In the 1988 Democratic Primary the Dukakis team is never discovered to be behind the attack ad on Joe Biden and Dukakis's campaign manager John Sasso is never forced to quit. Michael Dukakis never gets the flu before his second debate with George Bush Sr. and wins it. Dukakis has a better response to the Willie Horton question and never makes the embarrassing mistake of having pictures taken of him in a tank. He is also quicker to respond to the attack ads made against him by the Bush team and the Bush team takes heat for running a negative campaign.
In the years following the election of President Michael Dukakis his campaign manager John Sasso would come forward and admit to being the one behind the attack ads on Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Biden's campaign for the Democratic nomination for president had been making gains, and Sasso was quick to find a way to stop it. So he created attack ads against Biden which weren't truthful but did there job. Sasso would admit feeling guilty over potentially damaging the Senator's career and would privately apologize for doing so. For years many had wondered who was behind those ads, if they had found out Sasso's career would likely have been over before it truly started.