CAMPAIGN ’88 : Washington Post Won’t Endorse Either Ticket

The Washington Post said Wednesday it would not endorse either major party candidate for President, calling this year’s race a “terrible campaign, a national disappointment.”

In a long editorial entitled “No Endorsement,” the newspaper’s editors said “we would have liked” to support Democrat Michael S. Dukakis, but were especially alarmed at his deficiencies in foreign affairs and defense.

The editorial said Republican George Bush made himself too beholden to the far right of the party and he is “really the major source and cause of the tawdriness of this campaign.”

Mentioning Bush’s choice of a running mate, it said “the prospect of Dan Quayle’s suddenly having to succeed him in office will remain a legitimate anxiety.

“This has been a terrible campaign, a national disappointment,” the newspaper said. “For our part . . . we do not feel that we can in good faith argue for the vindication of the cheap shots that have animated George Bush’s campaign . . . or close our eyes to alarming deficiencies of the Democratic candidate as a prospective President.”