When campaigning for re-election in 1986, he was dropping in the polls
to his incumbent democratic opponent,
Mark White. The morning before a televised debate, his campaign manager,
Karl Rove, found a recording device in his office, and accused White's campaign of having planted
it. A subsequent investigation found that the device had only a two-mile range and a six-hour battery life, only fifteen minutes of which had expired by the time Rove discovered and reported it. Most likely, Rove planted it himself. Nevertheless, the accusation stuck and White lost to Clements.