May 18, 2009
May 18, 1987:
Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois announces he will seek the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.
First elected to the Senate in 1984, the bow-tie-wearing Simon will run as an unabashed liberal. Before he decided to run, he had been behind an effort to persuade Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-AR) to seek the presidency. When Bumpers said no, Simon began to think about his own candidacy.
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