1988 Biden v Bush



The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Democratic nominee, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware defeated the Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President George Bush in a landslide.

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. Biden went into the Democratic primaries as the front-runner after Gary Hart was forced to withdraw and Ted Kennedy declared himself not to be a candidate. Biden won the nomination against Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusettes, Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson of South Carolina. He chose Senator Tim Wirth of Colorado as his running mate. This was the first election since 1968 to include no incumbent president on the ballot.

Bush ran an aggressive campaign that concentrated mainly on a strong economy, reduction of crime, and continuance with Reagan's policies. He and campaign manager Lee Atwater attempted to label Biden as a flip-flopper and a liberal through fiery attack ads. Atwater's ads heavily focused on the plagarism scandal that had plagued Biden since the Democratic Primaries. Biden would fight against the attack ads, most famously in the "Kinnock Speech" in which Biden gave a calm televised speech from Delaware that put the scandal to rest. Biden's poll numbers jumped up following the speech after having dipped following the Atwater attack ad campaign. Biden won a decisive victory over Bush, winning the Electoral College and the popular vote with comfortable margins.

This election marked the first time an incumbent senator was elected president since John F. Kennedy in 1960. This was also the first time a Democrat won the presidency without Texas. This election was the first time since a Democrat won the states of California, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, and Vermont since 1964.