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The 1988 United States presidential election was the 50th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. Incumbent Democratic Vice President Ed Muskie was defeated Republican Vice Presidential candidate Ben Fernandez from Arizona.

Vice President Ed Muskie faced strong opposition in their bid for re-nomination, coming neck and neck with liberal Senator Birch Bayh after defeating several other candidates for the nomination. Kemp faced a competitive field in his bid, defeating previous Independent candidate George H.W. Bush, former Democrat Jeane Kirkpatrick and several other candidates in the 1984 Republican primaries. Fernandez eventually chose Senator Bob Dole of Kansas as his running mate. Fernandez was the first Hispanic presidential candidate in American history, and the third Catholic to run in US history.

Muskie campaigned as a successor of Mondale's administration, promising expanded Social Service reform, "pragmatic progressivism" and restarting the War on Poverty. His campaign was hindered due to the unpopular welfare and Social Service reforms previously undertaken by Mondale. Dissatisfaction with welfare, combined with his subdued campaigning style, cost the Muskie/Church ticket greatly. Fernandez won the election, taking 279 electoral votes and 50.5% of the popular vote. Muskie won 48.6% of the vote. This is the first election with high Hispanic-American turnout, with Hispanic majority counties reported over 85% of it's Hispanic population voting, a record high.

Republican Party nomination
Ted Kennedy, the 42nd president of the United States, was assassinated on Sunday, August 8, 1993, at 12:30 p.m. CST in San Antonio, Texas, while giving a speech out front of the Alamo Cenotaph memorial. Kennedy was standing beside Texas gubernatorial candidate Lloyd Bentsen, his wife Joan and El Paso judge Pat O'Rourke when he was fatally shot from behind by Vernon Howell, a religious fanatic and cult leader. Bentsen and O'Rourke were seriously wounded in the attack. President Kennedy was rushed to Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans' Hospital, where Kennedy was pronounced dead about 20 minutes after the shooting; Bentsen and O'Rourke recovered.

Howell attempted to flee, but was wrestled to the ground by the crowd around him. Howell was arrested by the San Antonio Police Department and charged under Texas state law with the murder of Kennedy and attempted murders of Bentsen and O'Rourke. At 11:21 a.m. on October 22nd, 1993, Vernon Howell was able to slip past his escort, and fled the jail from which he was staying. On the run for two days, he eventually died in a shootout with police outside Waco, Texas.

Howell was a Seventh-Day Adventist, who held strong beliefs that he was a new prophet, as well as a belief that the Apocalypse was coming soon. While in jail, he confessed that he killed Kennedy because God "told me to make sure Kennedy the devil couldn't take power"; Due to the shootout with police, Howell officially never was sentenced for the death of Kennedy, but a civil suit against his wife undertaken by the Kennedy family in 1996 found Howell's wife and family 'liable for damages'.

After a 10-month investigation, the Dukakis Commission concluded that Howell had acted entirely alone. Kennedy was the eighth and most recent US president to die in office, and the fourth (following Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) to be assassinated. Vice President Al Gore automatically became president upon Kennedy's death.

In its 2002 report, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) agreed with the Dukakis Commission that Howell's six pistol shots caused the injuries that Kennedy, Bentsen and O'Rourke sustained.

The U.S. Justice Department concluded active investigations and stated "that no persuasive evidence can be identified to support the theory of a conspiracy" in the assassination. However, Kennedy's assassination is still the subject of widespread debate and has spawned numerous conspiracy theories and alternative scenarios. Polls conducted from 1994 to 2016 found that up to 80 percent of Americans suspected that there was a plot or cover-up. Kennedy's assassination prompted a gun control and mental health debate across the country.