July

Early July: Call it Malaise II: There is new frustration that Dole has not sharpened his message and dismay at his comment that nicotine is not necessarily addictive.

July 2: The Reform Party plans a write-in survey of its members to determine a lineup of possible candidates. Only Ross Perot and Lamm are mentioned by name in the materials that will accompany the survey.

July 5: Libertarians gather in Washington, D.C., to pick Harry Browne as their nominee. Browne says he can reshape American politics if he's allowed to join in the fall debates. "If I do, I think we can change politics forever in this country, because I will make this offer to the American people: Would you give up your favorite federal programs if it meant you never had to pay income tax again?" Browne said. Related Link: AllPolitics' alt.debate '96

July 9: Lamm joins the presidential race, declaring he will seek the Reform Party's nomination. He says he wants "to create a whole new political coalition, to dedicate it to reform and renewal." On the campaign trail, he says he has an even chance to defeat Perot.

July 13: A new CNN/TIME poll suggests that more Americans than not feel Clinton isn't honest or trustworthy, but a majority feel he is honest enough to be president.

July 17: Newsweek columnist and CBS commentator Joe Klein admits he wrote "Primary Colors," the fictional novel that satirized presidential politics and became the talk of the American politics earlier in the year.

July 18: A Senate committee learns nothing new when it questions Anthony Marceca, another figure in the White House FBI files fiasco. Marceca once again exercises his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Related Link:FBI Files Fiasco

July 18: The House passes a Republican welfare reform bill that transfers power to the states and promises the biggest changes in welfare policy since Roosevelt's New Deal.

July 18: The jury hears Clinton's testimony in a second Whitewater trial; Clinton denies trading political appointments for campaign cash. Related Link: Transcript of Clinton's Testimony

July 19: The top candidates to be Dole's running mate are said to be Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and former South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, the man who helped him snare South Carolina and turn around his struggling primary campaign.

August

Aug. 1: Jurors in the Whitewater trial find two longtime political supporters of President Bill Clinton not guilty on four counts, but the panel deadlocks on seven other counts. Related Link: Whitewater Special Report

Aug. 5: Dole unveils his long-awaited economic stimulus plan, promising a 15 percent across-the-board income tax cut and the end of the Internal Revenue Service "as we know it." Related Link: Full Text of Dole's Remarks

Aug. 7: After six weeks of online voting, prescient AllPolitics readers select Jack Kemp as the best choice for Dole's running mate in the VPick game, several days before his name surfaces as Dole's veep choice. (See Aug. 10.) Related Link: VPick

Aug. 7: A panel of federal judges announces a redrawing of 13 Texas congressional districts and orders new elections this fall.

Aug. 8: Perot informs the Lamm campaign he is too busy to debate; that stance will later undercut the moral power of his protests over not being included in the fall debates with Clinton and Dole.

Aug. 10: Dole makes it official and announces Jack Kemp, supply-sider and ex-congressman, will be his running mate. Related Links: Text of Kemp's Acceptance Speech and Voter's Voice: Reactions To Kemp's Selection

Aug. 12: Republican National Convention opens in San Diego. In contrast to Houston in 1992, it features four days of warm and fuzzy messages delivered by the likes of Colin Powell, Rep. Susan Molinari and Elizabeth Dole. Buchanan finally endorses Dole. Related Link: AllPolitics San Diego Convention Special Report

Aug. 15: Dole accepts the GOP nomination, offering himself to the nation as man "tested by adversity, made sensitive by hardship, a fighter by principle, and the most optimistic man in America." Related Link: Transcript of Dole's Speech

Aug. 17: Perot wins the Reform Party's nomination with 65 percent of the vote to Lamm's 35 percent. Participation was astonishingly low.

Aug. 20: Susan McDougal gets two years in prison for her Whitewater fraud conviction.

Aug. 22: Clinton signs welfare bill, despite some reservations. Two top Health and Human Services officials later quit in protest.

Aug 26: Democrats open their national convention in Chicago, as Clinton campaigns across the Midwest by train. Related Link: Chicago Convention Special Report

Aug. 29: Trouble erupts on the Democratic convention's final day, when Clinton strategist Dick Morris abruptly resigns in the wake of allegations he let a $200-an-hour call girl listen in on private conversations with the president.

Aug. 29: Clinton accepts nomination and talks of "a bridge to the 21st century." Related Link: Transcript of Clinton's Speech