he earned the job in new york under tom dewey. herbert brownell, the attorney general under eisenhower, was dewey's campaign manager, and the list is a very long one. >> richmond, virginia, you're next. caller: hello? >> you're on the air, go ahead. we can hear you. caller: i'm sorry, can you hear me? >> we can. caller: it's an interesting subject. this was the first presidential election, my mother, a life- long republican, voted in and one of the things she told me was that she found dewey unattractive because of -- she mentioned his greasy hair and mustache. my main interest was understanding the role a future major player in the democratic party, lyndon johnson, played in this election. >> well, l.b.j. tried to get elected himself to the senate in texas so he was not a significant factor in the national, in the presidential race. dewey's appearance is revealing in a number of ways. dewey was someone who, i think, today would be in despair of the handlers. dewey could not be handled. there were people throughout his career who s

christiane, they think they found their tom dewey in mitt romney. the president is going to run as truman against congress. he was running against tom dewey, a governor that people didn't take to. >> in the des moines register poll, when it comes to most presidential or most electable in a general election, romney surpasses gingrich. but when it comes to most experience, most knowledge about the able to bring real change, gingrich by a big margin surpasses romney. >> it's weird. the fact is, i would expect that newt gingrich to bring the two parties together as no one else could. >> that's quite possible. look the thing for speaker gingrich, everyone around this table and republican voters know that he lacks discipline. he doesn't need to be disciplined for eight months. he needs to be disciplined for eight weeks. that's possible. he's gaining in new hampshire. he'll probably win south carolina. he leads in florida. newt gingrich has momentum and the momentum is real. when you're in a room with newt gingrich, he creates an idea factory that people l

. >> they think their found their tom dewey in mitt romney. against congress, but that's not how truman got elected. he got ee elected because he was running against tom dewey, a chilly eastern governor that people doesn't cotton to. >> casey hunt, i am reading the david jordan book about fdr and the 1944 -- fdr versus dewey. i hate to say, george's descriptions of dewey, it screams mitt romney. >> well, you've seen the mitt romney that you're seeing today is the same mitt romney that's been campaigning for two decades. watch video of him from 1994 going door to door. >> i think fans will make the argument he changed his position. >> positionwise, may or may not be the same candidate. >> the person. >> the chilly eastern republican that people can't cotton to,there's clearly something about romney that prevented him from connecting with voters for all of this. >> the best line about dewey, he's the little man on top of the wedding cake. >> that is another description of him. this weird -- the perfect hair. although -- >> he's the mad men sort

and p also like tom dewey had been a crime buster in chicago. and everybody thought that he -- not everybody, but those folks in the democratic party who had power thought that he was a phony. and there was something about the political presence in which i think the american people understand who is authentic and who is not. ed aly stevenson -- adlay stevenson who defeated keith farber in the convention was not let's go in the back room and smoke some cigars kind of guy, he really was let's go have a glass of the best brandy from france. but none the less, he could convey this niceness estes key farber could not. and in that convention one sees the importance of being somewhat accessible and personable. >> very quickly, i would say we saw the charming side of barry goldwater and i would say for all the differences, goldwater and humphrey are two illustrations of candidates who are more likable than the men who defeated them. >> all right. we have only seven or eight minutes left. here is george wallace. >> i feel, and i must say i've climbed my

and also like tom dewey had been a crime buster in chicago. and everybody thought that he -- not everybody, but those folks in the democratic party who had power thought that he was a phony. and there was something about the political presence in which i think the american people understand who is authentic and who is not. adlai stevenson who defeated kefauver in the convention was not a "let's go in the back room and smoke some cigars" kind of guy, he really was "let's go have a glass of the best brandy from france." but none the less, he could convey this niceness estes kefauver could not. and in that convention one sees the importance of being somewhat accessible and personable. >> very quickly, i would say we saw the charming side of barry goldwater and i would say for all the differences, goldwater and humphrey are two illustrations of candidates who are more likable than the men who defeated them. >> all right. we have only seven or eight minutes left. here is george wallace. >> i feel, and i must say i've climbed my last political mount

campaign of 1948, in which harry truman was trying to be re-elected on his own terms running against tom dewey. he had third-party candidates, people in the south not happy with him and some of the rhetoric is very similar to what we're hearing today. >> "time" magazine announced its person of the year and they went for a generic, the protester. what did you think of that choice? >> i thought it was a good call. there is a lot of anxiety and unhappiness out there. by the way, i think one of the important developments in the protest movement sometimes gets overlooked and that's the tea party. the tea party began as a protest movement and as i've said on several occasions and i'm determined to repeat here tonight, the tea party played by the rules. they got angry, got to message, and stayed on message and they may not be what you think of is the best interest of the country but they are driving the debate on the republican side now more than any other component of the republican party. and that's because they are determined to remain disciplined and faithful to what they believe in. i think it's

tom dewey, and, of course, robert taft, who is hoping the party returned to him. >> we get in a littlerouble when we draw analogies. dewey was the prosecutor from new york who overrated himself. we often have new yorkers come out and say they are going to win, especially when they have a legal background. taft was mr. republican. people had heard about him before. taft was a name. we had had a president named taft. that was not particularly new. herbert hoover was a wonderful man, but he had become a great vanity. he was getting in the way of the progress of the party because he kept wanting to run again. his time was probably past. what was exciting about willkie was he went to hear herbert hoover and could not believe that herbert hoover would hog the nomination. in that way, willkie was grassroots. he, himself, was not of the grass. he was chosen by people who were voting against the party. the other names were "the party." willkie came in as somebody different, not what we expected. >> he retired and an exciting man. i think for many people, it was none of the above. it was the per

and also like tom dewey had been a crime buster in chicago. and everybody thought that he -- not everybody, but those folks in the democratic party who had power thought that he was a phony. and there was something about the political presence in which i think the american people understand who is authentic and who is not. adlai stevenson who defeated kefauver in the convention was not let's go in the back room and smoke some cigars kind of guy, he really was let's go have a glass of the best brandy from france. but none the less, he could convey this niceness estes kefauver could not. and in that convention one sees the importance of being somewhat accessible and personable. >> very quickly, i would say we saw the charming side of barry goldwater and i would say for all the differences, goldwater and humphrey are two illustrations of candidates who are more likable than the men who defeated them. >> all right. we have only seven or eight minutes left. here is george wallace. >> i feel, and i must say i've climbed my last political mountain, b

himself, and he pointed out there hasn't been a moderate nominated in the republican party since tom deweythat's a joke, obviously. it's very difficult for mr. gingrich because he has dealing with this issue of his sort of bad newt personality, he's got to overcome it. and ron paul last night had an incredible moment wherein he picked up a big, big endorsement from the former chairman of michele bachmann's campaign. kent sorenson came out at the des moines state fairgrounds and threw his support behind the texas congressman kicking off a huge sort of last minute iowa moment in which michele bachmann had called mr. sorenson out and said he had, essentially, been bribed or sold out for money in order to switch his allegiance. sorenson adamantly denies that, notwithstanding bachmann's continuing assertion that he said as much yesterday. pretty amazing with five days left. arthel: indeed. and i'm going to be talking to a poll surrogate momentarily and just the momentum moving beyond iowa. but all eyes are on iowa, five days left. carl cameron, good to see you, thank you. jon: well, carl just m

that is something that tom dewey had not done in 1944 under somewhat similar circumstances.ere. in some ways, he paid a price for that. >> you are right. the nuclear test ban, which was a very unpopular point of view to take in 1956, he took it very courageously because he believed in it deeply. someone asked what the weapons would be in world war iv, and he said there would be sticks and stones. >> between 1952 and 1956, was adlai stevenson going to get the nomination again? >> i would have to answer that with a yes and no. he hoped that he might someday be president, but he also knew that if he ran against president eisenhower again, the odds were very much against him. i was one of the few people around him that urged him not to run in 1956. he felt an obligation to the democratic party. >> here is a little bit of adlai stevenson at the 1956 convention. >> i come here on a solemn mission. i accept your nomination and your program. [applause] i pledge to every resource of mind and strength that i possess to make a good win for our country and our party. four years ago, i s