Dick Gephardt, having focused his campaign against offshoring, won a plurality in the preference vote and precinct caucuses. However, Michael Dukakis, who placed third in both of those contests, received a plurality of the delegates to the national convention.
Procedure
Iowa had 58 delegates to the 1988 Democratic National Convention, with six of those being unelected superdelegates.[1] Voters assembled across 2,487 precincts to caucus on February 8, 1988. Candidates who receive at least 15% of the vote in the precinct caucuses will be given delegates to for the county conventions.[2] 3,001 delegates would be elected at county conventions on March 26, 1988,[3][4] to then vote for 34 delegates to the national convention at district conventions on May 14.[5] The remaining 18 delegates are then selected at the Iowa Democratic Party's state convention on June 25.[6]
Campaign
Gephardt's campaign focused on attacks against offshoring.[7] He was the first presidential candidate to visit all of Iowa's counties in the 1988 cycle.[8][9] Gephardt's campaign chose to conduct its advertising in January, months after all of the other campaigns.[10] Majority Leader Tom Foley and 41 other members of the United States House of Representatives, accounting for half of U.S. Representatives that endorsed Gephardt, attended events in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on January 28.[11][12]
Bruce Babbitt focused his campaign on Iowa, hoping to repeat Jimmy Carter's result in the 1976 caucuses that propelled him to the nomination. Babbitt's first major activity in Iowa was campaigning with his family by riding in the RAGBRAI using Schwinn bicycles for a week, stopping every 10 miles to talk with voters. Chris Hamel, his campaign coordinator for Iowa, said that they did this to stand out from the other candidates.[13]
Iowa was suffering from the 1980s farm crisis. Simon attacked Gephardt for supporting the 1980 grain embargo against the Soviet Union.[14]Michael Dukakis was criticized for his suggestions to Iowa farmers that they grow apples, blueberries, flowers, or Belgian endives rather than corn or soybeans; Governor Bill Clinton derided it as "yuppie agriculture".[15]
Pro-Palestinian activists picketed Gephardt and Simon's offices in Iowa City on January 22, 1988, in protest of the presidential candidates ignoring issues relating to Palestine and the Middle East.[16]Bill Cosby conducted a benefit performance for Jackson's campaign on January 24.[17] Gore withdrew most of his staff from Iowa in January.[18]
Gephardt won a plurality in the preference vote and precinct caucuses followed by Simon and Dukakis. The percentage of delegates Gephardt, Simon, and Dukakis received was greater than the percentage of the preference vote they received. The percentage of delegates for all of the other candidates was less than the percentage of the vote they received.[22] Despite Dukakis placing third in the initial contest, the county conventions produced a plurality of delegates for him[4] and Gephardt ended his presidential campaign that same day.[23]
Bonnie Campbell, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, endorsed Dukakis on May 11, and called for the district convention delegates to unanimously support him; the 5th district convention passed a resolution calling for her to stop campaigning for Dukakis. At the district conventions Dukakis won a total of twelve delegates, Gephardt won eight, Jackson won seven, Simon won six, and one uncommitted delegate was selected. Dukakis received the most delegates in the 1st, 5th, and 6th congressional districts, tied with Gephardt in the 2nd, 3rd congressional districts, and the Iowa's 4th congressional district produced a tie between Dukakis, Gephardt, and Jackson.[5][6]
At the state convention Dukakis received ten delegates. Gephardt's supporters elected three uncommitted delegates, but instructed them to vote for Dukakis on the first ballot. Five delegates were given to Jackson.[24]
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