1988 Democratic National Convention
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The 1988 Democratic National Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia in July of 1988, to select a candidate for the 1988 United States presidential election. At the convention Michael Dukakis was nominated for President and Lloyd Bentsen for Vice President.
Notable speakers:
- Texas state Treasurer Ann Richards gave a keynote speech that put her in the public spotlight and included the line that George H.W. Bush was "born with a silver foot in this mouth".
- Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy's remarks contained the famous iteration "Where was George?"
- Arkansas governor Bill Clinton made a widely jeered 32-minute long opening night address that some predicted would ruin his political career, a source of much satisfaction to him 4 years later.
- Texas Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower, who called Bush "a toothache of a man".
- John F. Kennedy, Jr.
- Jesse Jackson
In one of the subsequent presidential debates, when questioned about the general alleged "negativity" of the campaign, Bush cited the ad hominem attacks against him at the Convention as the root cause, an assertion not rebutted by Dukakis then or subsequently.