August 17, 2003

Ronald Reagan historian Steve Hayward has this perceptive thought posted at No Left Turns:

One of the interesting things Reagan did, though, was to realize that people would think he was just an actor repeating memorized lines. So in his campaign travels around the state he gave short speeches, and then took questions from the audience for as long as an hour. He demonstrated a real ability to think and talk on his feet, as well as a decent familiarity with state issues. It was this that impressed reporters, and made the media take him seriously. Arnold needs to do something like this to prove he is for real.
Posted by Greg Ransom