Help me here, someone? Wasn’t the original Horton ad run by a DemocRAT in the the demo-primary by one of the losers before it was ever thought of by the Repub’s? I can’t remember the details.
Oldplayer
I believe algore was the first to bring the subject of Willie Horton up in a debate with Dukakis. I don’t believe there any Willie Horton ads in the dem primary.
Horton in the 1988 presidential campaign...
The first person to mention the Massachusetts furlough program in the 1988 presidential campaign was Al Gore. During a debate at the Felt Forum sponsored by the New York Daily News, Gore took issue with the furlough program and brought up the Horton incident.
Republicans would pick up the Horton issue after Dukakis clinched the nomination.
from that unmentionable website.