Michael Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts and the son of Greek immigrants (but that button is all American!) was, for a time, a serious opponent to the GOP grip on the White House. At one point the Democratic held an 17 point lead in opinion polls, but bad campaigning, parody and withering attacks from Vice President George Bush's campaign turned into disaster for Dukakis.

Dukakis was laughed at for his famous tank riding photo opportunity, but he served in the Army himself, earned a law degree from Harvard and served four terms in the state legislature before being elected governor in 1974. He said he wouldn't raise taxes, but he did, and then lost in the next primary. Dukakis would return in the next cycle to win two more terms where he enjoyed more success than in his first go-round.

In the middle of that third term the "Massachusetts Miracle" went national, made a little history in New Hampshire (becoming the first candidate ever to win that primary by more than ten points) and ultimately won the nomination. He was pilloried by the Bush campaign for his liberal stances on capital punishment, the Pledge of Allegiance, prison furloughs, taxes and defense.

He and Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen were trounced by the George Bush campaign. Dukakis could win only 10 states and the District of Columbia, of course.

After the 1988 election he returned to Massachusetts, where the "miracle" was drying up. After leaving office in 1991 he's spent time as a professor of political science at Northeastern, Loyola Marymount and is on faculty at UCLA and remains a grassroots campaigner for the Democratic party.

Bentsen, a B-24 bomber pilot during World War II and later a financier, would stay in the senate until 1993 and then serve as President Clinton's secretary of the treasury. He died in Texas in 2006 at the age of 85.

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