I don't think you are accurately remembering the 1992 election campaign John Hindsill. As the primary season began, Clinton was not the favored candidate. If any candidate was favored at that stage, it was Mario Cuomo, who garnered the majority of coverage of all Dem candidates leading into the primary season in 1991/92. Paul Tsongas also made very strong impressions on the media, the Dem leadership, and the rank and file. Bob Kerrey and Jerry Brown were also in the running at that time, though they weren't perceived as being as strong as Cuomo, Tsongas, or Clinton.

Clinton was receiving a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons (the Flowers affair, his lack of military service and protesting the Vietnam War while at Oxford, etc). However, that attention did allow him to get HIS message out, which was essentially the same as Bush I's, which was that he said he would cut taxes. No other Democratic candidate said he would cut taxes in the 1992 election campaign.

The reason why Bush I was viewed so negatively, and why he subsequently lost the election, wasn't just because of the economy, as today's pundits keep suggesting. The reason he was viewed negatively was "The Vision Thing". It became clear that Bush I had no clear idea of where he was steering the nation. That leadership lack, when combined with recession, is what defeated Bush. Clinton was only the candidate who looked, walked, talked and quacked like a Southern Republican. And that is why he won.