mario Cuomo from entering the 1992 Democratic primaries. Clinton, a leader of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, established himself as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination by sweeping the Super Tuesday primaries. He defeated former governor of California Jerry Brown, former Massachusetts senator Paul Tsongas, and other candidates to win the nomination, and chose Tennessee senator Al Gore as his running mate. The billionaire Perot launched an independent campaign, emphasizing his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (which at time was being actively negotiated) and his plan to reduce the national debt.

Patrick Joseph Buchanan (/bjuːˈkænən/ bew-KAN-ən; born November 2, 1938) is an American author, political commentator, and politician. He was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. He is an influential figure in the modern paleoconservative movement in the United States.

In 1992 and 1996, Buchanan sought the Republican presidential nomination. In 1992, he ran against incumbent president George H. W. Bush, campaigning against Bush's breaking of his "Read my lips: no new taxes" pledge, as well as his foreign policy, his trade and immigration policy, and his positions on social issues. At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Buchanan delivered his "culture war" speech in support of the nominated President Bush. In 1996, he ran against eventual Republican nominee Bob Dole, but withdrew after getting only 21 percent of Republican primary votes. In 2000, he was the Reform Party's presidential nominee. His campaign centered on non-interventionism in foreign affairs, opposition to illegal immigration, and opposition to the outsourcing of manufacturing from free trade. He selected educator and conservative activist Ezola Foster as his running-mate. Despite his own terminology of self-identification, expressed in the desire to be called a "supporter of the doctrine of disengagement", his foreign policy views have been categorized as isolationist.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic president Bill Clinton and his running mate, incumbent vice president Al Gore, were elected to a second term. They defeated the Republican ticket of former Senate majority leader Bob Dole and former secretary of housing and urban development Jack Kemp and the Reform ticket of businessman Ross Perot and economist Pat Choate.

Clinton and Vice President Gore were re-nominated without incident by the Democratic Party. Numerous candidates entered the 1996 Republican primaries, with Dole considered the early frontrunner. Dole clinched the nomination after defeating challenges by publisher Steve Forbes and paleoconservative leader Pat Buchanan. Dole's running mate was Jack Kemp, a former New York congressman and football player who had served as the housing secretary under President George H. W. Bush. Ross Perot, who had won 18.9% of the popular vote as an independent candidate in 1992, ran as the candidate of the Reform Party. Perot received less media attention in 1996 and was excluded from the presidential debates.