Anatomy of A Disaster

Just eleven days after the giddiness of Atlanta, a dozen political consultants met with top Dukakis staffers to discuss fall strategy at his headquarters in Boston. Brimming with the joy of a hefty lead over Bush, the aides listened as Stu Eizenstat, a former Jimmy Carter aide, warned them to beware cockiness. He handed them a memo, "How to Blow a 30-Point Lead," based on Carter's precipitate drop during the waning days of 1976. "There was a tendency to rest on what seemed like a big lead," Eizenstat told them. "You become complacent."

History might have made 1988 the Year of...