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Ballotpedia Entries for the 1987 Gubernatorial Elections


Running on an outsider campaign against two former Governors as well as a host of other established candidates, businessman Wallace Wilkinson didn't appear to have a chance at securing the Democratic nomination for Governor of Kentucky. Most insiders had Wilkinson sitting in fifth early in the campaign, well behind John Y. Brown Junior and Steve Beshear.


However, party infighting between Brown and Beshear allowed Wilkinson to sneak into contention. Little to no negative press regarding his candidacy, along with an endorsement from former Governor Happy Chandler, gave Wilkinson all of the swing he needed to shock Brown in the primary election, defeating him by a margin of over 10%, with Beshear in a far second.


On the Republican side, State Representative John R. Harper was tapped to run for Governor after favorite Larry Forgy, who had been being groomed for the run for months, dropped out early in the race. Harper, with little name recognition outside of his home county of Bullitt and even less funding, was the choice of his party following Forgy's surprising withdrawal.


The campaign quickly became dirty. Needing any advantage it could get, a cash-strapped Harper campaign (being out-funded $8 million to $225,000) attacked Wilkinson's policies as "Alice in Wonderland Economics" as well as taking shots at Wilkinson's previous business dealings. In return, Wilkinson's campaign tipped off to the media that the cause of Harper's son's death was murder during an armed burglary. Both men were harmed by attacks from one another.


After being given no chance in the primaries, Wilkinson was the heavy favorite in the general election. Due to Kentucky's Democratic background as well as the general unknown that was John Harper, Wilkinson led most polls by margins ranging from 30% to 40%. On election night, the businessman who had been an unknown only months prior did not disappoint.


Wilkinson would defeat Harper by a margin of 65% to 35%, firmly keeping Kentucky in the Democratic column.


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After a term full of turmoil and uncertainty, Mississippi's one-term Democratic Governor William Allain decided to retire, leaving the field open in both parties in 1987.


In the Democratic Party, the battle was between young State Auditor Ray Mabus and wealthy businessman Mike Strudivant. Running on a slogan of "Mississippi Will Never Be Last Again", Mabus scored an easy victory over Strudivant in the primary.


For the Republicans, the primary was between Jack Reed, former chairman of the state Board of Education, against long-shot Doug Lemon. Reed defeated Lemon by nearly 50%, setting up for an interesting general election.


Deadlocked in the polls at between 47% and 51%, Mabus received a key endorsement from Jesse Jackson, who appeared in joint rallies with the young candidate across Mississippi. This endorsement, coupled with Mabus's billing as one of the young faces of the "New South" propelled him into the lead.


Election night remained reasonably close, but in the end Mabus received impressive support from the African American population in the state while keeping the white vote close enough to win. This coalition would make Ray Mabus the youngest Governor in the Untied States.








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The gubernatorial election in Louisiana would prove to be the most interesting race in 1987, if not one of the most intriguing and strange political endeavors in recent memory.


Heading into the campaign, embattled Governor Edwin Edwards was expected to have a tough path to reelection. Edwards, who had been Governor of Louisiana from 1972 to 1980 and then from 1984 to the time of the election, had always been embroiled in one scandal or another but had danced around them with his impressive political skill. To most in Louisiana, it seemed that 1987 would bring an end to Edwards' streak of avoidance in terms of his battling the odds.


Sensing blood in the water, a number of strong candidates entered the race to face the weakened Edwards. These included Republican Bob Livingston, one of the stronger Republican candidates Louisiana had seen, Buddy Roemer, generally seen as the strongest challenger to Edwards, and a handful of other Democratic candidates, namely Billy Tauzin, James H. Brown and Speedy Long.


The campaign, at first, seemed to be the battle to defeat Edwards, who, despite his scandals, had a passionate base and seemed to be safely in second place. The fight originally was strongest between Buddy Roemer and Bob Livingston. Edwards, a masterful strategist, saw Livingston as the easier opponent and covertly supported him, which in turn backfired and put Roemer in a comfortable position.


For much of the campaign, it seemed certain that it would be Buddy Roemer in first place in the first round of voting, followed by Edwards and Livingston. At one point, rumors began to circulate that Edwards would throw in the towel if he did not take first in the first round of voting.


And that's when everything changed.


Lee Iacocca, beginning to campaign in areas of the South his campaign believed was softly for Jackson and could be flipped, endorsed Roemer, who was already known as a centrist. This damaged Roemer's prospects, as many Jackson Democrats who believed Roemer to be the better of two evils began to see him as a Republican in Democratic clothing. Polls began to tighten as the first round neared.


Still, most Louisianians believed Roemer would defeat Edwards in the first round, with Livingston taking third.


That's not what happened.





A number of factors came together to doom Roemer in the first round. The obvious first choice is Iacocca's support in a heavily-Jackson friendly area. Another is votes being squeezed by Roemer's opponents on the left and right, those being Edwards and Livingston respectively. The reason that is always overlooked is just how brilliant an orator and leader Edwin Edwards was. Displaying his talent, Edwards spoke across the state, especially in regions that had voted the most for Jackson in 1984. This strategy, coupled with the issues listed above, propelled Edwin Edwards into first place in round one of voting.


Despite Edwards' shocking victory, many still believed that the remaining candidates would coalesce behind Roemer to bring down Edwards. One Shreveport reporter even wrote that "the only man who Edwards could beat in an election in Louisiana is Hitler".


In the following weeks, Livingston endorsed Roemer, but the important Democratic candidates, namely Tauzin and Brown, joined Edwards despite their original statements that they would vote for "Anyone but Edwards". Roemer's "Slay the Dragon" movement seemed to be losing steam among fellow Democrats. Just like round one, the runoff seemed to be a coin flip between the two candidates as Edwards accused Roemer of party-jumping and Roemer attacked Edwards' scandals.


The election had all of Louisiana watching. No one on either side could believe the outcome.







The man who had been deemed unelectable, the man who had once already been banished to political purgatory, the man who had been given no shot in hell to win had pulled off one of the more improbable political upsets in recent memory.


The Shreveport Journal said it best when they published the article on the morning of November 18th, "The Devil We Know".