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Jackson kept right on running, and in 1988, to no one’s surprise, he again became a candidate for president. This time, to everyone’s surprise, hewonprimaries and swept caucuses . At the Democratic convention in Atlanta, he would have 1,200 delegates committed to his name. He had outrun and outlasted every Democratic hopeful except one: Governor Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts. Then, in a series of spring primaries fromNew York to California, Dukakis and Jackson had gone head to head, and the diminutive governor had soundly whipped the tall preacher. As Jackson left Chicago for Atlanta, it was all over but the shouting. Controlling the votes of 2,800 delegates, Dukakis had the nomination locked up. JACKSON FOR VICE PRESIDENT Jackson had nevertheless pressed ahead with his campaign, refusing to concede, passing up every chance to get behind Dukakis. By staying in the race, Jackson hoped to pressure Dukakis into selecting him as his running mate. Jackson believed that by making such a strong showing for the presidency, he had staked a claim to the vice-presidential nomination. He stated his case: If the vice-presidential nominee should be “someone who can mobilize a mass of Democrats, I’ve done that. If it’s someone who is not limited to regional appeal, I’ve won primaries from Vermont to Puerto Rico, from Mississippi to Michigan, from Texas to Alaska.” Michael Dukakis had not the slightest intention of picking Jesse Jackson. In the first place, every public opinion poll showed that a Dukakis–Jackson ticket would be doomed; too many white voters would desert it for the Republicans. Furthermore, Dukakis did not want as his vice-president a man who had never held public office, who stood considerably to Dukakis’s left on most matters of policy, and whose charisma and eloquence vastly exceeded his own.

C H A P T E R 1 : R A I N B Ow E x P R E S S

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