Walter Mondale 1984 presidential campaign

Walter Mondale for President 1984
Campaign	1984 Democratic primaries 1984 U.S. presidential election
Candidate	Walter Mondale 42nd Vice President of the United States (1977–1981) Geraldine Ferraro U.S. Representative for New York's 9th district (1979–1985)
Affiliation	Democratic Party
Status	Announced: February 21, 1983 Presumptive nominee: June 6, 1984 Official nominee: July 19, 1984 Lost election: November 6, 1984
Key people	James A. Johnson (campaign chairman)[1] Bob Beckel (campaign manager) Paul Tully (deputy campaign manager) Bert Lance (general chairman; resigned on August 3, 1984)[2] Pat Caddell (debate prep)[3]
Slogan	America Needs a Change

The Walter Mondale 1984 presidential campaign began on February 21, 1983, when

A former

Mondale's opponents in the race for the Democratic nomination in 1984 included

Shortly before the 1984 Democratic National Convention, Mondale chose

Mondale picked three-term Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate on July 12, 1984, making her the first woman nominated for vice president by a major U.S. political party.^[15] The pick was intended to energize Mondale's campaign, which it did at first. This effect proved short-lived, however, as it was soon overshadowed by a scandal involving Ferraro's and her husband's finances.^[9]

Shortly before the general election, Mondale defended his choice of Ferraro as his running mate against Reagan, who had recently said that her nomination was not a major breaking point. Mondale replied that he chose Ferraro "because she's the best," adding that "She is far better prepared for her position than Mr. Reagan was when he was elected president of the United States."^[16]

Mondale officially accepted the Democratic Party's nomination at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. He delivered his acceptance speech on the night of July 19, 1984, climaxing that year's convention.^[17] During the speech, Mondale controversially vowed to raise taxes but claimed that Reagan would also do so: "He won't tell you. I just did."

Many observers were surprised by Mondale's decision to call for raising taxes on millions of voters openly during a presidential election, with Reagan campaign consultant Stuart Spencer telling CBS, "I've never heard a politician say he is going to raise taxes to 30 million, 40 million, 50 million people in a campaign."^[18] Some of Mondale's fellow Democrats also distanced themselves from his tax plan.^[19]

Campaign

During the general election, over a dozen political professionals doubted whether Mondale was appealing enough as a person to win the election and questioned his decision to spend considerable time campaigning in states that he had almost no chance of winning. Some of these professionals also told the New York Times that they were "amazed" at the sloppy preparation the campaign put into organizing events.^[20] In October 1984, shortly before the election, Mondale attempted to focus on trying to win California. That effort included spending over $3 million on television advertising there and flying Mondale in for a rally shortly thereafter. That was part of his strategy to try to win at least one big Sun Belt state.^[21]

In the general election, Mondale was endorsed by

Soon after the election, Democrats offered multiple different theories for why Mondale lost in a landslide: Jesse Jackson argued that the Democrats had pandered too much to white men, and Mondale himself said in February 1985 that he lost because of his inability to appear compelling on television. William Raspberry disagreed with Mondale's self-assessment and argued, "What cost Mondale was the perception that Reagan, while perhaps on the wrong side of a number of specific issues, generally stood for what most Americans stood for, while Mondale, though often on the right side of the specifics, didn't really stand for anything at all."^[24]

Writing in the Washington Post in March 1985, Mark Shields argued, "The single, biggest mistake made by candidate Mondale and his campaign was the failure to endorse and to embrace the Fair Tax plan of Sen. Bill Bradley (D–N.J.) and Rep. Dick Gephardt (D–Mo.)."^[25]

References