August 15, 1982: In a campaign commercial, Senator Joan Kennedy says: “President Reagan has told anyone who will listen that Ed King is his favorite Democratic Governor. When Mike Dukakis is elected Governor of Massachusetts this November, he will not be Reagan’s favorite Governor.” Her endorsement helps former Governor Michael Dukakis in his political comeback as he defeats incumbent Governor Edward King in the Democratic primary.
November 2, 1982: Democrats gain seats in the Congressional midterm elections but the Republicans maintain their Senate majority. In California, Governor Jerry Brown defeats San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson to win election to the Senate. But Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley loses a heartbreaking close race for Governor to State Attorney General George Deukmejian.
November 24, 1983: Senator Joan Kennedy announces that she will not be a candidate for President next year. At a news conference in Lowell, Massachusetts, Congressman Paul Tsongas announces that he has cancer and will not seek re-election.
November 6, 1984: As President Reagan is re-elected in a 49 state landslide, Senator Joan Kennedy wins re-election with 76 percent of the vote over hapless Republican candidate Ray Shamie.
July 1, 1987: Within 45 minutes of President Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Joan Kennedy takes to the Senate floor with a strong condemnation of Bork in a nationally televised speech, declaring:
"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is -- and is often the only -- protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy... President Reagan is still our president. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Irangate, reach into the muck of Watergate and impose his reactionary vision of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and the next generation of American. No justice would be better than this injustice."
October 23, 1987: The Senate rejects Bork’s confirmation 58-42.
January 3, 1988: Senator Joan Kennedy endorses Governor Michael Dukakis for President instead of running for that office. Her 21 year old son, Patrick, is planning to run for the Rhode Island House of Representatives and will win that race this November. On the other hand, Dukakis will fall short in his race for the White House.
November 6, 1990: Democrats make slight gains in House and Senate races. Senator Joan Kennedy’s campaign speeches for several female candidates pays off. She helps elect former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein Governor of California, Ann Richards Governor of Texas, Joan Finney Governor of Kansas, Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Murphy Governor of Massachusetts, and Josie Heath to the Senate from Colorado.
January 5, 1991: Senator Joan Kennedy forms an exploratory committee for a possible campaign for President in 1992. By Labor Day, Kennedy makes it official and throws her hat in the ring. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa drops out after failing to raise enough money. Senator Jerry Brown of California also decides not run for President and announces his endorsement of Joan Kennedy.
February 10, 1992: Senator Joan Kennedy sweeps to victory in the Democratic caucus in Iowa and takes 46 percent of the vote. Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, hoping to appeal to the state’s rural vote, finishes second with 30 percent. Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas takes 24 percent.
February 18, 1982: In the New Hampshire Primary, Senator Kennedy of neighboring Massachusetts wins with 51 percent of the vote. Governor Clinton finishes with 35 percent; so far, his controversial interview with his wife Hillary on the CBS News program "60 Minutes" appears not to have saved his campaign. Bob Kerrey takes a disappointing 11 percent. Kerrey will win the Primary in South Dakota next week but has to drop out after running out of money.
March 3, 1992: Governor Clinton wins his first primary with a victory in Georgia thanks to the endorsement of that state’s Governor Zell Miller and Senator Sam Nunn. He will win the South Carolina primary four days later, but barely over Joan Kennedy.
March 10, 1992: Super Tuesday. Senator Joan Kennedy trounces Governor Clinton in her home state of Massachusetts and the neighboring state of Rhode Island. Clinton wins the states of Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Kennedy squeaks by Clinton in Louisiana with the help of the Catholic vote. She establishes herself as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
March 17, 1992: Joan Kennedy wins comfortably in the Illinois and Michigan primaries with the help of labor union votes. With the Connecticut primary coming up, Clinton hopes that being a Yale Law School graduate will help but he trails far behind Kennedy in that state.
March 24, 1992: It is no contest. Joan Kennedy defeats Bill Clinton in Connecticut by a 68 percent to 32 percent margin. Senator Christopher Dodd, a longtime friend of the Kennedy family, and Congressman Rosa De Lauro whose husband Stan Greenberg is the pollster for the Kennedy campaign had the organization that Clinton could not match. Governor Lowell Weicker, a former Republican Senator turned Independent, also endorsed Kennedy.
April 7, 1992: Joan Kennedy takes the primary in New York with 62 percent of the vote. Kennedy sweeps all five boroughs of New York City and wins neighboring Westchester County and Long Island. Kennedy also wins Buffalo, with its large Catholic population, and Albany. Clinton was able to break even with Kennedy in the rural upstate counties.
April 28, 1992: Joan Kennedy wins the Pennsylvania primary. Despite disagreeing with her on abortion, pro-life Governor Robert Casey endorses Kennedy. Three days later, Clinton wins the Nebraska and West Virginia primaries.
May 5, 1992: Bill Clinton continues his winning streak with victories in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. The primaries conclude next month and Clinton needs to win practically all of them if he has a chance to win the Democratic nomination. But Kennedy is leading in California and has the endorsements of Governor Dianne Feinstein, Senators Jerry Brown and Alan Cranston, and Congressman Barbara Boxer who is running to succeed Cranston in the Senate.
June 2, 1992: Bill Clinton wins the Alabama and Montana primaries. But that’s it: Joan Kennedy wins the primaries in New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio and California. She has clinched the Democratic nomination for President. Back home in Little Rock, Clinton ends his campaign and announces his endorsement of Joan Kennedy. He hopes that Kennedy will select him as her running mate for Vice President.
July 10, 1992: After a vetting process that included examining financial records and written responses to 40 page questionnaires, Joan Kennedy selects a running mate with appeal to the South and younger voters: Senator Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee.
July 11, 1992: Mayor David Dinkins welcomes the delegates in the opening night speech at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York. The delegates unanimously nominate the Kennedy-Gore ticket.
November 3, 1992: Senator Joan Kennedy defeats incumbent President George Bush in a landslide to become the first female President of the United States. The terrible economy and the Republicans fanaticism on social issues doomed Bush re-election campaign.
Joan Kennedy/Albert Gore Jr. (D) 390 EV, 50% PVGeorge H.W. Bush/Dan Quayle (R) 148 EV, 37% PVH. Ross Perot/James Stockdale (I) 0 EV, 13% PVRoss Perot’s third party campaign emphasized cutting the federal budget deficit but was a non-factor in the race. Perot does finish second in Alaska, Maine, Kansas and Utah.
