The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. This was the first presidential election since 1948, and the most recent to date, in which a party won a third presidential term.
About 1988 United States presidential election in brief
The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush, defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. This was the first presidential election since 1948, and the most recent to date, in which a party won a third presidential term. As of 2020, no candidate of either party has since equaled or surpassed Bush’s share of the electoral or popular vote, only Bush’s son George W. in 2004 has won the popular vote in a presidential election for the Republicans since. The candidates seeking the Democratic party nomination were: In the 1984 presidential election the Democrats had nominated Walter Mondale, a traditional New Deal-type liberal, who advocated for those constituencies that Franklin Roosevelt forged into a majority coalition. After Mondale’s defeat, many Democrats felt their party would need a moderate centrist to win. The Democratic frontrunner for most of 1987 was former Senator Gary Hart. But questions and rumors about Hart’s extarital affairs and past debts dogged his campaign. After his affair emerged, many media outlets picked up the story and Hart’s ratings plummeted in the polls. On May 8, 1987, the New York Times reported that Hart had told reporters that if they followed him around too long, they would be bored. The story was picked up by many other media outlets and they picked up Hart’s poll ratings in May and June. On June 8, the Miami Herald received an anonymous tip from a friend of Donna Rice that was involved with Hart.
The Miami Herald had found that Hart was having an affair with Rice. The New York Herald’s findings were publicized in a pre-print of The Times magazine, and they were picked up in many other magazines. On July 1, 1988, the Florida Times-Mirror published a story about Hart and Rice’s affair. The article said that Hart told reporters he would be “bored” if he followed Rice around for too long. In the end, the story was a hoax and Hart was never involved in any way with Rice or the Rice affair. Bush became the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836. Bush’s image was affected by his involvement on the Iran-Contra scandal much more than Reagan’s, and after the Democrats won back control of the U.S. Senate in the 1986 congressional elections following an economic downturn, the party’s leaders felt optimistic about having a closer race with the GOP in 1988, although probabilities of winning the presidency were still marginal given the climate of prosperity. Bush unexpectedly came in third in the Iowa caucus, which he had won in 1980, behind Dole and Robertson. Once the multiple-state primaries such as Super Tuesday began, Bush’s organizational strength and fundraising lead were impossible for the other candidates to match. Bush was nominated unanimously and selected U. S. Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate. In his acceptance speech, Bush made the pledge: No new taxes, which contributed to his loss in the 1992 election.
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