[jeremiah]

George Bush lost the election all by himself. He was solely responsible for the lack of focus of his campaign, the rise of Perot, and 8 years of Clinton. He was a horrible campaigner, endearing himself only to hard-core Republican voters. Any candidate must nail down his base, and sway the independents. He did a poor job on both counts.

[Technogeeb]

He was a horrible campaigner, endearing himself only to hard-core Republican voters

I'll grant you the first point, the not the second; one of the main reasons that Bush lost in 1992 was that he lost his base, the "hard-core" Republican voters. He betrayed them on the tax increase, and he betrayed them on the gun issue (not to mention on big-spending and being "moderate" on the pro-life issue).