Boris Yeltsin 1991 presidential campaign
[2] Yeltsin made an effort to avoid creating optics of a direct association with the more extremist elements of the democratic movement.
[12] Rather than employing the sorts of frenzied rhetoric that his opponents were using, Yeltsin instead opted to act the part of a measured statesman during the campaign period.
This was intended to solidify the perception of Yeltsin as a capable leader and enhance the dynamic in which he was running as a de facto incumbent.
[10] The economic crisis and the serious antikomintern (the mood in society) influenced Yeltsin's decision to adopt a more serious tone of rhetoric.
[10] As part of the democratic opposition to the communist Soviet establishment, Yeltsin benefited from the fever pitch which anti-communist tensions had reached in Russia.
[13] Yeltsin's campaign apparatus had immense access to printing resources, and, come the election, was able to flood the nation with posters and leaflets.
[17] On the same day, Democratic Russia organized an event in Moscow in which thousands of supporters rallied for Yeltsin and collected signatures for his registration.
[17] On May 16, an explosion occurred in the room being used to store the signatures being gathered for Yeltsin's candidacy at the Democratic Russia headquarters in Moscow.
[15] Sovetskaya Rossiya placed blame on the Libertarian (Radical) Party of the Soviet Union for perpetrating the attack, however, they denied involvement.
[19][20] He started his campaign travels with a trip to Murmansk, where he was reported to have been hounded by enthusiastic crowds waving the flag of pre-revolutionary Russia and shouting "We love you, Boris Nikolaevich!".
[21] At the rally, chess champion Garry Kasparov delivered a speech encouraging a large turnout in support of Yeltsin.
[11] In hopes of garnering the support of religious voters, on the eve of the election Yeltsin was interviewed on RSFSR state radio by Orthodox priests Vyacheslav Polosin (who was also a deputy of the Supreme Soviet and the cofounder of the Russian Christian Democratic Movement).
[23] On the day of the election Yeltsin's campaign deployed a vast number of poll watchers to observe voting stations across the country, in order to keep an eye out for any voter fraud that the Communist Party might conduct against him.
Potential candidates were Vadim Bakatin, Gennady Burbulis, Dmitri Volkogonov, Gavriil Popov, Anatoly Sobchak, Galina Starovoytova, Sergey Shakhray, and Vladimir Bukovsky.
[4] Despite their key role in his campaign effort, Yeltsin did not consult the leaders of Democratic Russia about his running mate selection.
[26][27] Rutskoy was a celebrated military veteran, a People's Deputy, and the leader of the newly-formed Communists for Democracy movement.
Yeltsin's strongest opponent, Nikolai Ryzhkov, had selected Boris Gromov, a military hero, to serve as his running mate.
[14][28][29] Yeltsin praised Rutskoy for his ability to understand the needs of military veterans and for his creation of the "Communists for Democracy" movement.
[6] Rutskoy declared that he would continue to be a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia, but that he still disagreed with its leadership (particularly with Ivan Polizkov).
[6] Soon after his selection, Rutskoy came under fire amid allegations that he had been formerly supported by chauvinistic organizations such as Pamyat' and Otechestvo, and that he had been a strong opponent of the late academician Andrei Sakharov.
[12] Rutskoy defended himself by stating that while he had been one of the founders of Otechestvo (which he argued had been started as a patriotic association), he rejected the chauvinistic views which it had since adopted.
Having received more than 50% of the votes cast, Yeltsin had won the presidency outright in the first round, negating the need for a runoff to take place.
In order to appeal to a broader array of voters, Yeltsin mostly avoided answering questions about his specific political ideology.
Yeltsin stated that he believed that the Soviet Union's military needed to be unified, well-armed, and highly capable (a stance which he had adopted after the January 13 attack in Vilnius).
[33] Yeltsin criticized the poor living standards experienced by military personnel and the difficulties faced by workers in the military-industrial sector.
[2] While Yelstin officially ran as an independent candidate, the latter organization nonetheless played a critical role in his campaign operations.
[2] The campaign's central office was staffed by thirty paid staff as well as approximately 200 technical specialists and volunteers.
[2] The campaign's national initiative group, run by Democratic Russia, was chaired by Aleksandr Muzykansky, who, at the time, was the Vice Chairperson of the Moscow City Soviet.
[2] The national initiative group was a continuation of an existing Democratic Russia apparatus which had been formed (in advance of the March 1991 referendum) to support Yeltsin's push to establish a presidency.
[2] On May 18 and 19, national, regional, and district level organizers from Democratic Russia met in Moscow with a team of five campaign experts, led by Paul Weyerich and Robert Krieble from the United States-based Committee for a Free Congress.
