1988 United States presidential election (The Hart of the Nation)

The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Democratic nominee, former Senator, Gary Hart defeated the Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President George Bush. This was the first election in which the victor was a Democrat from the West.

President Ronald Reagan was ineligible to seek a third term. Instead, Bush entered the Republican primaries as the front-runner, defeating U.S. Senator Bob Dole and televangelist Pat Robertson. He selected U.S. Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate. Hart won the Democratic primaries against Jesse Jackson, Joe Biden, and Michael Dukakis. He selected former Governor Chuck Robb of Virginia as his running mate. This was the first election since 1968 to include no incumbent president on the ballot.

Bush ran an aggressive campaign concentrated mainly on a strong economy, reduction of crime, and continuance with Reagan's policies. He attacked Hart as a "womanizer" for the allegations of adultery against him, to which Hart would deny and counter with his own attacks against Bush on Iran-Contra and his elitist background. Despite Hart's strong lead in early polls, Bush pulled ahead as sex scandals filled Lee Atwater's attack ads against Hart, his growing lead would only be stopped after he performed poorly in two debates against Hart and Quayle lost the debate against Robb.

Hart won a close victory over Bush, defeating him with 302 electoral votes and 50% of the popular vote compared to Bush's 235 electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote. This election marked the first time that Montana, Colorado, Illinois, Vermont, and Maine voted Democratic since 1964. Along with this being the first time Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusettes voted for the Democratic candidate since 1976.

Democratic Party nomination
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, as their candidate. When Mondale was defeated in a landslide, party leaders became eager to find a new approach to get away from the 1980 and 1984 debacles. After 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.

One goal of the party was to find a new, fresh candidate who could move beyond the traditional New Deal-Great Society ideas of the past and offer a new image of the Democrats to the public. To this end party leaders tried to recruit New York Governor Mario Cuomo to be a candidate. Cuomo had impressed many Democrats with his keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention, and they believed he would be a strong candidate. After Cuomo chose not to run, the Democratic frontrunner for most of 1987 was former Colorado Senator Gary Hart. He had made a strong showing in the 1984 presidential primaries and, after Mondale's defeat, had positioned himself as the moderate centrist many Democrats felt their party would need to win. Hart campaigned as a leader of the "Atari Democrats", a group of democrats that supported research into high-tech and felt the creation of related jobs would stimulate and grow the world economy

Hart initially led by wide margins in polls, with Jesse Jackson, Joe Biden and Michael Dukakis being the main challengers to Hart's nomination, but questions and rumors about extramarital affairs and past debts dogged Hart's campaign. Hart had told New York Times reporters who questioned him about these rumors that, if they followed him around, they would "be bored". In a separate investigation, the Miami Herald had received an anonymous tip from a friend of Donna Rice that Rice was involved with Hart. After his affair emerged, the Herald reporters found Hart's quote in a pre-print of The New York Times magazine. After the Herald's findings were publicized, many other media outlets picked up the story and Hart's ratings in the polls plummeted. While many pundits expected Hart to withdraw from the nomination, he surprised them by announcing in a speech he would remain a candidate, while criticizing the media for acting "like animals" and invading his privacy.

Al Gore, a senator from Tennessee, also chose to run for the nomination. Turning 40 in 1988, he would have been the youngest man to contest the presidency on a major party ticket since William Jennings Bryan in 1896, and the youngest president ever if elected, younger than John F. Kennedy at election age and Theodore Roosevelt at age of assumption of office.

Primaries
With Hart's nomination being challenged, Hart focused his campaign on a strong performance in the Iowa caucus. Hart would win a close race in Iowa, with Dick Gephardt coming in second and Biden coming in third. In the New Hampshire primary, Hart came in first against a strong showing in Dukakis, who came in second, and Gephardt, who fell to third. In an effort to weaken Gephardt's candidacy, both Dukakis and Gore ran negative television ads against Gephardt. The ads convinced the United Auto Workers, which had endorsed Gephardt, to withdraw their endorsement; this crippled Gephardt, as he relied heavily on the support of labor unions.

In the Super Tuesday races, Hart won seven primaries to Biden's four, Jackson's three, Jackson's two, and Dukakis's one, with Gore and Jackson splitting the Southern states. The next week, Senator Paul M. Simon won Illinois with Hart finishing a close second. Jackson captured 4 million votes and won six contests: five primaries (The District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia) and one caucus (South Carolina).

Democratic Convention
The Democratic Party Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia from July 18–21. Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards, who was elected the state governor two years later, gave a speech attacking George Bush, including the line "Poor George, he can't help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

With only Biden, Jackson, and Dukakis remaining as an active candidate to oppose Hart, the tally for president was:

Jackson's supporters said that since their candidate had finished in second place, he was entitled to the vice presidential nomination. Hart, however, disagreed and strongly campaigned for former Governor Chuck Robb to be the vice presidential nominee, he was nominated on the second ballot.

Republican candidates

 * George Bush, Vice President
 * Bob Dole, U.S. senator from Kansas
 * Pat Robertson, televangelist from Virginia
 * Jack Kemp, U.S. representative from New York
 * Pete du Pont, former governor of Delaware
 * Alexander Haig, former secretary of state, from Pennsylvania
 * Ben Fernandez, former Special Ambassador to Paraguay, from California
 * Paul Laxalt, former United States Senator from Nevada
 * Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense from Illinois
 * Harold E. Stassen, former Governor of Minnesota

Bush unexpectedly came in third in the Iowa caucus, which he had won in 1980, behind Dole and Robertson. Dole was also leading in the polls of the New Hampshire primary, and the Bush camp responded by running television commercials portraying Dole as a tax raiser, while Governor John H. Sununu campaigned for Bush. Dole did nothing to counter these ads and Bush won, thereby gaining crucial momentum, which he called "Big Mo". 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, and the nomination was his.

The Republican Party convention was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. 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 "Read my lips: No new taxes,".

Libertarian Party
Ron Paul and Andre Marrou formed the ticket for the Libertarian Party. Their campaign called for the adoption of a global policy on military nonintervention, advocated an end to the federal government's involvement with education, and criticized Reagan's "bailout" of the Soviet Union. Paul was a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, first elected as a Republican from Texas in an April 1976 special election. He protested the War on Drugs in a letter to Drug Czar William Bennett.

New Alliance Party
Lenora Fulani ran for the New Alliance Party, and focused on issues concerning unemployment, healthcare, and homelessness. The party had full ballot access, meaning Fulani and her running mate, Joyce Dattner, were the first pair of women to receive ballot access in all 50 states. Fulani was the first African American to do so.

Socialist Party
Willa Kenoyer and Ron Ehrenreich ran for the Socialist Party, advocating a decentralist government approach with policies determined by the needs of the workers.

Populist Party
David E. Duke stood for the Populist Party. A former leader of the Louisiana Ku Klux Klan, he advocated a mixture of White nationalist and separatist policies with more traditionally conservative positions, such as opposition to most immigration from Latin America and to affirmative action.

Campaign
Hart campaigned as a shift away from the New Deal Democrats and campaigned on his ideals being newer and more in touch with the American people. Bush and Hart exchanged attacks throughout the election; Bush characterized Hart as an untrustworthy candidate and the Lee Atwater attack ads highlighted Hart's adultery scandals.

Bush pledged to continue Reagan's policies but also vowed a "kinder and gentler nation" in an attempt to win over more moderate voters. The duties delegated to him during Reagan's second term (mostly because of the President's advanced age, Reagan turning 78 just after he left office) gave him an unusually high level of experience for a vice president.

Hart put a focus on foreign policy, calling for an easing of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union along with further arms deals to reduce the risk of war. Hart also advocated for a voluntary system of national service and stood strongly against PACs, not accepting any PAC money in the 1984 or 1988 elections. He stood against Reaganomics and criticized the economic plan, saying it "has caused the decay of our urban centers."

Bush heavily focused on attacking Hart, stating Hart's foreign policy would lead to the United States "tossing in the towel to the Soviet Union when they on the decline". Bush highlighted his experience under the Reagan administration, in contrast to Hart's experience as a Senator. During a campaign speech, Bush made a note of Hart's "dirty record", which Hart would counter with Bush's own involvement in the Iran Contra scandal, along with using Bush's own personal unpopularity in his favor in many campaign speeches.

Dan Quayle
One reason for Bush's choice of Senator Dan Quayle as his running mate was to appeal to younger Americans identified with the "Reagan Revolution." Quayle's looks were praised by Senator John McCain: "I can't believe a guy that handsome wouldn't have some impact." But Quayle was not a seasoned politician, and made a number of embarrassing statements. The Hart team attacked Quayle's credentials, saying he was "dangerously inexperienced to be first-in-line to the presidency.

Hart's campaign highlighted Quayle's gaffes, including when Quayle attempted to dispel such allegations by comparing his experience with that of pre-1960 John F. Kennedy, who had also been a young politician when running for the presidency (Kennedy had served 14 years in Congress to Quayle's 12). Quayle said, "I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency." Chuck Robb, Hart's running mate, would respond to the comment with a joke, saying "If Dan Quayle is Jack Kennedy then I'm Abraham Lincoln."

The response would be met with laughter from the debate's audience and Quayle's poor performance against Robb would cause the Bush campaign to dip in the polls.

Donna Rice
Hart had suffered from a scandal during the Democratic primaries involving a love affair with Donna Rice in 1987, however, the scandal resurfaced during the campaign. Hart was accused of having sexual relations with Rice in April of 1987, and Atwater used the scandal in campaign ads, leading to some Hart supporters publicizing a false rumor that Bush had had an affair with his assistant Jennifer Fitzgerald. Hart, himself, did not publicize the rumor and would condemn it. The rumor would lead to Bush giving an angry denunciation of the rumor, however, it lingered in some newspapers for weeks, some reporting it even past the election.

Presidential debates
There were two presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate.

Polls showed the majority of voters believed Hart won the first debate. Hart would gain another upper hand in the second debate, highlighting the Iran Contra affair and Atwater's attack ads, which left Bush flustered and with a lack of a good response, most viewers concluded Hart as the debate winner.