Word: dukakises
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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"Dukakis has done an honest job," Reese says. "But he was a little overwhelmed in this new national campaign and he reached out too late to get advice from others who had more experience. He was up against an incredibly efficient campaign machine."
And George Bush has wielded the most political clout in the television arena, according to Reese. "Bush's spots seem to have controlled the dialogue--he just repeats what's in the spots and Dukakis has to find some way to answer."
Dukakis should also take some blame for his campaign's inability to respond to the Bush charges, said Reese. The Massachusetts governor, he said, lacks experience in national politics and personally dislikes mudslinging--facts that have strongly stacked the deck against the Democratic nominee.
"At the beginning of the campaign, Dukakis and Bush were like line drawings as in a coloring book and they have to be colored in," Reese says. "Bush was in pastels, with a reputation for being a wimp and so forth, but in identifying Dukakis as short on patriotism, soft...
"And in coloring Mike Dukakis, he colored himself in," Reese adds. "He counters his wimpish image by drawing those distinctions between himself and Dukakis."