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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.

Nominations

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. They felt more optimistic this time due to the large gains in the 1986 mid-term election which resulted in the Democrats taking back control of the Senate after 6 years of Republican rule. Among the field of candidates were the following:

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. It was only after Hart had been discovered that the Herald reporters found Hart's quote in a 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. This would lead him to drop out of the race. The plagiarized speech was revealed in a videotape of both speeches leaked to the press. It was later learned that he had correctly credited Kinnock on other occasions but failed to do so in the Iowa speech that was distributed. 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. Both Syracuse University Law School and the Delaware State Bar Association cleared Biden of the law school plagiarism charges.

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.

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:

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, " 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.

Other nominations

General election

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 first-in-line to the presidency. During the Vice Presidential debate, Quayle attempted to dispel such allegations, by comparing his experience with that of former senator Jack 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."

Dukakis was badly hurt by the Republican "Willie Horton" and "Boston Harbor" campaign ads, and Dukakis staff member Donna Brazile's resignation after she spread rumors of a Bush affair.

Although at one point he was 17 percentage points behind Dukakis in the opinion polls, Bush turned it around at his convention and grew continuously stronger. Bush did very well in the debates. Tom Brokaw of NBC reported on his October 14 newscast: "The consensus tonight is that Vice President George Bush won last night's debate and made it all the harder for Governor Michael Dukakis to catch and pass him in the 25 days remaining. In all of the Friday morning quarterbacking, there was common agreement that Dukakis failed to seize the debate and make it his night." A CBS poll of debate viewers showed that Bush had won by a two-to-one margin.

Results

The election on November 8, 1988 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 traditionally 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 used to be in this category, but George W. Bush won it in 2004, making him the first Republican to carry it since 1988.

Source (Popular Vote):

Source (Electoral Vote):

(a) A West Virginia faithless elector voted for Bentsen as President and Dukakis as Vice President in order to make a statement against the U.S. Electoral College.
(b) Fulani's running mate varied from state to state. Among the six vice presidential candidates were Joyce Dattner, Harold Moore, and somebody with the last name of “Burke”.

References

  • James B. Lemert, William R. Elliott, James M. Bernstein, William L. Rosenberg, Karl J. Nestvold; News Verdicts, the Debates, and Presidential Campaigns Praeger Publishers, 1991
  • Laurence W. Moreland, Robert P. Steed, Tod A. Baker; The 1988 Presidential Election in the South: Continuity Amidst Change in Southern Party Politics Praeger Publishers, 1991
  • David R. Runkel; Campaign for President: The Managers Look at '88 Auburn House, 1989
  • Guido H. Stempel III and John W. Windhauser; The Media in the 1984 and 1988 Presidential Campaigns Greenwood Press, 1991

See also

Notes

External links

Navigation

United States presidential elections | 1988 elections

Präsidentschaftswahl 1988 (Vereinigte Staaten) | Elezioni Presidenziali degli Stati Uniti del 1988 | 1988年アメリカ合衆国大統領選挙 | 1988年美国总统选举

 

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