In the second U.S. presidential debate, held by
U.C.L.A., the Democratic party nominee,
Michael Dukakis, is asked by journalist
Bernard Shaw of
CNN if he would support the
death penalty if his wife,
Kitty, were to be
raped and
murdered. Gov. Dukakis' reply, voicing his opposition to capital punishment in any and all circumstances, is later said to have been a major reason for the eventual failure of his caign for the
White House.
