WASHINGTON — There’s at least one politician who can legitimately claim that he knows what Hillary Clinton is going through as a target of wild speculation about her health: Michael S. Dukakis.
The episode has been largely forgotten. But Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee and former Massachusetts governor, remembers it well.
As with questions over whether Clinton is healthy enough to be president, the rumors about Dukakis began on the fringes. But they eventually found their way to the mainstream through powerful surrogates: President Ronald Reagan, in the case of Dukakis. He felt compelled, as Clinton has, to reassert his fitness for office. (This year, some Democrats have questioned the “mental health’’ of Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, as well.)
Thank you STATED for this level-headed report on the power of good ol’ gossip to shift poll standings in presidential campaigns.