1976 presidential campaign Beginning in 1974, Bentsen campaigned for the
Democratic presidential nomination. In 1974 he visited 30 states and raised $350,000 at a single fundraiser in Texas. Bentsen formally announced his candidacy on February 17, 1975, and in the early part of that year he had already raised over $1 million for his campaign; only
George Wallace of
Alabama and
Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson of
Washington state had raised more money by that point. Bentsen did not organize effectively on a national level, and many observers believed the freshman senator was running without any real hope of winning the nomination, hoping instead to secure a vice-presidential nomination. Wallace and Jackson were considered to be the two main contenders for the moderate to conservative voters to whom Bentsen would appeal; early in the campaign few foresaw
Jimmy Carter of
Georgia also effectively appealing to that group. By October 1975, Bentsen, generating little national attention or significance in the polls, scaled back his campaign to a limited effort in areas of 8 to 10 states, hoping for a deadlocked convention. In the first state contest Bentsen vigorously contested,
Mississippi, he managed only 1.6% of the vote. Two weeks later Bentsen staked the remainder of his campaign and resources in neighboring
Oklahoma but finished third with only 12%. A few days later Bentsen shut down his national campaign, staying in the race only as a favorite son in Texas. In the May 1, 1976, primary, Jimmy Carter won 92 of Texas's 98 delegates. The eventual nominee and president, Carter was later quoted as saying he had expected a much stronger showing by Bentsen but that Bentsen's failure to campaign nationally had ended his hopes.
Senate career in 1978 Bentsen was overwhelmingly reelected to the Senate in
1976,
1982, and
1988. He defeated sitting Republican congressmen from safe House seats in all four of his Senate elections, including Bush in 1970. In 1976, he ended the career of
Alan Steelman of
Dallas. In 1982, he defeated
James M. Collins of
Dallas, who had first dispatched the strongly
conservative State Senator Walter Mengden of Houston in the Republican primary. In 1988, he defeated
Beau Boulter of
Amarillo. Bentsen was also on the ballot as the Democratic vice presidential nominee that year; he could seek both offices under the 1960 "Johnson law" in Texas.
1988 vice presidential campaign Bentsen was briefly thought of as among
Walter Mondale's short list of possible vice presidential candidates in 1984. In the end, Mondale chose New York U.S. Representative
Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. In 1988,
Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts chose Bentsen to be his running mate in that year's
presidential election, beating out Ohio Senator
John Glenn, who was considered the early favorite. Bentsen was selected in large part to try to lure away the state of Texas and its
electoral vote for the Democrats, even with fellow Texan
George H. W. Bush at the top of the Republican ticket. Because of Bentsen's status as something of an elder statesman who was more experienced in electoral politics, many believed Dukakis's selection of Bentsen as his running mate was a mistake in that Bentsen, number two on the ticket, appeared more presidential than did Dukakis. During the vice presidential debate (see below), Republican vice presidential nominee
Dan Quayle spent most of his speaking time criticizing Dukakis as too liberal while avoiding a match up with the seasoned Bentsen. One elector in
West Virginia even cast a ballot for him rather than Dukakis, giving Bentsen one
electoral vote for president. Bentsen was responsible for one of the most widely discussed moments of the campaign during the
vice presidential televised debate with fellow Senator Dan Quayle. In answering a question about his experience, Quayle stated that he had as much political experience as
John F. Kennedy had when he ran for the presidency. Bentsen, at the age of 67, retorted, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine.
Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." Quayle replied, "That was really uncalled for, Senator." Bentsen responded, "You're the one that was making the comparison, Senator." Peter Goldman and Tom Mathews wrote in
The Quest for the Presidency 1988 that Bentsen "was the forgotten man" of the campaign until the exchange with Quayle. Thereafter, his "gray solidity" was "made luminescent by the pallor of the other three men", and questions were raised as to how well Bentsen really knew Kennedy. Some stated that they only had a nodding acquaintance. Bentsen had in fact considered in advance how to respond, because Congressman
Dennis E. Eckart, who played Quayle in Bentsen's rehearsals, knew that Quayle had previously compared himself to Kennedy, so he worked it into Bentsen's debate preparation. Quayle had been prepped by Senator
Bob Packwood, as Packwood served with Bentsen on the Senate Finance Committee. Bentsen considered running for president in the
1992 presidential election, but he, along with many other Democrats, backed out because of Bush's apparent popularity following the 1991
Gulf War. A poor economy in 1991–1992 eroded Bush's standing among voters and he ended up losing the election to Bill Clinton.
Secretary of the Treasury Appointed to Clinton's cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury, Bentsen helped win crucial Republican votes to pass the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the
Uruguay Round of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Bentsen also was pivotal in winning passage of the 1994 crime bill, the
Federal Assault Weapon Ban, which temporarily banned assault rifles. After the resignation of
Les Aspin in early 1994, Bentsen was seriously considered for the position of
Secretary of Defense. But this prospect did not materialize, and
William Perry, then
Deputy Secretary of Defense, was chosen to succeed Aspin. In early December 1994, Bentsen announced his retirement as Secretary of the Treasury. Before election day he had discussed with President Clinton that he was not prepared to stay in office through the end of Clinton's first term in 1997. He was succeeded in the position by
Robert Rubin. ==Later life and death==