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POLITICS & COMMUNITY
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Loser:
Dan Quayle (R)
Major Loss:
1992 Vice Presidency
Opponents:
Bill Clinton and Al Gore
 What should a candidate tell supporters, volunteers and staff after an election defeat?
 Your hardcore supporters aren't willing to accept what has happened. In my concession speech I tried to make sure that they understood I was congratulating Bill Clinton. They really wanted me to get up there and give a campaign speech. But the campaign was over. Once I had finished talking to them their mood changed. I could see it in their eyes.
How should a candidate protect himself from negative ads and stinging barbs?
You can't. Goes with the territory. Richard Nixon told me - and he was absolutely correct - that when you have a popular president they're going to go after somebody. He had a very popular president [Eisenhower] and he was on the receiving end of a lot of unfair, negative reviews. For three-and-a-half years I had an exceptionally popular president. Nixon was right. I've always said that Gore was lucky that he had Clinton around.
They went after Clinton and pretty much left Gore alone. . . You've got to
have the discipline to block out a lot of the nonsense that comes your way.
Is golf a good way to block out the nonsense?
Absolutely. I think Bill Clinton will spend a lot of time on the golf course after his defeat. I'm impressed with the amount of golf that he has been
able to play, and that the media has basically left him alone. (chuckling) I wish they had done the same to me.
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