I pegged his crap-weasel worthiness well before that. I hadn't voted for him since 1990.
2000 is when he came onto my radar screen, specifically his response to being rejected in R primaries in favor of GWB (FWIW, I voted for Alan Keyes in CA's primary). The now overturned 2002 abomination McCain-Feingold was his revenge on the conservative groups he blamed for his defeat.
The 80s were when I was starting my family, so I was paying less attention to things political at that time. Come 2008 I voted McCain in November, but not
for McCain. It was a vote against Obama's and the Dems' policies.