Just sharing a clip that’s interesting since we’ve had a couple references to the 1988 election (wimp factor, Big Mo, Joe Isuzu, and of course the tank). fivethirtyeight explores whether there are defining moments or turning points in campaigns through the Dukakis campaign.
In at The End of The World 
The Dukakis campaign is endlessly fascinating. This blog can sometimes be hard on Bill Clinton, but he did come at the end of a string of nominees that included McGovern, Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis. The 1988 election was the end of one era and the beginning of another. I remember a Joan Didion piece in the New York Review of Books about the election. At the time, Dukakis was in the habit of tossing a base ball around with one of his staffers during down time on the campaign. Usually at airports, waiting for the plane to take off. Didion pointed out that the first time Dukakis played catch at an airport it was totally spontaneous and not caught on camera. His staff, realizing that they had a good visual, then had him play catch at every airport they landed at. Even if it was Arizona in the summer and sizzling hot. Her article bemoaned an event that existed only for the sake of television cameras. Oh, how young and naive we were. That was also the election cycle in which “sound bites” and “spin” entered the common vernacular. Also maybe the peak effectiveness of 30 second spots to drive a campaign narrative.
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