Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign
The 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis began when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States on March 16, 1987, in a speech in Boston. After winning the nomination, he was formally selected as the Democratic Party's nominee at the party's convention in Atlanta, Georgia on July 21, 1988.[4][5] He lost the 1988 election to his Republican opponent George H. W. Bush, who was the sitting Vice President at the time. Dukakis won 10 states and the District of Columbia, receiving a total of 111 electoral votes compared to Bush's 426 (Dukakis would have received 112, but one faithless elector who was pledged to him voted for Bentsen for president and Dukakis for vice president instead out of protest). Dukakis received 45% of the popular vote to Bush's 53%.[6] Many commentators blamed Dukakis' loss on the embarrassing photograph of him in a tank taken on September 13, 1988, which subsequently formed the basis of a successful Republican attack ad.[7][8] Much of the blame was also laid on Dukakis' campaign, which was criticized for being poorly managed despite being well funded.[9][10] Had Dukakis been elected, he would have been the first Greek American president, the first non-Western European American president, and the second governor of Massachusetts to accomplish this feat, after Calvin Coolidge. Bentsen would have been the second senator from Texas to be elected vice president, after Lyndon B. Johnson.
Michael Dukakis for President 1988
Michael Dukakis
65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts
(1975–1979, 1983–1991)
Lloyd Bentsen
U.S. Senator from Texas (1971–1993)
Announced: March 16, 1987
Presumptive nominee: June 7, 1988
Official nominee: July 21, 1988
Lost election: November 8, 1988
Susan Estrich (campaign manager)
Paul Brountas (campaign chair)[1]
John Sasso (campaign manager; resigned on October 1, 1987; returned as vice chairman on September 3, 1988)[2][3]
Paul Tully (political director; resigned on October 1, 1987)[2]
Donna Brazile (deputy field director; resigned on October 20, 1988)
We're on your side
Good jobs at good wages
Because the Best America has yet to Come
Initial announcement[edit]
On March 16, 1987, Dukakis, then the Governor of Massachusetts, gave what has become known as the "Marathon Speech" in Boston in which he hinted that he was running for president in next year's election. He formally announced that he would run in a speech given the following month.[4] Previously, he had been urged to consider running for president by Mario Cuomo, who had dropped out the previous month.[11][12] This made him the third declared Democratic candidate for the 1988 election, after Richard A. Gephardt and Bruce Babbitt. Dukakis soon received an outpouring of support from voters throughout the country, which reportedly resulted in him receiving more attention than even he had expected.[13]
"Massachusetts Miracle"[edit]
Dukakis' campaign was focused on his experience as Governor of Massachusetts, during which time Massachusetts had emerged from an economic depression and had become a "bastion of prosperity and full employment".[18] Commentators had described this as the "Massachusetts Miracle", a term Bush dismissed as the "Massachusetts mirage".[19]
Running mate selection[edit]
On July 12, 1988, Dukakis announced he had chosen Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate, in the hopes of garnering more support in the South.[20] Dukakis compared his pick to John F. Kennedy's pick of Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate in the 1960 election.[21] As a result, his ticket became known as the "Boston-Austin axis", as Bentsen himself described it.[22][23] Shortly after Dukakis made the pick, a Time cover story dubbed Dukakis and Bentsen "the odd couple", and Richard Stengel noted in 1988 that Bentsen was "...more Bush's twin than Dukakis'".[24] James J. Kilpatrick called the pair "The Sominex Twins".[25]
Acceptance of the nomination[edit]
After winning the primaries in 30 states against Jesse Jackson and Al Gore, Dukakis accepted the Democratic Party's nomination at the 1988 Democratic National Convention on July 21, 1988, where Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton formally nominated Dukakis.[9]
Television advertising[edit]
During the campaign, Dukakis was the target of several now-infamous attack ads by individuals supporting the Bush campaign, most infamously the "Willie Horton" ad produced by the pro-Bush National Security Political Action Committee. Although the Bush campaign disavowed the ad,[26] it still played a major role in Dukakis' defeat.[27] The Dukakis campaign was mired in confusion during the general election, as exemplified by "the Handlers", a series of unintentionally confusing commercials that the campaign produced and aired at a cost of $3 million. Dukakis also erred in not responding to the Horton attack until late in the campaign.[28]
Donna Brazile resignation[edit]
On October 20, 1988, Donna Brazile resigned from her role as deputy field director for the Dukakis campaign after saying that Bush needed to "fess up" about a rumor that he had had an extramarital affair. Her comments were also disavowed by the campaign, and Dukakis personally apologized to Bush for them at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner that year.[29]
Polling[edit]
A poll conducted on July 21 and 22 of 1988 found that Dukakis had expanded the size of his lead over Bush to 17 points, with 55% of voters surveyed saying they would prefer Dukakis to win, compared to 38% for Bush.[30] His lead soon began to shrink, however. For example, on July 30, Dukakis criticized the Reagan administration's handling of ethical issues,[31] to which Ronald Reagan himself responded by describing Dukakis as an "invalid", after which his poll numbers dropped by 5 points overnight.[7] By August 11, Dukakis' lead over Bush had shrunk to 7 points,[32] and by August 24, Bush had gained a 4-point lead over Dukakis. Of the dramatic shift in Dukakis' poll numbers, Mervin Field said, "I have never seen anything like this, this kind of swing in favorability ratings, ever since I have seen polls, going back to 1936."[33] Later that year, after the second Bush-Dukakis debate occurred on October 13, Dukakis' numbers dropped by 7 points that night, largely due to his response to a question about whether he would support the death penalty for someone if they raped and murdered his wife, Kitty Dukakis, being perceived as emotionless by voters (although others considered the question inherently unfair).[34][35]