Walter Mondale 1984 presidential campaign
The Walter Mondale 1984 presidential campaign began on February 21, 1983, when Walter Mondale, a former Minnesota senator and vice president of the United States, announced that he was running for president in a speech at the Minnesota State Capitol.[4] Mondale won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination after convincing Frank Lautenberg, a previously unpledged party delegate, to support him. Lautenberg's vote gave Mondale the 1,967 delegate votes needed to become the Democratic Party's nominee.[5] Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro, a U.S. representative from New York, as his running mate. Mondale lost the general election, held on November 6, 1984, to incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan in a landslide.[6] Had Mondale been elected, he would have been the first U.S. president from Minnesota and the first non-incumbent vice president since Richard Nixon to take office as president. Ferraro would also have been the country's first female vice president, and the first person from New York since Nelson Rockefeller to become vice president, whereas her husband, John Zaccaro, would also have been the country's first second gentleman.
Walter Mondale for President 1984
Walter Mondale
42nd Vice President of the United States
(1977–1981)
Geraldine Ferraro
U.S. Representative for New York's 9th district
(1979–1985)
Announced: February 21, 1983
Presumptive nominee: June 6, 1984
Official nominee: July 19, 1984
Lost election: November 6, 1984
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]
Maxine Isaacs (press secretary)
Tom Donilon (convention director)
Peter D. Hart (pollster)
John R. Reilly (senior advisor & VP Vetter)
Michael S. Berman (senior advisor & liaison with the Democratic National Committee)
Richard Moe (senior advisor)
Marty Kaplan (speechwriter)
Roy Spence (television adviser)
Pat Caddell (debate prep)[3]
America Needs a Change
Results[edit]
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]