How to Run for President

Civics 101

NHPR

Education, History, Supreme Court, American History, Elections, Democracy, Society & Culture, Government, Civics, Politics, Social Studies

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2019

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The job description is pretty sparse, the laws are convoluted and the path from A to Z seems fraught with peril. So how does a person go from candidate to nominee to Leader of the Free World? We asked some heavy hitters for the inside scoop on running for President. Settle in for a long and strange ride with Former Governor and Democratic nominee for President, Michael Dukakis, CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers and founding partner of Purple Strategies, Mark Squier.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Civics 101 is brought to you in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
0:11.8	Nick and I are a little nervous.
0:15.2	In part because Michael Ducakis is not answering the door.
0:19.2	Seems to be another door maybe. This could be one of two houses that are next to each other.
0:25.7	Good morning, good morning Good morning. Good morning. Good afternoon.
0:29.4	Michael Ducakis was governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and then from
0:35.4	83 to 91 and in 88. It did not come as a surprise but Michael Ducakis did make
0:41.4	it official today declaring his candidacy for president. Ducakis made his
0:45.1	formal announcements and across. He also happened to be the Democratic nominee for
0:49.3	president of the United States.
0:51.8	My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans. Atlanta, Georgia, July 21, 1988.
0:58.8	Sixteen months ago when I announced my candidacy for the presidency of the United States,
1:05.0	I said this campaign would be a marathon. Tonight with a win that our backs,
1:14.4	with friends at our sides and with courage in our hearts, the race for the
1:20.6	finish line begins.
1:35.6	Did a great job on the primary effort and screwed up the final, which was a very
1:39.8	winnable race, I can tell you. But didn't do the grassroots stuff and made a
1:46.3	decision which turned out to be a pretty dumb decision that I was not going to
1:50.8	respond to the Bush attack campaign. Keep it positive to set the other thing.
1:55.8	You want to keep it positive but if somebody's come to hatch you with stuff,
2:00.2	you've got to have a carefully thought out strategy for dealing with it.
2:04.0	Governor Ducakis did not win the 1988 election. George H. W. Bush did.
	...

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