All the candidates try to compare themselves with Reagan but none of them seem to understand what made Reagan. It was his selection of a small number of big things he wanted to accomplish and his pressing of those goals throughout the campaign and his focused attention on those goals accompanied with not bothering to whack at the other contenders or to defend against them. If you don’t have the big goals and do not consistently push them you have to use up your time doing petty offense and defense. By not attacking his opponents Reagan did not lend them any attention. By pressing the Few Big Goals he kept the press on himself and the popular attention on himself. Couple that with insistent optimism and humor and it rendered him unbeatable. None of the current candidates has goals to articulate. They are all process people except maybe Thompson and he does not seem to have any drive.
President Reagan towers over any candidates who have followed him. Compared to his sense of knowing who he was and what he stood for, they’ve all been shadows.