1988 Presidential election Essay

1988 Presidential election Essay

Bush vs Dukakis The 1988 Presidential Election

On November 8, 1988, Republican Presidential candidate Vice President George H. W. Bush was elected as the forty–first President of the United States of America. Bush defeated Democratic challenger Governor Michael Dukakis by a ratio of a bout six–to–five. 49 million people voted for Bush, netting him 426 electoral votes while 42 million voted for Dukakis getting him 112 electoral votes. Strangely, a man not even running for President received an electoral vote; Lloyd Bentsen (Democratic Vice President Nominee) received one electoral vote from the state of West Virginia. Bush's victory was also a victory for the Republican Party, but the Democrats received a similar victory in that they ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Hart pulled out of the race, but only briefly. Hart reentered the race in late December 1987, but he never recovered in the polls. Congressman Richard Gephardt started the primary season strong, with a decisive victory in Iowa. However, Gephardt ran into money because he spent the bulk of his funds in Iowa. He soon dropped out of the race. Senator Al Gore can attribute his lose to a weak start in the campaign. Gore lost many early primaries, but he rebounded somewhat when he won six states on Super Tuesday. Nevertheless, Gore lost because he failed to have a national base. The final blow to Gore's presidential aspirations came when he lost the New York Primary.



When Gore dropped out, two strong candidates were left, Jesse Jackson and Governor Dukakis. Jackson ran a strong campaign throughout the primary season. Jackson did not receive the Democratic bid for President because he lacked a sufficient number of delegates to be nominated. Many Democrats agreed with Jackson's views, but most did not consider him electable. Dukakis won the Democratic nomination because of his strong national base and solid funding. He was now able to tackle Vice President George Bush in the presidential election.



At the Republican National Convention, George Bush selected Senator Dan Quayle (R–IN) as his running mate. The selection of Quayle as a running mate undoubtedly hurt Bush because many people considered Quayle ill equipped for the job of Vice President. Governor

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