1988: back to the future

[WalterMitty]

as the political season began to heat up in late 1987, president reagan's approval numbers were slowly itching back up after the iran-contra scandal.

a slight majority of americans said in polls that they would like a reagan third term.  conventional wisdom was, of course, that vice president george bush would run for president and promise a third 'reagan term'

however, in december of 1987, after campaigning for most of the year, vice president bush shocked political observers by announcing he would not run for president, reportedly due to barbara bush's desire to go retire to maine.

several republicans were already running even prior to bush's bombshell....senator bob dole, jack kemp, former governor pete dupont, pat robertson, howard baker and al haig.

senator dole jump out to a comanding lead after bush's withdrawl.  in fact, it was rumored that in january of 88, even before the first primary ballot had been cast, the dole camp was in serious discussions about what person they should select as dole's running mate.

privately, many high ranking republicans began to worry about dole's prospects in the general election.  they felt he was boring, sometimes mean and that he lack the 'star power'.

in a secret trip, several republican congressmen flew to dallas to try to persuade eccentric billionaire, h. ross perot to enter the republican primaries as a 'stop dole' candidate.  perot refused, citing dole's war record and his record involving mia/pow issues while in the senate.

in a front page ny times article two weeks prior to the new hampshire primary, it was reported that former senator and presidential candidate barry goldwater had flown to california to try to talk former president gerald ford into the race.

[WalterMitty]

Seems very interesting but one thing really stick out: The whole Ford thing is odd because he'd be 75 in '88.

yes, but keep in mind, dole was something like 73 in 1996.

[WalterMitty]

former president ford formally enters the contest a week prior to the nh primary (which was after the iowa caucuses, which dole trounced the also rans, though robertson finished in a surprisingly strong second place).

ford also shocks people by reporting that he will do very little campaigning, and instead leave it up to surrogates in each state.  furthermore, his name wont appear on any primary ballots.  he will ask a high level office holder in each state to place their name on the ballot as a favorite son and surrender the delagates to ford at the convention.  this is similar to the tactic that lbj used in 1964, but had not been tried in the modern primary era.

conservative fundamentalist pat robertson immediately attacked ford for hiding in california and refusing to debate the issues of the day.  he also strongly suggested to his conservative supporters that ford may be pro-choice.

a day after ford's entry into the race, frontrunner bob dole stunned the nation by announcing his departure from the race.  he stated that he could not run against ford.  after all, it was president ford who plucked dole out of relative obscurity in 1976 to run on the republican ticket.

next up: the democrats.

[WalterMitty]

after an 8 year drought, there were many democrats lining up to run for the white house in 1988.

the frontrunner was colorado senator, gary hart, who came out of nowhere and nearly defeated walter mondale in 1984.

other democrats running, or considering a run were rep. dick gephardt (who expected to do well in iowa), sen joe biden, az gov, bruce babbitt, ma governor mike dukakis, civil rights activist, jesse jackson and young senator albert gore jr. of tennessee.

as the campaign began to heat up in 1987, hart was far ahead of the pack in terms of popular support and fund raising.  however, rumors persisted about his womanizing.  finally, some pictures were released of the married hart with donna rice.

after a futile effort of damage control, hart drops out of the race.  there is no clear front runner in a field of mainly second tier candidates.

many democrats worry that their white house losing streak is in real danger of being extended, especially when former president gerald ford enters the race on the republican side.

popular anchor man, tom brokaw of nbc news, strongly considers jumping into the race.  several senators and congressman openly endorse a possible brokaw candidacy.  however, after a long consideration, brokaw issues a press release announcing he will never be a candidate for national office.

on a meet the press appearance in feb of 88, georgia senator sam nunn openly suggests having former president jimmy carter jump into the race.  jimmy carter immediately expresses interest (some say the nunn suggestion was coordinated with jimmy carter, instead of being an offhand remark).

on march 2, 1988, in an annoncement in atlanta, former president carter announces he will indeed seek the democrat nomination for president.

[WalterMitty]

both carter and ford easily locked up their nominations after super tuesday.

the talk immediately turned to running mates.  since both carter and ford would be constitutionally limited to one term, the vp spot was a highly sought after prize.  many politicians were lobbying behind the scenes for the job.

privately, gerald ford's short list consisted of two names:  former ford chief of staff and sec of defense don rumsfeld, and wyoming congressman and also former ford chief of staff dick cheney.

many of ford's advisors worried that the selection of either man would send the wrong message...that ford was stuck in yesterday. 

one man that was lobbying hard for the job and who most ford advisors had a high opinion of was governor george deukmejian of california.

carter liked the idea of having georgia senator sam nunn on the ticket.  however, since carter was also from georgia, nunn was not an option.

carter was shown welcoming mass gov. mike dukakis and arkansas senator dale bumpers to his peanut farm for face to face interviews.  however, according to sources, both men failed to impress the former president.

3 weeks prior to the democrat convention, carter hires former new orleans mayor and HUD sec moon landrieu to oversee his running mate search.

[WalterMitty]

ok im interested on how others would add to this story.

each poster should add on to the story line.

[WalterMitty]

the republican convention: trouble in new orleans.

the republicans limped into new orleans to begin their mid-august nominating convention.  the ford campaign had been caught totally off-guard by the entry of tom brokaw into the race.  in comparison to the young, telegenic brokaw, the ford campaigned seemed old and tired and void of any new ideas.

many delegates were already grumbling about ford's selection of pat buchanan as his running mate.  sure, most delegates agreed with buchanan's rigid right-wing social views, but many, particularly the pro-business republicans, were troubled by buchanan's protectionist views.

there was much talk behind the scenes of placing the name of a free-trader into consideration for vp.  some of the names being mentioned were former delaware governor pete dupont, new hampshire senator warren rudman and california senator pete wilson (though it was unclear whether ford's official residence was in california or michigan).

meanwhile, even during the publicity of the republican convention, brokaw continued to climb in the polls.  his campaign coffers were being flooded by small donations from ordinary people looking for a refreshing change of leadership.