Help, Trying to find a thread

and drawing a blank. Does anybody remember the thread asking Clark supporters to get their dates straight on when Clinton started running for President? I remember it as having said that Clinton established an exploratory committee way before the election, like '88? A Clark supporter just said that it was August of '91. I am curious to know the correct timing of this. I am drawing a blank on Google. Thanks if anybody has any info.

Or any specific posters for that matter?

went a little apeshit over it because they thought it was a Clark bashing post, but it wasn't. Somebody said words to the effect, "Clark supporters, get your facts straight. While Clinton did not officially announce until October, he was in the race as early as '88" (I thought I had this date right, but I know it was way before anytime in '91).

The '87 exploratory committee was formed because Clinton seriously contemplated a run in the '88 election. I remember searching around for some stuff a few years ago and finding a Time article about Clinton and Gore running on a ticket together - and the story was published in 1987! I've read that Clinton really wanted to run that year and was expected to but the Gary Hart scandal prompted him to reconsider.

I did find a Google groups reference to the August 1991 exploratory committee:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=clinton+august+1991+exploratory&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=334FEB1B.4D9A%40globaldialog.com&rnum=1

The reason I say the comparison is flawed is because everyone started late in 1991, not just Clinton. There were no Democrats openly preparing presidential runs prior to the Gulf War that year, unlike the candidates this time. When the war boosted Papa Bush's approval rating to the 90% range, all the major, prospective candidates in the party - Bentson, Gephardt, Gore, Jay Rockefeller - pulled back and decided not to run. Only Cuomo postponed his decision until late in the year, ala-Clark this time. So that left what the media called the "second-tier" candidates - Clinton, Kerrey, Harkin, Wilder, etc. - and nearly all them announced around the same September/October 1991 time period. I wish there were one link I could send you to for this but you'd probably have to search around on the News Library site (http://nl.newsbank.com/nlsite/) to get the exact dates.

The point is, in the context of the 1992 cycle, Clinton's start wasn't nearly as late as Clark's now.

because they saw him as a threat as early as then.

You can probably search www.fec.gov and look up the filing dates for his committees.

I am glad someone else has a hard time finding threads. Posts arrive so quickly they also get shoved off either to another page or disappear altogether. Can DU not have a better search system? I have been annoyed so often when I am following a thread. If I go away for a couple of hours and get back on line,short of scrolling endlessly I may as well forget the thread.

Also have a question about the moderators' judgement about important or unimportant topics. Some really important threads get trashed <like the one on actual US casualties> while some pretty silly ones remain on the front pages. What gives?


Grumpy! :wtf: