The bard was right: past is prologue, or at least it is in US politics. After George W. Bush, was hammered by 19 points in the snows of New Hampshire in the first Republican primary of February 2000, we had no doubt our campaign was over. We knew we would be fired, so we started packing our bags. That’s when the future president turned to us and said: “I take full responsibility for this loss. Voters will watch how we handle this to see if we have what it takes.” We unpacked and continued, winning 40 of the next state contests, the nomination and the White House.
莎士比亚说得对：过去的只是序曲。至少对美国政治而言是如此。在2000年2月的共和党初选中，当乔治•W•布什(George W. Bush)在白雪皑皑的新罕布什尔州以19个百分点失利时，我们毫不怀疑，我们的竞选结束了。我们知道自己将被解雇，于是开始收拾行李。就在这时，未来的总统对我们说：“我对此次失利负全部责任。选民将关注我们如何处理局面，看我们是否具备必要的质素。”我们解开行李，继续竞选，让布什在接下来的州竞选中，赢得了40个州，获得了共和党候选人提名，进而入主白宫(White House)。