Joe Biden presidential campaign, 1988

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Main article: United States presidential election, 1988

Main article: Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr., the Democratic United States Senator from Delaware since 1973, was a candidate for President of the United States in the 1988 United States presidential election.

Biden had been mentioned among possible Presidential contenders 1984, but he did not enter the presidential race that season. Nonetheless, he won one vote at that year's Democratic National Convention.

In 1987, at age of 45, Biden became one of the official candidates for Democratic nomination. Because of his experience and moderate image, he was initially mentioned as one of the frontrunners, and ran several television ads. However, Biden's campaign was short-lived.

Controversy emerged during Biden's candidacy ; he ended his presidential campaign on September 23, 1987 after being accused of plagiarism. Though he had correctly credited the original author in all speeches but one, the one where he failed to make mention of the originator was caught on video. In the video Biden is filmed repeating a stump speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock with only minor modifications. “Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go a university? Why is it that my wife . . . is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? . . . Is it because they didn't work hard? My ancestors who worked in the coal mines of northeast Pennsylvania and would come after 12 hours and play football for four hours? It's because they didn't have a platform on which to stand.” After Biden withdrew from the race it was learned that he had correctly credited Kinnock on other occasions. But in the Iowa speech that was recorded and distributed to reporters (with a parallel video of Kinnock) by aides to Michael Dukakis, the eventual nominee, he failed to do so. Dukakis fired John Sasso, his campaign manager and long-time Chief of Staff, but Biden's campaign could not recover.^[1][2][3]

As a part of this controversy, it was revealed that Biden had been involved in a similar incident during his first year at Syracuse University Law School in 1965. Biden initially received an “F” in an introductory class on legal methodology for writing a paper relying almost exclusively on a single Fordham Law Review article, which he had cited. Biden was allowed to repeat the course and passed with high marks.^[4] After ending his Presidential campaign Biden, requested the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Delaware Supreme Court review the issue. The Board concluded on December 21, 1987, after Biden had withdrawn, that the senator had not violated any rules, although Biden did not release this result until May 1989.^[5]

Because of this scandal, Biden quit the race early, in December 1987 and did not participate in the 1988 caucuses and primaries, in which Governor Michael Dukakis defeated Jesse Jackson, Senators Al Gore, Paul Martin Simon and other longer-standing contenders.

In 2004, Biden was mentioned frequently as a possible Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate, but he chose not to run.^{[citation needed]} Biden did declare his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic primaries, but struggled with low poll numbers against a younger field which included Senators Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, and former Senator John Edwards. Following sub-2% finishes in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, Biden and fellow Senator Chris Dodd both ended their presidential runs.

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