United States Presidential election, 1980 (Napoleon's World)

The United States Presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between Vice President Jimmy Carter of the Democratic Party and Michigan Governor Elizabeth Shannon of the National Party. Shannon won in a landslide, winning 55% of the popular vote and beating Carter by over 350 electoral votes. It was the biggest landslide of the 20th century since Herbert Hoover's victory in 1928, and ranks above Prescott Bush's 1948 reelection win, Richard van Dyke's 1968 reelection win and John Hoover's 1960 presidential victory. It was significant as it was only the second time in sixteen years (the other time being 1964) in which an incumbent one-term President chose not to seek reelection. It also marked the fifth victory in a Presidential election by a Nationalist candidate in the past six elections (dating back to 1960) and the first time a woman ran as the primary candidate on the ticket, and also elevated Shannon as the first female President of America and only the third democratically elected female leader in an industrialized country in history.

Background
While Adam Eisler had won a partial mandate after his 1976 election victory over Nationalist incumbent Clyde Dawley, his rapid institution of a variety of programs drew the ire from many social conservatives within his own party and economic conservatives among the Nationalists. The Brazilian War started in 1978 under Eisler's go-ahead and was escalated throughout 1979, following Eisler's assassination on September 1st, 1978. His successor, Neill Wallace, was hardly the charismatic leader that Eisler had been, but rode the national grief over the tragedy to lead the Democrats through a surprisingly successful 1978 midterm election in which they held control of both houses of Congress.

Wallace, however, fumbled in 1979 in his handling of two simultaneous crises - the escalation of the Brazilian War resulted in the institution of an unpopular draft in America, and in May of 1979 the US stock market suffered one of its biggest collapses, losing almost 20% of its value over the course of four days in what was often referred to as the Meltdown of '79, which brought the otherwise enormously prosperous 1970's to a close. With the resulting economic depression only growing worse and the death toll rising in Brazil, the outlook for Democrats in 1980 looked bleak. In early 1980, Wallace announced that he would not seek reelection, instead deciding to retire after having served out his predecessor's term.

Democratic Party
With Wallace out of the picture, the Democrats scrambled to find somebody to take his place. With few candidates wanting to take on the Nationalists in what was clearly going to be a heavy, heavy loss, Vice President Jimmy Carter offered himself as the lead candidate. He had been a largely low-profile member of the Wallace administration and, having previously been the Governor of Georgia, was publicly known to strongly dislike the machinations of the Congress. His only real opposition had been House Majority Whip Peter Kent, who withdrew from the race after losing the Mississippi primary to Carter. With no other Democratic candidates running against him, Carter was assured of the nomination as early as mid-February.

National Party
The 1980 election is often compared to the 1964 race due to the surprising emergence of a dark horse to win the nomination and, soon thereafter, election from within the ranks of the National Party. Since 1976, the clear frontrunner for the 1980 nomination and probably the Presidency had been Hugh Veinklasser, a social and economic conservative icon who had been Governor of Virginia for fourteen years (Virginia would institute term limits starting in 1982, when Veinklasser finished his final term). He had been unsucessful in his bid for the Presidency in 1972, when Clyde Dawley was considered the party stalwart, and had been viewing the 1980 nomination as his right since losing in the '72 primaries.

He faced, however, a formidable field of opponents:
 * Robert Redford, the former Governor of California, who was young, energetic and attractive, and had run the largest state in the Union successfully for seven years despite his youth after his predecessor was ousted by a scandal. Redford was seen as the biggest serious challenge to Veinklasser.
 * Dimitri Johnson, a half-Alaskan Senator from Ohio. He was a centrist Nationalist who had friends in powerful, typically pro-Democratic labor unions.
 * Elizabeth Shannon, the first female Governor of Michigan and a noted social and economic conservative who promoted a strong message of "Move On," throughout her early campaign. Shannon's campaign had really begun building steam throughout 1979 when she pointed to her son serving in Brazil and the hardships her state faced throughout the early stages of the depression.
 * Dennis Dooley, a former Senator from Iowa.