Existing comment:
"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"
-- Ronald Reagan, Presidential Debate, October 28, 1980
The Great Debate:
In the last week of October 1980, the presidential race was too close to call. The lone debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan on October 28th ranked among the most-watched television programs in a decade.
Ronald Reagan gave a confident, relaxed performance that thwarted President Carter's attempts to portray him as a right-wing extremist. He deflected Jimmy Carter's criticism with the phrase, "There you go again." Almost overnight, a close race turned into a landslide. Ronald Reagan won the popular vote by 10 percentage points and took 44 of the 50 states. |