Anyone remember 1980?

[eyeontheprize]

Carter lost and we lost the senate. When did the polls indicate either of those things was going to happen? I remember a very sad election night despite the fact that the US Rep I worked for winning.

I also remember being shocked by the result. I've read since Carter knew the weekend before the election, but was the senate forecast known?

Could this be 1980 in reverse?

[drdtroit]

1. Perhaps the Pakistanis will turn over Osama

to Kerry on November 3rd! :)

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. Good, but they are still the enemy.

[Philostopher]

3. I think it's going to be a mystery until 11/3

and perhaps even beyond, depending on how much local precincts are overwhelmed by the influx of new voters and absentee ballots, and how much the GOP overwhelms the courts with challenges and attempts to discard new voters' ballots.

I agree with you 1980 was a big shock in some ways, though if I recall correctly, my folks were pretty pessimistic about Carter's chances for reelection because Reagan, however flawed he was as a human being and as a 'statesman,' was in many ways a perfect candidate.

On edit: Interestingly, Mr. Nownow and I just had a conversation this afternoon that's the negative image to this -- I said I thought Kerry would be an excellent president, but I'd had my doubts early on about his ability to campaign for the slot and win. Maybe you have a point -- the similarities are greater than I thought at first!

Democrats weren't energized at that point, and religion didn't play as big a part in that election as it will in this one. The Democrats had the Christian, that year -- and I think even people who didn't agree with him politically and would never vote for Carter never questioned his faith. It just wasn't an issue then, like it is now (and, arguably, shouldn't be now; but the GOP has managed to make it a wedge issue among all the others).

I'm not sure the same pressures applied then to make it a free-for-all as could apply this year, but it was disappointing. I wasn't old enough to vote yet, that year, but those were the days -- both Ohio's senators were popular and progressive Dems (Howard Metzenbaum and John Glenn, both of whom held those offices until retirement). The governor was GOP, but he was clearly becoming too old to win another election, and subsequently didn't. That was before GOP machine politics took over Ohio and pretty much destroyed the financial stability, jobs base and political dialogue we used to have here. They've left Ohio a wasteland.

[jobycom]

4. Carter was behind, then he pulled ahead briefly near the elections

and then in the last couple of days the numbers firmed up for Reagan. There was a third party candidate on the ballot, then, too-- John Anderson, who drew votes from Carter.

Carter was behind most of the campaign, though the numbers fluctuated.