Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1980

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As the 1970s came to a close, Former Governor Ronald Reagan was the odds-on favorite to win his party's nomination for president after nearly beating incumbent President Gerald Ford just four years earlier. He was so far ahead in the polls that campaign director John Sears decided on an "above the fray" strategy. He did not attend many of the multicandidate forums and straw poll events held in the summer and fall of 1979.

[edit] Candidates

[edit] Nominee

Former Governor Ronald Reagan of California

[edit] Withdrew during primaries

U.S. Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois	Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker of Tennessee	Former CIA director George H. W. Bush of Texas	Former Governor John Connally of Texas
U.S. Congressman Phil Crane of Illinois	U.S. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas	RNHA Chairman Ben Fernandez of California	Former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen of Pennsylvania

[edit] Withdrew before primaries

Senator Larry Pressler of South Dakota

Senator Lowell Weicker of Connecticut

[edit] Declined to run^[1]

Former Astronaut Frank Borman of Indiana	Senator Bill Brock of Tennessee	Governor Pete du Pont of Delaware	Former President Gerald Ford of Michigan
Representative Jack Kemp of New York	Former NATO Commander Alexander Haig of Pennsylvania	Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania	Senator Charles Mathias of Maryland
Senator Chuck Percy of Illinois	Governor Robert D. Ray of Iowa	Former Commerce Secretary Elliot Richardson of Massachusetts	Former FBI Director William Ruckelshaus of Indiana
Former Treasury Secretary Bill Simon of New Jersey	Governor Jim Thompson of Illinois

[edit] Campaign

George H. W. Bush, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and chairman of the Republican National Committee, taking a page from the George McGovern/Jimmy Carter playbook, did go to all the so-called "cattle calls," and began to come in first at a number of these events. Along with the top two, a number of other Republican politicians entered the race. In January 1980, the Iowa Republicans decided to have a straw poll as a part of their caucuses for that year. Bush's hard work paid off, and he defeated Reagan by a small margin. Bush declared he had the "Big Mo" (for "momentum"), and with Reagan boycotting the Puerto Rico primary in deference to New Hampshire, the victorious Bush looked like he might actually beat Reagan to the nomination.

The Nashua debate between Ronald Reagan (left) and George H.W. Bush (right)

With the other candidates in single digits, the Nashua Telegraph offered to host a debate between Reagan and Bush. Worried that a newspaper-sponsored debate might violate electoral regulations, Reagan subsequently arranged to fund the event with his own campaign money, inviting the other candidates to participate at short notice. The Bush camp did not learn of Reagan's decision to include the other candidates until the debate was due to commence. Bush refused to participate, which led to an impasse on the stage. As Reagan attempted to explain his decision, the editor of the Nashua Telegraph ordered the sound man to mute Reagan's microphone. A visibly angry Reagan responded "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!" (referring to the editor).^[2]^[3] Eventually the other candidates agreed to leave, and the debate proceeded between Reagan and Bush. Reagan's quote was often repeated as "I paid for this microphone!" and dominated news coverage of the event; Bush did not make an impact with the voters.

Heading into the South Carolina primary, political operative Lee Atwater worked to engineer a victory for Reagan. "Lee Atwater figured that Connally was their biggest threat here in South Carolina. So Lee leaked a story to me that John Connally was trying to buy the black vote. Well, that story got out, thanks to me, and it probably killed Connally. He spent $10 million for one delegate. Lee saved Ronald Reagan's candidacy," said Lee Bandy, a writer for the South Carolina newspaper The State.^[2]

Reagan swept the South, and although he lost five more primaries to Bush, including one where he came in third behind John Anderson, the former governor had a lock on the nomination very early in the season. Reagan would always be grateful to the people of Iowa for giving him "the kick in the pants" he needed.

Ronald Reagan giving his Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention, Detroit, Michigan, July 17, 1980

Reagan was an adherent to a policy known as supply side economics, which argues that economic growth can be most effectively created using incentives for people to produce (supply) goods and services, such as adjusting income tax and capital gains tax rates. Accordingly, Reagan promised an economic revival that would affect all sectors of the population. He said that cutting tax rates would actually increase tax revenues because the lower rates would cause people to work harder as they would be able to keep more of their money. Reagan also called for a drastic cut in "big government" programs and pledged to deliver a balanced budget for the first time since 1969. In the primaries Bush famously called Reagan's economic policy "voodoo economics" because it promised to lower taxes and increase revenues at the same time.

[edit] Results

[edit] Statewide

		Ronald Reagan	George H.W. Bush	John Anderson	Howard Baker	John Connally	Phil Crane	Bob Dole
January 21	Iowa	30%	32%	4%	15%	9%	7%	1%
February 17	Puerto Rico	0%	60%	0%	37%	1%	0%	0%
February 26	New Hampshire	50%	23%	10%	13%	2%	2%	0%
March 4	Massachusetts	29%	31%	31%	5%	1%	1%	0%
March 4	Vermont	30%	22%	29%	12%	1%	2%	0%
March 8	South Carolina	55%	15%	0%	1%	30%	0%	0%
March 11	Alabama	70%	26%	0%	1%	1%	2%	0%
March 11	Florida	56%	30%	9%	1%	1%	2%	0%
March 11	Georgia	73%	13%	8%	1%	1%	3%	0%
March 18	Illinois	49%	11%	36%	1%	0%	2%	0%
March 25	Connecticut	34%	39%	22%	1%	0%	1%	0%
April 1	Kansas	63%	13%	18%	1%	1%	0%	0%
April 1	Wisconsin	40%	30%	27%	0%	0%	0%	0%
April 5	Louisiana	74%	19%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
April 22	Pennsylvania	43%	50%	2%	3%	1%	0%	0%
May 3	Texas	53%	46%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
May 6	Washington, D.C.	0%	66%	27%	0%	0%	4%	0%
May 6	Indiana	74%	16%	10%	0%	0%	4%	0%
May 6	North Carolina	68%	22%	5%	2%	0%	1%	0%
May 6	Tennessee	74%	18%	4%	0%	0%	1%	0%
May 13	Maryland	48%	41%	10%	0%	0%	1%	0%
May 13	Nebraska	76%	15%	6%	0%	0%	1%	1%
May 20	Michigan	32%	57%	8%	0%	0%	1%	1%
May 20	Oregon	54%	35%	10%	0%	0%	1%	0%
May 27	Arkansas
May 27	Idaho	83%	4%	10%	0%	0%	1%	0%
May 27	Kentucky	82%	7%	5%	0%	0%	0%	0%
May 27	Nevada	83%	4%	10%	0%	0%	1%	0%
June 3	California	80%	5%	14%	0%	0%	1%	0%
June 3	Mississippi	89%	8%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
June 3	Montana	87%	10%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
June 3	New Jersey	81%	17%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
June 3	New Mexico	64%	10%	12%	0%	0%	7%	0%
June 3	Ohio	81%	19%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
June 3	Rhode Island	72%	19%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
June 3	South Dakota	88%	4%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
June 3	West Virginia	84%	14%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%

[edit] Nationwide

Primaries total popular vote number^[3]:

Ronald Reagan - 7,709,793 (59.79%)
George H. W. Bush - 3,070,033 (23.81%)
John B. Anderson - 1,572,174 (12.19%)
Howard Baker - 181,153 (1.41%)
Phil Crane - 97,793 (0.76%)
John B. Connally - 82,625 (0.64%)
Unpledged - 68,155 (0.53%)
Ben Fernandez - 68,155 (0.53%)
Harold Stassen - 25,425 (0.20%)
Gerald Ford - 10,557 (0.08%)
Bob Dole - 7,204 (0.06%)

The 1980 Republican National Convention was held in Detroit, Michigan from July 14 to July 17.

Presidential tally^[4]:

Ronald Reagan - 1,939 (97.44%)
John B. Anderson - 37 (1.86%)
George H. W. Bush - 13 (0.65%)
Anne Armstrong - 1 (0.05%)

Reagan initially negotiated with Gerald Ford to be his running mate; when the complex plan fell through (Ford reportedly insisted Henry Kissinger and Alan Greenspan be offered cabinet positions), Reagan chose Bush as the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Vice Presidential tally^[5]:

Former CIA Director George H. W. Bush of Texas - 1,832 (93.33%)
Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina - 54 (2.75%)
Congressman Jack Kemp of New York - 42 (2.14%)
Congressman Phil Crane of Illinois - 23 (1.17%)
Governor James R. Thompson of Illinois - 5 (0.26%)
Congressman John M. Ashbrook of Ohio - 1 (0.05%)
Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker of Tennessee - 1 (0.05%)
Congressman Henry J. Hyde of Illinois - 1 (0.05%)
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois - 1 (0.05%)
Eugene Schroeder - 1 (0.05%)
Former Treasury Secretary William E. Simon of California - 1 (0.05%)
Congressman Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan - 1 (0.05%)

[edit] References

^ [1]
^ "FRONTLINE: boogie man: the lee atwater story: transcript". Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/atwater/etc/script.html. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
^ Our Campaigns - US President - R Primaries Race - Feb 17, 1980
^ Our Campaigns - US President - R Convention Race - Jul 14, 1980
^ Our Campaigns - US Vice President - R Convention Race - Jul 14, 1980

[0] [1]

[1] "FRONTLINE: boogie man: the lee atwater story: transcript". Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/atwater/etc/script.html. Retrieved July 24, 2010.

[2] Our Campaigns - US President - R Primaries Race - Feb 17, 1980

[3] Our Campaigns - US President - R Convention Race - Jul 14, 1980

[4] Our Campaigns - US Vice President - R Convention Race - Jul 14, 1980

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Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1980

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