How did Dukakis get the nomination over Gore in '88?

Not that Dukakis was all bad or Gore is the second coming of Christ, but I remember at the time being impressed with Gore even though I was still mostly a righty. Gore was knocked out of the race and Papa Bush essentially had a strawman to knock down.

I thought he came off as a little too far right of center southern democrat to me back then.

He changed. I think he said somewhere that when his son was hurt very badly in an accident, he started really thinking about what was important and that's when the change came. Glad it did. He's great now. Back then though, no way I would have voted for him.

And I thought he was more than a "little" too far to the right: He had supported not only Reagan's military buildup but also the bloody interventions in Central America, and those were two of my most important issues at the time.

That doesn't mean I liked Dukakis, though.

I'm not sure if it's that or not.

That and the bias towards governors.

I preferred Gore. I think he could have won the general rather handily.

Gore split many states with Jackson while Dukakis was able to win both Florida and Texas. Dukakis ran a wonderful primary campaign.

He was the first Presidential candidate to run ads in Spanish and it was flawless.

He could have been Howard Cossell's stunt double, but other than that, he had no presence.

While Gore had to win throughout the south, and Jesse Jackson fought him hard there, Dukakis put all his resources for Super Tuesday into Florida and Texas and won there. He ran a very strong primary campaign.

I remember thinking how unlikeable he was during a couple of the debates...

He matured quickly..

:patriot:

The Duke had a battle tested campaign group around him after his loss to Ed King and his comeback coupled with the help of Kennedy, a young senator Kerry and the old Pro, O'Neill who were backing and advising him

leaving a baseball game (the impetus for "Earth in the Balance"). I also seem to recall that he didn't do as well as he had hoped in the NY primary.

As pointed out by onenote (immediately below) Gore dropped out in 1988 and the accident was in 1989. I got the months right but the years wrong in my post. Thankfully onenote corrected my mistake.

Nah. I was wrong. Dead wrong. I'd rather be corrected than to let misinformation spread.

which I did:

http://fredpresident08.blogspot.com

After the 1988 campaign. Had nothing to do with the 1988 campaign.

That's what I get for relying on just my memory instead of actually looking something up. I just remembered it was April. The NY primary was in April 1988 and the accident was in April 1989. Thanks for setting the record straight.

Daddy Bush vs Dukakis made me run for the sick bucket.

:puke:

and it led to a speech in which he said "I love you" to his audience. What the hell? Why was he considered uncompassionate and WTF kind of thing is that to say in a speech?

it's not enough to have the right positions and facts on your side, you also have to have passion and be willing to say how your GOP opponent is going to screw the voters.

Gore got completely freakin roasted by the Dem base in TWO THOUSAND!! Why do you think he sulked off to university to hide behind the beard? Now all of sudden he's the second coming around here.

he didn't do enough about the vote rigging and harrassment of black voters he was TOLD would happen and conceded too easily.

He also didn't dismantle Bush in the debates, preferring to beat Bush politely rather than expose him as the liar and war criminal he is.

That's supposed to be the DNC and state parties' job. The candidate's job is to CAMPAIGN, not micromanage every state's election process. Unless you think Kerry also should've been answering phones in the DNC headquarters too, and directing funds for every single dollar the DNC received, etc?

Terry McAuliffe failed us, get it right.

And, if Senator Kerry was to behave as YOU seem to think he should have, he would of lost in a landslide. He did win the debates with Bush, creamed him even, he did all he could about the voter fraud, our party did nothing but look on even though they knew how 2000 was decided and Senator Kerry was will to fight the election out come if there was actually something to fight with right after the election- there wasn't enough evidence and others- even within our own party- saw to it that there was no way we were going to have a repeat of 2000 election.
I can recall how badly VP Gore was maligned and ridiculed in the media and how public opinion was turning on him as the recounts of 2000 went on and on, he was the butt of jokes and made out to be a sore loser. Even some Democrats publicly called for him to give it up. Yeah sure, Senator Kerry would have fared better with a clean looking Bush win and a contested election being taken up with Blackwell-a Bush crony controlling things, the media against him and even some in the Democrat party making sure he did not even try to repeat what went on in 2000.

debate was one of the most one-sided that I have ever seen. I do not recall ever, at any level of politics, seeing a more complete victory by one candidate.

running mate, I thought he was great.

but I didn't. His choice of Lieberman for VP was no help. He was considered uninspiring and too centrist by many on the progressive left. You are so correct about him being considered the second coming NOW around here.

I thought Jackson could have taken the nomination if he had won the Wisconsin primary. That's my memory anyway, that Jackson was within striking distance, but I don't have anything like a delegate count on a timeline.

I think that sums up why Gore lost in 88. He was trying to run as the poor man's Sam Nunn big on defense and foreign policy. He concentrated on the Southern white conservative Dems (when there were still a sizable number) and did well on the Super Tuesday. After that he tanked.

Gore wasn't the Gore we know and love today. He also was relatively new to the Senate--like Edwards.

At least, that was the impression I got at the time from British media.

started to surge, some deals were made behind the scenes. Candidates other than Dukakis stepped aside.

After eight years of Reagan, Jackson's tell-it-like-it-is approach was winning a lot of support. (I believe he WON the Michigan primary, and even after Dukakis had the nomination sewed up, Jackson took 39% in the Oregon primary.)

I think that the powers behind the scenes in the Democratic Party were in a "stop Jackson" mode. They viewed Dukakis as the white man most likely to appeal to left-leaning voters. The trouble was that he came across as a wimp. I was a college professor at the time, and most of my colleagues hated Reagan, but only the die-hard Democratic Party man on the faculty was enthusiastic about Dukakis. Those who voted for him did so because he was "the unRepublican," not because they liked HIM.

history of those events in Marshall Frady's book "Jesse" (Random House, 1996). Jesse was doing far better than expected in 1988, having created a true rainbow coalition. One of the huge factors was his appeal to organized labor: once they heard the man talk, rather than hearing about him through the filter of the media, the appeal of his message was catching on.

Some of the other candidates did coordinate an effort to marginalize Jesse. Still, he earned the right to have at very least be considered for the VP position. Any other candidate who had shown the ability to organize and motivate the voters would have been given serious consideration, and likely offered the position. But the Dukakis people fell in line with the party's machine, and the only serious consideration Dukakis gave the subject was to try to trick Jesse into thinking he was in the running, although he had zero intention of picking him. He wanted to pull in the Jackson supporters, but not give Jesse his due.

eom

She was the one that started the idea of labeling music - that pissed off a lot of the younger crowd as well. While people take it for granted now that music and video games are labeled for content, it was a big deal when it first started happening.

I don't think Gore was really a major player in that race, if I recall. I think it was thought he'd be one of the major players, but he never really panned out during the primaries.

his son was severely injured? I recall a family emergency of that nature.

He withdrew because he was losing primaries...

eom