1980 U.S Presidential Election (Kennedy 1980)

The 1980 Presidential Election was held on November 4th, 1980. The election featured a high powered match-up between two rising starts in the Democratic and Republican Party: 3 Term Democratic Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Former Republican California Governor and Actor Ronald Reagan. 10 Term Illinois Republican John Anderson also ran as an Independent after being defeated by Reagan in the Primaries. The election was dominated by the Iran Hostage Crisis, Skyrocketing Energy Prices, Unemployment and Inflation and the Soviet Union's military actions in Afghanistan.

The Incumbent Democratic President, Jimmy Carter, ran for a 2nd Term in office despite his very low approval ratings. While it's rare for a President to face a challenge from his own party, Carter ended up receiving substantial opposition from the more liberal wing of the party. Carter initially faced one challenger: 4 Term Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire., but after public polling showing Carter heavily vulnerable, 2 Term California Governor Jerry Brown and 2 Term New York Governor Hugh Carey, fresh off their 1978 re-election victories, decided to run. Polls showed a horse race between the 4. Liberal Activists and Unions tried persuading Senator Ted Kennedy to run, who was initially reluctant to run, but would be seen as the front runner if he were to run. After polls show that Kennedy would be a heavy favorite against President Carter, Kennedy decided to run. Kennedy campaigned as the prohibitive front-runner, but struggled to cement his image as the eventual nominee, particularly because Conservative Democrats strongly opposed Kennedy, primarily because they saw him as too liberal. President Carter was forced to run an insurgent campaign as he did in 1976, but ultimately was unable to beat Ted Kennedy, and Kennedy was effectively handed the nomination in June 1980 after President Carter and all other challengers had dropped out.

The Republican Primary was more quiet: Former California Governor Ronald Reagan was the early front-runner for the nomination in his third and what was speculated to be his last bid for the White House. Reagan consistently hled a comfortable lead over the GOP Field, with his chief rivals rotating between Former CIA Director George H.W Bush, Former Texas Governor John Conally and Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker of Tennessee. Illinois Congressman John Anderson also ran in an attempt to be the leading Liberal Republican Candidate against Reagan, who some Republicans saw as too conservative, but ultimately dropped out to pursue an Independent run. Bush established himself as Bush's cheif rival after Iowa, but he was never able to really gain on Reagan, who grew his lead after winning primary after primary, eventually forcing all his rivals out of the race and locking up the nomination by May 1980.

The General Election was heavily contested, nasty, and close: negative advertisements dominated the airwaves and scandals rocked both candidates. Reagan consistently tried to link Kennedy to the outgoing unpopular Carter Administration while Kennedy attacked Reagan for being too conservative and for his handling of the Berkeley Protests while he was Governor of California. Additionally, Illinois Congressman John Anderson campaigned as a potential spoiler and campaigned as a middle of the road kind of guy, but was mostly seen a protest candidate for more moderate voters. Anderson's candidacy was predicted to take more votes from Reagan then Kennedy

At 11:02 PM EST, Ted Kennedy was declared the winner over Ronald Reagan after winning several key battle ground states by close margins. Republicans mostly pinned the lost on Anderson, who effectively drew too many much need votes from Reagan. It was found that it was mostly Moderate and Liberal Republicans that voted for Anderson, and analysts showed that if Anderson's support had gone to Reagan, Reagan would've successfully defeated Kennedy.

Democratic Primary
Candidates for the Democratic Nomination:


 * Ted Kennedy, Senator of Massachusetts since 1962 (Nominee)
 * Jimmy Carter, President of the United States since 1981


 * Jerry Brown, Governor of California since 1975


 * Hugh Carey, Governor of New York since 1975


 * William Proxmire, Senator of Wisconsin since 1957

Campaign
From the start, President Carter was considered very vulnerable due to his low approval ratings and his handling of the Iranian Hostage Crisis and skyrocketing unemployment, inflation and energy prices, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party tried to find a candidate who could beat Carter in the primary. Jimmy Carter announced his re-election bid in Early March of 1979. Carter's approval ratings at the timer have been drastically declining and several prominent Democratic figures had began openly discussing the possibility of replacing Carter on the ballot. Unions and Liberal Activists tried to persuading Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy into running, and he was initially reluctant, but during the summer of 1979 he emerged as a prominent Carter critic on the left. Carter was not intimidated despite his massive unpopularity, and said this about the prospect of Kennedy running: "If he runs, I'll whoop his ass". Despite that comment, hypothetical polling showed that democratic primary voters preferred Kennedy over Carter by a margin of 2 to 1. With Kennedy shaky on the prospect of running, some liberal activists began trying to persuade little known Liberal Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire to run. Proxmire was considered to be a longshot at best, but he ultimately announced that he would run in Mid-May of 1979. Carter said he didn't really care that he was being challenged, and said he would still be the eventual nominee. However. snap polls since Proxmire's announcement showed Carter only leading Proxmire by a 42%-33% margin. This sent shock-waves throughout the Democratic party as it showed that Carter was vulnerable and could be defeated. This set off a flurry of speculation on who would run, but some names rose above the rest. New York Governor Hugh Carey began openly entertaining the possibility of running, and positioned himself as the liberal with executive experience.

Republican Primary
Candidates for the Republican Nomination
 * Ronald Reagan, Governor of California 1967-1975, Candidate for President in 1968 and 1976 (Nominee)
 * George H.W Bush, Representative from Texas's 7th Congressional District 1967-1971, Ambassador to the United Nations 1971-1973, Republican National Committee Chairman 1973-1974, Ambassador to China 1974-1975, Director of the CIA 1976-1977
 * John Connally, Secretary of the Navy January 1961-December 1961, Governor of Texas 1963-1969, Secretary of the Treasury 1971-1972
 * Howard Baker, Senate Minority Leader since 1977, Senator from Tennessee since 1967
 * Bob Dole, Senator From Kansas since 1969, Republican National Committee Chairman 1971-1973, Vice Presidential Nominee in 1976
 * Phil Crane, Representative from Illinois's 12th District since 1973, Representative from Illinois's 13th District 1969-1973
 * John Anderson, Representative from Illinois's 16th District since 1961, Chairman of the House Republican Conference since 1969
 * Ben Fernandez, Businessman from Nevada, Special Ambassador to Paraguay from August 1st, 1973- August 31st, 1973