http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinio...-prep.html

My half-brother's dad (not related to me - he was my mom's first husband and I was a product of her second marriage) has an article in tomorrow's New York Times on when he got to portray Ronald Reagan in 1984 debate prep work for his friend Walter Mondale.

I was wondering how you were going to explain your brother's father

lol

(09-29-2012 08:04 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  I was wondering how you were going to explain your brother's father

lol

Especially knowing a little about him and another one of his brothers...

The first debate was in Louisville KY, and as the author correctly states, Mondale was widely (almost unanimously) judged to have "won" it. But while Mondale's performance was fine, it was really Reagan who "lost" the debate, because this was the occasion for Reagan's infamous rambling, talking-in-circles "answer" to the final question. I am not positive which member of the press had to do it -- I think it was Diane Sawyer -- but someone had to cut in to Reagan's soliloquy (which really didn't make any sense, anyway) and declare that he had gone over his allotted time. It was a "senior moment" if ever there was one, and for the first and only time in the last 3-4 months of the campaign, I think there was a little suspense about the final result. But Reagan seemed much more in control and at ease in the second debate, and that was that. He won the nationwide popular vote 58.8-40.6 and carried 49 states for a 525-13 victory in the Electoral College.

Mondale almost lost his home state of Minnesota in 1984 although he did barely win it (that and DC were the only two 'states' he won). So that means that Al Gore losing Tennessee is the only recent example of a major party candidate not carrying his home state.

What's interesting to me about the 2012 election is that by all accounts, Romney is going to lose his home state badly. I wouldn't be surprised if he loses Massachusetts by 15 pct. I'm not sure when the last time a major party candidate did that badly in his home state.

But you have to go back all the way to Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to find the last time a presidential winner didn't carry his home state. And don't ask me the last time a presidential winning party didn't carry either of their home states (another possibility this year with the Republicans).

Romney may very well win in November (with the normal swing states like Florida, Ohio, etc. carrying the difference like they have done recently). But if he does, he's probably going to be setting some modern records along the way in terms of futility in his home state. If he doesn't win, Scott Brown probably should look at Romney and realize there is no point in him running in a future election because presidential candidates from Massachusetts just don't cut it anymore since JFK.

(09-30-2012 01:56 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  The first debate was in Louisville KY, and as the author correctly states, Mondale was widely (almost unanimously) judged to have "won" it. But while Mondale's performance was fine, it was really Reagan who "lost" the debate, because this was the occasion for Reagan's infamous rambling, talking-in-circles "answer" to the final question. I am not positive which member of the press had to do it -- I think it was Diane Sawyer -- but someone had to cut in to Reagan's soliloquy (which really didn't make any sense, anyway) and declare that he had gone over his allotted time. It was a "senior moment" if ever there was one, and for the first and only time in the last 3-4 months of the campaign, I think there was a little suspense about the final result. But Reagan seemed much more in control and at ease in the second debate, and that was that. He won the nationwide popular vote 58.8-40.6 and carried 49 states for a 525-13 victory in the Electoral College.

FBO –tks for posting the article and your personal connection.

1984 was never in question for RR. There were 2 democrats running as in 1980, and the landslide for RR was never in doubt (like 72, 80, 84, and 88). Mondale never had a chance. Your half-brothers father did an amazing job though.

NG – good analysis of the debate and thanks for sharing. That was the only time there was even any doubt in the last few months.

That was also the same year that Mondale came out with the "where's the beef" line during the primary debates with Gary Hart (from Colorado). When I applied to Rice, I think I wrote the free-form essay on the application about the Hart campaign. Hart was a defense Hawk, social liberal, but it's hard for me to characterize his economic tendencies in retrospect. He championed the consumption tax back in the 80s ... he may have been among the Concord Coalition types if he didn't have a political meltdown. Hart's biggest legacy may have been as a lesson to Bill Clinton to be discrete.