Dukakis also suffered a major character blow in the eyes of the public during one of the televised debates when he said he would not support death penality even if his wife had been murdered (or something along those lines). It was an awful question to ask, but his reply was seen as unemotional to the audience when he reiterated that he still would not support the death penalty. I often wonder what the U.S. would have been like had he been elected. In any case, the American public apparently had a similar notion, since they kicked out Bush Sr to elect a Democrat anyway, just 4 years later. But that moment in the debate is often held as the defining moment that crashed his chances to win. A little silly, I think, but that's politics.