Presidential Election 1988

As the Twenty - Second Amendment to the US Constitution states, a person cannot run for no more than two four year terms or serve no more than ten years as President.  1988 was the campaign that Ronald Reagan would not be on the ballot for President in four of the six Presidential Elections since 1968.  That meant that the race, despite Vice President George HW Bush running would be an open campaign.  Just like Vice President in 1960, Vice President Bush seemed the heir apparent, but with face an intraparty challenge with three major contenders: Senator Bob Dole of Kansas who in 1980 challenged both Reagan and Bush for the Nomination, Representative Jack Kemp of New York, and Evangelical minister and founder of the 700 Club Pat Robertson of Virginia.  Bush and Dole seemed to be the top contenders on the Republican side where Dole beat Bush in the Iowa Caucus, but in New Hampshire, Dole went on television demanding that the Vice President stop lying about his record.  Bob Dole would be out of the race by the end of March 1988, but would be back in 1996 as the Nominee choosing Jack Kemp as his running mate.

As for the Democratic Party, they had candidates in Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, Senator Al Gore of Tennessee (both of whom would later serve two terms as Vice President), Former Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, Reverend Jesse Jackson of Illinois, and Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts.  Right from the starting gate the Democratic candidates had controversy.  The first would be that of Gary Hart, the frontrunner for the Nomination when early on it was revealed that he had an affair with Donna Rice.  Rumors of debts and the extramarital affair prompted Senator Hart to challenge the press to follow him around but warned that they would be pretty bored.  It so happens that a photograph of Senator Hart with Donna Rice sitting on his lap on a yacht named Monkey Business was circulated in the media.  Hart would withdraw from the race on May 8, 1987 but would be back in December 1987, and withdrawing a second time in March 1988.  This would open the door for the press to become more paparazziesque with our presidential candidates in the future.

At the Iowa State Fair in August 1987 the Democrats debated where Senator Biden had been accused of plagiarism where he failed to reference in a speech, Neil Kinnock, the leader of the British Labour Party which Kinnock said, "Why I am the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university?  Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university?  Was it because all our predecessors were thick?"  Biden would say similarly, "I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the in his family to ever go to a university?  Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college?  Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright?  Is it because I’m the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?"  This story would be dropped to the press by the Dukakis campaign and by September 23rd, Biden would suspend his campaign.  That could have been a blessing as shortly after withdrawing from the campaign Joe Biden would suffer two aneurysms that would keep him away from the Senate for several months.

By the spring as Senator Al Gore withdrew from the campaign, the two leading Democrats were Governor Dukakis and Reverend Jackson.  Vice President Bush was sitting pretty with his Republican Nomination secure.  Dukakis would get the nomination and choose Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as his running mate.  Vice President Bush had four contenders that the Republicans thought he would choose: Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, Former Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole (Ironically, like Elian Chao, wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Dole served as Transportation Secretary and Labor Secretary in two separate Republican administrations) of Kansas, Representative Jack Kemp of New York, and Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker of Tennessee.  In the end, Bush would pick Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana.  Quayle was chosen for his youth and Robert Redford good looks that appealed to women voters.

The Democratic National Convention was unique in how it brought a link to the Party’s greatness of the Kennedys as John F. Kennedy, Jr. introduced his uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy.  The other thing to come out of this convention was the governor giving the Nominating speech, Bill Clinton of Arkansas.  The speech was allotted for twenty minutes and went for an extra twelve minutes.  Clinton was booed by the delegates but it earned him a spot on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

As for the Republican National Convention, this would be the first Party Convention that Donald Trump would attend as a guest of the Bush family.  George Bush would also utter those famous words in his Acceptance Speech that would haunt him four years later in the Presidential Election of 1992; "Read my lips, no new taxes."

As summer turned to fall, Republican strategist Lee Atwater would hold focus groups with Reagan Democrats and discovered something that Al Gore brought up in the New York Democratic Primary; Willie Horton.  The Willie Horton ads were aired starting in September 1988, just before the Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates.  But the big thing to come out of the debates was Dan Quayle comparing himself to Jack Kennedy.  Lloyd Bentsen quickly responded with, "Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy.  Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine.  Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."

In the end, George Bush and Dan Quayle would beat Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen with 426 Electoral Votes to 111 Electoral Votes.  It was also the last time that a Republican candidate won a majority of the popular vote in their first campaign as the Republican Party’s Nominee.  George W. Bush would win the popular vote in his bid for re-election in 2004 against John Kerry.

But the night was bitter sweet for Lloyd Bentsen.  While he lost the vice presidency, he was still on the ballot for his Senate Seat in Texas; which he, like Lyndon Johnson as the Vice Presidential  Nominee won his Senate seat in Texas during the Presidential Election in 1960, Joseph Lieberman as the Vice Presidential Nominee won his Senate seat in Connecticut during the Presidential Election of 2000, and Joe Biden as the Vice Presidential Nominee won his Senate seat in Delaware during the Presidential Election of 2008.

See also:

• Presidential Election 1940
• Presidential Election 1944
• Presidential Election 1948
• Presidential Election 1952
• Presidential Election 1956
• Presidential Election 1960
• Presidential Election 1964
• Presidential Election 1968
• Presidential Election 1972
• Presidential Election 1976
• Presidential Election 1980
• Presidential Election 1984
• Presidential Election 1988
• Presidential Election 1992
• Presidential Election 1996
• Presidential Election 2000
• Presidential Election 2004
• Presidential Election 2008
• Presidential Election 2012
• Presidential Election 2016
• Presidential Election 2020
• Presidential Election 2024