michael dukakis picked lloyd bentsen of texas. the two candid for about 25 years apart in age, something that provided one of the defining moments. there was held in omaha, neb.. is about one hour and 35 minutes. >> good evening. on behalf of the commission of presidential debates i am pleased to welcome me to the vice presidential debate. i am judy woodruff. my colleagues are tom brokaw of nbc news, and a brit hume of abc news. the importance of tonight the president is underscored by two fax. both george bush and michael bad -- michael dukakis said their running mates would reveal a lot about themselves. based on the history, there is almost a 50-50 chance that one of the men here tonight will become president of the united states. the candidates are senator dan quayle and lloyd bentsen, the democratic nominee. [applause] for the next 90 minutes, we will be questioning the candidates following a format designed and agreed to by representatives of the two campaigns. however, there are america rigid restrictions on the questions m

another issue that michael dukakis is wrong on and that is grenada. he criticized the rescue mission according to a report. criticize that, yet 85% of the american people supported our rescue mission and we turned to the communist country into the non-communist country. the governor of massachusetts is simply out of step with mainstream america. >> moderator: brit hume a question for senator bentsen. [applause] >> senator bentsen, senator quayle. i am sort of the cleanup man in this order and i've been asked to deal with the answers on base. i have a follow-up question for you, senator quayle that senators be with a lot to ask the question i'm sure you are prepared to talk about. governor dukakis tried to make ethics a major issue in the campaign, and he has you as a running mate, a man who leads the league in the last count and that is the money raised by the special-interest organizations. that is a kind of campaign financing with governor dukakis finds so distasteful he's refused to accept it. t find that embarrassing? bentsen: i don't find it inte

>> michael dukakis wasn't looking for a clone. i think it's part of the strength and the character of this land that he reaches out, and that he wants someone that will speak up and that i'll do. i've seen many chief executives come into my office and say they're going over and tell the president of the united states off, they're going to pound the desk, and go into that office and turn to jello. now, i've dealt with many a president, and i don't hesitate for a minute to speak up. but when you're talking about something like the death penalty, where michael dukakis and i do disagree, what you really ought to get to is what's being done against crime, and what kind of progress he's been able to make. in the state of massachusetts he has the homicide rate down to the lowest of any industrial state. it's substantially ahead of the national average. he's been able to do that with an educated program for the people of that state by adding some 1,500 new police officers; he's done it in turn by the leadership that i think he will bring

michael dukakis. when he was asked about what he would do to give the opposition to capital punishment but doesn't god have a human side at all? ribisi into the capabilities out for not because of one event but they see real exaggerated he said he helped to create the injured men. not invent. he was important to create the legislation but then the story him and his wife for the models of the story. then he is a serial exaggerate year. that hurt him in the end. >> host: why did dead gaffe '04 president clinton, a georgia be bush why are those not fatal mistakes? >> what else is going on in the world at the time? >> to ask the question what should we do in iran? he said all my ran. very few people remember that. it was crowded out. i compare that to hillary clinton being under fire in bosnia. the media would say is this true? then she was greeted at the airport with flowers and the general said no. then obama's started to look at her credibility. it was so dramatic we feel that people like to us. this i

i think michael dukakis problem in terms of presidential debates when he was asked about what he would do if his wife is and he gave a lawyerly kind of answer, a defense of his opposition to capital punishment. on the sudden, does this guy have a human tide at all? so it's those things that we kind of see in the capabilities or the character of the individual. i think al gore was irked over the years, not because of one event, but because of his being pointed out as a serial exaggerator. any one of those stories coming you could explain away he'd never invented the internet. he said he helped create the internet. we have the perception of him being a laboratory, sitting on the computer. i mean, he was very important in terms of creating the arpanet, which became the internet from legislation. but he had that story than a story about he and his wife were the models for the book love story. the office said no, that not quite true. so he can appoint all these together in cities kind of a serial exaggerator. and i think that hurt him in the long run. >> host: then, why did the gaffes or mi

massachusetts governor michael dukakis against vice president george bush. criticized for that answer because that was a painful question from our bernard shaw at cnn and some say his wooden and robotic answer just didn't cut it. they needed to see the human side of michael dukakis. we know the result of that debate. the president and the would be presidents have to be able to think on their feet when they get the questions that seemingly come out of nowhere. they also on the other hand, like me, need very good writers. and president clinton probably had one of the very best. ma his name is michael walidman, now he heads the brennan center for justice at nyu law school. i'm very pleased co-join the program today from los angeles. michael, thanks for being here. this is a wonderful day to talk to you as we count down to this debate this evening. here is my first question to you, sir, the president of the united states, be it president obama or anybody else, has been sitting in office for nearly four years, the most differential character ever. he's called mr.

then there was the photographic backfire in the 1998 presidential race when michael dukakis pictured writing on a tank in a campaign effort to present the candidate as strong on defense. we'll little you decide. and four years ago, governor sarah palin conducted an interview after the election, a few weeks after they lost the election, moments after palin pardoned the turkey for thanksgiving and gave a long interview and just over her shoulder, a not so lucky turkey getting himself ready for thanksgiving with a little help from the guy in the hat. >>> stephen colbert needed a moment to catch his breath after watching the death-defying skydive from felix baumgartner who leapt 28 miles to the earth. >> felix baumgartner became the first man to -- aaaaah! ladies and gentlemen, this proves that our days of human exploration are not over. because we did it! we put a man on the earth. >> still ahead on "way too early," while you were awake, your texts and e-mails are next just ahead. capella university understands businesses are trying to come back from rough economic times. employees are

they favored him over michael dukakis by a single percentage point that day. the number of female voters xeeted every male voter in every presidential election since 1964. >>> all right, let's huddle up around the water cooler to take a crack at the conspiracy theories that were around after the release of the jobs report. >> folks, this .3% drop in the unemployment rate seems just a little too barely better to be true. >> maybe it's a coincidence. the month before the election we have a number that comes out .1 below when the president took office. >> i'm going to go with jack welch on this one. >> how convenient that the rate drops below 8% for the first time in 43 months, five weeks before an election. >> right back to where it was january 2009. >> folks? this is more than a quinhe coul incidence. >> what would explain why after unemployment has been steadily declining for the last year that now suddenly right before the election it declines a little more. please! i think we know what's going on here. >> what are people insinuating here? that the books are

dukakis did not know how to react as a human. >> i love those mad dog questions because it gets the politicians out of their comfort zone. chris: let's look how it came down iconically, the dukakis moment showed he was robotic and had been out there and before the debate, "saturday night live" roasted dukakis and the inquiss tore -- of inquisitore played sam donaldson. >> you've been described as emotionally dead and cool and your advisors say you're sometimes distant and aloof, a bit of a cold fish but they say one of the reasons you trail in the polls is you're uninspiring and seem to be devoid of passion. >> sam, that kind of dispersion on my character quite frankly makes me -- well, there's no other word for it, enraged. enraged. [laughter] >> maybe i shouldn't say that in the heat of the moment. but i can't control myself. and i apologize for flying off the handle. i'm just sorry my kids had to see me like this. chris: that was before what happened. when we come back, the next debate is a town hall this year and it can't come soon enough for barack obama. does he have to win th

wanted the room 55 degrees and michael dukakis who is quite a bit shorter an the elder george bush negotiated a little boost hidden beneath the carpet behind the podium. take a look at that again. as dukakis goes back behind the podium, he also gets up onto something the debate commission called the "pitcher's mound." and suddenly he's just about as tall as george bush. the obama/romney agreement says no height boost for ito candidate. one of these past candidates, we can't say which one, insisted that the cameras be repositioned so as not to show his bald spot. but never any demands about brown m&ms. jonathan karl, abc news, washington. >>> and we hope you join us tonight at 9:00 p.m., 6:00 pacific, george stephanopoulos and i and the entire political team will be right here for the big debate. thank you for watching. we'll see you soon.

dukakis. it's starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on espn. >> well the issue of an internet sales tax has reared up again and in fact the u.s. congress and many states are looking at this issue and that's our topic this week on "the communicators." we want to start off by talking with the chairman of the california state board of equal ligse jerome horton. mr. horton, california has recently changed how it managed or its taxation policies when it comes to the internet, hasn't it? >> yes, peter, it has. it broadened the definition of what is taxable in california to include online retailers who meet certain criteria. >> now, said you broadened. how was it before and now who is included? >> prior to the law, the sales tax didn't apply to companies that had affiliates and worked through various different groups here in the state of california. the law broadened the definition of who actually qualities to include those individuals. so now online retailers who have affiliates in the state of califor

. >> gallop had michael dukakis leading by 17 points but lost by 17.5%. he was tied with clinton in october although he one. one pollster questions the assumption made from today's polls. >> they assume you have the same high level of african-american, latino, yo ung people from 2008. >> david axelrod said polls are widely different in the methodologies so to think they are all wrong. but this is a close race. as we have always predicted. >> the race is not over. it can go back and forth 34 times. met romney half's to create the moment of. >> in the past races were the lead was cut or flipped it is roughly 5% and some cases it was the debate that moved the nidal. lou: our congressional correspondent. thank you mike. 1992 in depended candidate ross perot entered the first of october and ended up 19% of the vote. and special prosecutor decided to influence the outcome to take caspar weinberger with the iran contra affair to lead the way for william jefferson clinton. >> this is called art and to be funded it. we will talk about art to and religion and money

thing back to 1988 michael dukakis had a bad first debate and lloyd benson mopped the floor with dan quayle and we know how that race turned out. it is a 1-1 kind of tie for obama now. but it is going to change the outcome of the election, i would be very surprised. >> jennifer: all right. let's look at act 3. what is the most important thing the president needs to do. >> i would like to see him say a joke or something about his previous performance. i would like him to reassure people that he wants to be there. and again your message out there, see it as an opportunity not an obstacle. >> jennifer: if you had to advise him how aggressive need had to be what would you say? >> he has to really think about what people in the audience are asking them. think of that audience as a surrogate for the entire american electorate. and really make that connection in a personal way. >> jennifer: who do you think performs better in the townhall setting at the next debate? >> probably obama but not by much. and i don't think it's obama's particularly favorite thing, it's just that romney is awkwar

michael dukakis. that is all starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> the candidates are heidi heitkamp and rick berg. this is a little less than one half hour. >> welcome to the continuing coverage of election 2012. this is the debate where north seat.a is a u.s. senate sen i am here with berg and heidi heitkamp. thank you so much for being here. both candidates will have a bottom in the closing statement. there will be topics as i mean where there will be discussion and debate. >> thank you. i would like to thank everyone watching. this election may be the most important election in our lifetime. if we did i get our country back on track on the road to growth and prosperity, my children will not inherit the same country we do. i will fight against barack obama's failed policies and fight for the idea that people from north dakota should make decisions about their family and their opportunities. i served in the best legislature in the country. we crafted policy that has made north dakota the economic envy of the nation. washi

this is in october leading up to the election, michael dukakis. [video clip] >> the first question goes to gov. dukakis. you have two minutes to respond. governor, if kitty dukakis were raped and murdered common -- and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? >> i think you go but i have the opposed -- that i have opposed the death penalty all my life. i think there are better deterrence of crime. i think that is why we have the biggest -- the lowest murder rate of any state in america. the vice president has been at least allegedly in charge of the war on drugs. we have much to do to step up that war. to double the number of drug enforcement agents to fight both here and abroad, to work with our neighbors here in this hemisphere. i want to call a hemispheric summit to fight that war. but we also are to deal with drug intervention here at home. we have had great success in my own state. we have reached out to young people and their families and been able to help them by getting drogin intervention and education in you

you're comparing the biden picture with the biker chick on his lap and the michael dukakis picture where he put himself in the tank? are you comparing those two pictures? >>, sg avifenghe pictures. >> bill: wait, wait. now, here is how that is so grossly unfair. romney had no idea that little girl is behind her. the little girl was looking at something completely different. so romney d not put himself in onisap pikhi at tferee. this is a total accident that this happened. the associated press captured it and then in a very sleazy way, used it toenigte mom >>nnbeitay provided six pictures. >> bill: that never, ever should ha been published. >> the editors who chose to publish them -- >> bill: whoever sent that out, ifer ihaofhe a. out, ulven f. ou'tnky to move copy, move produc -- >> bill: i don't care. you have to make -- if you're an honest person, you have to make editorial judgments that. is appalling. >> there use beomng capipoil >>l:th a i ic i u te. >> editorial discretion. what we see here is a deliberate attempt to yet again make a republican candidate for president look bad. >>

the candidates are, vice president george bush, the republican nominee and governor michael dukakis, the democratic nominee. [applause] for the next 90 minutes we'll be questioning the candidates designed by representatives of the two campaigns. however, there are no restrictions on the questions that my colleagues and i can ask this evening and the candidates have no prior knowledge of our questions. by agreement between the candidates, the first question goes to governor dukakis. you have two minutes to respond. governor if kitty dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? >> no, i don't, bernard. and i think you know i opposed the death penalty. i don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent and i think there are better an more effective ways to deal with violent crimes. we've done so in my own state. it's one of the reasons why we've had the biggest drop in crime of any industrial state in america, why we have the lowest murder rate of any industrial state in america. but we have work to do in this nation. we have work to do to fi

you're comparing the biden picture with the biker chick on his lap and the michael dukakis picture where he put himself in the tank? are you comparing those two pictures? >> yes, i am saying -- >> bill: you are comparing them. >> a.p. provided six different pictures. >> bill: wait, wait. now, here is how that is so grossly unfair. romney had no idea that little girl is behind her. the little girl was looking at something completely different. so romney did not put himself in a tank. and he did not put a biker chick on his lap. that's the difference. this is a total accident that this happened. the associated press captured it and then in a very sleazy way, used it to denigrate mr. romney. >> glenn beck's web site say they provided six pictures. >> bill: that never, ever should have been published. >> the editors who chose to publish them -- >> bill: whoever sent that out, whatever person sent that out, if i were in charge of the a.p. would have been fired. >> you don't think they want to move copy, move products -- >> bill: i don't care. you have to make -- if you're an honest person, yo

so now another former governor of massachusetts michael dukakis had more criticism. >> when he left the state at the end of just one term, he couldn't possibly have been reelected. the states infrastructure was a wreck. that's the only way you can describe it, rusting bridges pothole roads couldn't get anything done, and everybody knows that if you can't build and maintain a first rate transportation infrastructure, you can't create jobs, so the romney record in massachusetts was frankly pathetic. >> who's right? well, let's show you the numbers and find out. where did moss moss rank? you know this is my favorite number, 47 out of the 50 in job creation during romney's term. that is disastrous. third from the bottom! how do you brag about that? >> well, when you dive into the numbers, it gets worse for mitt romney. do you know how many jobbed were added at a time when the nation was adding many jobs? just 31,000 jobs in massachusetts in four years. that's less than 1%, and to compare it to the national average, the national average at that time was 5%. he had it atlas than 1%. that's a

ask michael dukakis. >> he didn't want to wear the helmet. i heard his body man tell the lead advance person he doesn't want to wear a helmet. he understood that wasn't going to be a good television shot. >> steve murphy worked with dukakis. we have arranged for you to ride in the tank they will not let you ride in a tank without wearing a helmet. he relented. he should have stuck into his instincts. >> now he wants to be commander-in-chief. america can't afford that risk. >> do ads like that really work? consultants think they do. >> 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. >> they still rave about this ad. it was talked about so much on tv they say it changed all campaigns. it was the first negative ad to use fear and raw emotions. >> 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. >> those are the stakes. we must either love each other or we must die. >> vote or die. pretty relevant. >> pretty unfair. >> mark mckinnon worked on the bush campaign that ran this ad that showed the candidates consoling 9-11 victims. >> our president took ashley in his arms and just embraced her. it

>> no, i don't. >> reporter: michael dukakis' numbers dropped after the unfeeling too cool answer. the undecided need reasons to decide. >> substance is more important but demeanor counts. >> people said what, he doesn't think this is important enough to stick around another ten minutes? >> reporter: al gore hurt by his impatient sighing. this year look for this. >> i have never seen as much lying as i have in this campaign. >> that was gary nurenberg reporting. 9 news now and "u.s.a. today" are teaming up for the debate tonight. starting at 9:00 "u.s.a. today" reporters will be fact checking what the candidates say. you can see their analysis on our website wusa9.com. of course a full recap on 9news now at 11:00. >>> right now we have a full weather forecast and everything else for the week ahead from howard. >> a lot of fog out there this morning. they've expanded the dense fog advisory into the shenandoah valley. not just the northern shenandoah valley but the whole valley now. let's start with the bus stop forecast. getting ready for school, well, it's foggy. it's damp. maybe a

yes, benson got a good line off on me, i focused on michael dukakis, bill clinton in 1992, and i think you can expect that paul ryan is going to do the same thing. >> john harwood, a big night. thank you so much for your time. i'll see you soon, john. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall. stay with msnbc tonight with special primetime coverage of the vice presidential debate at 8:00 p.m. eastern. "the cycle" is up next. that ma. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >>> i'm crystal ball live in danville, kentucky. joe biden and paul ryan are here. it's fight night for the vice presidential candidates, expect both of them to come out swinging. >> i'm steve kerr knack ki. new battleground poles are out. did the debate do damage to his campaign. >>> this is so completely wrong. mitt romney's got an image problem. literally. maybe it's

in 1988, when michael dukakis was asked about capital punishment and his wife, people said he's cold, he's a te technocrat. in 1992, president bush looked at his watch. and then, donna, there were the sighs or the part of al gore. people said, he's a bit of a stuffed shirt. >> in terms of the importance of "saturday night live" gore aides made gore watch the representations of his debate to show him how he was perceived. do we make too big a deal of those things? the sigh, the smiles? >> you're focused on the substance. here are the policy positions. what your opponent is saying. you get there, it's stage craft and you're like, the eyes and the movement of the hands. >> and the split screens. >> the split screens. i'm sure the president will be advised to look up, smile, and don't roll his eye, just stay foe wcused on candy crowley, as person. george mentioned, i was looking at the numbers. '84, reagan botched the first one. he said he was over trained, overprepared. not quite ready for the first encounter with walter mondale. and in 2004, when, once again, the negotiations and the bu

when michael dukakis made his silly statement about his wife, that was incompetence. i think the best explanation here is that he just blew it without any help. >> what it has done is completely reenergized mitt romney's campaign. it was really i think on its knees building up to this debate and the feeling being that if it had gone badly the first debate, could be all over for mitt romney. certainly not all over now. would you anticipate a tightening of the polls and a very, very close race now? >> i mean, it's certainly closer but there's always going to be good news and bad news, and so in trade, for example, the betting side, so obama's prospects fell slightly. i think it went from 69% to 65% chance of him winning re-election. you know, that feels about right. it helped romney but we're just in the second inning of a long, long ball game. >> when it gets to the foreign policy debate which is the last one, lots to discuss there, obviously, syria, also libya with ambassador stevens. but an interesting interview with john mccain. he's saying he's damned if he's going

al gore worried about sweating, wanted the room 55 degrees, and michael dukakis, who, as you can see, was quite a bit shorter than the elder george bush, negotiated a little boost hidden beneath the carpet behind the podium. take a look at that again. as dukakis goes back behind the podium, he also gets up onto something that the commission called the "pitcher's mound," and suddenly he's just about as tall as george bush. and check out how jon stewart boosted his height against bill o'reilly, but the obama/romney agreement says no height boost for either candidate, and a source deep inside the back room talks tells abc news that one of these past candidates -- we can't say which one -- insisted that the cameras be repositioned so as not to show his bald spot, but never any demands about brown m&ms. jonathan karl, abc news, washington. >> oh. >> you're not following our writers on this show, paula. >> what height difference are we talking about? >> thank you. there we go. that is how we roll on the overnights. >> yeah, we're just kind of leaving ourselves like teeing everybody up for a

you know what makes me think of micha michael dukakis? everything. ohio in particular. something interesting in ohio and to understand you have to think p about the dukakis lae election in 1988. this was a 40-state landslide for george bush sr. in 1988. in the middle of the country, the sea of red that went blue, iowa, minnesota and wisconsin. there were local factors in the upper midwest. the farm economy collapsed in the mid-1980s and raeagan's standing was lower than it was elsewhere. republicans were push punished there for the state of economy. think about the auto bailout and the lower unemployment rate there, and i think there is a reward for obama for the sense among those voters that things are getting a little better here than maybe they otherwise would be. >> in a state that feels like it has not been than the country economically for a while, and you cannot understate how important the auto bailout political dynamic has been there. last week after she squabbled over exactly what romney said about the bailout in his op-ed, that was the most viewed "new york t

bush and michael dukakis, both there in 1988. you get george w. bush and al gore in 2000. sharing a stage at the same event and appearing together in a way that they would otherwise never, ever make an appearance. now, you have to have a certain amount of charisma to be a candidate at this level. so it's not like these guys have never told a joke. but no presidential candidate is as funny naturally as these guys appear to be at this dinner. so obviously they are having people write stuff for them. they are doing comedy routines scripted by professional comedy writers. so, yes, at the base level, this just functions as entertainment because the speeches really are always funny and they are almost always well-delivered. but beyond just entertainment, there is also value for a country trying to make up its mind between these two men. there is value in seeing these guys talking in a way we would otherwise never get to see them talk. because it is comedy. we get to see them sort of skirting the edge of propriety in a way you actually have to in order to be funny 90% of the time

>> michael dukakis, presidential candidate in 1988 got in a dank and put on a helmet and looked silly. >> we live in a -- how can i put this -- much less soviet country. officials here look less oppressive. there they like to look more impressive. >> since becoming an internet sensation, the mayor continues to combat parking violators in new and unique ways. >> so they printed this special sticker and they distribute this for free for the citizens in vilnius. >> his latest innovation is a three-step sticker system. >> step one, if you see a car parked in bad way, you just put the sticker on the glass. step two, if you will see the same car, you will put much bigger sticker. and if you will see for the third time, please call to me and i will come. ♪ >>> coming up, a black belt black bear. >> it's like, always on the verge of going out of control. >> but is he a master of kung fu or a master of trickery? >> how the hell did it do that? that's crazy. >> it does look really fake. it's just so fast. >> when "caught on camera: viral videos fact or fiction continues." they have teachers..

dukakis in the final presidential debate showed sort of a remarkable lack of human affect you might say in response to bernie schultz question. >> that didn't help the game from dukakis' point of view. lloyd bentsen's line was great line. >> well rehearsed. >> well delivered, well rehearsed. what do we remember from 2008? no lines. that was not a game changing debate between senator obama and senator mccain. >> not the way it was during the primary races. one of the things that you learned from that moment with benson and quayle, is they have been watching dan quayle, this young, some would say not fully prepared senator, and not prepared for the national stage, and watching how he kept comparing himself to john f. kennedy to show that kennedy was also young and they were ready to pounce with that. >> these guys have been on both sides known each other, going to be their opponents, reviewing individual yes videotapes, studied about them, forgetting about whether mitt romney has zingers or not they have some prepared lines ready but more important what overall kind of meta impression

bush 1988, he won it 50-49 over michael dukakis. democrats won it in every election since by varying margins. president obama won by 13 over mccain in 2008. john kerry won by three over george w. bush. this is incredibly important because women, for the last six or seven presidential elections, have composed a majority of the vote in the broad national electorate. i think this is a play broadly for women. it's a narrow play, too. this is fight over suburban women who probably are not thrilled with the state of economy but tend to be socially moderate to socially liberal. it's a fight over what matters more to them. is it abortion and contraception or is as the romney campaign is gambling heavily is it as you saw in the ad more, look, the economy is not a male issue, it's not a female issue. this is making everyone struggle including women. that's the back and forth interplay here. >> and now the obama team has come back at mitt romney and we know he was certainly emphasizing the more conservative view on during the facing off agains

dukakis was governor here and he used to go to work on the mbta with no security. romney was always accompanied by very expensive entourage. but he was not here, particularly during the last two years, richard, of his tenure. during the first two years he worked on the health reform legislation, which is really driven by the democratic leadership and senator kennedy here in the state. but i give him credit for that. once that was achieved, however, he essentially abandoned the state and began to go national. >> phil, of note is that his home in lake winnipesaukee is far enough away but close enough to some other parts of massachusetts. that's not that far away. according to the "new york times," governor romney was especially off in the last two years. he was pursuing his presidential visions in 2008. that was after he left office. however, no one seems to be pointing to the problems resulting from his absences or problems that may have been existent. republicans in the romney campaign insist his travels had no bearing on his job performance. >> well, of course it