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Editor's Letter
The Gramm Tour
Predictably, the 1996 presidential campaign is upon us far too soon. The Sunday-morning pundits are already speculating about vice-presidential choices, the emergence of thirdparty candidates, and whether anyone in the White House will be brave enough to tell President Clinton he should step down in favor of A1 Gore. The major acceleration factor in this election cycle has been Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, who started gearing up for the race more than six years ago. With an $11 million war chest, he has helped scare off a pack of potential challengers to his right, and he is now the undisputed standard-bearer of the G.O.P.'s conservative wing. Gramm was the first to announce, and (Pete Wilson or no Pete Wilson, Colin Powell or no Colin Powell) it's a safe bet that he'll be in the fight for the Republican nomination to the bitter no doubt very bitter—end.
Reporting in Gramm's home state and along the campaign trail, contributing editor Marjorie Williams found that Gramm has one very unusual quality as a candidate.
"He has a lack of vanity that is rare in politicians," she says. "More than anybody I've ever seen, he knows what his strengths are and how to use them to cancel out his weaknesses. And he's just incredibly shrewd and unsentimental about that." Another surprise was the preternatural discipline of Gramm's campaign staff. "The whole operation has an air of professionalism that you don't usually find at this stage, before a candidate has the nomination." After reading Williams's profile "The Ironman Cometh," on page 112, it's easy to understand the behavior of Mark McKinnon, a Democratic consultant who worked for Gramm's opponent in the 1984 Senate race: "I've got bets with everyone I know," McKinnon told Williams, "for as much money as I can get them to put down, that Phil Gramm is going to be the nominee."
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