The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday,November 8,1988. In what was the third consecutive landslide election for the Republican Party,their ticket of incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush and Indiana senator Dan Quayle defeated the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen.
Michael Stanley Dukakis is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the second Greek-American governor in U.S. history,after Spiro Agnew. He was nominated by the Democratic Party for president in the 1988 election,losing to the Republican nominee,Vice President George H. W. Bush.
Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater was an American political consultant and strategist for the Republican Party. He was an adviser to Republican U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee. Atwater aroused controversy through his aggressive campaign tactics,especially the Southern strategy.
William R. Horton,commonly referred to as "Willie Horton",is an American convicted murderer who was the subject of a major political controversy in the 1988 presidential election. Horton had committed violent crimes while on furlough from prison,where he was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murder. Released for a weekend as the beneficiary of a Massachusetts furlough program,he failed to return,and was later recaptured and convicted of committing assault,armed robbery,and rape in Maryland,where he remains incarcerated.
Jane Maria Swift is an American politician and nonprofit executive who served as the 69th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2003 and,concurrently,as acting governor from April 2001 to January 2003. She was the first woman to perform the duties of governor of Massachusetts. At the time she became acting governor,Swift was 36 years old,making her the youngest female governor in U.S. history.
Katharine "Kitty" Dukakis is an American author. She is married to former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.
The 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 7,2006. The incumbent Republican governor,Mitt Romney,chose not to seek a second term. Polls had been mixed prior to Romney's announcement,with one poll showing Romney slightly leading Democrat Attorney General Tom Reilly and other polls showing Reilly,who was then the Democratic frontrunner,in the lead.
Arthur Jay Finkelstein was a New York state-based Republican Party (GOP) consultant who worked for conservative and right-wing candidates in the United States,Canada,Israel,Central Europe,and Eastern Europe over four decades.
The 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 5,2002. Incumbent Republican acting governor Jane Swift chose not to seek a full term in office. Republican businessman Mitt Romney defeated Democratic Treasurer Shannon O'Brien.
The 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 6,1990. Incumbent Democratic governor Michael Dukakis,his party's nominee for president in 1988,opted to not seek a fourth term. Republican Bill Weld won the open seat,beating Democrat John Silber to become the first Republican governor of Massachusetts elected since 1970. This election was the first open-seat gubernatorial election in Massachusetts since 1960.
Kerry Murphy Healey is an American politician and educator serving as President Emerita of Babson College. She previously served as the 70th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 under Governor Mitt Romney. A former member of the Republican Party,she was the party's nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in the 2006 gubernatorial election,but was defeated by Deval Patrick.
The 1986 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 4,1986. Michael Dukakis was elected Governor of Massachusetts for a third term. He defeated Republican George Kariotis by a 69–31% margin. This was the last time a Democrat was elected governor of Massachusetts until 2006.
"Revolving Door" was a famous negative television commercial made for Republican nominee George H. W. Bush's campaign during the 1988 United States presidential election. Along with the Willie Horton commercial,it is considered to have been a major factor in Bush's defeat of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. The ad was produced by political consultant Roger Ailes with help from Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater,and first aired on October 5,1988. "Revolving door syndrome" is a term used in criminology to refer to recidivism;however,in the ad,the implication is that prison sentences were of an inconsequential length.
Massachusetts liberal is a phrase in American politics which is generally used as a derogatory political epithet by Republicans against Democrats who are from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It was most significantly used in the 1988 presidential race by then–Vice President George H. W. Bush against Governor Michael Dukakis,and again in the 2004 presidential race by then-President George W. Bush against Senator John Kerry. The Democratic presidential candidates lost both presidential races. In the Republican 2012 presidential primary election,Newt Gingrich used the phrase "Massachusetts moderate," based on the liberal pejorative,repeatedly against Mitt Romney,the former Governor of Massachusetts,whose main residence was a mansion in the state. Romney went on to win the nomination,but lost the presidential election.
From February 8 to June 14,1988,voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1988 United States presidential election. Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1988 Democratic National Convention held from July 18 to July 21,1988,in Atlanta,Georgia.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held in Massachusetts on November 6,2012,Democrat Elizabeth Warren defeated incumbent Republican Senator Scott Brown. This election was held concurrently with the U.S. presidential election and elections to the U.S. Senate in other states,as well as elections to the House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 1978 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 7,1978. Former Massachusetts Port Authority executive director Edward J. King was elected to a four-year term,from January 4,1979,until January 6,1983. King won the Democratic nomination by defeating incumbent governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis in the Democratic primary.
Katherine Marlea Clark is an American lawyer and politician who has served as House Minority Whip since 2023 and the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 2013. She previously served as Assistant Speaker from 2021 to 2023 and Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2021. Clark was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011 and the Massachusetts Senate from 2011 to 2013.
The 1988 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush,the 43rd vice president of the United States under President Ronald Reagan,began when he announced he was running for the Republican Party's nomination in the 1988 U.S. presidential election on October 13,1987. Bush won the 1988 election against Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis on November 8,1988. He was subsequently inaugurated as president on January 20,1989.
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. 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 received 45% of the popular vote to Bush's 53%. 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. Much of the blame was also laid on Dukakis' campaign,which was criticized for being poorly managed despite being well funded. Had Dukakis been elected,he would have been the first Greek American president,the first Eastern Orthodox president,the first Eastern European American president,and the second governor of Massachusetts to accomplish this feat. Bentsen would have been the second senator from Texas to be elected vice president,after Lyndon B. Johnson.
