U.S. Vice President George Bush and Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis gesture during their first presidential debate at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., Sunday, Sept. 25, 1988. The panel and moderator are seated in the foreground.  During the general election campaign in 1988 Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis was often criticized as stiff and lacking in passion. Debate moderator Bernard Shaw attempted to elicit emotion from Dukakis with this question: “Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?” Many observers believe that Dukakis’s flat reply doomed his candidacy.
Dukakis: “No, I don't, Bernard. And I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime.” (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)