BOB DOLE : 1995 Clinton's Comeback

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In this brief update we want to fill you in on our special non-political season to carry our show through the holidays, and some tribute episodes we have planned to look back at some of those we lost this year but have not had a chance to look back at as the season progressed. 

We look forward to 2026 for the return of Bob Dole in our final two seasons looking back at his life and career. 

Thanks for tuning in and please join us for an exciting special season over November and December of 2025. 

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In our season finale we zoom in on the fight over a Balanced budget Amendment on the 1995 Congressional agenda. 

You will hear Senators go round and round , from Pete Domenici, to Bob Dole, to Paul Simon, to even South Carolina’s own Senator Ernest Hollings. 

All this debate rages as Bob Dole inches closer and closer to filing for President of the United States. We will take you right there, after an emotional moment between Bob  Dole and  President Bill Clinton over the love both men had for their mothers, to the announcement stage as Bob Dole starts out into the 1996 campaign. Then we travel back in time to the battle torn Italian country side  in April 1945 and an event that changed the trajectory of the life of second Lieutenant Robert J. Dole of Kansas forever. 

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In this episode we start to move you through the big moments of 1995 as we get closer to the kick off of the 1996 Presidential Election. Bob Dole has not totally made his mind up yet and its clear to his wife and staf he needs to make the definitive move. 

We will relive these moments as Bob Dole makes up his mind to run for a third time for President and we watch several of the more important accomplishments of the Republican Congress make its way through the system. 

This is the first of our two part Season Fifteen Finale, Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing. 

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In this episode we set the stage for 1995 as Newt Gingrich becomes the biggest star in politics as he becomes the first Republican Speaker in 40 years. We will look back at his rise and watch him consolidate his position. 

Plus this also marks the move by Bob Dole to seriously look at his own run for the Presidency. 

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As we open this episode , we will see Bob Dole truly become the last man standing from an era of political figures who had dominated the scene for over two decades. There would be two Senate leadership races as George Mitchell retired as the Democratic Leader and Alan Simpson faced a challenge in his position as Bob Dole's number two man in Republican leadership. Both races would be decided by one vote. 

We will hear Senator Tom Daschle describe the situation that unfolded on the democratic side after his opponent, Senator Jim Sasser of Tennessee, was defeated in his election. That left Tom Daschle facing a last minute challenge from the much more Senior Senator from Connecticut, Chris Dodd. Daschle will tell the story in his oral history of how he won the election to replace George Mitchell as Democratic Leader. 

Then we will hear from both candidates in the race for Republican Majority Whip as Dole's longtime Whip faced a challenge from a rising political star in the Senate and former House Whip in Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi. It would come down to one vote, and Simpson would lose. 

That race would leave Bob Dole the only leader left from a generation of leaders who had been at the helm of government for decades. Representative Bob Michel had retired in the most recent election cycle, Speaker Tom Foley was defeated, Alan Simpson lost his Whip post, George Mitchell retired, and in 1992 George H. W. Bush had been defeated for President. The only member of leadership in either party that was still there was Bob Dole, and it would again come to him to keep everyone on track as we head into 1995. 

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All eyes were trained on one man as the lame duck session began. It was the soon to be new Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. In this episode we introduce you to him and watch those first moves from the new star of politics in 1994. 

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The power switch was swift as all eyes fell on the Republican leadership in the hours after the Republicans swept to to power in both houses of Congress. There was a push for moving the Contract with America's agenda to the forefront, talk of downsizing the staffs in Washington, and both leaders were busy ironing out what exactly their agendas were going to be. 

Then came an even bigger piece of news. That Senator Richard Shelby arguably the last Southern Conservative Democrat was ready to finally come over. Senator Phil Gramm had been trying to convince him for years but Shelby had remained loyal to the Democratic Party, but as you will hear, he just did not feel it was home any longer, and he was going with the ever rising tide in Alabama before he found himself politically homeless. Richard Shelby became a Republican, and he would  remain one for the rest of his career which lasted until 2022 when he retired from the Senate. 

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When the sun rose on November 9, 1994, Washington D.C. had had a seismic shift in the politics it had known for nearly a half century. Even the House Speaker Tom Foley, of Washington State, had lost his seat in Congress. There is hardly words that can describe how brutal the night before had been for the Democratic Party and its President Bill Clinton. 

The Contract for America had nationalized the election and every congressional candidate had run on the platform in the Republican Party and they had all , to a man , won. The Democrats had had a few bright spots, Senator Ted Kennedy had survived his brush with political death from the challenge of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and LBJ's Son in Law Chuck Robb had beaten back Iran Contra Scandal figure Oliver North. But the bright spots had been few and far between. The Democrats had seen some of their brightest stars extinguished from Governor Mario Cuomo of New York , to Governor Ann Richards of Texas, Former Budget Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski was defeated, the Speaker had lost, Representative Jack Brooks lost, and a new Republican star named Lindsey Graham had quietly won a seat in South Carolina. 

Bob Dole would be returning to his position as the Senate Majority Leader as opposed to being just the Minority Leader, and with all this change captivating the attention of the nation, and its capitol city, Washington D.C., it left  President Bill Clinton standing at a podium proclaiming to whomever would listen that "the President is still relevant here." 

It was a case of total victory, and the Capitol was now "Under new Management." 

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It is election day 1994 at last, and this is the coverage of that historic night. For the first time in 40 years the Republicans will take control of Congress. It is a clean sweep too, the Republicans would win in every category and level of government. They would win the control of the House, the Senate, the Governors Mansions, and the State Legislatures, it was a total and complete victory. 

Bill Clinton was clearly on the ropes and the spotlight would move down Pennsylvania Avenue to a new star that was about to dominate the conversation for the next year, the new Speaker of the United States House of Representatives  from Georgia, Newt Gingrich. 

But that would all come later, after this night. On this night, without question, at least in my lifetime, this was the biggest night for the Republican Party ever. While Newt Gingrich would get the majority of the spotlight, and people would be looking for the reaction that would be coming out of the White House, from Bill Clinton. One man, in my opinion, could truly kick back and say, he had been the one continuous leader that had brought his party back from the brink after the disaster of 1992. 

Of everyone involved, this was truly Bob Dole's night.  

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As we close in on election day in 1994, both President Bill Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, hit the campaign trail as the de-facto heads of each party to try and pull their candidates through all across the country. 

We will look at them both as they have rallies across the country from Seattle, to Denver, to two national radio addresses. The stakes are sky high as both of them fight hard for their two teams as the balance of power in both houses of congress teeters on the verge of victory or defeat for both sides of the aisle. 

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