1988 Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis turns 79 today. He was the Governor of Massachusetts who won the Democratic nomination. After the convention he had a 17 point lead in the polls over Vice President and Republican nominee George Herbert Walker Bush. Dukakis was a terrible campaigner and soon coughed up that lead. He made a series of mistakes in that campaign and Republican mastermind Lee Atwater just destroyed Dukakis with stuff like the Willie Horton ad. I would rate George H.W. Bush as a solid not outstanding president. Dukakis would have been a nightmare in my opinion. The thing that most people came away with when it was all over is that Lloyd Bentson who was the Vice Daddy candidate was far superior to Dukakis as a candidate. At least he had one of the greatest debate lines ever when he said to Danny Quayle “You’re no Jack Kennedy”

In 2004 history would repeat itself as the Democrats coughed up another loser from Massachusetts John Kerry to be their nominee. In 2004 any candidate with a pulse would have beaten Bush…anyone but Kerry. What a disaster he was. I can’t figure out who was worse Dukakis or Kerry. They were not Jack Kennedy.