A debate changes history

I have heard it claimed that Reagan received a massive boost from the 1 debate with Carter.

I also believe that Reagan got some notes of Carter's strategy for the debate.

WI someone had let Carter know what had happened before the debate and he changed strategy.

Is Carter winning the debate possible. Could Reagan have managed to lose the election in an unscripted debate?
 
if he performed as badly as he did in his first debate with Mondale. He would have been in trouble and perhaps lost.
 
Indeed, they did steal the Carter playbook. I wonder if someone running a Carter ad , playing the infamous "Ronald Reagan speaks out against Socialized Medicine" anti-Medicare record would change things and blunt the famous "There you go again." remark.
 
1980 is a perfect example of why you don't underestimate your opponent. The Carter campaign figured that Reagan was too radical to appeal to a majority of the American public. While they anticipated that Reagan would be the nominee as early as 1978-1979 (according to Carter's White House diaries) they failed to grasp his charisma and mastery of the stump speech. The debates were Carter's last opportunity to make up lost ground and hammer Reagan for being out of the mainstream. I agree that his anti-Medicare position would harm him quite a bit. But Carter's going to have to come up with something else to prevent Reagan from bringing the issue back to unsuccessful Carter Presidency.
 
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