1988 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION : Quayle Selection Steals Some of Deukmejian’s Thunder

California Gov. George Deukmejian’s big moment at the 1988 Republican National Convention turned out to be not his acceptance of the vice presidential nomination--just as he had long insisted--but a five-minute prime-time speech Tuesday night about law and order.

Deukmejian had the personal misfortune, however, of speaking only a few hours after Vice President George Bush had announced the selection of Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle as his running mate. So the television networks concentrated on Quayle’s selection and ignored the governor’s address.

But in the big California delegation in front of the rostrum, delegates gave the governor a standing cheer and chanted “Duke, Duke, Duke . . . “ as he walked on stage. One delegate held a sign proclaiming, “There’s Only One Duke,” a reference to Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis. The Californians cheered repeatedly throughout the well-delivered speech and after it was over stood again, put on dark sunglasses to symbolize the state’s life style and repeated the “Duke, Duke” chant.

Appreciated His Request

Deukmejian had received a telephone call from Bush at noon informing him that he had chosen somebody else for second spot on the ticket. Bush told the governor he “understood and appreciated” his earlier request not to be considered, according to Deukmejian Press Secretary Kevin Brett. The Bush call came while Deukmejian was having a private lunch with financial sponsors of the California delegation.

The governor had written Bush two weeks earlier formally telling him what he publicly had been telling people everywhere for months: That he could not become vice president because he then would have to turn the governor’s office over to a Democrat.

Deukmejian’s address to the convention was part of a package of brief remarks by several speakers contrasting the Republican platform and record on domestic issues with Democratic positions, and taking particular aim at Dukakis.

“The liberals of the 1960s and 1970s underestimated the drug problem and Michael Dukakis was one of them,” Deukmejian asserted. “He vetoed legislation to punish drug pushers with mandatory prison terms.” The Massachusetts governor has said he vetoed the measure because it contained a loophole that would have provided early prison release for some convicts and also reduced penalties for some drug pushers.

Deukmejian also said that Dukakis “likes to boast that he is a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU. ACLU--that stands for Allowing Criminals to Leave Unsupervised.”

Escape of Murderer

Deukmejian’s reference was to the escape last year of a murderer after he was let out of a Massachusetts prison on a 48-hour furlough. The convict, Willie Horton, fled to Maryland and raped a woman there. Dukakis eventually signed legislation to prohibit the furloughing of murderers.

“We can’t risk having a President who, as a governor, allowed weekend passes to convicted murderers,” Deukmejian said. “We can’t risk having a President who opposes the death penalty, no matter how terrible the crime. And we simply cannot risk having that kind of President appointing justices to the United States Supreme Court.”

Deukmejian’s aides said the text of the governor’s address was submitted to a Bush speech-clearing team and approved with only minor revisions. The governor then rehearsed the speech Tuesday afternoon at the Superdome in a special trailer equipped with a replica rostrum and Teleprompter.