https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/03/21/is-ron-desantis-the-republican-michael-dukakis/Democrats once nominated a governor for president, fresh off a landslide re-election, who claimed he could do for the country what he did for his home state. His name was Michael Dukakis, and he dubbed his state’s 1980s economic turnaround the “Massachusetts Miracle.”
However, in the 1980s, a right-leaning electorate did not embrace liberal Massachusetts values. (Texas Governor Rick Perry sought to win his party’s nomination in 2016 running on a Texas miracle.) The Republican nominee George H. W. Bush famously bludgeoned Dukakis for his opposition to the death penalty, his support for granting furloughs to convicted murderers, and his veto of legislation requiring teachers to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Dukakis’s early polling lead crumbled in the barrage, and he won only 10 states.
Republican primary voters should ask themselves if DeSantis is their Dukakis.
