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Spaghetti Shenanigans Starring Riley

Into The Carterverse #12 (A Crowded Field)
Into The Carterverse

A Crowded Field


apologies, im not in the writing mood today so just a quick freshener
As was common in the 1980s the primary contest for the 1984 election started immediately after the midterms. The political capital needed for a presidential run took a long time to build up and candidates that announced later were assumed to have a lower chance of winning.

The Top 10 Candidates for the 1984 election that announced during 1983 were as follows

Walter Mondale
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Gary Hart

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George McGovern
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John Glenn
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Fritz Hollings
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Jesse Jackson
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Bob Dole

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Howard Baker
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Jack Kemp
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Pete Du Pont
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Pat Robertson
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The first Debates would soon begin and campaigning for the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire Primaries would start. But the attention of the nation was still mostly on the current administration.

There was a lack of serious political issues at immediate concern to the nation, rumours of carter wanting a New Energy secretary were starting to be detailed to the media. Shirley Chisolm had been unanimously confirmed as the next secretary of Education after agreeing to be nominated by Carter as a token of her influence on the Democratic party. The carter administration was still working on a permanent peace agreement between Iran and Iraq as Iran was considering resuming the war after being allowed time for their military strength to heal.

Part 12
 
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Into The Carterverse #13 ("Energy For the '80s")
Into The Carterverse

"Energy for the '80s"

While the primaries for 1984 were revving up the expectation was that carter had very little left to do in office. Although his first term was widely viewed as mediocre he had had a popular second term and with perfected skills of convincing congress he had been able to get almost everything through the democratic controlled congress. But secretly in the halls of the white house tension was building about Carters personal regret for the energy policies that had got the US closer to energy independence. Air pollution was much worse than in the 70s, smog from coal burning in the east had cut visibility in The eastern seaboard and New England. Americans were generally happy with falling gas prices because of domestic oil production in Alaska and workers and companies were happy with the extra economic growth. But as was becoming clearer the idea of global warming/climate change had been coming to a scientific consensus, it was real and caused by man. President Carter had become increasingly interested in alternative energy and wanted to use his remaining time in office to explore more clean energy investment.
After Months of hesitating President Carter had finally come to a decision. He had invited Secretary of Energy, Harley Staggers, for a private meeting to discuss his plans to change energy policies. Staggers came in in an pleasant mood meeting with carter outside of the oval office. According to Carter in a interview later in his life, he very simply thanked him for his service and then launched into a seminar like speech on his personal conflicts with the white house's energy policy. When he was finished Staggers looked at Carter for awhile and then nodded a discussion of the energy policy of the administration then ensued and when told about his possible replacement with Ken Helcher he was supposedly pleased. Staggers agreed to resign rather than be fired to save political face.

"It is clear now to me, that in order to move forward in energy policy our leadership needs to take action. As we approach the 21st century it is vital we embrace the new opportunities of energy with a open mind. I look forward to the efforts by the carter administration to take a new approach to energy in this country"
- Harley O Staggers, May 29th 1983

Carter nominated Ken Helcher for Secretary of Energy shortly after, Ken Helcher was not a massive green energy advocate, his career was more focused on protecting workers. However, Helcher had been persuaded to embrace the clean energy cause. Most Notable, when asked about the possible impact on existing coal and oil workers Helcher responded.

"I favour a energy strategy that protects the workers renewable energy would impact the most. Lets offer job opportunities in solar and wind in Appalachia before we harm the coal industry. There is massive potential for Wind and Solar in Appalachia, one estimate puts the amount of energy harnessed by solar in Appalachia at 1500 Megawatts and I certainly think that is worth investing in!"
- Ken Helcher, June 20th 1983

The move was not without criticisms, plenty of Republicans and Democrats alike ridiculed the sudden shift to "renewables." However, polls showed that most Americans were concerned about environmental protection and with 55% were "concerned" about Human emissions warming the planet, On the climate change issue Carter said...

"What I am seeking to do here is prepare the United States for the future of energy. In a few decades things will be different, this is not scary, this is not life changing. We will continue to use energy and recourses the same way we always have. The difference is that our energy usage will not be detrimental to the environment. 3 years ago we took a stand as a nation ready to power itself, now we stand as a nation ready to sustain our production of energy. We must start our process of producing energy for the '80s now, we will either lead, or fall behind."
- President Carter, June 23rd 1983

Ken Helcher was confirmed by the senate 83-15 with 2 non voting. With the confirmation of Helcher Carter began once again urging congress to take action on energy by increasing federal funding for wind and solar energy with a goal for the technologies to eventually be economical to choose solar and wind over coal and other energies. After some research and some conversation with nuclear physicist Alvin Weinberg Helcher became a fan of the idea of Thorium reactors eventually replacing uranium reactors due to material efficiency once costs could be managed appropriately.

With the confirmation of Helcher the Carter presidency entered its final stage. President Carter for the first time in years would finally feel confident in his cabinet for the first time in years.
 
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Into the Carterverse #14 (The Debates)
Into The Carterverse

The Debates

Before the end of the year and in the run-up to the Iowa Caucuses for both parties (21st January for Republicans 20th February for Democrats) there were 3 debates scheduled for both parties.

1st Republican Debate 26th March 1983 Detroit, Michigan

Due to the early entry of the republican candidates for president the decision was made that as the opposition party a debate must be held early to introduce the candidates to the nation. There were two moderators, one Republican one Democrat. The debate was staged as a several hour long forum for the candidates to bounce their ideas off each other and off of leadership from Republican and Democratic parties. This debate style gained great interest and it gained a large viewership of about 11 million. The debate was very long, running about 3 hours but the style stayed fast paced to cover an immense amount of issues: Foreign, Domestic, Economic, Social and Political. Dole was holding a small lead in the polls over senator Howard Baker. Howard Baker's skillful answering made him the winner of the debate, Representative Jack Kemp and Evangelist Pat Robertson who appealed to conservative Christians.

1st Democratic Debate 5th June 1983 Des Moines, Iowa

Walter Mondale was initially far and away the favourite to win the nomination even before he announced. Most people expected Mondale to run after being a popular and congressionally involved Vice President under a popular Administration. Mondale's job in the first debate was to defend himself against the different ideas of the Democratic Party that were being promoted by John Glenn and Gary Hart. The debate didn't make a large impact on public opinion but it did allow the smaller candidates to make a national stage for themselves. Gary Hart especially found himself running over time limits which led to him having the most speaking time, Mondale came a close second while John Glenn came third in speaking time. Gary Hart had a very slight increase in support while Mondale's slipped.

2nd Democratic Debate 3rd July 1983 Concord, New Hampshire

The second democratic debate was held in New Hampshire. Being the first Primary it was assumed that a large amount of reward in the form of momentum. The debate was promoted as crucial to deciding whether the primaries would be a coronation or a competition. Mondale appeared to stump his competitors on various issues until the topic of energy came up. While Glenn and McGovern gave convincing answers on the subject, when Mondale had further questioning on the subject he appeared to have a hard time holding middle ground between President Carter's record and his own policy. Straw polls taken after the debate saw Glenn as the winner of the debate. His Poll numbers improved while mondales decreased and the more minor candidates saw increases in popularity too.

2nd Republican Debate 15th August 1983, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

With Howard Baker closing in on Bob Dole in the polls the debate in Cedar Rapids was decisive for the republican party. In the debate Bob Dole seemed less energetic compared to the other candidates, Baker, Kemp and Robertson scored some decisive points against Dole leaving him flustered. Robertson used his unique style to his advantage. Kemp made a bold move by accusing both Howard Baker and Bob Dole of being a losing candidates

"In 1976 Bob dole was the losing choice for Vice President and just under 3 years ago Mr. Baker was the losing choice for Vice President, I cant seriously see us winning this time by making either of them our frontman"
- Jack Kemp, August 15th 1983 in the Republican debate


3rd Democratic Debate 25th September 1983 Burlington, Vermont
Glenn had been unable to capture the momentum he got from the 2nd debate and wished to make another attempt this time around. But it was mostly a last ditch effort for Gary Hart to make national traction as a candidate. During Harts outlining of his vision Walter Mondale mocked the lack of specifics by saying "Where's The Beef" based off of a recent Wendy's ad campaign, media coverage on the remark was too much for the Hart campaign to spin despite his arguably positive performance in the debate. Hollings got a small boost in the polls after increased TV ads in the south position Hollings as a candidate for Conservative Democrats.

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3rd Republican Debate 17th October 1983 Des Moines, Iowa

With Howard Baker as the new frontrunner and poll numbers seeming volatile as the final debate of the year, Des Moines was set to be an important showdown. The league of Women Voters as with the Democrats kept the candidates sitting in hopes of a calmer debate. This stayed true of A grueling campaign left Dole noticeably distant and tired. After Dole made a gaffe on Foreign Policy Kemp won the night by quipping back with "Did you screw your head on properly this morning Bob?" which was met with an eruption of laughter from the audience and left Dole with a frown for the rest of the night.

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The debates of 1983 shook up the polling landscape considerably

POLLING BEFORE 1984

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The nation scrambled to make sense of it all just weeks out from the first caucus

Part 14
 
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Into The Carterverse #15 (Iowa)
Into The Carterverse

Iowa
Just before the end of 1983 the republican party sponsored a straw poll as there was in 1979 to tell the possible levels of support for the republican candidates, The poll revealed something shocking.

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Televangelist Pat Robertson had garnered enough grassroots support with his highly religious rhetoric won the straw poll based off his heavy in person campaigning. His style of campaign was extremely unusual for the time due to how outwardly religious his rhetoric was.

"I want a time in America where husbands love their wives and wives love their husbands. And when men and women together raise law-abiding god-fearing children as citizens of the greatest nation on earth"
- Pat Robertson, 13th January 1984
Jack Kemp embodied classic conservatism with socially libertarian values by supporting Women, Minorities and Workers. This proved to be a popular coalition which allowed his support to grow. This clashed with Robertson's Christian Conservative wing but with a growing socially progressive wing due to embracing the ERA by key senators such as Millicent Fenwick and Muriel Siebert this was also a strength for Kemp.

No Such similar poll was taken for the Democratic Party but because of Mondale's upbringing on the border of Minnesota and Iowa alongside the image of Mondale being a Midwestern candidate it was assumed he was going to do well, with Glenn's support declining to McGovern and Jackson it was a race for Glenn to place well in Iowa to keep his campaign alive, Gary Hart also did some major campaigning focusing on Iowa instead of New Hampshire where Jackson was doing minor campaigning. Fritz Hollings was pre-occupied in the south and did not visit Iowa.

Two polls by the Des Moines register with a small polling sample attempted to paint a picture of the Night to come

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
MONDALE 40%
GLENN 22%
McGOVERN 20%
JACKSON 12%
HART 5%
HOLLINGS 1%
UNCOMITTED 5%

MONDALE +18

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
BAKER 35%
KEMP 35%
DOLE 25%
ROBERTSON 18%
DU PONT 7%

BAKER KEMP TIE

CARTER APPROVAL
APPROVE 60%
DISAPROVE 37%

APPROVE +32
Both Caucuses were on the 20th of February and as voters gathered into precincts to announce their vote the news networks were along for the ride to get a glimpse of presidential politics after Carter

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CBS COVERAGE OF CAMPAIGN '84 BEGINS

TONIGHT THE IOWA CACUSES

REPORTING FROM THE CIVIC CENTRE IN DES MOINES IOWA, HERE IS DAN RATHER
Dan Rather: "Good Evening, in the first in the nation Iowa Caucuses the first results are in tonight from real live voters making real live choices and we have results from both parties to report. First the Democrats, CBS estimates now projects that Walter Mondale is the 1st choice by far. Running second, a distant second, but a second that will please the candidate nevertheless Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. And a sigh of relief as John Glenn makes it to the top 3 but perhaps by a lesser vote than predicted. Coming in quickly now here's how the results translate into candidate strength."

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It was a good night for Walter Mondale and also a good night for George McGovern. A Disappointing night for John Glenn however lead to swirling speculation around his purpose in the race as the "Candidate for the Centre"

Mondale had a triumphant victory speech

"First of all, I want to thank you all for this incredible victory tonight, Because of our performance I have full confidence that we are racing full speed toward victory and the White House. You voted because you cared about the issues of a safer world, and a more competitive nation. With your vote tonight you secure America's future"
- Walter Mondale's Victory Speech, February 20th 1984
Rather: "As for the republicans well, we might be here a little longer to declare a victor, It is tight tight tight between Jack Kemp and Howard Baker right now with Pat Robertson sitting in 3rd, above Dole. With more even support for candidates its taking a bit longer than the democrats but here's what we've got."

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More than Expected support for Kemp Baker and Robertson pushed Dole into 4th place. The lead between Kemp and Baker switched a few times that night with them both declaring victory

"Together we can make America strong again, we can make America rich again and we can make America grow again, thank you and god bless you!"
- Jack Kemp's Iowa Speech, February 20th 1984

"Iowa said it tonight, now lets show the rest of the country that unity in the face of our challenges can solve our problems!"
- Howard Baker's Iowa Speech, February 20th 1984

With Robertson being a bit more... on the nose.

"Tonight is the beginning of the end of evil democratic tyranny over god's kingdom!"
- Pat Robertson's Iowa Speech, February 20th 1984

FINAL RESULTS


DEMOCRATIC

MONDALE: 44,074 (55.35%)
McGOVERN: 18,824 (23.64%)
GLENN: 9,428 (11.84%)
JACKSON: 4,706 (5.91%)
HOLLINGS: 183 (0.23%)
UNCOMMITED: 2,412 (3.03%)

REPUBLICAN
KEMP: 22,278 (34.84%)
BAKER: 22,150 (34.64%)
ROBERTSON: 12,194 (19.07%)
DOLE: 7,622 (11.92%)
DU PONT: 338 (0.53%)

PART 15
 
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2070 Wyoming Governor Election
(yo I hit a mental block writing about New Hampshire, ill figure out how to present the results in a bit but for now heres something dumb)

The 2070 Wyoming Gubernatorial Election was held on the first Saturday of November 2070 to elect the governor of Wyoming,

Starting in the 30s Wyoming had lurched left due to migration by young people to the suburbs of Cheyenne and Jackson as well as rural regions for low cost of living. What once was a reliably Republican state became close and then Democratic within 2 decades.

By the 70s the originally young influx had aged and the once rural democrats in the north west of the state had aged and grown more republican. in 2066 a Republican governor was elected after about 15 years of a Democratic state trifecta. Republicans in the state had been forced to the center, a far cry from their position 50 years earlier. Social issues such as Gay and Transgender rights or the legality in rare cases for late term abortion were far more universally accepted as Christianity played less and less of a role in American culture as the years went on. The issues of importance in Wyoming was the demise of traditional cattle farming to scientifically created meat factories and a high proportion of vegans and vegetarians. As ranching decreased in Wyoming the democratic government were starting significant amounts of logging projects, scientifically engineered trees suited to Wyoming's high altitude were planted on old ranch land to be logged later contributing to housing construction. The republican governor battled with the democratic state congress on the issue wanting to ensure that the ranchers losing jobs would be retrained via state sponsored programs but the democrats insisted that retraining usually highly educated ranchers wasn't a high priority for state money especially considering the large swathes of automation from AI that was occurring in the logging industry.

Governor Lock announced in '68 that he would only seek one term in order to focus on his family. State Senator Charlotte Lawrence-Cook was nominated to run on the republican ticket. The Democratic Nominee ended up being Representative Maverick Bakir of the north-western 3rd district who had moved to Wyoming from Los Angeles in the 2050s with her family. Bakir was somewhat young for a potential governor being a 1 term representative elected at the age of 26 she would be 28 on election day (Lawrence-Cook was 48). But both candidates expressed the want for Bakir's age to not be an issue of the campaign.

The campaign was very civil and comparably boring to some other contests in the country despite the predicted closeness of the race.

The election took place on a Saturday in accordance with national election law. the turnout was 95.6% up from the previous election, high turnout was spurred on by the state "failure to vote" fine which was introduced during the democratic trifecta in order to try raise voter turnout to maximum levels, a move soon copied by other states.

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Maverick Bakir was elected the next governor by a slim margin, She underperformed by much more than expected in her representative region in the north west but good performance from Casper, Cheyenne and Laramie drove her to a win. Further drops in support from other rural regions of young families in Sweetwater and Carbon counties were worrying the democrats as well. The state senate and house both retained a democratic Majority with little movement in either.
 
(yo I hit a mental block writing about New Hampshire, ill figure out how to present the results in a bit but for now heres something dumb)

The 2070 Wyoming Gubernatorial Election was held on the first Saturday of November 2070 to elect the governor of Wyoming,

Starting in the 30s Wyoming had lurched left due to migration by young people to the suburbs of Cheyenne and Jackson as well as rural regions for low cost of living. What once was a reliably Republican state became close and then Democratic within 2 decades.

By the 70s the originally young influx had aged and the once rural democrats in the north west of the state had aged and grown more republican. in 2066 a Republican governor was elected after about 15 years of a Democratic state trifecta. Republicans in the state had been forced to the center, a far cry from their position 50 years earlier. Social issues such as Gay and Transgender rights or the legality in rare cases for late term abortion were far more universally accepted as Christianity played less and less of a role in American culture as the years went on. The issues of importance in Wyoming was the demise of traditional cattle farming to scientifically created meat factories and a high proportion of vegans and vegetarians. As ranching decreased in Wyoming the democratic government were starting significant amounts of logging projects, scientifically engineered trees suited to Wyoming's high altitude were planted on old ranch land to be logged later contributing to housing construction. The republican governor battled with the democratic state congress on the issue wanting to ensure that the ranchers losing jobs would be retrained via state sponsored programs but the democrats insisted that retraining usually highly educated ranchers wasn't a high priority for state money especially considering the large swathes of automation from AI that was occurring in the logging industry.

Governor Lock announced in '68 that he would only seek one term in order to focus on his family. State Senator Charlotte Lawrence-Cook was nominated to run on the republican ticket. The Democratic Nominee ended up being Representative Maverick Bakir of the north-western 3rd district who had moved to Wyoming from Los Angeles in the 2050s with her family. Bakir was somewhat young for a potential governor being a 1 term representative elected at the age of 26 she would be 28 on election day (Lawrence-Cook was 48). But both candidates expressed the want for Bakir's age to not be an issue of the campaign.

The campaign was very civil and comparably boring to some other contests in the country despite the predicted closeness of the race.

The election took place on a Saturday in accordance with national election law. the turnout was 95.6% up from the previous election, high turnout was spurred on by the state "failure to vote" fine which was introduced during the democratic trifecta in order to try raise voter turnout to maximum levels, a move soon copied by other states.


Maverick Bakir was elected the next governor by a slim margin, She underperformed by much more than expected in her representative region in the north west but good performance from Casper, Cheyenne and Laramie drove her to a win. Further drops in support from other rural regions of young families in Sweetwater and Carbon counties were worrying the democrats as well. The state senate and house both retained a democratic Majority with little movement in either.
😮
 
Into The Carterverse #16 (A Developing Picture)
Into The Carterverse

A Developing Picture

The results of Iowa's crucial caucus had set up the course for things to come. A wide rejection of centrism and moderation in the Republican party in favour of more unusual and populist types. And on the democratic side the popular president had rubbed off on a popular vice president.

The unusually late start of the republican primaries and caucuses meant that there was much chaos in the aftermath of Iowa as contests got pushed into the same date. Pat Robertson edged out a win in New Hampshire as his brand became more and more well known across the nation. Bob Dole was relegated to pockets of support in the Midwest with small margins of victory but even these were stating to become difficult to upkeep for the campaign. Pete du Pont saw that he had little to no influence over the campaign trail and despite an okay showing in New Hampshire he dropped out shortly after. Baker slipped into 3rd place behind Robertson by the middle of the campaign.

Robertson had gained significant support in the south from his religious rhetoric, however, competition with Howard Baker in the region was keeping him behind Kemp in the delegate counts. Robertson tried to extend his campaign to the west and found limited success in gaining enough delegates in second place to narrow the lead of Jack Kemp quite a bit. However his unpopularity among the Northeastern (and Mormon) republicans trapped him in a disadvantageous position. Jack Kemp's success morphed his rhetoric to be more mainstream but it did signal the end of bob dole's campaign. Howard Baker performed well for a candidate in 3rd place and ended up winning 4 contests.

The 3 way competition had an awkward side effect of giving no-one a majority of pledged delegates in the long run. Because of Kemp's lead it had just kept being assumed that eventually he would gain a majority of 1205 delegates as Robertson was trapped in second. But at the end it was clear that the convention would be brokered. Most assumed Kemp would win a ballot vote from Dole and Baker's delegates but Robertson's success was cemented well throughout the course of the primaries and there was no dispute he now wielded a large amount of influence over his base.

Robertson was toying with the idea of demanding the vice presidency for himself or demanding a certain candidate, If not Robertson could certainly attempt another run if Kemp's was not successful. Robertson's harsh religious rhetoric was certainly not widely beloved and the Republican party was now split over whether to allow it or discourage it. The 1984 RNC was being set up as a face-off between two different visions of the future of the republican party.

84 Republican Primaries.png
Glenn's embarrassment in Iowa didn't relent, contest after contest he underperformed and underperformed again. Within television coverage of the primaries he was often reduced to a quick "Glenn, who again has failed to make the top 3" as his support gave way. John Glenn would end up suspending his campaign. Mondale stayed in front but it was almost as if McGovern and Jackson were nipping at his heels. While Gary Harts lack of national recognition killed his campaign.

McGovern's campaign wasn't too much different from his 1972 campaign in its positions and rhetoric and his good campaigning gave him decent levels of support in the northeast and Midwest. Jesse Jackson's campaign was more racial justice focused than McGovern's earning him high levels of Black and Minority support leading him to wins in the south and Hawaii. Fritz Hollings ended up winning his contest in South Carolina very narrowly which ended his campaign quickly leaving Mondale as the "Centrist Option."

Despite the best of efforts from the Left of the party McGovern and Jackson lost out by quite the margin to Walter Mondale who secured the nomination solidly by the end of the primary season, saving himself from embaressment as the sitting Vice President. He was open to the ideas of McGovern and Jackson after the primary season however and there were talks about a female vice presidential candiate in celebration of the ERA and the increasing amount of democratic women winning congressional primaries. Who the candidate was to be would have to wait until the DNC however.

1984 Dem Primary.png
Coming out of the primary Season Republicans looked significantly more divided than the democrats (due to all the hushing of the southern conservative democrats by the congressional leadership). A Popular president and a united party was making democrats gutsy, but the true race for election '84 was only just developing. Perhaps the democrats confidence was misplaced...

PART 16
 
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Into The Carterverse #17 (The Curious Case of Al Gore and the Compact Disc)
Into The Carterverse

The Curious Case of Al Gore and the Compact Disc


Warning: This installment contains lots of boring talk about audio and Al Gore, proceed at own risk

yfmPMnEyK7njr4EZYmvNDVUdazuP1gDyuLFhGeAnCqbipGkYvocCt9KfwySbYgghm5URSr0O9hTXualGNfR4BMnYwO14iOImex8OwcADf5tY7Wdikeu8BZnCxIazXBNHngVcxen5

In 1979 Phillips and Sony had teamed up to produce a digital audio format that would render all conventional record and tape systems obsolete. After delay from financial restraints release came in Japan and Europe in late 1983 with plans to release in America in early 1984. But one thing stood in the way, the RIAA.

The RIAA was sceptical about the launch of CD in the United States. Unlike Records and Tapes the format was lossless and did not degrade over time. After hearing reports that recordable CDs were in the works the RIAA were immediately worried about the possible future of record sales.

“You in Japan make wonderful technologies that produce brilliant sounds. But with your disregard for the decency of the record market impedes the creators of those sounds.”
  • President of the RIAA, Jay Berman

But what did this all have to do with politics? Well there was a race heating up in the democrats for the 1984 vice-presidential nominee and a few knew about their consideration for the role. It was said in the party higher ups that they wanted the eventual nominee to pick a woman (To celebrate the ERA) or a southerner (To shore up southern support and balance out a potentially liberal ticket.) One of the names brought up was Tennessee Representative Al Gore.

Gore was a southern moderate and the son of a former senator and recently had gotten invested in the record industry. Tipper Gore had gotten their daughter Karenna the self titled album from the staple of the New York Club Scene Madonna for Christmas 1983.

“I originally thought it was a fun dance album from New York and I thought Karinna may enjoy it, but this song “Burning Up” started playing and the lyrics of “Do you wanna see me down on my knees Or bending over backwards, now would you be pleased?” which I think is totally inappropriate for any child to hear. There were no lyrics in the fold out either. How are parents supposed to know what their children are listening to!?”
  • Tipper Gore regarding Music Censorship Law, April 14th 1984
Tipper Gore at the record Store.png
Tipper Gore holding a copy of Madonna (1983)
What started as a household conversation of listening material had evolved into representative gore getting invested in the drama of the RIAA and bringing the issues of music recording and ratings on music attention in congress. The CD finally launched in early 1984 in the USA and immediately the RIAA was asking congress to diminish sales by way of import taxes or ban the format in preparation for a recordable version of the format.

Representative Al Gore decided to take it upon himself to use the issue to propel himself onto the national scene which would help with his future image within the party and would give him an issue to campaign on in the upcoming 1984 Tennessee Senate Race against the presidential candidate Howard Baker.

Gore managed to gain congressional support from senators Sibert and Reagan and the eventual bill that was to be voted on formed to be a full ban on the format was planned for a vote in July.

Brought to a vote on July 15th, the Digital Audio Recording Replication act

The proposal to amend the bill to specify Lossless digital recordings came to fruition later in the year, a bill that Al Gore was notably not involved in due to the embarrassment of the previous legislation. It amended copyright law by specifying the maximum bitrate that a digital recording could be made at. Compact Disc used a 44.1khz sampling rate so lawmakers (After some listening tests) decided that the maximum sampling rate equipment sold in the US (for home use) could record at was 38khz. Although the copy was slightly muffled, it was enough to get the RIAA to shut up.

Because of the national embarrassment Gore would lose the primary election eventually to Jane Eskind allowing her to be the Democratic nominee against Baker in 1984 just as she had been in 1978. The attempt to ban the Compact Disc from the USA was seen as a complete overreaction and supposedly made consumers more prone to recording music. Congressional support for the RIAA collapsed. However, Tipper Gore would eventually successfully campaign for as part of her action group for rating stickers to be put on music covers similar to the MPA rating system, the difference being there were no purchasing limits for G PG and R for anyone under 15 , rather they were just suggestions, but for the rare X rating would require adult permission.

Phillips and Sony both ran into issues with a directly recordable CD format and decided that a digital tape based format would work best for the time being. Philips’ DCC and Sony’s DAT both began development immediately planning for a future format war.
 
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Into The Carterverse #18 (The Search for a Vice President)
Into The Carterverse

The Search for a Vice President


As expected, Jack Kemp would give concessions to Pat Robertson to gain the nomination in a brokered convention. Notably, Pat Robertson didn't endorse Jack Kemp until after the convention and republicans still took a few rounds of voting to nominate Kemp. For a vice president Pat Robertson wanted a hardline Christian conservative, although he wasn't exactly a hardline conservative this candidate ended up being Mississippi senator Thad Cochran.

Thad Cochran won election only in 1978 with a 3 way race. He worked well with democrats on elderly care legislation. He was not overtly Conservative but he was a little more to the right than the centrists in the senate. But he was southern and it was hoped he could connect well with voters in the south which would be crucial to Jack Kemps performance in November.

84 Rep Convention.png
It was no secret by now that the Democrats were wanting to have a Woman or Southern Vice Presidential pick on the ticket, the southerner part was simply to solicit southern votes but a Woman candidate was also in celebration of Jimmy Carter and the Democrat's support of the ERA. Candidates included Lloyd Bentsen, Sam Nunn and Bob Graham in the southern Category as well as Geraldine Ferraro, Elizabeth Holtzman, Dianne Feinstein and Martha Layne Collins (the only southern woman in consideration)

Nunn, Graham, Holtzman and Collins all were eventually pulled from consideration for various reasons for example, Elizabeth Holtzman wanted senate seniority rather than the vice presidential job.

The favourite candidate to emerge ended up being Geraldine Ferraro, while she was a womens rights pioneer she was also strongly opinionated in the areas of workers rights and related very well to working class conservatives in her seat. In her house election she ran on the slogan "Finally, a tough democrat" and had found prominence in the house caucus.

But when Walter Mondale asked Geraldine Ferraro she said no. There was to be a senate election in New York in 1986 and Geraldine Ferraro told Walter Mondale that she intended to take the seat from Muriel Siebert and that going through the course of a vice presidential campaign especially if Mondale were to lose could interfere with her true wants and needs for the future of her career.

Walter Mondale moved on to his next two options, Mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley and Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein. After a week of discussions he made the decision to ask Dianne Feinstein to be the Vice Presidential candidate to which she gladly accepted.

The reasons for Feinstein's acceptance of the role may be accredited to her further political ambition, she had considered running for governor and for senate before and decided that the vice presidency would be suitable for herself. Dianne Feinstein had dealt with the assassination of Harvey Milk in San Francisco and under her mayoralty she had overseen the restoration of the San Francisco cable car system. However, she was in a bit of a strange position, she was unpopular among the left for disregarding socially progressive legislation but was seen as a San Francisco liberal by the moderates and the south. She was a moderate, a notable exception was the issue of guns where she was a large advocate for banning several weapons. It was worried that she would not be as popular of a pick compared to the likes of Geraldine Ferraro but Mondale was confident that she could navigate herself and gain the favourability of voters as a collected and pragmatic Mayor and Politician.

" I looked for the best vice president, and I found her in Dianne Feinstein"
- Walter Mondale's statment on his vice presidential pick, July 1st 1984

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Both conventions translated into a large boost in the polls for both candidates. The poll boost for the democrats was the biggest, much different to 1980 when they shockingly didn't receive any. But any boost by the convention would not last until the actual election. The Polling after both conventions had worn off had Mondale ahead of Kemp by about 5%. The next step in campaign '84 would of course be the debates...
 
Into The Carterverse

The Search for a Vice President


As expected, Jack Kemp would give concessions to Pat Robertson to gain the nomination in a brokered convention. Notably, Pat Robertson didn't endorse Jack Kemp until after the convention and republicans still took a few rounds of voting to nominate Kemp. For a vice president Pat Robertson wanted a hardline Christian conservative, although he wasn't exactly a hardline conservative this candidate ended up being Mississippi senator Thad Cochran.

Thad Cochran won election only in 1978 with a 3 way race. He worked well with democrats on elderly care legislation. He was not overtly Conservative but he was a little more to the right than the centrists in the senate. But he was southern and it was hoped he could connect well with voters in the south which would be crucial to Jack Kemps performance in November.
It was no secret by now that the Democrats were wanting to have a Woman or Southern Vice Presidential pick on the ticket, the southerner part was simply to solicit southern votes but a Woman candidate was also in celebration of Jimmy Carter and the Democrat's support of the ERA. Candidates included Lloyd Bentsen, Sam Nunn and Bob Graham in the southern Category as well as Geraldine Ferraro, Elizabeth Holtzman, Dianne Feinstein and Martha Layne Collins (the only southern woman in consideration)

Nunn, Graham, Holtzman and Collins all were eventually pulled from consideration for various reasons for example, Elizabeth Holtzman wanted senate seniority rather than the vice presidential job.

The favourite candidate to emerge ended up being Geraldine Ferraro, while she was a womens rights pioneer she was also strongly opinionated in the areas of workers rights and related very well to working class conservatives in her seat. In her house election she ran on the slogan "Finally, a tough democrat" and had found prominence in the house caucus.

But when Walter Mondale asked Geraldine Ferraro she said no. There was to be a senate election in New York in 1986 and Geraldine Ferraro told Walter Mondale that she intended to take the seat from Muriel Siebert and that going through the course of a vice presidential campaign especially if Mondale were to lose could interfere with her true wants and needs for the future of her career.

Walter Mondale moved on to his next two options, Mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley and Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein. After a week of discussions he made the decision to ask Dianne Feinstein to be the Vice Presidential candidate to which she gladly accepted.

The reasons for Feinstein's acceptance of the role may be accredited to her further political ambition, she had considered running for governor and for senate before and decided that the vice presidency would be suitable for herself. Dianne Feinstein had dealt with the assassination of Harvey Milk in San Francisco and under her mayoralty she had overseen the restoration of the San Francisco cable car system. However, she was in a bit of a strange position, she was unpopular among the left for disregarding socially progressive legislation but was seen as a San Francisco liberal by the moderates and the south. She was a moderate, a notable exception was the issue of guns where she was a large advocate for banning several weapons. It was worried that she would not be as popular of a pick compared to the likes of Geraldine Ferraro but Mondale was confident that she could navigate herself and gain the favourability of voters as a collected and pragmatic Mayor and Politician.

" I looked for the best vice president, and I found her in Dianne Feinstein"
- Walter Mondale's statment on his vice presidential pick, July 1st 1984

View attachment 35226
Both conventions translated into a large boost in the polls for both candidates. The poll boost for the democrats was the biggest, much different to 1980 when they shockingly didn't receive any. But any boost by the convention would not last until the actual election. The Polling after both conventions had worn off had Mondale ahead of Kemp by about 5%. The next step in campaign '84 would of course be the debates...
Ew gross not voting for Mondale anymore
 
Into The Carterverse #19 (A Soviet of her Peers)
Into the Carterverse

A Soviet of her Peers

In 1982 soviet General Secretary Leonoid Brezhnev died, a conservative stabilizing force in the USSR who had increased the soviet nuclear arsenal and lead since 1964 died of a heart attack. He had struggled to hold onto power for months before his death but the governance of the nation in the early 80s had really been in the hands of a group of soviet officials.

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Leonoid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter engaging in a socialist fraternal kiss after signing SALT II, June 18 1979
There had been much discussion regarding his successor and there were a few heavyweights in the CPSU that were determined to be it. For one the Aging Mikhail Suslov had been part of leading the USSR for several months and had ambitions to share his ideas for introducing collective leadership and having been described as a "Nationalist" he was opposed to anti-Soviet moves by the eastern bloc while simultaneously voting against military action. But at the age of 79 he would die before Brezhnev. The new secretary general of the Soviet union would end up being the 67-year-old Yuri Andropov who was seen as being in opposition to aspects of Brezhnev's Premiership

The media coverage of Andropov's ascension was mostly negative and not a lot was known about him to western audiences. He did oversee some firing of officials previously close to Brezhnev. The carter administration's friendliness to the Soviet Union lead to increases in trading with the United States with grain after Andropov agreed to reduce the scale of the soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The two nations became increasingly interested in mutual reduction in military budget as in the USSR it made up about 250 Billion Dollars and in the US 315 Billion Dollars.

In February 1983 Adropov had suffered total Kidney Failure and would end up in hospital in August 1983 where he would remain for the rest of his Life. As this occurred his heath was slowly deteriorating and CPSU were starting to have deja vu as they searched for the best leader who would eventually replace Andropov. There was contemplation over the direction of the nation as after a long period of stagflation the ability of the government to still maintain the USSRs superpower status was of great concern. The ideal candidate after the health issues of Brezhnev and Andropov would have to be younger and be a strong personality to lead the USSR. Older candidates were ignored.

One person who was a possible general secretary was Mikhail Gorbechev. Early on he was anti-stain supporting the reforms by Nikita Khrushchev and Gorbechev had carried the reformist spirit of destalinization with him. He had a record of being pro-equality as he had gone out of his way to appoint female city and district leaders when he was the First Secretary of the regional Kosmol. He was committed to preserving socialist ideas in the Soviet Union and he was skeptical about international intervention. He floated ideas of democratisation which was controversial within the city.

The other main contender was much more well known in the USSR but not because of Politics. Valentina Tereshkova had cemented her place in history as the first woman in space. She had joined the communist party in 1962 and was pushed in a political direction against her will. She had held a variety of political offices after her space career and in 1974 she became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Politically she was not-surprisingly a fan of the space program. She was orthodox and believed strongly in Russian culture and identity. She supported democratization of the soviet system to some extent but overall supported a strong party influence and leadership. She was not supportive of war and was open to increased positive relations with the United States. Her Mix of ideals clashed with the traditional ideas of communisim and overall she may have been described as part of a Conservative wing.

Due to the preference within the party for a more authoritarian rule of the country The Central Committee chose Valentina Tereshkova as the general secretary of the Soviet Union. The process of picking a new leader had shown ideological divisions in the party to the world and to the public.

In the succeeding election the next month the CPSU lost seats to Bolshevik aligned independents as a newfound variety of politics inspired people to go to the extra effort of filling out a ballot the elected independents were still a minority but the CPSU had the smallest share of seats in the Supreme Soviet it had ever obtained. The independents included a few hardliner socialist and communist politicians and activists. The election also saw more female candidates be chosen by the CPSU as candidates at the demands of Tereshkova herself.

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In the west the achievement of the first female General Secretary was noted on and a surprising amount of congratulations was given to Tereshkova from western leaders but internally with the power she had Tereshkova was slowly starting to wield the power she had been given forming the beginning of what would become one of the strongest cults of personality around a leader in the Soviet Union, portraying her as a saviour that would bring stability and prosperity to the Soviet Union. Only time would tell how it was to play out.
 
Into The Carterverse #20 The End of the Campaign Trail
Into The Carterverse

The end of the campaign trail

After an Uneventful period of campaigning succeeding the conventions Americans were treated to a peaceful election period. The polls did a bit of fluctuating but Mondale would generally hold a lead over Kemp. Being vice president to a popular president was a constant help on the trail, the selection of Dianne Feinstein was shown in polls to help Mondale with female voters but perhaps not as much as expected. One group that was showing improvement for Kemp were white voters which jimmy carter had won in 1980 but were generally trending republican, especially in the deep south. Democrats had never won the presidency without Texas which influenced them to focus on the state while states like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee were going to be closer than 1980, that's if Mondale even won them.
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Jimmy Carter at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, July 28th 1984
Before the debates the polls had shown kemp with a slight lead after some crucial campaigning,

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Mondale challanged Kemp to 3 debates which were argeeed to and arranged, he thought that more debates would be better for his campaign. The vice presidential debate was renewed again.

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Kemp and Mondale at the first Presidential Debate, September 30th 1984
A Series of quotes from the 4 debates are as follows on various issues:

Environment (Debate 1)
"Over the past 4 years the Carter administration has prepared America for an environmentally sustainable future and I am excited about the future opportunities that can arise from a more environmentally focused future, things like less pollution and cheaper energy are things we can all agree on"
- Mondale

"I am at heart an environmentalist, a kemp administration would be interested in supporting the development of these technologies and eventually when they are economically profitable putting in the provisions to cut coal from the national energy diet. I will remind Americans however, that its this democratic party which once significantly increased our carbon emissions in an overblown kneejerk reaction to an energy crisis."
- Kemp


While Mondale's response was seen as measured, Kemp's alienated Appalachia by directly mentioning coal and criticizing the popular handling of the energy crisis was unpopular.

Taxation (Debate 1)

"We have the oppotunity to make sure that those who have the corporate power have the left over resources from tax cuts to further invest in the rest of society, I think there has been much scaremongering from the democrats on this. We're in surplus at the moment [1] and we can responsibly cut taxes from our revenue because of it. A rising tide lifts all boats."
- Kemp

"It would be irresponsible in our pretty good position to consider any major cuts to taxes, the verdict from economists is too varied and the Republican plan focuses on cutting from the rich rather than the working class which just seems weird. And just to add to that just a reminder, Mr Kemp for a long time has been supportive of ideas such as a flat tax which is blatantly unfair on the working poor of this country. "
- Mondale


Kemps statement reaffirmed his support of economic theories such as "supply-side economics" which at the time was relatively untested but somewhat popular among the public. Mondale's blunt attack against Kemp's economics was seen as harsh but did did encourage voters to look into kemp's economic history.

Women's Rights (Debate 1&VP)

"I am proud to have a woman on my presidential ticket but most of all I am proud to have Dianne Feinstein on my ticket, we should not degrade the choice of her down to her sex because doing so would be reducing her to being only a woman when in fact she is a well versed mayor with leadership skills that America needs from a Vice President"
- Mondale

"A Kemp administration would do all in its power to protect the status of women in our country, I have strongly supported women's rights over my career as a part of personal liberty."
- Kemp

"I'm really happy that women now have extra legal protections thanks to the ERA and that they're slowly having a bigger role in government but I think some Americans are concerned that we are pushing too radically for progress at the moment which may lead to a breakdown in a societal structure that has served us for generations"
- Cochran

"I won't pretend im not proud to be the first woman on a major party ticket as well as the first woman mayor of San Francisco but I echo the words of Walter Mondale when I say I wish to run on my record as a mayor rather than my record as a woman."
- Feinstein


Thad Cochran's comments were shocking to women voters and actually minorly hurt Kemp's polling numbers after the debate. Kemp's comments however did annoy a few hardline conservatives as he emphasized his Libertarian views on social issues. Feinstein's response was uninspiring to women's groups but was broadly met with support.

The Application of the ERA to Gay Rights (VP Debate)

"As Mayor I vetoed the legislation for insurance rights for homosexuals because it was plainly a badly written and vague bill and I just could not accept it passing. I'm unsure about whether there is a legal argument for extending these rights to homosexuals for now that is an issue for the courts, but I urge Americans to treat one another with respect and an open mind."
- Feinstein

"If the ERA is expanded to include homosexuals America may see things such as Homosexual Marriage which I do not think most Americans will accept. It concerns me that the sanctity of marriage is suddenly under question by some. Until recently we were told that it was a mental disorder so what's changed?"
- Cochran


Thad Cochran's views echoed those of the religious right in America and differed a lot from Jack Kemp who supported some rights for Gay Americans. Walter Mondale's position was pretty unclear compared to Dianne Feinstein who managed to alienate the high Gay population of San Francisco in her mayoral term, it was rumoured at the time that she was not sympathetic to the cause of Gay Rights.

Overall the debates fared well for Mondale which lead to him opening up a lead over Kemp, his lead would dramatically shrink just before election day after the effect of the debates had worn off. All of a sudden the race was once again close. Democrats hadn't won 3 elections in a row since FDR and history looked like it was stacked against them as presidential control between the two parties had varied every 8 years since the 1960 election. But after the popular Carter presidency, Mondale had a shot of breaking that streak.

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[1] The budgets of the otl carter presidency predicted surplus by 1981 or so, this would have been set back by the aggressive strategy in the energy crisis but it would probably eventuate by 1984
 
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Into the Carterverse #21 (Election 84... and the morning after)
Into the Carterverse

Election 84... and the morning after
Americans all around the country tuned in to watch election night unfold. Unlike 1980, this time there was actually some doubt over who would win.

CBS News

"CBS News Coverage of Campaign '84 Election Night continues!"

"This portion sponsored by SUN energy, 'Where there's SUN there's energy.
By AT&T we are reaching out in new directions!
And by General Motors, extra time and extra effort and attention to every detail, GM is committed to excellence"

"And now from CBS News headquarters in New York again is Dan Rather"

Dan Rather: "Good evening again. We're glad you're with us. Historic night tonight as we see who the united states has elected to be our president after Jimmy Carter. Our early assumptions from our CBS News-New York Times interviews with voters around the nation show that this is still on track to be anyone's night tonight."

"It's 7pm in the east now and there are two states already where most of the polls have closed, that is Indiana and Kentucky. We may want to keep an eye on Kentucky as it could show us which candidate may win depending on the results. At this time both states are too close to call. At this hour polls have just closed in the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. Of those 7 states we can project 2. We project that Georgia Goes for Walter Mondale , the presidents popularity would have helped him there as well as that New Hampshire goes for Jack Kemp, a reliably republican state for some time and this time is no different"

Election night chugged along at a reasonable pace

"Indiana votes for Jack Kemp"
Pretty soon it became clear to democrats that the sweep of the south that jimmy carter managed to pull off would not happen for Walter Mondale

"Virginia goes to Jack Kemp"
"Florida tonight goes for Jack Kemp"
"South Carolina falls into the Kemp column"

Democrats had no reason to lose hope however, their coalition seemed to be turning out for them

"Kentucky goes for Walter Mondale"
"West Virginia is solidly in the Mondale colors tonight"
"As too is the District of Columbia"
"Massachusetts goes for Mondale"
"And for Mondale Pennsylvania votes tonight"

As polls closed it seemed that neither candidate could build up a lead without it being quickly overtaken after the next state call. What could be deduced in terms of "Who was voting for who" was as follows. Appalachian workers again voted democrat, Mondale's rural support did slip but not by a damaging amount. Mondale was popular among urban and rural women, Dianne Feinstein's campaign for the vice presidency was aimed directly at women and it seemed to have paid off. Kemp was winning a plurality of the white vote, gaining it off of the democrats. Suburbs voted mostly for Kemp; his strange brand of conservative libertarianism seemed to appeal well to them.

The mid-west voted mostly for Mondale, as Mondale was from the region he was the most appealing candidate, winning satisfactory amounts of farmers. The north-east was pretty split. Mondale managed to win New York which would've hurt Jack Kemp considering it was his Home State. While Mondale won Texas and Georgia, most of the south voted for Kemp. Jimmy carter had campaigned for Mondale down there but his relatively liberal ideas just didn't appeal as well as Carter. It is important to note, however, that no democrat had ever won the white house without Texas and when Mondale won it he must've felt relieved. Ohio would take a long time to be declared, No republican had ever won without it.


Finally, election night turned to the west. Everything was coming in as expected (Kemp won most of the states with Oregon and California sticking it out) when in a shock, despite having selected a broadly appealing California Mayor as his running mate California voted for Jack Kemp.

At the time Mondale was sitting on 234 electoral votes and because they expected to win California's 47 votes, camp Mondale was practically ready to declare victory. When it was clear that they had lost the state election night became much more tense.

For Kemp things started to become uneasy when thanks to bleedover from Appalachian support, Mondale won Ohio.

Rather: And with the polls closing in Alaska we can declare that Kemp has flipped the state and he will carry Alaska and it's 3 electoral votes tonight...
When viewers were presented with the electoral map there was this splodge of white that refused to be called for either side and at this point the whole election would come down to it...

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Rather: After 6 hours of counting Mississippi and its 7 electoral votes are still too close to call, as you can see there in grey, or in white if you are watching in Black & White. Mondale in Red or Light Gray is leading with 268 electoral college votes and Kemp in Blue or Dark Gray is on 263. Folks we may be in the midst of a nail biter election
Mississippi had traditionally been a very conservative state, in 1972 it gave Richard Nixon a 58% margin of victory. However in this election Mondale had the help of senator Marian Wright Edelman to communicate his policies to the black electorate. Being Thad Cochran's home state, Kemp did not do too much campaigning in Mississippi assuming that the white voters would give him a victory. However, with Edelman's pressure on the governor over the past 2 years to improve the accessibility of voting for African-Americans in Mississippi as well as spending huge swathes of time personally campaigning for Mondale she helped boost African American turnout which heavily counteracted the loss of some white support.

However, the state was extremely close in the count on election night. How close? The count at about 3am EST on election night was as follows


JACK KEMP: 460,196 votes (48.97%)
WALTER MONDALE: 460,155 votes (48.96%)
TOTAL VOTES: 939,816 (99.97% in)
Networks were unable to predict if the last 200 or so votes, mainly from Jackson, would be enough to let Mondale gain a lead over Jack Kemp. because of the time the ballot counters were allowed some rest just before Mississippi could finish its counting.

The networks were forced to finish their election night coverage with no clear winner, Both the Kemp and Mondale campaigns were calling for a recount due to the closeness of the state with both candidates accepting that there would not be a definitive result for at least a few more days as ballots were counted and recounted. It was really anyone's guess who would win.

The networks that night coined a phrase that would be repeated over the next few days "Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi..."

In the morning the nation was confronted with the reality that no-one had won the previous night.. an interesting few days were about to follow for election '84.
 
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Into The Carterverse #22 (Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi...)
Into the Carterverse

Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi...

The United States woke up on November 7th with a sort of election hangover. People who had gone to sleep expecting to wake up with a new president were shocked with the news that barely 44 votes separated the two candidates in the unexpected crucial state of Mississippi. Both campaigns declared their confidence that the remaining votes from Hinds County would be in their favour. When counting restarted it took them mere minutes to finish counting the remaining 246 ballots giving Mondale a narrow lead overall of a few tens of votes. This flip was pinned down to Mondale's better than expected performance in the suburban areas of Jackson.

According to Mississippi state law there was to already be a hand recount of all ballots. The Kemp campaign claimed that the race was too close to be called still and that Mondale's thin lead could be overcome. Ballot counters across the entire state were called back to hand recount every ballot. Extra scrutiny of ballots meant that the process took longer than on election night and was complete by the afternoon of the 8th of November. The results only widened Mondale's lead to about 50, a narrow lead but the widening of the margin lead to an assumption that no matter if there was another recount that Mondale would still win the state.

Kemp announced that he would make a speech that evening, many in the media expected it to be a concession speech but to their surprise he announced that he was seeking a further hand recount of Hinds county only. This was seen as a petulant refusal to concede by many but Kemp reiterated that because the margin was so close that a further recount was needed and necessary to ensure the correct winner would win. Thad Cochran was also pushing for a recount of Hinds county, embarrassed that he was on the verge of losing his home state for his ticket.

The 3rd recount of the ballots in Hinds county produced another widened margin for Walter Mondale setting the overall state margin of 71 votes for Walter Mondale. Finally, on the 9th of November 1984, Jack Kemp finally conceded Mississippi to Walter Mondale and therefore the election making Walter Mondale the 40th President of the United states. Despite political affiliation, most were happy to finally hear the news that the election was over.

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WALTER MONDALE HAS WON THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI CROSSING THE 270 ELECTORAL VOTE MARK AND BECOMING PRESIDENT-ELECT
Walter Mondale's win was put down to his strength in urban areas despite losing support of much of the rural south. His midwestern origin gave him comfortable margins in states like Missouri and Illinois. Kemp's strong performance in the south showed the Republicans that conservatism would appeal to the south for now but Kemp was still criticized for his personality and rhetoric which was decided cost him the election.

1984 was also historic for the election of the first female vice president. Despite her lack of appeal to feminist groups she would forever be known as the first. The 1980s once again continued to show an increase in the presence of women in the US government.


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In the House the Democrats gained alot of seats they lost at the midterms keeping a massive majority in the House. General competency and the lack of scandal during Trifecta made congress unusally popular and so the Democrats kept their bulletproof Majority for Mondales first term.

1984 House Election.png

The same was true in the Senate where Democrats, They expanded their large majority. Howard Baker the Republican Leader was retiring after the election due to unknown further ambitions. His 1984 run for president had exhausted his political capital and he was now flirting with a future of business. The 1984 election also saw the election for 4 new women to the senate. Jane Eskind in Tennessee, Lila Cockrell in Texas, Joan Growe in Minnesota and Nancy Dick in Colorado.

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For the first time since FDR a democrat had won the presidency for a 3rd term in a row. Mondale would enter the presidency piggybacking off of the popular Jimmy Carter and with a strong Democratic Trifecta ready to take on the reigns of the country. The Republicans would go back to the drawing board...
 
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Into the Carterverse

Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi...

The United States woke up on November 7th with a sort of election hangover. People who had gone to sleep expecting to wake up with a new president were shocked with the news that barely 44 votes separated the two candidates in the unexpected crucial state of Mississippi. Both campaigns declared their confidence that the remaining votes from Hinds County would be in their favour. When counting restarted it took them mere minutes to finish counting the remaining 246 ballots giving Mondale a narrow lead overall of a few tens of votes. This flip was pinned down to Mondale's better than expected performance in the suburban areas of Jackson.

According to Mississippi state law there was to already be a hand recount of all ballots. The Kemp campaign claimed that the race was too close to be called still and that Mondale's thin lead could be overcome. Ballot counters across the entire state were called back to hand recount every ballot. Extra scrutiny of ballots meant that the process took longer than on election night and was complete by the afternoon of the 8th of November. The results only widened Mondale's lead to about 50, a narrow lead but the widening of the margin lead to an assumption that no matter if there was another recount that Mondale would still win the state.

Kemp announced that he would make a speech that evening, many in the media expected it to be a concession speech but to their surprise he announced that he was seeking a further hand recount of Hinds county only. This was seen as a petulant refusal to concede by many but Kemp reiterated that because the margin was so close that a further recount was needed and necessary to ensure the correct winner would win. Thad Cochran was also pushing for a recount of Hinds county, embarrassed that he was on the verge of losing his home state for his ticket.

The 3rd recount of the ballots in Hinds county produced another widened margin for Walter Mondale setting the overall state margin of 71 votes for Walter Mondale. Finally, on the 9th of November 1984, Jack Kemp finally conceded Mississippi to Walter Mondale and therefore the election making Walter Mondale the 40th President of the United states. Despite political affiliation, most were happy to finally hear the news that the election was over.

WALTER MONDALE HAS WON THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI CROSSING THE 270 ELECTORAL VOTE MARK AND BECOMING PRESIDENT-ELECT
Walter Mondale's win was put down to his strength in urban areas despite losing support of much of the rural south. His midwestern origin gave him comfortable margins in states like Missouri and Illinois. Kemp's strong performance in the south showed the Republicans that conservatism would appeal to the south for now but Kemp was still criticized for his personality and rhetoric which was decided cost him the election.

1984 was also historic for the election of the first female vice president. Despite her lack of appeal to feminist groups she would forever be known as the first. The 1980s once again continued to show an increase in the presence of women in the US government.

View attachment 38299


View attachment 38298

In the House the Democrats gained alot of seats they lost at the midterms keeping a massive majority in the House. General competency and the lack of scandal during Trifecta made congress unusally popular and so the Democrats kept their bulletproof Majority for Mondales first term.

View attachment 38300

The same was true in the Senate where Democrats, They expanded their large majority. Howard Baker the Republican Leader was retiring after the election due to unknown further ambitions. His 1984 run for president had exhausted his political capital and he was now flirting with a future of business. The 1984 election also saw the election for 4 new women to the senate. Jane Eskind in Tennessee, Lila Cockrell in Texas, Joan Growe in Minnesota and Nancy Dick in Colorado.

View attachment 38301


View attachment 38302


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View attachment 38304
For the first time since FDR a democrat had won the presidency for a 3rd term in a row. Mondale would enter the presidency piggybacking off of the popular Jimmy Carter and with a strong Democratic Trifecta ready to take on the reigns of the country. The Republicans would go back to the drawing board...
Mondale!!
 
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