Chapter 152: October 1980
At long last, this update. We'll start with the debates between President Ronald Reagan and Senator Edward Kennedy. Only one debate was held between the two candidates, on October 28, 1980, the same day as the debate IRL between President Carter and Reagan. Daniel Schorr, of the Paramount Television Network ITTL (instead of CNN), moderated the debate.
Highlights:
Kennedy: This economy is absolutely rotten. The President believes that voodoo will fix what's wrong with the economy with his policies, and it shows. Unemployment has gotten worse by over a percentage point since the President assumed office. Are you better off than you were four years ago? Surely not, Mr. President.
Reagan: Americans are making more money than they ever have in history, Senator Kennedy. I resent your accusation. The economy is coming back and will be roaring in a second Reagan term. If we go back to the tax and spend liberal Democratic policies you favor, we'll plunge further into recession.
Kennedy: There you go again, not caring one bit about the working class in this country, Mr. President.
Reagan: I think the working class support me, Senator.
Reagan: Eleven years ago, Senator Kennedy committed a negligent act on Martha's Vineyard. He left the scene, and a woman in his car drowned. Do you want the country to drown under Senator Kennedy's leadership? Think about that when you go into the voting booth next week.
Kennedy: I did everything in my power to save Ms. Kopechne. How dare you insinuate otherwise. You're only running that ad because your record as President is atrocious. You've let the Russians run wild in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They're even thinking about invading Iran after they invaded Afghanistan because they think you're a laughingstock.
Reagan: I wouldn't be calling anyone a laughingstock if I were you, Senator.
Kennedy: We've lost so much of our prestige in the last four years. If this country reelects you as President, I fear we will no longer be viewed as the beacon of hope around the world that we've always been.
Reagan: I told the Russians to get out of Czechoslovakia and they did. I made sure the Russians didn't cut off Berlin. I think I'm doing a pretty good job around the world, and most of the country agrees.
Schorr: How would you fix the crime situation, especially in our urban areas? Crime has spiraled out of control in places like New York City and Detroit. Senator Kennedy.
Kennedy: We're not doing enough to fund the big cities and address the needs they face. Municipal governments have to listen to their citizens, provide more well-paying jobs, and if they don't, I will pass jobs programs through a Democratic Congress. The unemployment situation in the inner cities is causing the crime situation. If we give them jobs, the crime will drop significantly.
Reagan: I think we've given enough help to New York City. President Muskie happily bailed them out in 1975 when they went bankrupt. If New York City goes bankrupt again, the mayor better ask the financial district for money because they aren't getting a dime from me. We've already bailed out New York once, and we won't do it again. New York and other major cities need to spend their funds more appropriately. The money is there, but the focus on policing, schools and other vital services isn't.
Kennedy: I think the cities are underfunded. I've been to Los Angeles and spoken with Mayor Bradley, and they're barely getting by. Mayor Koch is doing everything he can in New York to balance the budget. Don't blame the mayors, blame yourself for vetoing spending bills that would have helped the cities.
Reagan: I wanted more cops on the street, and Congress wouldn't send me a bill for more cops. They wanted strings attached, like universal healthcare.
Schorr: What is the first thing you would do if you won this election and became President? We'll let the incumbent President answer this question first.
Reagan: Cut taxes and interest rates. We've got inflation down a bit through the Federal Reserve. Now we've got to get the unemployment situation under control, and that will definitely happen in a second Reagan term with tax cuts for businesses. They'll be able to hire more employees with the extra money.
Kennedy: You already had your time to fix the unemployment situation, and you failed. I'd pass more jobs programs similar to the New Deal in the 1930s and put people back to work through the government.
Reagan: Big government is the problem that got us in this mess.
Kennedy: And the government will be the answer, because the private sector is failing us.
STAR TREK RELIANT EPISODE UPDATES
EPISODE 5: SUBTERFUGE (Air date: October 7, 1980). Romulans have infiltrated Memory Alpha, a Federation database (the same one that was featured in TOS). Starfleet fears that the Romulans will acquire the secrets to the terraforming device (Genesis) that was first mentioned in TMP ITTL. The Reliant is sent to Memory Alpha to confront them. Communications officer Garvin feeds the Romulans false records regarding Genesis. When the Romulans discover the ruse, they fire on the Reliant. To avoid being destroyed, Terrell feigns surrender. The Romulan commander, Nerva, believes that Reliant is a dead ship, and leads a failed boarding attempt. Garvin then feeds malicious information into the Romulan engineering systems, and the Romulans back off, because the computer virus threatens to destroy their vessels. The secret of Genesis is saved, for now.
EPISODE 6: ANOTHER PIECE OF THE ACTION (Air date: October 14, 1980). The Reliant returns to Sigma Iotia II, the 1920s Chicago gangster planet. Terrell, Sulu and Chekov want to know whether the Iotians have reformed into a more just society, but instead they find civil war between the gangsters and a new police department which is trying to take over the planet. A debate erupts on Reliant. Chekov believes that the two sides are simply fighting a gang war and the police department is just another gang; Terrell disagrees and supports the police department with more advanced weapons, violating the Prime Directive. Once the police department wins the fight against the gangsters, Terrell asks for his weapons back, plus the Federation's "cut" for saving the world from the gangster government. The police department agrees on one condition; the Federation must send a garrison to support them with removing the gangsters from power.
EPISODE 7: XON'S MADNESS (Air date, October 21, 1980). Xon undergoes pon farr, but the Reliant cannot return to Vulcan because there is a plague on Berengaria which threatens to wipe out half the population. Dr. M'Benga must find a cure to the plague and prevent Xon from dying. He discovers that one of the hormones in Xon's blood that is produced during pon farr is part of a potential antidote for the Berengarian plague. M'Benga asks for a blood sample from the raging Xon, but he cannot get one because Xon nerve pinches him. Terrell, Chekov and Sulu must subdue Xon before he attempts to take over the ship, return to Vulcan, and leave the Berengarian plague uncured. Dr. Noel solves the problem by agreeing to a mind meld with Xon, which relieves some of the worst pon farr symptoms, and a revived Dr. M'Benga is able to acquire the blood sample needed to save the Berengarians. Xon is credited for saving Berengaria and returns to Vulcan, where he meets his wife, T'Lor, and is granted shore leave.
Now the two articles for this week: Paramount's success with Star Trek: Reliant and Battleground: Earth, and a final update on the Presidential race with updated polling.
PARAMOUNT'S TUESDAY SCIENCE FICTION NIGHT A RATINGS WINNER
October 17, 1980
Paramount has hit on a formula for at least one night of the week: science fiction sells. The new Star Trek series, Reliant, and the new Gene Roddenberry production, Battleground: Earth, are number one in their time slots. At 8:00 PM on Tuesday, Reliant easily outperformed NBC's series The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo and CBS's The White Shadow. Approximately 40% of American televisions tuned into Reliant's first six episodes. At 9:00 PM, the young, appealing cast of Battleground: Earth, led by Robert Vaughn, Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kirstie Alley and Lynn Whitfield, edged out Three's Company and Too Close for Comfort, two ABC comedies, for top ratings. At 10:00 PM, results were more mixed for Paramount, as British science fiction series Doctor Who is currently second in the ratings to ABC's Hart to Hart. Paramount executives were encouraged by the news. "Our three main science fiction offerings on Tuesday, led by Star Trek, are holding an audience and competing very well against the other major networks," said Mel Harris, a Paramount executive. "We are also finishing no worse than third on each of the other weeknights. Disney is a strong draw in two primetime slots, and Battlestar Galactica is performing well because we are airing it before CBS's two big series on Friday, The Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas." Paramount is also finding success with Laverne and Shirley, Taxi, Happy Days and Nero Wolfe. "Our other programming is also thriving better than expected," Harris said. We are a complete network, not just a science fiction vehicle, and Michael Eisner, my boss, is a major driver of this success."
REAGAN, KENNEDY IN DEAD HEAT ONE WEEK BEFORE ELECTION
NO CLEAR DEBATE WINNER
October 30, 1980
President Reagan and Senator Kennedy, his Democratic challenger, are deadlocked in the presidential contest with one week remaining before the November 4 election. The Louis Harris sponsored Washington Post poll has Kennedy and Reagan tied at 48 percent, with four percent undecided. Democrats lead the race for Congress by five points, 51 percent to 46 percent, over their Republican counterparts. "President Reagan's attacks on Senator Kennedy's character worked to a point. An election that Kennedy should be winning due to the poor economy is even because a segment of the population cannot trust the senator on personal and moral matters," Harris said. The only debate also failed to move the needle significantly. Fifty percent of the eighty million debate viewers believed that Reagan won the debate, to 47 percent for Kennedy. "Neither candidate got a major boost from the debate," Harris said. President Reagan's campaign is concerned that Senator Kennedy has small, but solid leads, in Reagan's home state of California and his birth state of Illinois. Both candidates see Pennsylvania and Ohio as deadlocked. Reagan has largely conceded New England and the Upper Midwest except for Wisconsin, where he will hold a campaign rally over the weekend, while Kennedy has largely conceded the South, except for Florida. Both campaigns also believe that New Jersey is close, and there is surprising strength for Kennedy in states like Iowa and Missouri, where he will be holding rallies this weekend. "It's anybody's race, and as we know, the popular vote does not determine the winner. The first candidate to 270 electoral votes wins," Harris said.
Highlights:
Kennedy: This economy is absolutely rotten. The President believes that voodoo will fix what's wrong with the economy with his policies, and it shows. Unemployment has gotten worse by over a percentage point since the President assumed office. Are you better off than you were four years ago? Surely not, Mr. President.
Reagan: Americans are making more money than they ever have in history, Senator Kennedy. I resent your accusation. The economy is coming back and will be roaring in a second Reagan term. If we go back to the tax and spend liberal Democratic policies you favor, we'll plunge further into recession.
Kennedy: There you go again, not caring one bit about the working class in this country, Mr. President.
Reagan: I think the working class support me, Senator.
Reagan: Eleven years ago, Senator Kennedy committed a negligent act on Martha's Vineyard. He left the scene, and a woman in his car drowned. Do you want the country to drown under Senator Kennedy's leadership? Think about that when you go into the voting booth next week.
Kennedy: I did everything in my power to save Ms. Kopechne. How dare you insinuate otherwise. You're only running that ad because your record as President is atrocious. You've let the Russians run wild in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They're even thinking about invading Iran after they invaded Afghanistan because they think you're a laughingstock.
Reagan: I wouldn't be calling anyone a laughingstock if I were you, Senator.
Kennedy: We've lost so much of our prestige in the last four years. If this country reelects you as President, I fear we will no longer be viewed as the beacon of hope around the world that we've always been.
Reagan: I told the Russians to get out of Czechoslovakia and they did. I made sure the Russians didn't cut off Berlin. I think I'm doing a pretty good job around the world, and most of the country agrees.
Schorr: How would you fix the crime situation, especially in our urban areas? Crime has spiraled out of control in places like New York City and Detroit. Senator Kennedy.
Kennedy: We're not doing enough to fund the big cities and address the needs they face. Municipal governments have to listen to their citizens, provide more well-paying jobs, and if they don't, I will pass jobs programs through a Democratic Congress. The unemployment situation in the inner cities is causing the crime situation. If we give them jobs, the crime will drop significantly.
Reagan: I think we've given enough help to New York City. President Muskie happily bailed them out in 1975 when they went bankrupt. If New York City goes bankrupt again, the mayor better ask the financial district for money because they aren't getting a dime from me. We've already bailed out New York once, and we won't do it again. New York and other major cities need to spend their funds more appropriately. The money is there, but the focus on policing, schools and other vital services isn't.
Kennedy: I think the cities are underfunded. I've been to Los Angeles and spoken with Mayor Bradley, and they're barely getting by. Mayor Koch is doing everything he can in New York to balance the budget. Don't blame the mayors, blame yourself for vetoing spending bills that would have helped the cities.
Reagan: I wanted more cops on the street, and Congress wouldn't send me a bill for more cops. They wanted strings attached, like universal healthcare.
Schorr: What is the first thing you would do if you won this election and became President? We'll let the incumbent President answer this question first.
Reagan: Cut taxes and interest rates. We've got inflation down a bit through the Federal Reserve. Now we've got to get the unemployment situation under control, and that will definitely happen in a second Reagan term with tax cuts for businesses. They'll be able to hire more employees with the extra money.
Kennedy: You already had your time to fix the unemployment situation, and you failed. I'd pass more jobs programs similar to the New Deal in the 1930s and put people back to work through the government.
Reagan: Big government is the problem that got us in this mess.
Kennedy: And the government will be the answer, because the private sector is failing us.
STAR TREK RELIANT EPISODE UPDATES
EPISODE 5: SUBTERFUGE (Air date: October 7, 1980). Romulans have infiltrated Memory Alpha, a Federation database (the same one that was featured in TOS). Starfleet fears that the Romulans will acquire the secrets to the terraforming device (Genesis) that was first mentioned in TMP ITTL. The Reliant is sent to Memory Alpha to confront them. Communications officer Garvin feeds the Romulans false records regarding Genesis. When the Romulans discover the ruse, they fire on the Reliant. To avoid being destroyed, Terrell feigns surrender. The Romulan commander, Nerva, believes that Reliant is a dead ship, and leads a failed boarding attempt. Garvin then feeds malicious information into the Romulan engineering systems, and the Romulans back off, because the computer virus threatens to destroy their vessels. The secret of Genesis is saved, for now.
EPISODE 6: ANOTHER PIECE OF THE ACTION (Air date: October 14, 1980). The Reliant returns to Sigma Iotia II, the 1920s Chicago gangster planet. Terrell, Sulu and Chekov want to know whether the Iotians have reformed into a more just society, but instead they find civil war between the gangsters and a new police department which is trying to take over the planet. A debate erupts on Reliant. Chekov believes that the two sides are simply fighting a gang war and the police department is just another gang; Terrell disagrees and supports the police department with more advanced weapons, violating the Prime Directive. Once the police department wins the fight against the gangsters, Terrell asks for his weapons back, plus the Federation's "cut" for saving the world from the gangster government. The police department agrees on one condition; the Federation must send a garrison to support them with removing the gangsters from power.
EPISODE 7: XON'S MADNESS (Air date, October 21, 1980). Xon undergoes pon farr, but the Reliant cannot return to Vulcan because there is a plague on Berengaria which threatens to wipe out half the population. Dr. M'Benga must find a cure to the plague and prevent Xon from dying. He discovers that one of the hormones in Xon's blood that is produced during pon farr is part of a potential antidote for the Berengarian plague. M'Benga asks for a blood sample from the raging Xon, but he cannot get one because Xon nerve pinches him. Terrell, Chekov and Sulu must subdue Xon before he attempts to take over the ship, return to Vulcan, and leave the Berengarian plague uncured. Dr. Noel solves the problem by agreeing to a mind meld with Xon, which relieves some of the worst pon farr symptoms, and a revived Dr. M'Benga is able to acquire the blood sample needed to save the Berengarians. Xon is credited for saving Berengaria and returns to Vulcan, where he meets his wife, T'Lor, and is granted shore leave.
Now the two articles for this week: Paramount's success with Star Trek: Reliant and Battleground: Earth, and a final update on the Presidential race with updated polling.
PARAMOUNT'S TUESDAY SCIENCE FICTION NIGHT A RATINGS WINNER
October 17, 1980
Paramount has hit on a formula for at least one night of the week: science fiction sells. The new Star Trek series, Reliant, and the new Gene Roddenberry production, Battleground: Earth, are number one in their time slots. At 8:00 PM on Tuesday, Reliant easily outperformed NBC's series The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo and CBS's The White Shadow. Approximately 40% of American televisions tuned into Reliant's first six episodes. At 9:00 PM, the young, appealing cast of Battleground: Earth, led by Robert Vaughn, Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kirstie Alley and Lynn Whitfield, edged out Three's Company and Too Close for Comfort, two ABC comedies, for top ratings. At 10:00 PM, results were more mixed for Paramount, as British science fiction series Doctor Who is currently second in the ratings to ABC's Hart to Hart. Paramount executives were encouraged by the news. "Our three main science fiction offerings on Tuesday, led by Star Trek, are holding an audience and competing very well against the other major networks," said Mel Harris, a Paramount executive. "We are also finishing no worse than third on each of the other weeknights. Disney is a strong draw in two primetime slots, and Battlestar Galactica is performing well because we are airing it before CBS's two big series on Friday, The Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas." Paramount is also finding success with Laverne and Shirley, Taxi, Happy Days and Nero Wolfe. "Our other programming is also thriving better than expected," Harris said. We are a complete network, not just a science fiction vehicle, and Michael Eisner, my boss, is a major driver of this success."
REAGAN, KENNEDY IN DEAD HEAT ONE WEEK BEFORE ELECTION
NO CLEAR DEBATE WINNER
October 30, 1980
President Reagan and Senator Kennedy, his Democratic challenger, are deadlocked in the presidential contest with one week remaining before the November 4 election. The Louis Harris sponsored Washington Post poll has Kennedy and Reagan tied at 48 percent, with four percent undecided. Democrats lead the race for Congress by five points, 51 percent to 46 percent, over their Republican counterparts. "President Reagan's attacks on Senator Kennedy's character worked to a point. An election that Kennedy should be winning due to the poor economy is even because a segment of the population cannot trust the senator on personal and moral matters," Harris said. The only debate also failed to move the needle significantly. Fifty percent of the eighty million debate viewers believed that Reagan won the debate, to 47 percent for Kennedy. "Neither candidate got a major boost from the debate," Harris said. President Reagan's campaign is concerned that Senator Kennedy has small, but solid leads, in Reagan's home state of California and his birth state of Illinois. Both candidates see Pennsylvania and Ohio as deadlocked. Reagan has largely conceded New England and the Upper Midwest except for Wisconsin, where he will hold a campaign rally over the weekend, while Kennedy has largely conceded the South, except for Florida. Both campaigns also believe that New Jersey is close, and there is surprising strength for Kennedy in states like Iowa and Missouri, where he will be holding rallies this weekend. "It's anybody's race, and as we know, the popular vote does not determine the winner. The first candidate to 270 electoral votes wins," Harris said.
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