page_title: Lee Atwater
section_title: 1988 election
hierarchical_section_title: Lee Atwater / Political career / 1988 election
caption_attribution_description: English: PRESIDENT AND MRS. BUSH ATTEND THE CELBRATION FOR YOUNG AMERICANS AT THE D.C. ARMORY. THE PRESIDENT PLAYS THE GUITAR WITH LEE ATWATER. THE GUITAR SAYS 'THE PREZ' ON IT (JUMBO P142-22). FAMILY MEMBERS AND CORETTA SCOTT KING ARE PRESENT.
context_page_description: Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater was an American political consultant and strategist for the Republican Party. He was an adviser to US presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee. Atwater aroused controversy through his aggressive campaign tactics.
context_section_description: Atwater's most noteworthy campaign was the 1988 presidential election, when he served as the campaign manager for Republican nominee George H. W. Bush.
  Dukakis supported a felon furlough program originally begun under Republican Governor Francis Sargent in 1972. In 1976, the Massachusetts legislature passed a measure to ban furloughs for first-degree murderers. Governor Dukakis vetoed the bill. Soon afterward, Willie Horton, who was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder for stabbing a boy to death during a robbery, was released on weekend furlough, during which he kidnapped a young couple, tortured the man, and repeatedly raped the woman. Horton then became the centerpiece of Atwater's ad campaign against Dukakis.
  The issue of furlough for first-degree murderers was originally brought up by Democratic candidate Al Gore during a presidential primary debate. However, Gore never referred specifically to Horton. Dukakis had tried to portray himself as a moderate politician from the liberal state of Massachusetts. The Horton ad campaign only reinforced the public's general opinion that Dukakis was too liberal, which helped Bush overcome Dukakis' 17-percent lead in early public opinion polls, and win both the electoral and popular vote by landslide margins.
  Although Atwater clearly approved of the use of the Willie Horton issue, the Bush campaign never ran any commercial with Horton's picture; instead they ran a similar but generic ad. The original commercial was produced by Americans for Bush, an independent group managed by Larry McCarthy, and Republicans benefited from the coverage it attracted in the national media. Referring to Dukakis, Atwater declared that he would "strip the bark off the little bastard" and "make Willie Horton his running mate". Atwater's challenge was to counter the "where was George?" campaign slogan Democrats were using as a rallying cry in an effort to create an impression that Bush was a relatively inexperienced and unaccomplished candidate. Furthermore, Bush had critics in the Republican base, who remembered his pro-choice positions in the 1980 primary, and that the harder the campaign pursued Dukakis's liberal positions, the bigger his base turnout would be.
  During the election, a number of allegations were made in the media about Dukakis' personal life, including the unsubstantiated claim that his wife Kitty had burned a United States flag to protest the Vietnam War, and that Dukakis had been treated for a mental illness. In the film Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, Robert Novak reveals for the first time that Atwater personally tried, but failed, to get him to spread these mental-health rumors.
  The 1988 Bush campaign overcame a 17-point deficit in midsummer polls to win 40 states.
  During that campaign, future President George W. Bush took an office across the hall from Atwater's, where his job was to serve as his father's eyes and ears. Bush wrote in his autobiography, "I was an allegiance enforcer and a listening ear." In her memoir, Barbara Bush said the younger Bush (whom Atwater called "Junior") and Atwater became "great friends."
caption: Atwater performing at the inauguration of George H. W. Bush in 1989
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