> And, yeah, Reagan was insanely popular in
> California.

Reagan was insanely popular *everywhere* until the day he left office, and then suddenly everyone hated him. I'll never understand it, personally. He took us out of the doldrums of the 70s and made us feel good about ourselves again. His policies created an economic boom in the mid to late 80s, and went a long way towards winning the cold war. He was a skilled orator like we had not seen in years and have not seen the like of since (Clinton gave a good enough speech, but he couldn't make a point in under three hours, so he doesn't really count). I deplore his and Nancy's use of astrology to plan affairs of state, and a soaring national debt was the price we paid for those cold war-winning tactics, but apart from that I can see little to fault in the man's administration. And before someone says "Iran-Contra" let me just say I really have no idea what that was all about and why it was so damn bad, so if you feel the need to enlighten me, go ahead.

-- Dave