Marathon Man

The name Michael Dukakis is now a household word. But beyond the fact that he is governor of Massachusetts, is the likely 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, and has a Greek background, the public at large knows little about him. This is what the polls—the same polls that show him holding about a 15-point lead over George Bush—disclose. Consider: only 27 per cent of respondents to a recent New York Times survey know that Dukakis is a liberal. (How else would you characterize a presidential candidate who favors abortion on demand, weekend furloughs for dangerous convicts, gun control, a freeze on nuclear weapons, and withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea, and opposes capital punishment, the pledge of allegiance in schools, prayer in schools, and funding for SDI?)

In short, Dukakis has entered that no-man’s-land of politics where a candidate’s name identification is high but the public knows almost nothing about his views or his record. It is a period when impressions are malleable. Dukakis and Bush will both be trying to shape Dukakis’s malleable image in a way that benefits their campaigns.

JM

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John McLaughlin

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Presidential Election

The name Michael Dukakis is now a household word. But beyond the fact that he is governor of Massachusetts, is the likely 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, and has a Greek background, the public at large knows little about him. This is what the polls—the same polls that show him holding about a 15-point lead over George Bush—disclose. Consider: only 27 per cent of respondents to a recent New York Times survey know that Dukakis is a liberal. (How else would you characterize a presidential candidate who favors abortion on demand, weekend furloughs for dangerous convicts, gun control, a freeze on nuclear weapons, and withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea, and opposes capital punishment, the pledge of allegiance in schools, prayer in schools, and funding for SDI?)

In short, Dukakis has entered that no-man’s-land of politics where a candidate’s name identification is high but the public knows almost nothing about his views or his record. It is a period when impressions are malleable. Dukakis and Bush will both be trying to shape Dukakis’s malleable image in a way that benefits their campaigns.