How Three Democrats Who Saved the Party Before Would Do It Again

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In the late 1980s, the Democratic Party was trying to figure out how to how to remake itself after having lost four of the five previous presidential elections. That’s when an upstart group of Democratic strategists decided the party needed to tack to the center, with a young, charismatic leader named Bill Clinton.

Today, the party faces similar challenges. Three strategists from Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Galston, Elaine Kamarck and Will Marshall, join the deputy Opinion editor Patrick Healy to discuss what Democrats can learn from Clinton’s success in 1992, and how the party should move forward.

A full transcript of the original round table conversation is here.

Credit…Illustration by The New York Times; photo by Independent Picture Service/Getty

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This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Jillian Weinberger. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. Mixing by Pat McCusker. Original music by Pat McCusker and Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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