Sorry about the delay, I went on vacation and decided the vacation would include a vacation from my hobbies. The next chapter will be out either today or tomorrow.
Give Peace A Chance: The Presidency of Eugene McCarthy
- Thread starter The Lethargic Lett
- Start date
Chapter Forty-Five - Part One - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
At the beginning of 1980, it seemed like things were shaping up to be a Democratic year. The Iranian Revolution and OAPEC’s oil embargo shifted the Middle East further out of the United States’ geopolitical sphere under the Republicans’ watch, and the ensuing Oil Crisis spiked domestic fuel prices and incited a market instability that finally killed the Bretton Woods System. In another large field, Democrats jockeyed to be the nominee to oppose President Jim Rhodes, with Speaker of the House Mo Udall leading the pack, and eventually winning the nomination. Unfortunately for the Democrats, however, the political scene had changed dramatically from the start of the year to the conclusions of both parties’ primaries by mid-August. Rhodes’ heavy energy subsidies and deregulation of the fossil fuel industry had been seemingly vindicated. The surplus petroleum purchased by the US government in the 1979 domestic oil glut had mitigated the worst of the Oil Crisis, and a Strategic Petroleum Reserve was formalized shortly thereafter [1]. Likewise, Rhodes had been able to handle the end of the Bretton Woods System by switching the US from a partial gold standard to a floating currency exchange, and had bandaged both crises by ramming through additional pork barrel legislation paid for by federal bonds.
Coming out of the Democratic Convention, the election would be difficult but not impossible for the Udall ticket.
Matters were made worse by the Eagleton dilemma.
Chosen as a seemingly ideal compromise candidate between the disparate Neoconservative, Liberal-New Left, and Evangelical Left factions of the Democratic Party, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri had quickly and enthusiastically passed through the vetting and nominating process. What came as a revelation was that Eagleton had been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder in the past, and had previously used electroshock therapy to improve his mental well-being. A media circus quickly developed around the subject, with Udall having to fend off questions of his judgement selecting a running mate who could hypothetically be a mentally unstable President. Udall decided that the best course of action was to stand fast and show commitment; under the consideration that a clear majority of voters polled stated that Eagleton’s past treatments wouldn’t affect their vote, Udall concluded it would be more damaging to replace him than not to [2]. Udall was also able to benefit from media coverage focused on Paul Laxalt, the new Republican Vice Presidential nominee. Laxalt was a historic first in that he had actively run for Vice President through what existed of the Vice Presidential primary system. He was also the first new Republican Vice Presidential nominee in an incumbent election year since 1872 (most recently on the Democratic side, McCarthy had replaced John Connally with Edmund Muskie in 1972).
Vice Presidential nominee Tom Eagleton, seen here campaigning with former Senator George McGovern, was kept on Mo Udall's Democratic ticket, despite revelations that he had been treated for clinical depression in the past.
As for the campaign itself, it quickly developed into a referendum on guaranteed employment. Rhodes campaigned almost entirely on Jobs For America and his guaranteed employment proposals, and promised to stimulate the economy through continued public works projects and investments into the energy sector. As usual, Rhodes avoided specifics, but promised that he would be able to create a budget surplus in his second term by replacing the majority of social security spending and replacing it with the ostensibly much cheaper Jobs For America. Rhodes also called for small business grants to be issued in tandem with Jobs For America, to encourage the newly-employed to eventually start their own enterprises, and move from ‘public employment’ to ‘private employment.’ Taking his foreign policy cues word-for-word from Secretary of State Nixon’s memos and suggestions, Rhodes promised that the situation in the Middle East would soon be back in control through economic sanctions on the Islamic Socialist Republic of Iran, and through greater cooperation with regional US allies, such as Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. At Nixon’s suggestion, Rhodes also touted the opening of relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, and the new policy of triangular diplomacy.
Meanwhile Udall positioned himself as the protector of the working class and preserver of the post-Second World War economic consensus. Udall denounced Jobs For America as a half-baked scheme that would gut protections to America’s most vulnerable citizens without clearly laying out what the guaranteed jobs would entail, if their pay would be sufficient to support a family, and if the wages of Jobs For America would be able to keep up with the new phenomenon of stagflation. Accusing Rhodes of economic mismanagement and being the cause of stagflation, Udall promised to end stagflation by returning to the type of pre-Rhodes fiscal policy of the likes of that of McCarthy, Johnson, and Kennedy. Along with pointed attacks on Jobs For America, Udall also prominently displayed the detailed Democratic platform, and contrasted it with the Rhodesesquely vague platform of the Republicans, most noticeably campaigning on the implementation of single-payer healthcare. Ironically playing off of a fear of change while challenging an incumbent, Udall was making serious gains in the polls, and was further helped by what would come to be called the “Ohio Rant.”
While campaigning in his home state of Ohio in late September, Rhodes went off script in a speech that began as praise for Ohio, going into long detail on why Ohio’s tourist attractions were the best, and insulting Kentuckians with the implication that they were undesirables taking up room in south Ohio ski lodges. Rhodes also threw shade at the Teton mountain range of Wyoming and Idaho, and Yellowstone National Park in his address [3]. The Ohio Rant tanked Rhodes in the polls in Kentucky and caused a noticeable drop in the interior Western states, as well as a milder dip nationwide. The Rhodes campaign scrambled to recover from the gaffe, and did their best at damage control, with Rhodes delivering a formal apology that most considered insincere.
In an unscripted, off-the-cuff tangent in Toledo, Ohio, Jim Rhodes embarrassed himself with the infamous Ohio Rant. While well-received in Ohio, it hurt Rhodes nationwide, especially in Kentucky and Wyoming.
Moving in to October, Rhodes attempted to move past the Ohio Rant and undermine the traditionally Democratic union vote. Rhodes declared himself the best President the unions have ever had, with his brand of liberal corporatism and federal cooperation with industry leaders leading to an all-time low in labour disputes. Udall countered that correlation did not mean causation, and that the reason labour disputes had dropped was because most unions were unwilling to contest contracts with the federal government openly backing the employers. Despite Udall’s critiques, Rhodes saw success in the polls when it came to winning over union members. The union leadership, with the exception of Walter Reuther, had never forgiven Udall for his anti-union voting in the past. Many union members, who had largely shifted into the Neoconservative camp of the Democratic Party, were drawn to Rhodes’ style of maverick, work-based politics.
October also saw a Vice Presidential debate between Paul Laxalt and Tom Eagleton. Rhodes continued to refuse to debate, but was willing to put Laxalt forward to take advantage of his new face. The debate was generally considered a mud-throwing contest, with Laxalt trying to tie Eagleton to the disastrous second term of the McCarthy Administration (Eagleton was first elected to the Senate as a McCarthy supporter in 1968), while Eagleton tried to tie Laxalt to the extreme radical conservatism of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. On the issues, both candidates towed their party lines: Laxalt supported Jobs For America and stood by Rhodes (de facto Nixon’s) foreign policy, while Eagleton stood by the existing welfare state and denounced Rhodes’ foreign policy as inept and inattentive. On social issues, both candidates were in agreement on conservative positions; Laxalt and Eagleton were both skeptics of busing desegregation, and they were both pro-life, despite the fact that both of the Presidential candidates were quietly in favour of busing and were pro-choice.
Despite the busy October, the Ohio Rant continued to haunt Rhodes, with Udall bringing it up as much as possible on the campaign trail in the West and the Midwest. Nixon, offering advice to Rhodes, insisted that he couldn’t follow his usual strategy of ignoring the other candidate and campaigning on a rose garden strategy. With less than a month to the election, Rhodes gave Nixon his blessing to use his team of White House Gardeners - so-called because they were digging up dirt for the rose garden - to smear Udall [4]. Lead by Nixon’s State Department opposition researcher, Pat Buchanan, the Gardeners leaked to the press that Udall had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Overnight, Udall’s slowly declining health became the centre of media attention, which compounded with the by-then nearly forgotten scandal of Eagleton’s depression.
Despite not having any public accidents on the campaign trail and being well in control of his faculties, Mo Udall's diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease became the main issue in the final days of the campaign, in an unwelcome October Surprise for the Democrats.
Forced on to the defensive for the last week of October, Udall vainly tried to tie his Parkinson’s to his support for single-payer healthcare, but voters, perhaps irrationally or perhaps not, became scared of the possibility of a physically disabled President being incapacitated in a crisis, only to be replaced by one with clinical depression.
With the October Surprise of Parkinson’s slumping Udall in the polls, it seemed the Rhodes had finally seized the initiative by election night, in one of the most unique elections in American history.
“I was the only governor in the history of the state of Ohio that has visited every museum, every cultural center, every state fair and everything we have, attractions in the state of Ohio, including the Giant and the Monster. I’m the only governor that has visited every ski lodge and every ski, and snowmobiles. I visit every place in the state of Ohio where there’s action. What we have in the way of parks and recreation and lodges: when you go to any other state, or the surrounding states or the Tetons, or any of the national lodges or anything like that - they’re all tool sheds! We’re the only place that they have an indoor swimming pool outdoors. We have more activity in some of our lodges than they have in Yellowstone National Park. We have the finest lodges in America. We have more recreation per square mile than any other state. So what we get is an abundance of people. Our trouble is, in the southern part of the state, people from Kentucky coming into our lodges, they like to see how a good one look likes.”
[1] IOTL, the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve was formed in 1975, after the first oil shock of 1973-1974, brought about by an OAPEC embargo against countries supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. ITTL, there was no Yom Kippur War, so the 1979 oil shock was the first of its kind, but stacked with the Iranian Revolution. Although the petroleum reserve was founded four years later, it wasn’t necessary sooner, and Rhodes’ policies have also worked to mitigate the crisis.
[2] IOTL, Tom Eagleton was the nominated running mate of George McGovern in the 1972 Presidential Election. Eagleton was asked by McGovern to step down, and was replaced on the ticket by Sargent Shriver.
[3] This is something that actually happened while Rhodes was Governor of Ohio in the 1980s. Naturally, there’s much more fallout to it on a national level. The whole quote at the end of the chapter is taken word for word, with the exception of putting his governorship in the past tense.
[4] This is play on Nixon’s infamous White House Plumbers, who got the name because their job was to stop information leaks.
- Speaker of the House and Democratic nominee Mo Udall on Vice Presidential nominee Tom Eagleton
At the beginning of 1980, it seemed like things were shaping up to be a Democratic year. The Iranian Revolution and OAPEC’s oil embargo shifted the Middle East further out of the United States’ geopolitical sphere under the Republicans’ watch, and the ensuing Oil Crisis spiked domestic fuel prices and incited a market instability that finally killed the Bretton Woods System. In another large field, Democrats jockeyed to be the nominee to oppose President Jim Rhodes, with Speaker of the House Mo Udall leading the pack, and eventually winning the nomination. Unfortunately for the Democrats, however, the political scene had changed dramatically from the start of the year to the conclusions of both parties’ primaries by mid-August. Rhodes’ heavy energy subsidies and deregulation of the fossil fuel industry had been seemingly vindicated. The surplus petroleum purchased by the US government in the 1979 domestic oil glut had mitigated the worst of the Oil Crisis, and a Strategic Petroleum Reserve was formalized shortly thereafter [1]. Likewise, Rhodes had been able to handle the end of the Bretton Woods System by switching the US from a partial gold standard to a floating currency exchange, and had bandaged both crises by ramming through additional pork barrel legislation paid for by federal bonds.
Coming out of the Democratic Convention, the election would be difficult but not impossible for the Udall ticket.
Matters were made worse by the Eagleton dilemma.
Chosen as a seemingly ideal compromise candidate between the disparate Neoconservative, Liberal-New Left, and Evangelical Left factions of the Democratic Party, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri had quickly and enthusiastically passed through the vetting and nominating process. What came as a revelation was that Eagleton had been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder in the past, and had previously used electroshock therapy to improve his mental well-being. A media circus quickly developed around the subject, with Udall having to fend off questions of his judgement selecting a running mate who could hypothetically be a mentally unstable President. Udall decided that the best course of action was to stand fast and show commitment; under the consideration that a clear majority of voters polled stated that Eagleton’s past treatments wouldn’t affect their vote, Udall concluded it would be more damaging to replace him than not to [2]. Udall was also able to benefit from media coverage focused on Paul Laxalt, the new Republican Vice Presidential nominee. Laxalt was a historic first in that he had actively run for Vice President through what existed of the Vice Presidential primary system. He was also the first new Republican Vice Presidential nominee in an incumbent election year since 1872 (most recently on the Democratic side, McCarthy had replaced John Connally with Edmund Muskie in 1972).
Vice Presidential nominee Tom Eagleton, seen here campaigning with former Senator George McGovern, was kept on Mo Udall's Democratic ticket, despite revelations that he had been treated for clinical depression in the past.
As for the campaign itself, it quickly developed into a referendum on guaranteed employment. Rhodes campaigned almost entirely on Jobs For America and his guaranteed employment proposals, and promised to stimulate the economy through continued public works projects and investments into the energy sector. As usual, Rhodes avoided specifics, but promised that he would be able to create a budget surplus in his second term by replacing the majority of social security spending and replacing it with the ostensibly much cheaper Jobs For America. Rhodes also called for small business grants to be issued in tandem with Jobs For America, to encourage the newly-employed to eventually start their own enterprises, and move from ‘public employment’ to ‘private employment.’ Taking his foreign policy cues word-for-word from Secretary of State Nixon’s memos and suggestions, Rhodes promised that the situation in the Middle East would soon be back in control through economic sanctions on the Islamic Socialist Republic of Iran, and through greater cooperation with regional US allies, such as Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. At Nixon’s suggestion, Rhodes also touted the opening of relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, and the new policy of triangular diplomacy.
Meanwhile Udall positioned himself as the protector of the working class and preserver of the post-Second World War economic consensus. Udall denounced Jobs For America as a half-baked scheme that would gut protections to America’s most vulnerable citizens without clearly laying out what the guaranteed jobs would entail, if their pay would be sufficient to support a family, and if the wages of Jobs For America would be able to keep up with the new phenomenon of stagflation. Accusing Rhodes of economic mismanagement and being the cause of stagflation, Udall promised to end stagflation by returning to the type of pre-Rhodes fiscal policy of the likes of that of McCarthy, Johnson, and Kennedy. Along with pointed attacks on Jobs For America, Udall also prominently displayed the detailed Democratic platform, and contrasted it with the Rhodesesquely vague platform of the Republicans, most noticeably campaigning on the implementation of single-payer healthcare. Ironically playing off of a fear of change while challenging an incumbent, Udall was making serious gains in the polls, and was further helped by what would come to be called the “Ohio Rant.”
While campaigning in his home state of Ohio in late September, Rhodes went off script in a speech that began as praise for Ohio, going into long detail on why Ohio’s tourist attractions were the best, and insulting Kentuckians with the implication that they were undesirables taking up room in south Ohio ski lodges. Rhodes also threw shade at the Teton mountain range of Wyoming and Idaho, and Yellowstone National Park in his address [3]. The Ohio Rant tanked Rhodes in the polls in Kentucky and caused a noticeable drop in the interior Western states, as well as a milder dip nationwide. The Rhodes campaign scrambled to recover from the gaffe, and did their best at damage control, with Rhodes delivering a formal apology that most considered insincere.
In an unscripted, off-the-cuff tangent in Toledo, Ohio, Jim Rhodes embarrassed himself with the infamous Ohio Rant. While well-received in Ohio, it hurt Rhodes nationwide, especially in Kentucky and Wyoming.
Moving in to October, Rhodes attempted to move past the Ohio Rant and undermine the traditionally Democratic union vote. Rhodes declared himself the best President the unions have ever had, with his brand of liberal corporatism and federal cooperation with industry leaders leading to an all-time low in labour disputes. Udall countered that correlation did not mean causation, and that the reason labour disputes had dropped was because most unions were unwilling to contest contracts with the federal government openly backing the employers. Despite Udall’s critiques, Rhodes saw success in the polls when it came to winning over union members. The union leadership, with the exception of Walter Reuther, had never forgiven Udall for his anti-union voting in the past. Many union members, who had largely shifted into the Neoconservative camp of the Democratic Party, were drawn to Rhodes’ style of maverick, work-based politics.
October also saw a Vice Presidential debate between Paul Laxalt and Tom Eagleton. Rhodes continued to refuse to debate, but was willing to put Laxalt forward to take advantage of his new face. The debate was generally considered a mud-throwing contest, with Laxalt trying to tie Eagleton to the disastrous second term of the McCarthy Administration (Eagleton was first elected to the Senate as a McCarthy supporter in 1968), while Eagleton tried to tie Laxalt to the extreme radical conservatism of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. On the issues, both candidates towed their party lines: Laxalt supported Jobs For America and stood by Rhodes (de facto Nixon’s) foreign policy, while Eagleton stood by the existing welfare state and denounced Rhodes’ foreign policy as inept and inattentive. On social issues, both candidates were in agreement on conservative positions; Laxalt and Eagleton were both skeptics of busing desegregation, and they were both pro-life, despite the fact that both of the Presidential candidates were quietly in favour of busing and were pro-choice.
Despite the busy October, the Ohio Rant continued to haunt Rhodes, with Udall bringing it up as much as possible on the campaign trail in the West and the Midwest. Nixon, offering advice to Rhodes, insisted that he couldn’t follow his usual strategy of ignoring the other candidate and campaigning on a rose garden strategy. With less than a month to the election, Rhodes gave Nixon his blessing to use his team of White House Gardeners - so-called because they were digging up dirt for the rose garden - to smear Udall [4]. Lead by Nixon’s State Department opposition researcher, Pat Buchanan, the Gardeners leaked to the press that Udall had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Overnight, Udall’s slowly declining health became the centre of media attention, which compounded with the by-then nearly forgotten scandal of Eagleton’s depression.
Despite not having any public accidents on the campaign trail and being well in control of his faculties, Mo Udall's diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease became the main issue in the final days of the campaign, in an unwelcome October Surprise for the Democrats.
Forced on to the defensive for the last week of October, Udall vainly tried to tie his Parkinson’s to his support for single-payer healthcare, but voters, perhaps irrationally or perhaps not, became scared of the possibility of a physically disabled President being incapacitated in a crisis, only to be replaced by one with clinical depression.
With the October Surprise of Parkinson’s slumping Udall in the polls, it seemed the Rhodes had finally seized the initiative by election night, in one of the most unique elections in American history.
“I was the only governor in the history of the state of Ohio that has visited every museum, every cultural center, every state fair and everything we have, attractions in the state of Ohio, including the Giant and the Monster. I’m the only governor that has visited every ski lodge and every ski, and snowmobiles. I visit every place in the state of Ohio where there’s action. What we have in the way of parks and recreation and lodges: when you go to any other state, or the surrounding states or the Tetons, or any of the national lodges or anything like that - they’re all tool sheds! We’re the only place that they have an indoor swimming pool outdoors. We have more activity in some of our lodges than they have in Yellowstone National Park. We have the finest lodges in America. We have more recreation per square mile than any other state. So what we get is an abundance of people. Our trouble is, in the southern part of the state, people from Kentucky coming into our lodges, they like to see how a good one look likes.”
- President Jim Rhodes’ infamous Ohio Rant
[1] IOTL, the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve was formed in 1975, after the first oil shock of 1973-1974, brought about by an OAPEC embargo against countries supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. ITTL, there was no Yom Kippur War, so the 1979 oil shock was the first of its kind, but stacked with the Iranian Revolution. Although the petroleum reserve was founded four years later, it wasn’t necessary sooner, and Rhodes’ policies have also worked to mitigate the crisis.
[2] IOTL, Tom Eagleton was the nominated running mate of George McGovern in the 1972 Presidential Election. Eagleton was asked by McGovern to step down, and was replaced on the ticket by Sargent Shriver.
[3] This is something that actually happened while Rhodes was Governor of Ohio in the 1980s. Naturally, there’s much more fallout to it on a national level. The whole quote at the end of the chapter is taken word for word, with the exception of putting his governorship in the past tense.
[4] This is play on Nixon’s infamous White House Plumbers, who got the name because their job was to stop information leaks.
Wow. Nixon still has his dirty tricks, even if he's not President. For Rhode's rant, can you say viral?
I've been mulling over what to do with the next chapter, as I'm currently unsatisfied with how I've handled the election maps of Congress up to this point. I've started work on creating a full list of Senators and Governors from 1968 to 2018 for each state to retroactively implement and keep track of who is elected when, but it will take a while longer to complete. I've decided that I'll post the Election of 1980 chapter without the Congressional results at the end, but at least with the partial conclusion of an announced presidential winner.
So, the next chapter is coming soon, and after that I'll work on the Master List, before returning to regular posting of the chapters.
So, the next chapter is coming soon, and after that I'll work on the Master List, before returning to regular posting of the chapters.
Awesome, I always love a list of senators and representatives. Makes the world you're making feel even more real.
Chapter Forty-Five - Part Two- Hit Me With Your Best Shot
“Live from CBS headquarters in New York, we bring you the 1980 election coverage, with Walter Cronkite...”
“Good evening. Today is Tuesday, November fourth, 1980. We’ll be bringing you live election coverage tonight with our team of correspondents, pollsters, and commentators. In tonight’s election, we’ll see if Jim Rhodes will win re-election, or if Mo Udall we be going to the White House. Our polling in key states indicate a Rhodes lead, but national popular vote polling indicates a much closer race.
For example, we already have some results coming in. Rhodes can already be declared the winner in Florida tonight, but the votes are still being counted in Indiana. Indiana is typically one of the first states to be called, but it is quite a bit closer than usual in that state this year. It is usually a solid Republican state, but certain comments made by President Rhodes on the campaign trail have pushed many states bordering the President’s home state of Ohio in to more of a swing candidate. We can also project that Jim Rhodes will be winning in Mississippi, as he did four years ago. So far, with only some of the eastern precincts reporting in, Rhodes has a lead in the popular vote. It has become increasingly clear that it is a modern myth that the South will go Democratic for every election. Since 1968, the South has gone either entirely for the Republican Party or the American Independent Party. It was more competitive between the Democrats and the Republicans in earlier elections, such as 1964 and 1960.
Speaking of, we have more results coming in from the South. We can confirm that Rhodes has won in Alabama and Virginia. These are states that Rhodes won last election, so there has yet to be any out-of-the-ordinary gains or losses for Rhodes. Likewise, we can project that Rhodes will win in Georgia. Unsurprisingly we can also call Ohio for Rhodes. Rhodes was elected Governor of Ohio more than any other man in that state’s history, so it comes as no surprise that he has won his home state.
With more results coming in, Rhodes has the lead in Indiana, while Udall is in the lead in the state of Kentucky. Both states, as of yet, do not have enough votes in to call. In opinion polling, the top through issues for Americans were inflation, unemployment, and the projection of American strength abroad. Rhodes has promised to resolve the first two of these issues with Jobs For America, a proposed federal guaranteed employment program. Udall claims that the Oil Crisis is the cause of governmental malpractice on the part of Rhodes, and instead promises to renew the welfare state. In many ways, this election is a referendum on Jobs For America.
We’ll be back soon with more election coverage.
As more election results come in from the Midwest, it seems that President Rhodes has quite the early lead. We have a string of results coming in now, mostly from the Midwest, which we will report to you. Rhodes is leading in the state of Connecticut on the East Coast. Jim Rhodes has also won in the state of New Jersey. Going westward, Rhodes is leading in Pennsylvania. Despite an early delay, Jim Rhodes is also the winner in Indiana. Rhodes currently has a lead in Illinois, but this may change, as the largely Republican southern part of the state has reported in, but we are still waiting on some results further north in the state, such as Chicago, which typically tends to vote for the Democratic nominee. Mo Udall, for his part, is leading in Michigan.
As was expected, Rhodes has won several states further west. The state of North Dakota has gone for Rhodes, as has South Dakota. Going further south from there, Rhodes has also taken Kansas. The President continues to sweep the states that he easily won last election, such as Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
Despite these early results in favour of Rhodes and the Republican Party in the presidential race, results are significantly more mixed for the elections for Senate. There seems to be a strong sense of incumbency in this election, with no seats changing hands so far. In some gubernatorial results, we can project that Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat, has won re-election as Governor of West Virginia over the Republican challenger, Arch A. Moore Jr.
We have the first results coming in for Mo Udall. Udall has won the District of Columbia. For now, this leaves him with only three electoral votes at this time to Rhodes’ one hundred and eighty-two. In the popular vote, Rhodes’ margin in the popular vote has declined somewhat, with Udall gaining, but he retains a solid lead. On top of this, we have more results coming in for Rhodes. In the South, Rhodes has won in South Carolina. In the battleground region of New England, Rhodes has won in Vermont and New Hampshire. Vermont typically goes Republican, but New Hampshire has been known to go for the Democrats in certain years, most recently in 1968. At this rate, it is not impossible for Mo Udall to win the election, but it the path to victory is increasingly precarious. Udall has to win the rest of the Midwest that’s up for grabs, the West Coast, as well as a few swing states that don’t typically go for the Democrats. Indiana was considered one of those unusual swing states for the Democrats, but that has gone for Rhodes. Other possible states that could uniquely go for Udall are his home state of Arizona, Kentucky, and perhaps Wyoming and Idaho. Those states almost always go Republican. For example, the last time Kentucky went for the Democrats was 1952, but these are the states that felt particularly insulted by President Rhodes’ speech in Toledo, Ohio. A speech where he made disparaging remarks on Ohio’s neighbouring states, as well as some of the landmarks of the west. He has since apologized for his remarks.
We’re getting more results as other states come in, for both the presidential election, as well as for the gubernatorial races and for Congress, but for now, we will have a quick break.”
“Good evening. Today is Tuesday, November fourth, 1980. We’ll be bringing you live election coverage tonight with our team of correspondents, pollsters, and commentators. In tonight’s election, we’ll see if Jim Rhodes will win re-election, or if Mo Udall we be going to the White House. Our polling in key states indicate a Rhodes lead, but national popular vote polling indicates a much closer race.
For example, we already have some results coming in. Rhodes can already be declared the winner in Florida tonight, but the votes are still being counted in Indiana. Indiana is typically one of the first states to be called, but it is quite a bit closer than usual in that state this year. It is usually a solid Republican state, but certain comments made by President Rhodes on the campaign trail have pushed many states bordering the President’s home state of Ohio in to more of a swing candidate. We can also project that Jim Rhodes will be winning in Mississippi, as he did four years ago. So far, with only some of the eastern precincts reporting in, Rhodes has a lead in the popular vote. It has become increasingly clear that it is a modern myth that the South will go Democratic for every election. Since 1968, the South has gone either entirely for the Republican Party or the American Independent Party. It was more competitive between the Democrats and the Republicans in earlier elections, such as 1964 and 1960.
Speaking of, we have more results coming in from the South. We can confirm that Rhodes has won in Alabama and Virginia. These are states that Rhodes won last election, so there has yet to be any out-of-the-ordinary gains or losses for Rhodes. Likewise, we can project that Rhodes will win in Georgia. Unsurprisingly we can also call Ohio for Rhodes. Rhodes was elected Governor of Ohio more than any other man in that state’s history, so it comes as no surprise that he has won his home state.
With more results coming in, Rhodes has the lead in Indiana, while Udall is in the lead in the state of Kentucky. Both states, as of yet, do not have enough votes in to call. In opinion polling, the top through issues for Americans were inflation, unemployment, and the projection of American strength abroad. Rhodes has promised to resolve the first two of these issues with Jobs For America, a proposed federal guaranteed employment program. Udall claims that the Oil Crisis is the cause of governmental malpractice on the part of Rhodes, and instead promises to renew the welfare state. In many ways, this election is a referendum on Jobs For America.
We’ll be back soon with more election coverage.
As more election results come in from the Midwest, it seems that President Rhodes has quite the early lead. We have a string of results coming in now, mostly from the Midwest, which we will report to you. Rhodes is leading in the state of Connecticut on the East Coast. Jim Rhodes has also won in the state of New Jersey. Going westward, Rhodes is leading in Pennsylvania. Despite an early delay, Jim Rhodes is also the winner in Indiana. Rhodes currently has a lead in Illinois, but this may change, as the largely Republican southern part of the state has reported in, but we are still waiting on some results further north in the state, such as Chicago, which typically tends to vote for the Democratic nominee. Mo Udall, for his part, is leading in Michigan.
As was expected, Rhodes has won several states further west. The state of North Dakota has gone for Rhodes, as has South Dakota. Going further south from there, Rhodes has also taken Kansas. The President continues to sweep the states that he easily won last election, such as Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
Despite these early results in favour of Rhodes and the Republican Party in the presidential race, results are significantly more mixed for the elections for Senate. There seems to be a strong sense of incumbency in this election, with no seats changing hands so far. In some gubernatorial results, we can project that Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat, has won re-election as Governor of West Virginia over the Republican challenger, Arch A. Moore Jr.
We have the first results coming in for Mo Udall. Udall has won the District of Columbia. For now, this leaves him with only three electoral votes at this time to Rhodes’ one hundred and eighty-two. In the popular vote, Rhodes’ margin in the popular vote has declined somewhat, with Udall gaining, but he retains a solid lead. On top of this, we have more results coming in for Rhodes. In the South, Rhodes has won in South Carolina. In the battleground region of New England, Rhodes has won in Vermont and New Hampshire. Vermont typically goes Republican, but New Hampshire has been known to go for the Democrats in certain years, most recently in 1968. At this rate, it is not impossible for Mo Udall to win the election, but it the path to victory is increasingly precarious. Udall has to win the rest of the Midwest that’s up for grabs, the West Coast, as well as a few swing states that don’t typically go for the Democrats. Indiana was considered one of those unusual swing states for the Democrats, but that has gone for Rhodes. Other possible states that could uniquely go for Udall are his home state of Arizona, Kentucky, and perhaps Wyoming and Idaho. Those states almost always go Republican. For example, the last time Kentucky went for the Democrats was 1952, but these are the states that felt particularly insulted by President Rhodes’ speech in Toledo, Ohio. A speech where he made disparaging remarks on Ohio’s neighbouring states, as well as some of the landmarks of the west. He has since apologized for his remarks.
We’re getting more results as other states come in, for both the presidential election, as well as for the gubernatorial races and for Congress, but for now, we will have a quick break.”
Chapter Forty-Five - Part Three - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
“Oh, I think Jimmy Carter. He understood the importance of not going too far left, which the American people have become sick of with the likes of Gene McCarthy and Mo Udall. Carter really was their best choice. If the Democratic Party hadn’t shifted so far to the left, and if I was still a Democrat, I probably would have voted for Carter.”
"We’re back with more election coverage. Much has been made of the idea of reputation in this election season. In the first half of his term, Rhodes was considered to be something of an Eisenhower type figure. A kind of amiable Republican who is conservative but not in a radical sense. In the second half of his term, President Rhodes seemed to redefine himself through his unique style of legislative policy. Both detractors and supporters have described him as a ‘New Deal Republican,’ who has been particularly interested in employment plans and national economic renewal in the face of new crises, such as the Oil Crisis brought about by the Iranian Revolution and the embargo put in place on the United States by many Arab countries. President Rhodes promised to go even further, campaigning this election almost exclusively on a platform of guaranteed federal employment for all Americans willing to work, as well as doing more outreach to union members than any other Republican presidential candidate in memory. The amiable conservative is now being described by some as a radical centrist.
As for Speaker of the House Mo Udall, he is something of a known quantity in Washington. A well-known, well-respected figure, his voting record would seem to indicate that he is one of the most prominent liberals in the House of Representatives, but his reputation, especially in his home state of Arizona, is that of someone who is reasonably moderate. Despite having labor-moderate voting record, it is significantly further right than is typical for a liberal Democrat. On the other hand, while he has publicly voiced concerns over forced busing in his home state of Arizona, his voting record in Washington on desegregation and desegregated busing is one of the most liberal there is. Simply put, Udall has had trouble reconciling what people on both the political right and left think about him in to a single presidential campaign. This along with health concerns that arose late in to the campaign, have prompted some pollsters to predict a ‘ticket flight’ of Democrats who are willing to vote for this seemingly more centrist and engaged Rhodes, before presumably returning to voting for whoever the Democratic nominee may be four years from now.
Let’s look at some results. Rhodes has kept a lead in the popular vote all night. Udall closed the gap somewhat earlier on, but Rhodes is pulling ahead again. Despite this, Udall is doing well in the Upper South, or alternatively, the lower Midwest. Udall is leading in the typically Democratic states of West Virginia and Maryland, but is also leading in typically Republican Kentucky. However, Rhodes continues to sweep the South. We can now project that Rhodes has won in the state of North Carolina. An update: we can confirm that Speaker Udall has won West Virginia. This is his first state to be won tonight. However, we have more results in favor of President Rhodes. In the state of Wisconsin, they’ve gone for Rhodes. As well as in Nebraska. There, they’ve also gone for Rhodes. We project Rhodes the winner in Wyoming. Back on the East Coast, Rhodes has been declared the winner in Connecticut. But, some goods news for Udall, he has won his home state of Arizona.
We have big news coming up. Judging from votes coming in from key precincts, we can project that Rhodes has won in the key state of Pennsylvania. We can also project that Rhodes has won in Michigan. This is the second time that Pennsylvania and Michigan has voted for Rhodes, and this is yet another example set by Rhodes of winning states that haven’t voted Republican since the Eisenhower years.
With these states coming in, and looking at the figures, we can confirm the results for the presidency. CBS News projects that President James Allen Rhodes has won re-election to the presidency. Rhodes, at age seventy-one, remains the oldest President in American history. Despite this, he has had no health problems, unlike former President Eisenhower. Eisenhower, while younger than Rhodes when President, suffered from a near-fatal heart attack in his first term. Rhodes, despite missing a lung from an operation in his youth, is reportedly one of the most physically active Presidents. He is joined in office by the maverick Vice Presidential-elect, Paul Laxalt. Laxalt, age fifty-eight, is the first Vice Presidential nominee in American history to run a Vice Presidential campaign and in New Hampshire’s Vice Presidential primary at the same time as the presidential primaries.
We will continue to keep results as they come, in both the presidential race, as well as for Congress and the gubernatorial elections as the night goes on, but we project that Jim Rhodes has been re-elected President of the United States of America."
- Ronald Reagan on Election Night 1980, on being asked who the toughest challenger for President Rhodes would have been out of the entire Democratic field.
"We’re back with more election coverage. Much has been made of the idea of reputation in this election season. In the first half of his term, Rhodes was considered to be something of an Eisenhower type figure. A kind of amiable Republican who is conservative but not in a radical sense. In the second half of his term, President Rhodes seemed to redefine himself through his unique style of legislative policy. Both detractors and supporters have described him as a ‘New Deal Republican,’ who has been particularly interested in employment plans and national economic renewal in the face of new crises, such as the Oil Crisis brought about by the Iranian Revolution and the embargo put in place on the United States by many Arab countries. President Rhodes promised to go even further, campaigning this election almost exclusively on a platform of guaranteed federal employment for all Americans willing to work, as well as doing more outreach to union members than any other Republican presidential candidate in memory. The amiable conservative is now being described by some as a radical centrist.
As for Speaker of the House Mo Udall, he is something of a known quantity in Washington. A well-known, well-respected figure, his voting record would seem to indicate that he is one of the most prominent liberals in the House of Representatives, but his reputation, especially in his home state of Arizona, is that of someone who is reasonably moderate. Despite having labor-moderate voting record, it is significantly further right than is typical for a liberal Democrat. On the other hand, while he has publicly voiced concerns over forced busing in his home state of Arizona, his voting record in Washington on desegregation and desegregated busing is one of the most liberal there is. Simply put, Udall has had trouble reconciling what people on both the political right and left think about him in to a single presidential campaign. This along with health concerns that arose late in to the campaign, have prompted some pollsters to predict a ‘ticket flight’ of Democrats who are willing to vote for this seemingly more centrist and engaged Rhodes, before presumably returning to voting for whoever the Democratic nominee may be four years from now.
Let’s look at some results. Rhodes has kept a lead in the popular vote all night. Udall closed the gap somewhat earlier on, but Rhodes is pulling ahead again. Despite this, Udall is doing well in the Upper South, or alternatively, the lower Midwest. Udall is leading in the typically Democratic states of West Virginia and Maryland, but is also leading in typically Republican Kentucky. However, Rhodes continues to sweep the South. We can now project that Rhodes has won in the state of North Carolina. An update: we can confirm that Speaker Udall has won West Virginia. This is his first state to be won tonight. However, we have more results in favor of President Rhodes. In the state of Wisconsin, they’ve gone for Rhodes. As well as in Nebraska. There, they’ve also gone for Rhodes. We project Rhodes the winner in Wyoming. Back on the East Coast, Rhodes has been declared the winner in Connecticut. But, some goods news for Udall, he has won his home state of Arizona.
We have big news coming up. Judging from votes coming in from key precincts, we can project that Rhodes has won in the key state of Pennsylvania. We can also project that Rhodes has won in Michigan. This is the second time that Pennsylvania and Michigan has voted for Rhodes, and this is yet another example set by Rhodes of winning states that haven’t voted Republican since the Eisenhower years.
With these states coming in, and looking at the figures, we can confirm the results for the presidency. CBS News projects that President James Allen Rhodes has won re-election to the presidency. Rhodes, at age seventy-one, remains the oldest President in American history. Despite this, he has had no health problems, unlike former President Eisenhower. Eisenhower, while younger than Rhodes when President, suffered from a near-fatal heart attack in his first term. Rhodes, despite missing a lung from an operation in his youth, is reportedly one of the most physically active Presidents. He is joined in office by the maverick Vice Presidential-elect, Paul Laxalt. Laxalt, age fifty-eight, is the first Vice Presidential nominee in American history to run a Vice Presidential campaign and in New Hampshire’s Vice Presidential primary at the same time as the presidential primaries.
We will continue to keep results as they come, in both the presidential race, as well as for Congress and the gubernatorial elections as the night goes on, but we project that Jim Rhodes has been re-elected President of the United States of America."
Chapter Forty-Five - Part Four - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
“Of course Udall lost. It wasn’t his fault; it’s all part of the moral degradation of America. That’s why I supported Walter Fauntroy. He isn’t afraid to talk about the moral failings of America and how we can address them. America has become an immoral nation, especially in foreign policy, ever since I left office and they put Richard Nixon in charge of it.”
“We’re back with more election coverage. We have projected that President Jim Rhodes has been re-elected, but there is still a question of by exactly what margin, as well as the results to come in the Congressional election. Rhodes has actually increased his margin of victory in the typically Democratic Midwestern states, such as Pennsylvania, as well as the more swing Midwestern states, such as Michigan, by taking a sizable portion of the independent and union vote. In fact, Rhodes has won a higher percentage of the union vote than any Republican in modern American history, although Udall is still projected to win a majority of it. This may have to do with the fact of Udall’s anti-union voting record for a Democrat in the House of Representatives, as well as Rhodes’ outreach work to unions. Rhodes’ appeal among certain blue collar voters has been likened to that of the George Wallace campaign’s success with so-called white enclaves in the Midwest in his 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns as the candidate of the American Independent Party. Speaking of this, we have more results coming in, and we can project that Rhodes is the winner in Illinois. Another typically Democratic state that Rhodes won last election.
According to polling, the biggest issue according to voters inflation. Around half of polled voters believe that it is possible for the President to control inflation. It seems that voters are satisfied enough with President Rhodes’ handling of inflation. His latest round of price controls and wage hikes that were put in place remain popular in polling, but economists warn of a possible economic downturn once those controls are eventually removed. Some economists have also warned that while President Rhodes has effectively kept up with inflation, the new phenomenon and effects of ‘stagflation,’ that is, rising inflation without the rising economic growth that tends to come with it, have yet to really be felt by the average American.
The President is expected to give an address soon. Mo Udall has yet to give a concession speech, but it is clear at the Democratic camp in Udall’s home town of St. Johns, Arizona, that they have been defeated.
Like four years before, Rhodes has swept the interior West, but this time with the exception of Arizona. In his running mate’s home state of Nevada, Rhodes has won. In Montana and Idaho, Rhodes has also won. Likewise, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico are all in the Rhodes column. That being said, in one of the most consistently Democratic states of Minnesota, Udall has won. Also, uniquely, a solid Republican state has voted Democratic in this election year that is otherwise a Republican landslide on the presidential level. Mo Udall is projected as the winner in the state of Kentucky. Udall has also won in Rhode Island, despite humours comments by President Rhodes that the state of Rhode Island would be guaranteed for him due to name recognition. Udall is also the projected winner in Massachusetts.
Udall holds a lead in Maryland, but it’s a dead heat between Rhodes and Udall in the state of New York. The West Coast states have yet to come in, but judging by the margin of this landslide election, and Rhodes’ previous success with the West Coast states four years ago, it seems likely he’ll win there. We can also project that Jim Rhodes has won in Iowa.
At this moment, it is clear that Rhodes has won, but what is still a question is if Rhodes will do better or worse than his 1976 landslide. A few of the remaining states that are still contested, such as Washington, Hawaii, and New York, went for Henry Jackson last election. If Udall wins those states, he’ll have outperformed Jackson, as Udall has already won Arizona and Kentucky, states that Jackson lost last election. We have a new projection coming in, that Rhodes has won in California.
President Rhodes now has over four hundred votes in the electoral college. Although most states have reported in, not all of the results are in yet, and the Congressional results are much closer in outcome than the lopsided results in the presidential race. Most incumbents have held their seats in the Senate, while there has been more give in take in the House. It remains to be seen if the Democrats will keep their relatively narrow majority in the House. If the Republicans take control, then not only will Mo Udall be losing the presidency, but his position as Speaker of the House as well.
We have some more results coming in. We can project that Udall has won Maryland. However, on the West Coast, we can project Washington for Rhodes. Washington was one of the few states not to vote for Jim Rhodes in 1976, but it has gone for him this time. We can also project the last big one, that Jim Rhodes has won the state of New York. Again, one of the states that did not go for him in 1976. Rhodes has also won in Oregon. Looking at the electoral college, and how the popular vote is shaping up to be, this is one of the largest landslides in American history. We won’t have the precise results until tomorrow, but this is quite the mandate for President Rhodes, and his Jobs For America program."
- Former President Eugene McCarthy on the Election of 1980
“We’re back with more election coverage. We have projected that President Jim Rhodes has been re-elected, but there is still a question of by exactly what margin, as well as the results to come in the Congressional election. Rhodes has actually increased his margin of victory in the typically Democratic Midwestern states, such as Pennsylvania, as well as the more swing Midwestern states, such as Michigan, by taking a sizable portion of the independent and union vote. In fact, Rhodes has won a higher percentage of the union vote than any Republican in modern American history, although Udall is still projected to win a majority of it. This may have to do with the fact of Udall’s anti-union voting record for a Democrat in the House of Representatives, as well as Rhodes’ outreach work to unions. Rhodes’ appeal among certain blue collar voters has been likened to that of the George Wallace campaign’s success with so-called white enclaves in the Midwest in his 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns as the candidate of the American Independent Party. Speaking of this, we have more results coming in, and we can project that Rhodes is the winner in Illinois. Another typically Democratic state that Rhodes won last election.
According to polling, the biggest issue according to voters inflation. Around half of polled voters believe that it is possible for the President to control inflation. It seems that voters are satisfied enough with President Rhodes’ handling of inflation. His latest round of price controls and wage hikes that were put in place remain popular in polling, but economists warn of a possible economic downturn once those controls are eventually removed. Some economists have also warned that while President Rhodes has effectively kept up with inflation, the new phenomenon and effects of ‘stagflation,’ that is, rising inflation without the rising economic growth that tends to come with it, have yet to really be felt by the average American.
The President is expected to give an address soon. Mo Udall has yet to give a concession speech, but it is clear at the Democratic camp in Udall’s home town of St. Johns, Arizona, that they have been defeated.
Like four years before, Rhodes has swept the interior West, but this time with the exception of Arizona. In his running mate’s home state of Nevada, Rhodes has won. In Montana and Idaho, Rhodes has also won. Likewise, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico are all in the Rhodes column. That being said, in one of the most consistently Democratic states of Minnesota, Udall has won. Also, uniquely, a solid Republican state has voted Democratic in this election year that is otherwise a Republican landslide on the presidential level. Mo Udall is projected as the winner in the state of Kentucky. Udall has also won in Rhode Island, despite humours comments by President Rhodes that the state of Rhode Island would be guaranteed for him due to name recognition. Udall is also the projected winner in Massachusetts.
Udall holds a lead in Maryland, but it’s a dead heat between Rhodes and Udall in the state of New York. The West Coast states have yet to come in, but judging by the margin of this landslide election, and Rhodes’ previous success with the West Coast states four years ago, it seems likely he’ll win there. We can also project that Jim Rhodes has won in Iowa.
At this moment, it is clear that Rhodes has won, but what is still a question is if Rhodes will do better or worse than his 1976 landslide. A few of the remaining states that are still contested, such as Washington, Hawaii, and New York, went for Henry Jackson last election. If Udall wins those states, he’ll have outperformed Jackson, as Udall has already won Arizona and Kentucky, states that Jackson lost last election. We have a new projection coming in, that Rhodes has won in California.
President Rhodes now has over four hundred votes in the electoral college. Although most states have reported in, not all of the results are in yet, and the Congressional results are much closer in outcome than the lopsided results in the presidential race. Most incumbents have held their seats in the Senate, while there has been more give in take in the House. It remains to be seen if the Democrats will keep their relatively narrow majority in the House. If the Republicans take control, then not only will Mo Udall be losing the presidency, but his position as Speaker of the House as well.
We have some more results coming in. We can project that Udall has won Maryland. However, on the West Coast, we can project Washington for Rhodes. Washington was one of the few states not to vote for Jim Rhodes in 1976, but it has gone for him this time. We can also project the last big one, that Jim Rhodes has won the state of New York. Again, one of the states that did not go for him in 1976. Rhodes has also won in Oregon. Looking at the electoral college, and how the popular vote is shaping up to be, this is one of the largest landslides in American history. We won’t have the precise results until tomorrow, but this is quite the mandate for President Rhodes, and his Jobs For America program."
Naturally, the Reagan quote is a fictional one, but judging by your reaction I seem to have captured his essence.
Do not kow much of him, but I am not surprised he said that and it just shows the utter condescending arrogance of politicians like him and the rest of the neo-cons. Wonder if Rhodes will win or if a miracle will happen
Ooh hoo hoo, I have always wanted to see a Eugene McCarthy timeline. Very cool. Will definitely be watching this.