When it was quickly discovered that some of the footage of a polluted harbor was NOT Boston Harbor, it would have been easy for the Dukakis campaign to cry foul and attack the Bush campaign. That attack never came as the Dukakis team believed that these adverts would have little to no effect on their numbers. They were very wrong.
After the Bush campaign followed the Boston Harbor ad with an even more underhanded one claiming that Dukakis not only opposes the death penalty for first-degree murderers, he allowed them to have weekend passes from prison. They highlighted the actions of Willie Horton, who went on a murderous crime spree while out on a weekend pass. The advert suggested that Dukakis all but aided and abetted Horton in his crimes. It worked as Bush wins the election but with just over 50 percent the turnout is the lowest in over 60 years.
