October 21, 1996

This issue captured the fatigue and uncertainty surrounding the final weeks of the 1996 presidential campaign. With multiple on-the-road dispatches from the campaign trail—including Tucker Carlson's account of Dole's bus tour, David Brooks in Newt's van, and Matthew Rees's report from a contentious Louisiana Senate race—The Weekly Standard examined the state of the Republican ticket. Fred Barnes analyzed Kemp's struggling vice-presidential campaign, while the editors offered a pessimistic assessment of the GOP's election prospects, and Matt Labash profiled union leader John Sweeney.