 What doesn't the author believe about Bauer?
Like Dole, Bauer needed to crack the top tier and seal off the pack. While some pundits lumped Bauer with the winners, others offered him the next best position--"leading the rest of the pack"--or at least distinguished him from the "losers." Pundits concluded that Bauer "did what he had to do ... beat Pat Buchanan," and therefore "can legitimately say he is the candidate of the Christian right," establishing himself as "one of the winners," the "three or four" candidates who "got their tickets punched" to stay in the race.
 he is pro-choice and a moderate conservative
 Forbes is Bauer's current competition  Bauer is able to spin results in his favor  he is pro-choice and a moderate conservative  he is an underdog because of his inexperience