Dukakis Makes ’88 Run Official
Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis formally entered the 1988 Democratic presidential campaign today, echoing themes made popular by his state’s last President, John F. Kennedy.
“Ask more than what we are going to do. Ask what we have already done,” Dukakis told a crowd at a rehabilitated wooden mill building in the largest city in the state with the nation’s first primary.
“Ask more than what kind of President we will be. Ask what kind of people we are and what kind of people we will have around us,” Dukakis said, echoing the rhetoric offered by Kennedy in his 1961 inaugural.
Dukakis, 53, in his third term, became the fourth Democrat to formally enter the 1988 race. Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt and former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt are the other official entrants in what is expected to be an eight- or nine-member field.
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