it's almost difficult to remember a time when a presidential candidate could build a winning electoral map that included 80 percent of the states.

George H.W. Bush's 1988 election victory, in which he carried 40 states, may be the last time we ever witness a candidate garner more than 400 votes in the Electoral College.

Buoyed, of course, by the popularity of Ronald Reagan, who topped 500 electoral votes himself in 1984, Bush achieved the rare feat of keeping the White House within his party following a two-term presidency.

The last Republican to win now-liberal strongholds like California, New Jersey and Vermont, Bush forever will be remembered as one of the final presidents to oversee an era of political moderation and compromise.

The 1988 margin made Bush's 1992 defeat to Bill Clintonall the more surprising, one that could have defined Bush's legacy. But his decision to embrace his successor, forge an unlikely friendship and help those in need in the aftermath of the world's natural disasters instead became the embodiment of the patriotism and selfless that voters in those 40 states found so appealing in 1988.

The TIP with John Verhovek

Ever since the 2016 election, a growing chorus within the Republican Party, egged on by Trump, has warned of the pernicious effects of election and voter fraud.

But the recent revelations about potential irregularities in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, where the result in a close congressional contest has now been thrown into doubt, presents a potentially embarrassing scenario for a Republican Party that's harped on the issue for years.

After facing