This Week’s Memorabilia — John Anderson

This is a button from the John Anderson for President campaign in 1980.  Anderson was a Republican congressman from Illinois who lost to Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries that year.  He decided to run as an Independent or in some states a National Unity, candidate.  Anderson polled very well in the Summer and early Fall of 1980, but as the campaign inched closer to November, Anderson faltered.  His campaign finished third behind Reagan and President Jimmy Carter.  Why is it difficult for Independent candidates to win the Presidency?  (None have.)

Social Issues in Politics

Here is an ad from the 1976 Presidential season.  It is from the Presidential campaign of Ellen McCormack, a New York housewife, who was able to raise enough money to run television spots such as this in states that she qualified for in the Democratic Party primaries.  She did not win any primaries, but McCormack did receive 22 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention.  The Democratic nominee for President in 1976 was Jimmy Carter.

This ad brings up several questions:
1.  Can any candidate run on social issues and expect to win in election?  For McCormack, she ran almost exclusively as an anti-abortion candidate.
2.  Today, the Democratic Party supports more a pro-choice platform and the Republican Party favors a pro-life platform.  Is there a place for both platforms in each party?
3.  Would candidates today venture and run an ad like this today?

The Election of 1980

The ad below was run in 1980 by the Ronald Reagan campaign for President.  Reagan, a Republican, ran against the incumbent Democrat, Jimmy Carter in the general election.  Congressman John Anderson, also a Republican, ran as a third party Independent or National Unity Party candidate in that election as well.  The man that you see in the ad is neither Reagan nor Carter.  It is not Anderson for that matter.
The speaker is then-Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy who ran for President in the Democratic primaries against Carter.  Kennedy attempted to capitalize on his name and his left-leaning populism against the unpopular Carter.  Kennedy’s campaign sputtered at the start and the Senator never really mounted a challenge to Carter throughout the primary season.
What Reagan’s campaign did with this ad was to use Kennedy’s words against Carter in the general election.  This is sometimes called a “them on them” ad.  It is where a candidate uses the words of his opponent’s former opponents against him.  In this case, Reagan uses the words of Kennedy against Carter.  Reagan does not have to say a word in the ad.  The goal is to get dissatisfied Democrats to switch parties on Election Day and support the Republican Reagan.
Do you believe that ads of the “them on them” variety are effective?

Electoral College Results Since 1964

There are 538 available Electoral College votes in this year’s Presidential election.  That total has remained the same since 1964.  Below are the Electoral vote totals for each Presidential election since 1964.

1964:  Lyndon Johnson (D) 486, Barry Goldwater (R) 52

1968:  Richard Nixon (R) 301, Hubert Humphrey (D) 197, George Wallace (I) 40

1972:  Nixon (R) 520, George McGovern (D) 17, John Hospers (L) 1

1976:  Jimmy Carter (D) 297, Gerald Ford (R) 240

1980:  Ronald Reagan (R) 489, Carter (D) 49

1984:  Reagan (R) 525, Walter Mondale (D) 13

1988:  George H.W. Bush (R) 429, Michael Dukakis (D) 112

1992:  Bill Clinton (D) 370, Bush (R) 168

1996:  Clinton (D) 387, Bob Dole (R) 151

2000:  George W. Bush (R) 271, Al Gore (D) 266

2004:  Bush (R) 286, John Kerry (D) 251

2008:  Barack Obama (D) 365, John McCain (R) 173

What do you think this year’s Electoral vote total will be for the 2012 Presidential Election?