Reply #44: Yes, that, too [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

After eight years of Reagan, Jackson's tell-it-like-it-is approach was winning a lot of support. (I believe he WON the Michigan primary, and even after Dukakis had the nomination sewed up, Jackson took 39% in the Oregon primary.)

I think that the powers behind the scenes in the Democratic Party were in a "stop Jackson" mode. They viewed Dukakis as the white man most likely to appeal to left-leaning voters. The trouble was that he came across as a wimp. I was a college professor at the time, and most of my colleagues hated Reagan, but only the die-hard Democratic Party man on the faculty was enthusiastic about Dukakis. Those who voted for him did so because he was "the unRepublican," not because they liked HIM.