And Truman was an incumbent president.To turn history on its head, the conventional wisdom says, Mr Dole must have some help from outside – a Wall Street crash (unlikely), a foreign policy calamity (Iraq thus far is not measuring up), or a scandal that engulfs Mr Clinton (despite Whitewater and Dick Morris, nothing in prospect of the scale required).In terms of regions, and the individual states whose electoral college votes formally determine the winner, Mr Clinton’s position looks equally unassailable. For one thing, incumbents who avoid a serious challenge in the primaries invariably win. So do those presiding over an economy growing – as did the US’s in the second quarter – at 4.8 per cent a year.Polls since last week’s convention in Chicago put his lead back at 15 to 20 per cent, virtually eradicating whatever “bounce” Mr Dole took with him from San Diego a fortnight ago. Never in modern American history has such a deficit at Labor Day been reversed in the following two months.Admittedly, Gerald Ford in 1976 and Hubert Humphrey in 1968 came close after emerging from their respective conventions far behind But both failed. Mr Clinton starts with all the high cards, and every precedent argues for his re-election. As for Mr Dole, at the age of 73 he has, in his own words, “nowhere to go but the White House, or home”.And it is to the latter that the Republican presently looks to be heading.
Yesterday, both President Bill Clinton and his Republican challenger, Bob Dole, obeyed the Labor Day tradition: the incumbent taking to the hustings in the key industrial state of Wisconsin, and his opponent off to a rally in St Louis at the 600ft high arch on the banks of the Mississippi river, symbolic gateway to the West and (Mr Dole fervently hopes) gateway to the swing state of Missouri and to final victory on 5 November.
For both men it is the last election, hard though that may be to believe of that compulsive and hugely gifted campaigner Bill Clinton, at the tender political age of 50. They seek to make additional profits from everything the government does,” he said.The hryvna’s introduction was made possible by help from the International Monetary Fund, which arranged a $867m (pounds 560m) stand-by credit last April in return for a government commitment to introduce market reforms. Ukraine is hoping for a $1.5bn stabilisation fund from the IMF to strengthen the new currency.. For the United States, it is the bitter-sweet holiday which bids a wistful goodbye to summer. But every four years, for the presidential candidates and their running mates, and the small army of reporters who will accompany them for the next two months, it is the kick-off for the most gruelling election campaign yet devised by man. “There is no need to play into the pockets of commercial banks and commercial structures with your rash actions.
The karbovanets has held steady against the dollar since December, and inflation fell to a monthly rate of 0.1 per cent in June and July.Ukrainians have two weeks to exchange their old money for new, with the rate fixed at 100,000 karbovantsi for one hryvna. The strategy has proved a success in Russia since the rouble was placed in a “corridor” trading range against the dollar in July 1995.Speaking on national television before the currency reform, Mr Lazarenko urged Ukrainians not to be tricked by money-changers into swapping their currencies at an unfair rate. This permits a gradual decline in the currency’s notional value, within limits determined by the government’s anti-inflationary policies. Mr Lazarenko’s government is initially setting the hryvna at 1.75 to the dollar, but may emulate Russia in creating a flexible “corridor” exchange rate.
