In their infinite wisdom the Superdelegates chose Walter Mondale in 1984 over Gary Hart

[bluestateguy]

The Superdelegates were created to provide for wise judgment over that of the supposedly fanatical primary voters.

In 1984 Gary Hart won more primaries and caucuses that Walter Mondale, and while Mondale had a plurality of delegates going into the convention, he didn't have enough to clinch.

So in their brilliant wisdom, they chose this formidable ticket:



Gary Hart would have lost to Reagan too, but maybe he would have won a few more states and avoided an outright embarrassment.

[book_worm]

1. Mondale was a good man and an outstanding liberal and really didn't need

super delegates to win. While Hart had a good start after Iowa, his momentum slowed when Mondale began the "Where's the Beef" ad questioning where Hart stood on issues. By late May Mondale led Hart 1,564-941 delegates, a significant lead without super delegates. By the end California primary (which Hart won) Mondale was only 40 delegates short of being nominated. At the convention itself the final totals were:
Mondale: 2,191
Hart: 1,200
Jackson: 485

With nearly a 1000 delegate lead Mondale would have surely been the nominee even without super delegates. Mondale won the most delegates by winning key states like New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas, ect. which is the HRC strategy now, the only exception is that Mondale did better in these states than Clinton is now and Obama has done better than Hart.

Mondale also picked his running mate, Ferarro, prior to the convention because he had locked up the nomination and was able to do so.

As to whether Hart would have done better than Mondale? perhaps he would have won 2 or 3 more states but I doubt he would have done much better. Mondale got 41% of the vote which is only 2-points less than what Bill Clinton did in 1992 in winning the presidency (thanks to Ross Perot).

[PurityOfEssence]

2. That one still sticks in my craw

I actually think he could have won; Reagan wasn't such a great god-king then...

[THUNDER HANDS]

3. just out of curiosity (I was too young) why did Mondale pick Ferraro as his running mate?

and not Hart or Jackson?

[book_worm]

6. Hart didn't want it. Jackson would have been too much of a risk

at that time due to his "hymie-town" remark. The leading candidates for Mondale were 1) Ferarro 2) Diane Feinstein 3) Lloyd Bentsen 4) Mayor Tom Bradley of LA 5) Michael Dukakis.

Mondale felt he needed to do something to really stir up the race and decided to go with a woman and initially it helped. Newsweek had Reagan ahead of Mondale only by 48-46 after the Ferraro nomination, but Fritz blundered in his speech of acceptance by stating he would raise taxes and was being honest saying so. He never recovered.

[Jersey Devil]

4. Hart may have won more primaries & caucuses but Mondale had more delegates

that were pledged to him before the convention and before the superdelegates.

[CTyankee]

5. The superdelegates is a bad idea, IMO.

Either we trust the folks who vote in the primaries or we don't. I can't see another more democratic way of choosing our candidate than the primary process. And we should remember that the primary process was a method chosen by a grass roots effort to shut down the smoke filled room aspect of the big conventions. The whole idea was to bring democracy in our party into the open air. Ithink some people on DU don't know that. I do, because I lived it, back in the day...

[Vinca]

7. Gary Hart torpedoed his chances on the Monkey Business.

Everyone knew it. Selecting Mondale wasn't a stretch for the super delegates.

[bluestateguy]

8. True, but that was in the 1988 cycle

he would have lost to Reagan more along the lines of Dukakis in 1988: 10 states and 46% of the vote.

[Vinca]

9. You're right . . . it's all becoming a blur. :)