Are always important, but never more so important than the time that were living in. We heard former president bill clinton use the words total class. And we heard former president barack obama, a democrat, say a gentleman. And i think civility, his graciousness, the way he handled himself is a role model we all will miss. Jamie, dana, thank you. This is cnn breaking news. Im don lemon. It is the top of the hour. Here is our breaking news. The 41st president of the United States, george h. W. Bush has died at the age of 94. The flag at the white house flying at halfstaff right now as flowers pile up outside the bush home in houston, texas. Tributes are pouring in from President Trump and former president S Barack Obama and bill clinton. As well as former Vice President al gore and condoleezza rice, james baker, and so many more. The nation mourning the man who devoted his life to service to his country and to his family. Cnns john king now with the story of george h. W. Bush, the polit
president wasn t his biggest problem. i am paying for this microphone. despite winning the iowa caucus, bush couldn t sustain what he called the big mo, as in momentum. i ronald reagan do solemnly swear and he lost the nomination to reagan. when reagan couldn t convince gerald ford to join the ticket, he turned to bush, who accepted. despite eight loyal years as vice president, nearly derailed bush s 1988 campaign. by the time he locked up the nomination, bush was 17 points behind the democratic nominee michael dukakis. three months ago i remember some of the great publications in this country had written me off. reporter: bush and his allies made up the ground by attacking dukakis as too liberal, soft on defense they said and soft on crime. a revolving door prison giving furloughs to first-degree murderers not eligible for parole. one was willie horton, who