1. Fun fact @TheRickWilson - the 1st week trivia Q that no one got asked about how the Bush Campaign closed this gap. It was called the Boston Harbor campaign ad & it switched the messaging from a compare/contrast of Bush & Dukasis, which was failing, to what became a staple GOP https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1283794293447065600

2. campaign strategy: the referedum frame. Starting w an ad bltiz that attacked Dukasis' record as Gov of MA, James Baker, Lee Atwater, and Roger Ailes from that point forward made Dukasis' record the center piece of the campaign- turning the entire election into a referendum

3. on him. It was a newish technique that was just gaining traction within the GOP consulting world & hot damn, did it work! BC guess what, whether someone's record is good or bad, there's always, ALWAYS shit you can use against them. Perfection in public service doesn't happen.

4. And since Boston Harbor, no one has gotten better at building mountains out of molehills or making innocent mistakes nefarious ( #RemeberBenghazi) than the GOP. They are MASTERS of the referendum model. In 2020 Trump's mismanagement & the GOP's radicalism over the pandemic

5. present @TheDemocrats such a CLEAR, UNAVOIDABLE articulation of the referendum template, 1 can't help but think they'll have to run their 2020 campaigns under it & bc of that, enjoy unprecedented success. MB they will begin, 30 yrs later, to see the value of the strategy.