In 1996, Democratic incumbent Bill Clinton won a second term in
office, becoming the first two-term Democratic president since Franklin
Roosevelt and also the first two-term president since Woodrow Wilson
never to win a majority of the popular vote. Clinton's first term in office
was marked by a remarkable series of policy and political twists and
turns. Elected in 1992 with an increased Democratic majority in both
houses of Congress, Clinton initially pursued a reform-oriented agenda.
In the spring of 1993 he proposed a variety of expansionary fiscal
measures aimed at increasing employment and easing the country out
of recession. In the fall of 1993, Clinton dramatically unveiled a sweep-
ing proposal for national health insurance. He also introduced welfare
reform measures designed to move recipients into the paid labor force,
albeit with the intention of first winning passage of the health reform.
The Administration's health reform proposals failed in Congress, and
going into the 1994 midterm elections Clinton's personal popularity
had declined, and the Administration could point to few policy victories.

In the 1994 midterm elections, Republicans picked up a large number
of new seats in both the House and the Senate, enough to give them
control of both houses for the first time since the early 1950s. Upon
taking office, new Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich led a
showdown over governmental finances and future government deficits,
producing a protracted and unprecedented shutdown of the federal
government in 1995. In the face of the shutdown and other unpopular
initiatives of the Republican congressional leadership, and benefiting
from strong economic growth, Clinton's popularity began to rise in the
second half of his term. Clinton seemed to find an effective public voice
as the centrist bulwark against the Republican congressional majority
and their increasingly unpopular public policy agenda. At the same
time, Clinton adopted or promoted conservative policy positions in a
number of substantive policy arenas (e.g. crime, welfare reform,
national defense).

In 1996, policy conflicts between Clinton and the Republicans

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