Lee Atwater

Atwater managed George H. W. Bush's 1988 campaign, whose attacks on Michael Dukakis became a lasting reference point in negative campaigning. The racial implications of the Horton controversy are integral to that history. Attribution matters: the independent Horton advertisement and the Bush campaign's Revolving Door spot were separate productions, and the latter's credited makers were Roger Ailes and Dennis Frankenberry. Influence here is not an endorsement of the methods.