There once was a burning political issue known as capital punishment. Others called it the death penalty. Entire political careers in the 1980s and 1990s were built on it or ruined by it. Democrat Michael Dukakis lost the presidency, many pundits said in 1988, by seeming mushy when asked what he'd do if some guy murdered his wife. The 1992 nominee, Bill Clinton, learned the lesson. He jetted home to the Arkansas governor's mansion in the middle of the campaign to preside over the execution of a mentally impaired prisoner.
But, as with other obsessions from the mix-tape era - such as Biosphere 2, the Y2K Bug and Hillary Clinton's hairstyles - capital punishment has lost its grip on the public.