Editing Walter Mondale (section)

===1984 presidential campaign===
{{main|Walter Mondale 1984 presidential campaign}}{{Further|1984 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1984 United States presidential election}}
After losing the 1980 election, Mondale returned briefly to the practice of law at [[Winston and Strawn]], a large Chicago-based law firm, but he intended to return to politics before long.<ref>{{cite news |last=Taylor |first=Stuart Jr. |title=Mondale's Base as Legal Counsel and Candidate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/31/us/mondale-s-base-as-legal-counsel-and-candidate.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 20, 2021 |date=January 31, 1984 |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420220619/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/31/us/mondale-s-base-as-legal-counsel-and-candidate.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Mondale ran for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1984|Democratic presidential primaries]] preceding the 1984 election, and was soon the front-runner. His opposition included Reverend [[Jesse Jackson]] and Senator [[Gary Hart]] from Colorado. Hart won the [[New Hampshire primary]] in March, but Mondale had much of the party leadership behind him. To great effect, Mondale used the [[Wendy's]] slogan "[[Where's the beef?]]" to describe Hart's policies as lacking depth. Jackson, widely regarded as the first serious African-American candidate for president, held on longer, but Mondale gained the nomination with the majority of delegates.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=United States presidential election of 1984 -–United States government |encyclopedia=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1984 |access-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404084849/https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1984 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Mondale Ferraro bumper sticker 1.jpg|thumb|A Mondale—Ferraro bumper sticker]]
At the [[1984 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]], Mondale chose [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] Geraldine Ferraro from New York as his running mate, making her the first woman nominated for that position by a major party. Aides later said that Mondale was determined to make a historic choice with his vice presidential candidate, having considered San Francisco Mayor [[Dianne Feinstein]] (female and Jewish); Los Angeles Mayor [[Tom Bradley (American politician)|Tom Bradley]], an African American; and [[San Antonio]] Mayor [[Henry Cisneros]], a Mexican American, as finalists.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926644,00.html |title=Trying to Win the Peace |first=Evan |last=Thomas |author-link=Evan Thomas |date=July 2, 1984 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930092516/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926644,00.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> Others preferred Senator [[Lloyd Bentsen]] because he would appeal to the Deep South, or even nomination rival [[Gary Hart]]. Ferraro, as a Catholic, was criticized by some Catholic Church leaders for being [[pro-choice]]. Much more controversy erupted over her changing positions about the release of her husband's tax returns, and her own ethics record in the House. Ferraro was on the defensive throughout much of the campaign, largely negating her breakthrough as the first woman on a major national ticket. She was also the first Italian American to reach that level in American politics.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/us/politics/27geraldine-ferraro.html |title=She Ended the Men's Club of National Politics |first=Douglas |last=Martin |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 26, 2011 |access-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420220614/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/us/politics/27geraldine-ferraro.html |url-status=live}}</ref><!--see note at Geraldine Ferraro with this same source for more details – which would be excessive for sourcing this claim, in this article-->

When Mondale made his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, he said: "By the end of my first term, I will reduce the Reagan budget deficit by two‑thirds. Let's tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/chicago/facts/famous.speeches/mondale.84.shtml |title=Mondale's Acceptance Speech, 1984 |publisher=[[CNN]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606014227/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/chicago/facts/famous.speeches/mondale.84.shtml |archive-date=June 6, 2013}}</ref> While this was meant to show that Mondale would be honest with voters, it was instead largely interpreted as a campaign pledge to raise taxes to spend on domestic programs, which was unappealing to many voters.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Mayer |first1=Jane |title=Remembering Walter Mondale |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/remembering-walter-mondale |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=April 20, 2021 |date=April 19, 2021 |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420012310/https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/remembering-walter-mondale |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Candidates Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro campaigning at Ft. Lauderdale, 4-27-84..jpg|thumb|left|Mondale and Ferraro campaigning in 1984]]
Mondale ran a [[modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] campaign, supporting a [[Nuclear Freeze campaign|nuclear freeze]] and the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] (ERA). He spoke against [[Reaganomics|Reagan's economic policies]] and in support of reducing federal [[budget deficit]]s. However, the incumbent was popular, and Mondale's campaign was widely considered ineffective. Mondale was also perceived as supporting the poor at the expense of the middle class. In the first televised debate he performed unexpectedly well, which led many to question Reagan's age and capacity to endure the grueling demands of the presidency (Reagan was the oldest person to serve as president—73 at the time—while Mondale was 56). In the next debate on October 21, 1984, Reagan deflected the issue by quipping, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."<ref name="newshourdod">{{cite interview |last=Mondale |first=Walter |title=1984: There You Go Again... Again / Debating Our Destiny Transcript |access-date=February 29, 2012 |subject-link=Walter Mondale |interviewer=Lehrer, Jim |work=PBS Newshour |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001212070100/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/dod/1984-broadcast.html |archive-date=December 12, 2000 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/dod/1984-broadcast.html}}</ref>

Mondale was defeated in a landslide, receiving 37,577,352 votes (40.6% of the popular vote), and winning only the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] and his home state of Minnesota (even there his margin of victory was fewer than 3,800 votes),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://h0040055bf148.ne.mediaone.net/~dave/POL/PE1984/pedata1984MN.html |title=1984 Presidential Election Data—Minnesota |access-date=April 5, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010711205902/http://h0040055bf148.ne.mediaone.net/~dave/POL/PE1984/pedata1984MN.html |archive-date=July 11, 2001}}</ref> securing only 13 electoral votes to Reagan's 525. The result was the worst electoral college defeat for any Democratic Party candidate in history, and the worst for any major-party candidate since [[Alf Landon]]'s loss to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in [[1936 United States presidential election|1936]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Most Lopsided Presidential Elections in U.S. History: How a Landslide is Measured |last=Murse |first=Tom |date=January 28, 2019 |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/landslide-presidential-elections-by-electoral-votes-3367489 |publisher=ThoughtCo |access-date=March 9, 2019 |archive-date=October 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181015095624/https://www.thoughtco.com/landslide-presidential-elections-by-electoral-votes-3367489 |url-status=live}}</ref>