When Bob Dole goes to the podium Thursday night, he faces, rhetorically speaking, double jeopardy.
The first peril is Dole’s less-than-stellar speaking style which speech expert David Valley calls “one of the worst in recent memory.”
“The only similar person who comes to mind is Michael Dukakis, or maybe Gerald Ford,” Valley says.
The second problem is Dole will follow his choice for vice president, Jack Kemp, whose dynamic and energizing speaking style may make an extraordinary contrast.
“The comparison is going to be obvious,” says Ray Dearin, a Republican delegate from Iowa and a professional speech expert. “The pressure is on Bob Dole to give the speech of his career.”
Despite the long days and miles to go on the campaign trail, acceptance speeches are important because they’re meant to be convention crowd-pleasers, and they attract the events’ largest TV audience. An estimated 75 million people watched Richard Nixon make his 1968 acceptance speech, which he considered more important than the selection of a running mate.
Dole, who will try to keep his speech to 45 minutes or less, predicted Wednesday with a Kansan’s brevity it would be “longer than some, shorter than others.”
Dole’s acceptance speech is certain to echo others of the past. The danger, however, is that while some of those speeches electrified voters, others left the audience nearly comatose.
A common goal of acceptance speeches is to nail down the party base and–for Republicans since Ronald Reagan–to appeal to disaffected Democrats.
George Bush tried to overcome a problem with women voters by promising “a kinder, gentler nation” in 1988 and Bill Clinton later spoke of a “New Covenant,” a phrase that expired quietly.
Not every idea that looks good on paper comes out of the mouth so melodiously.
“Speechwriting is a little bit of a messy process,” Dole’s communications director, John Buckley, told reporters. He and other aides insisted the speech will be Dole’s own, in a manner of speaking.
The only editing example from the 40-page draft was the word “adjunct,” which Dole had penciled out.
But individual words can be important. Every Republican since Wendell Wilkie in 1940 has used the term “crusade” in his acceptance speech, with the exception of Bush, who preferred the word “mission.”
“It’s become a marker of Republican candidates to lead a crusade,” says Dearin, professor of speech communication and political science at Iowa State University. “The word `mission’ has a more military ring and is not as mystical and charismatic as the word `crusade.’ . . . I suspect Dole will use the word `mission.’ “
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first nominee to deliver an acceptance speech at a party convention in 1932 and he is the acknowledged master, delivering four very different and compelling speeches at each of his conventions.
Nixon actually delivered more acceptance speeches than anyone, two as the vice-presidential nominee and three as the presidential contender.
John F. Kennedy had a powerful delivery, says Valley, recalling the 1960 Democratic convention where he outlined the “New Frontier” theme for his presidency. Democrats have routinely used the speech to make their “New Deal,” “Fair Deal” and “New Day” campaign themes.
But in the age of television, no one has topped the conversational method of Reagan, who set rhetorical goals seemingly unattainable for Dole.
“Getting better, getting better,” Dole said of his speech Wednesday, his sentence structure sounding more like George Bush’s than the Great Communicator’s. Another comparison: Dole does not like to use TelePrompTers, which Reagan employed constantly.
While the Republican consultants and speechwriters have been crafting this address for the last four months, Valley has been consulted by Democrats who hope President Clinton, who is known for long-winded oration, will shorten his speech at the Democratic convention in Chicago.
Clinton should try to keep his speech shorter than the 54-minute address he gave at the 1992 Democratic convention, says Valley, a professor of speech communication at Southern Illinois University.
The absolute shortest speech was the 79 words that Democratic nominee Winfield Hancock delivered in 1880. His message to delegates was, essentially, “Thanks.” Then he promised to say more in a letter of acceptance.
