6 – Michael Dukakis (1988 Election)
Dukakis is the longest-serving Governor in Massachusetts history with 12 total years in office and seemed likely to become the President of the United States when he was first nominated. Reagan’s second term didn’t go as smoothly as the first and when his vice president George H.W. Bush won the Republican nomination for the 1988 Election, he was far from certain to win. In fact, Dukakis was leading most polls by up to 20 points at the beginning of the campaign. However, a couple of gaffes destroyed his chances and he was well beaten in the end.
He won the Democrat nomination for the 1988 Election handily enough with Jesse Jackson in second place. Familiar names such as Joe Biden and Al Gore were also involved but didn’t seriously threaten Dukakis. His early lead in the national polls soon dwindled as his stoic nature made the general public think he lacked passion. One of his campaign blunders was not offering full details of his medical history. This led to all kinds of rumors including one that he had undergone psychiatric treatment.
The worst was yet to come as a photo op turned into one of the all-time great presidential campaign mistakes. Dukakis was widely criticized for being soft on defense issues so his team decided to try and make him look tough. A picture of him was taken in an M1 Abrams tank but instead of making him look like a strong commander-in-chief, it made him look like a kid playing toy soldiers. When you see the image of the diminutive politician in a giant tank in army gear and a helmet that didn’t fit, your main thought is how ridiculous he looks and how unfit he is to be the president.
While some political commentators believe the tank cost him the election, what happened on the night of 13 October 1988 sealed his fate. During the campaign, Bush tried to smear Dukakis as someone who was soft on crime due to his support for a prison furlough program during his first term as Governor of Massachusetts. He vetoed a bill designed to prevent first-degree murderers from benefiting. During his second term, Willie Horton, a convicted murderer, was furloughed and committed rape and murder in Maryland during this time. Ads such as ‘Weekend Passes’ and ‘Revolving Door’ portrayed Dukakis as someone who went too easy on criminals.
Dukakis’ team knew the issue of Horton would come up so they prepared their candidate for the second presidential debate. The moderator asked Dukakis if he would favor an irrevocable death penalty for someone that murdered his wife Kitty. Instead of the impassioned response everyone expected, Dukakis offered a clinical one: “No I don’t, Bernard, and I think you know that I’ve opposed the death penalty during all of my life.” This more or less finished him because he dropped from 49% to 42% in the polls overnight.
Although he fared better than the previous two Democrat candidates, that wasn’t saying much. He managed just 45.6% of the popular vote and lost 426-111 in the Electoral College.