Reagan and Bush landed in Washington for an unusual joint campaign event with more than two hundred Republican members of Congress on the Capitol steps. Before two thousand spectators, they collectively committed to five promises: slashing Congress’s budget and bureaucracy, passing the first year’s Kemp-Roth tax reduction, weeding out $34 billion in government waste, instituting enterprise zones, and strengthening defense. The architect of the gathering was first-term firebrand Newt Gingrich, who called it a “historic moment.” Gingrich’s
