The presidency of Bill Clinton began at noon EST on January 20, 1993, when Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office. Clinton continued to position himself as a centrist, stating in early 1996 that 'the era of Big Government is over.' Meanwhile, Dole, one of the oldest major party presidential nominees in history, proved to be ineffective campaigner. Dole was unable to find a winning topic to campaign on, and Clinton won by a wide margin in the popular vote and the Electoral College. Clinton swept the Northeast and won much of the Midwest, while Dole performed best in the Mountain states and the South. Despite Clinton's victory, Republican retained control of the House and the Senate in the 1996 congressional elections. With Republicans in control of Congress, Clinton refrained from proposing major domestic initiatives in his second term.