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| Presidential Candidate | Electoral Vote | Popular Vote | Pct | Party | Running Mate (Electoral Votes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George H. W. Bush of Texas (W) | 426 | 47,946,000 | 53.4% | Republican | James Danforth Quayle of Indiana (426) |
| Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts | 111 | 41,016,000 | 45.6% | Democrat | Lloyd Bentsen of Texas (111) | Lloyd Bentsen of Texas | 1 | (not running) | Democrat | Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts (1) |
| Ron Paul | 432,179 | Libertarian | Andre V. Marrou | ||
| Lenora B. Fulani | 217,219 | New Alliance | |||
| Other | |||||
| Total | 91,591,486 | 100.0% | |||
| Other elections: 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 | |||||
| Source: U.S. Office of the Federal Register | |||||
The election was held on November 8, 1988.
The 1988 presidential election was a wide open primary for both major parties. Ronald Reagan, the incumbent president, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-Second Amendment.
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2 Republican Primary 3 General Election 4 Results |
Having been badly defeated in the 1984 presidential election, the Democrats were eager to find a new approach to win the presidency. Among the field of candidates were the following:
Democratic Primary
In early 1987, Senator Gary Hart was the clear frontrunner in the field (Democratic party efforts to recruit New York Governor Mario Cuomo aside). Hart had put in a strong showing in the 1984 presidential election, and had refined his campaign in the intervening years.
However, questions about extramarital affairs dogged the charismatic candidate. An exasperated Hart challenged the press to tail him. The Miami Herald did exactly that, to uncover damaging evidence of an affair with 29-year-old model Donna Rice, getting a photograph of Rice sitting on Hart's lap. On May 8, 1987, a week after the Donna Rice story broke, Hart dropped out of the race.
In December of 1987, Hart returned to the race. However the damage had been done.
The Democratic Party Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia. It was primarily noteworthy for the opening night speech (widely criticized as lengthy and tedious) delivered by Arkansas governor William Jefferson Clinton.
The Republican primary was less noteable, with Vice President George H. W. Bush going in as the clear frontrunner. Bush had the support of President Ronald Reagan, who remained very popular with both Republicans and the country at large. Bush pledged to continue Reagan's policies, but also pledged a "kindler, gentler America" in an attempt to win over some more moderate voters.
There nevertheless emerged a few challengers for the nomination. They were:
At the Republican party convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, Bush made an energetic pledge, "Read my lips: no new taxes." It would be a comment that would dog him for a long time to come.
During the election, the Bush campaign sought to portray Gov. Dukakis as unreasonably liberal and left wing. Dukakis countered by saying that he was a "proud liberal" and that the phrase should stop being a bad word in America. The Dukakis camp tried to tie Bush to some of the recent scandals of the Reagan Administration, such as Iran-Contra, and argued that Republicans were too hawkish on foreign policy.
Governor Dukakis attempted to quell criticism that he was ignorant on military matters by staging a photo op in which he drove a tank around a field. The move ended up being a massive PR blunder, with many mocking Dukakis' "Snoopy-like apperance as he stuck his smiling, helmeted head out of the tank's entrance portal to wave to the crowd.
A West Virginia elector voted for Bentsen as President and Dukakis as Vice President in order to make a statement against the U.S. Electoral College.
See also: President of the United States, U.S. presidential election, 1988, History of the United States (1980-present)
zh-cn:1988年美国总统选举
Republican Primary
Bush's main challenge came from Sen. Dole, who won the Iowa Caucus, though Bush ultimately won the nomination. General Election
Bush's running mate pick was Congressman Dan Quayle. Quayle was young and athletic, and Bush had specifically chose him to appear to a younger generation of Americans. Quayle was not a senior politician, however, and had a continual habit of saying embarassing statements. The Dukakis team in return blasted Quayle's credentials, saying he was dangerously unexperienced to be second-in-line to the presidency. During the Vice Presidential debate, Quayle attempted to dispell such allegations, by comparing his experience with that of former president John F. Kennedy, who had also been a young political rookie when running for the presidency. This prompted Dukakis' running mate, Lloyd Bentsen, to fire back "you're no Jack Kennedy!"Results
