Reply #49: Few people had much prior information on Dukakis other than his talking points [View All]

[Tom Rinaldo]

His talking point was that he turned the MA economy around. It was a pretty good talking point and it was enough to give him very high poll ratings in the general public. Dukakis had an image of a hard working honest technocrat who did wonders for his home state, but very few people knew much about his actual past record at all. His past was a blank slate for Republicans to write in their own message on.

Obama has different talking points and a different positive image, but like Dukakis very few people actually know any details about his political biography. Just like voters at first just went with Dukakis message about what a competent Governor he was, voters are going with the Obama message about what a unifying and positive figure he is now. The Republicans have not yet laid a kid glove on him.

It is a very different situation with Hillary Clinton. The Republicans have already made their maximum effort to negatively define her past for her. We already know she can fight back a hell of a lot harder and more effectively than Mike Dukakis did, we've already seen it. All we've pretty much seen from Obama so far is the promotion of his own version of "The Massachusetts Miracle" phase of his presidential campaign.