Who ran against Reagan in his second run?

[Skidmore]

I was buried in the ME then and didn't track on this. Just tracked toddlers around a bit. No names come to mind.

[GRLMGC]

1. Mondale nt

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Mondale.

[Eric J in MN]

Walter Mondale (nt)

nt

[T Town Jake]

Walter Mondale.

(n/t)

[Redneck Socialist]

3. For his second term?

Mondale

[Bjornsdotter]

4. Mondale n/t

[MazeRat7]

5. Mondale / Ferraro

[melnjones]

6. Hey let's all answer the same thing!

Mondale.

[catmother]

9. it's true. it was mondale and ferraro -- some people called

them fritz and tits.

[Selatius]

7. Would it really matter? Who could've defeated Ronald Reagan???

Does anyone here know who would have been more than capable of beating Ronald Reagan, the "Great Communicator"?

[mestup]

11. Absolutely no one. :-(

:(

[MisterP]

12. interestingly, most Americans agreed with Mondale on the issues,

but thought pastry brain was friendlier

[mestup]

14. (True.) It was our first "American Idol" presidential election

[Skidmore]

8. Thanks, all.

I did know that at some point. In Iran in the late 70s and early 80s, domestic US political news was hard to track.

[rzemanfl]

10. Fritz and Tits is what they were commonly called then. n/t

[11 Bravo]

13. It wasn't commonly used so much as it was used by common people.

[rzemanfl]

20. Aren't there more "common people" than the other kinds, and

wouldn't that make it commonly used?

[flowomo]

15. Let me be first! Let me be first! It was.... Mondale

do I get a star?

[Daylin Byak]

16. People voted for Regan for the wrong reasons

besides him being a hollywood actor. For example my uncle was at giant eagle a while back and he was talking to this lade in the checkout aisle and there were BSing about Ronald Regan and this lady had the nerve to say that she voted for Regan(both times) was because she like the way he talked.

pretty sad huh?

[emulatorloo]

17. I was in my Dems and Repubs are just the same period

Then Reagan got re-elected. And I was quickly disabused of that idiotic notion.

(I voted for Mondale anyway)

[Alexander]

18. People forget we would have had President Mondale

After that first debate he had with Reagan. Can you say "Madam Vice President"?

Reagan stammered and seemed confused. His numbers didn't add up and he couldn't act the part any more.

He tried saying "There you go again" (again) to Mondale, to much laughter among the audience. Mondale said (paraphrased) "Remember the last time you said that? You cut Medicare."

Mondale managed to put up a fairly good showing against "The Great Communicator", who was by then 73 years old. He had previously trailed in the polls by double-digits (largely due to promising to raising taxes, and Ferraro's husband, and running against Reagan, and Mondale's lack of charisma, and...you get the idea) but after the debate, he cut Reagan's lead in half, and the numbers got closer together and more endorsements and money came in for the Democrats.

Then the second debate happened.

It wasn't particularly memorable, apart from the questions about Reagan's age and health. He replied,

"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I will not, for political purposes, exploit my opponent's youth and inexperience."

If you saw the debate, and looked closely, you could see Mondale wiping a tear from his eye, as he was laughing from that remark. So were millions of other people.

The tear was not a tear of joy. He knew the election was over.

As Mondale said, later on, the people wanted to vote for Reagan, they were just looking for a hook.

Notice, though, that the Gipper didn't even bother to refer to Fritz by name (a tactic widely used by politicians), thus causing people like yourself to not remember who it was who ran against Reagan the second time.

I personally also wonder what history would've been like if Mondale had picked Dianne Feinstein instead.

[Daylin Byak]

19. Some people say that it

was Mondale's fault that he lost the election by picking a woman in gearldine ferraro as his running mate that it took him a step backwards in the election, forwards.

or maybe people were not ready for a women as VP in the 1980's

[Silverhair]

21. It wasn't that he picked a woman, it was the WAY he picked a woman.

He has said earlier that he would be willing to consider a woman for VP. Having said that, he had to pick a woman to prove it. At the time he pick Ferraro, he was badly behind in the polls, so it had all the look of a gimmick. People vote against political gimmicks.

America is ready for a woman VP, or even a POTUS, but it must be done from strength, not from weakness. If you are already ahead in the polls by comfortable margins, then if you pick a woman people will know that since you didn't have to do it, that you did it because you really thought she was the best choice. If you are behind and do it, it looks like you are desperate and you need someone to save your candidacy.

Kind of like the logic of, "Only Nixon can go to China".

[lumpy]

22. Reagan's campaign was very glitzy,

backed by tons of money. The glitter, the glamour, the waltz, sequins and gobs of confetti. It was probably the best staged campaign in history, a great well-run production. By comparison Mondale's campaign was really pretty tacky. I remember in one scenario while Mrs. Ferraro was speaking, not only did she continually adjust her ill-fitting reading glassed but I watched in horror as the uninspired banner behind the podium became detached and fell as though it was held by scotch tape. Non of this compelled me to vote for the B actor but I am convinced that people must have been intranced by the all the glitz and glamour, reminiscent of the Kennedy campaign and legacy. Big mistake. Fritz Mondale would have made the list as one of the better presidents.