Jackson and eventual nominee
Michael Dukakis outlasted all other Democratic candidates to the final primaries, including California. Jackson came in second in delegates behind Dukakis. Jackson beat out candidates future Vice President
Al Gore, future President
Joe Biden, and
Dick Gephardt, among others. In early 1988, Jackson organized a rally at the former
American Motors assembly plant in
Kenosha, Wisconsin, approximately two weeks after new owner
Chrysler announced it would close the plant by the end of the year. In his speech, Jackson spoke out against Chrysler's decision, stating "We have to put the focus on Kenosha, Wisconsin, as the place, here and now, where we draw the line to end economic violence!" and compared the workers' fight to that of the civil rights movement in
Selma, Alabama. As a result, the UAW Local 72 union voted to endorse his candidacy, even against the rules of the
UAW. However, Jackson's campaign suffered a significant setback less than two weeks later when he was defeated handily in the
Wisconsin primary by
Michael Dukakis. Jackson's showing among white voters in Wisconsin was significantly higher than in his 1984 run, but was also noticeably lower than pre-primary polling had indicated it would be. The discrepancy has been cited as an example of the so-called "
Bradley effect". Jackson's campaign had also been interrupted by allegations regarding his half-brother Noah Robinson, Jr.'s criminal activity. Jackson had to answer frequent questions about his brother, who was often referred to as "the
Billy Carter of the Jackson campaign". On the heels of Jackson's narrow loss to Dukakis the day before in Colorado, Dukakis' comfortable win in Wisconsin terminated Jackson's momentum. The victory established Dukakis as the clear Democratic frontrunner, and he went on to claim the party's nomination, but lost the general election in November. In both races, Jackson ran on what many considered to be a very
liberal platform. Declaring that he wanted to create a "Rainbow Coalition" of various
minority groups, including
African Americans,
Hispanics,
Middle Eastern Americans,
Asian Americans,
Native Americans,
family farmers, the poor and
working class, and
gay people, as well as
white progressives, Jackson ran on a platform that included: • creating a
Works Progress Administration-style program to rebuild America's
infrastructure and provide jobs to all Americans, • reprioritizing the
war on drugs to focus less on
mandatory minimum sentences for drug users (which he views as racially biased) and more on harsher punishments for
money-laundering bankers and others who are part of the "supply" end of "
supply and demand" • reversing
Reaganomics-inspired
tax cuts for the richest ten percent of Americans and using the money to finance
social welfare programs • cutting the
budget of the
Department of Defense by as much as fifteen percent over the course of his administration • declaring
Apartheid-era
South Africa to be a
rogue nation • instituting an immediate
nuclear freeze and beginning
disarmament negotiations with the
Soviet Union • giving
reparations to descendants of black slaves • supporting family farmers by reviving many of
Roosevelt's New Deal–era farm programs • creating a single-payer system of
universal health care • ratifying the
Equal Rights Amendment • increasing federal funding for lower-level
public education and providing free
community college to all • applying stricter enforcement of the
Voting Rights Act and • supporting the formation of a
Palestinian state. With the exception of a resolution to implement sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies, none of these positions made it into the party's platform in either 1984 or 1988. == Results ==