Arkansas governor Bill Clinton brought national attention to the state with a long speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention endorsing Michael Dukakis . Some journalists suggested the speech was a threat to his ambitions ; Clinton defined it " a comedy of error , just one of those fluky things " . Clinton won the Democratic nomination for president the following cycle . Presenting himself as a " New Democrat " and using incumbent George H. W. Bush 's broken promise against him , Clinton won the 1992 presidential election ( 43.0 % of the vote ) against Republican Bush ( 37.4 % of the vote ) and billionaire populist Ross Perot , who ran as an independent ( 18.9 % of the vote )
1988 Democratic National Convention
1988 Democratic National Convention
Arkansas