U.S. presidential election, 1988

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Image:ElectoralCollege1988-Large.png The U.S. presidential election of 1988 featured an open primary for both major parties. Ronald Reagan, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-Second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the Democrats nominated Michael Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts. Bush capitalized on Reagan's popularity while Dukakis's campaign suffered from several miscues; the result was the third lopsided Republican victory in as many presidential elections.

1 Nominations
2 General election
- 2.1 Campaign
- 2.2 Results
3 See also
4 External link

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Nominations

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Democratic Party nomination

Having been badly defeated in the 1984 presidential election, the Democrats were eager to find a new approach to win the presidency. Among the field of candidates were the following:

Bruce E. Babbitt, former governor from Arizona
Joseph R. Biden Jr., U.S. senator from Delaware
Michael S. Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts
Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt, U.S. representative from Missouri
Albert A. Gore Jr., U.S. senator from Tennessee
Gary W. Hart, former U.S. senator from Colorado
the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, civil rights activist
Paul M. Simon, U.S. senator from Illinois

In early 1987, Sen. Gary Hart was the clear frontrunner in the field (Democratic party efforts to recruit New York Gov. Mario Cuomo aside). Hart had put in a strong showing in the 1984 presidential election, and had refined his campaign in the intervening years.

However, questions about extramarital affairs dogged the charismatic candidate. One of the great myths is that Senator Hart challenged the media to 'put a tail' on him. In actuality, the Miami Herald had received an anonymous tip from a friend of Donna Rice's that Rice was involved with Hart. The stakeout was also an exercise worthy of the Keystone Kops since there was an unguarded exit through which Hart and Rice may have left. It was only AFTER Hart had been discovered that the Herald reporters found Hart's quote in an advance copy of New York Times magazine. On May 8, 1987, a week after the Donna Rice story broke, Hart dropped out of the race. In December of 1987, Hart returned to the race. However the damage had been done.

Joseph Biden's campaign was also surrounded with controversy, as he was found to have plagiarized a speech from British Labour party leader Neil Kinnock, and then was found to have also engaged in plagiarism in law school. These and other misrepresentations would lead him to drop out of the race. The plagiarized speech was revealed in a videotape of both speeches leaked to the press. The initial speculation incorrectly pointed the blame on the Gephardt campaign as the source of the tape. Michael Dukakis later revealed that his campaign was responsible for leaking the tape, and two members of his staff resigned.

In the Iowa caucuses, Gephardt finished first, Simon finished second, and Dukakis finished third. In the New Hampshire primary, Dukakis finished first, Gephardt finished second, and Simon finished third. Dukakis and Gore campaigned hard against Gephardt with negative ads, and eventually the United Auto Workers retracted their endorsement of Gephardt, who was heavily dependent on union backing.

In the Super Tuesday races, Dukakis fared very well, though not well enough to knock out his main rivals. Gore and Jackson did very well in those races, both placing first in many southern states, creating a credible challenge to Dukakis's front runner status. Dukakis eventually emerged as the winner of a long primary process, with Gore's effort to paint Dukakis as too liberal for the general election failing and Jackson focused more on getting enough delegates to make sure African-American interests were represented in the platform than on winning.

The Democratic Party Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia. It was primarily noteworthy for the Dukakis nominating speech (widely criticized as lengthy and tedious) delivered by Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, and the selection of Lloyd Bentsen as the vice presidential candidate.

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Republican Party nomination

The Republican primary was less notable, with Vice President George H. W. Bush going in as the clear frontrunner. Bush had the support of President Ronald Reagan, who remained very popular with both Republicans and the country at large. Bush pledged to continue Reagan's policies, but also pledged a "kinder, gentler America" in an attempt to win over some more moderate voters.

There nevertheless emerged a few challengers for the nomination. They were:

Bob Dole, Senator from Kansas
Pete DuPont, former Governor from Delaware
Alexander Haig, Reagan's former Secretary of State
Jack Kemp, Congressman from Buffalo, NY; former NFL player
Pat Robertson, evangelical preacher

Bush's main challenge came from Sen. Dole, who won the Iowa caucus, though Bush ultimately won the nomination.

The Republican party convention was held in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Louisiana Superdome. Bush made an energetic pledge, "Read my lips: No new taxes". It would be a comment that would dog him for a long time to come. Vice-Presidential candidate Dan Quayle was selected at the convention.

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Other nominations

Willa Kenoyer / Ron Ehrenreich - Socialist Party USA: Advocated a decentralist government approach with policies determined by the needs of the workers.
Ron Paul - Libertarian Party: Called for the adoption of a global policy on military non-intervention; wanted to uninvolve the government with education; critical of Reagan's "bail out" of the Soviet Union.
Lenora Fulani - New Alliance Party: Focused on issues concerning unemployment, healthcare, and homelessness.

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General election

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Campaign

During the election, the Bush campaign sought to portray Gov. Dukakis as unreasonably liberal and left wing. Dukakis was attacked for such positions as opposing mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, as well as being a "card carrying member of the ACLU" (a statement made by Dukakis concerning himself early in the primary campaign). Dukakis countered by saying that he was a "proud liberal" and that the phrase should stop being a bad word in America. The Dukakis camp tried to tie Bush to some of the recent scandals of the Reagan Administration, such as Iran-Contra, and argued that Republicans were too hawkish on foreign policy.

Governor Dukakis attempted to quell criticism that he was ignorant on military matters by staging a photo op in which he drove a tank around a field. The move ended up being a massive PR blunder, with many mocking Dukakis' Snoopy-like appearance as he stuck his smiling, helmeted head out of the tank's entrance portal to wave to the crowd.

The most memorable moment of the presidential debates came when Bernard Shaw asked Dukakis whether he would support the death penalty if his wife were raped and murdered. He replied with a mechanical denunciation of capital punishment, which seemed unfeeling to some, although others considered the question unfair.

Bush's running mate pick was Senator Dan Quayle. Quayle was young and athletic, and Bush had specifically chosen him to appeal to a younger generation of Americans. Quayle was not a seasoned politician, however, and had a continual habit of making embarrassing statements. The Dukakis team in return blasted Quayle's credentials, saying he was dangerously inexperienced to be second-in-line to the presidency. During the Vice Presidential debate, Quayle attempted to dispel such allegations, by comparing his experience with that of former president John F. Kennedy, who had also been a young political rookie when running for the presidency. Quayle stated, "I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency." This prompted Dukakis' running mate, Lloyd Bentsen, to respond, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."[1]

Other aspects of the campaign which were widely commented on included the Republican "Willie Horton" and "Boston Harbor" campaign ads, and Dukakis staff member Donna Brazile's resignation after her comments about rumors of a Bush affair.

Although at one point he was 17 percentage points behind Dukakis in the opinion polls, Bush received favorable reviews for his convention speech and from that point forward his position grew continuously stronger.

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Results

The election was held on November 8, 1988. The result was a decisive majority for Bush in the popular vote and a lopsided majority (40 states) in the Electoral College.

Bush performed very strongly among suburban voters, perhaps owing to his campaign themes of law and order, punctuated by his criticisms of the Massachusetts furlough program. This was a boon in several swing states. In Illinois, Bush won 69% in DuPage County and 63% out of Lake County, suburban areas which adjoin Chicago's Cook County. In Pennsylvania, Bush swept the group of suburban counties that surround Philadelphia, including Bucks, Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery. Bush also won most of the counties in Maryland, perhaps fallout from the fact that Willie Horton committed his infamous criminal acts there. New Jersey, known at the time for its many suburban voters and its moderate Republicanism, went easily for Bush.

Contrary to the suburbs was the decrease among rural counties, easily falling below the support they gave Reagan in 1980 and 1984. In Illinois, Bush lost a number of downstate counties that previously went for Reagan. He lost the state of Iowa by a surprisingly wide margin, losing counties all across the state even in Republican areas. The rural state of West Virginia remained handily in the Democratic column. Bush also performed weaker in the northern counties of Missouri, making the state a close win. Three typically solid Republican states, Kansas, South Dakota, and Montana, came much closer than usual.

Bush's greatest area of strength was in the south, winning most states by wide margins. He also performed very well in the northeast, winning Maine (where he had a residence), New Hampshire (at the time a Republican stronghold), Vermont (at the time a bastion of moderate Republicanism), and Connecticut (where his father had been a senator). Bush lost New York by a fairly slim margin. He also won Delaware, at the time a swing state. He lost the Pacific northwestern states but kept California in the Republican column for the sixth straight time.

Although his victory was a landslide, Bush in 1988 was the last Republican to carry certain states which have since gained a reputation as "blue states" that favor the Democratic Party in presidential elections. These states are California, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Vermont, Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Maine, and Michigan. New Mexico and Iowa used to be in this category, but George W. Bush won both states in 2004, making him the first Republican to carry them since 1988.

Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Popular Vote		Electoral Vote	Running Mate	Running Mate's Home State	Running Mate's Electoral Vote
Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Count	Percentage	Electoral Vote	Running Mate	Running Mate's Home State	Running Mate's Electoral Vote
George H. W. Bush	Republican	Texas	48,886,597	53.4%	426	James D. Quayle III	Indiana	426
Michael S. Dukakis	Democratic	Massachusetts	41,809,476	45.6%	111	Lloyd M. Bentsen	Texas	111
Lloyd M. Bentsen	Democratic	Texas	—^(a)	—^(a)	1	Michael S. Dukakis	Massachusetts	1
Ronald E. Paul	Libertarian		431,750	0.5%	0	Andre V. Marrou		0
Lenora Fulani	New Alliance		217,221	0.2%	0			0
Other			249,642	0.3%	0	Other		0
Total			91,594,686	100.0%	538	Total		538
Needed to win					270	Needed to win		270

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1988 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (August 7, 2005).

Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (August 7, 2005).

^(a) A West Virginia elector voted for Bentsen as President and Dukakis as Vice President in order to make a statement against the U.S. Electoral College.

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