Shadow of a Doubt

"Dole is stumbling badly, and unless he wins big soon, will have little choice but to take himself out." So wrote James Ridgeway, in an issue of the Village Voice dated March 5. Before the ink had dried, Dole did win big--in South Carolina, and later in an eight-state Tuesday sweep, and thereby laid to rest the most fractious and interesting Republican primary battle in many seasons.

Just a few weeks removed from Iowa and New Hampshire, it's already easy to forget the flux of those early days: the 15 minutes of Steve Forbes's celebrity, the charge of the Buchanan brigade and the panic it engendered in party circles, the image of the eerily malleable Alexander creeping up on the outside. And finally, a shaken Bob Dole vowing to take control of the party and rise again. Photographer Terry Gydesen followed the campaigns across both states.

Photo essay by Terry Gydesen

This project made possible by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

DOLE

Give the Boy a Great Big Hand

FORBES

Happy Meals Are Here Again

BUCHANAN

He'd Rather Be Right

ALEXANDER

Dead Men Wear Plaid