The Commission on Presidential Nomination was formed in July 1981, under the leadership ofJim Hunt. The commission sought to increase the power of elected officials, who could choose a more moderate and ideologically representative candidate.Alan Cranston,Gillis William Long, andWalter Mondale supported giving elected officials positions as uncommitted delegates whileTed Kennedy opposed it.[20] The report was completed on February 5, 1982. The commission allocated 568 delegates, 14% of the total, to unelectedsuperdelegates, who were party leaders and elected officials. The primary schedule was reduced to occur from March to June, with the exception of Iowa and New Hampshire.[21]
411 of the superdelegates were elected officials and 157 were party officials. Members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate accounted for 200 delegates. Mondale's campaign capitalized on this andRichard Moe, with 20 lobbyists, gained support for Mondale from members of Congress.Thomas Hale Boggs Jr. lobbied for congressional support forJohn Glenn.[22]
Twenty-six primaries were held in 1984, less than the thirty-one in 1980.[23] 54% of the delegates were selected using primaries which was a decline from the 72% in 1980, 32% was selected using caucuses, and the remainder were superdelegates. Ten states, six using a primary and four using a caucus, and Puerto Rico used a winner-take-all system. The minimum percentage needed to win delegates was raised from 15% to 20%.[24]
Kennedy, one of the leading possible candidates, announced in December 1982, that he would not run for the presidential nomination.[25]
In June 1983, Cranston won a series ofstraw polls in Alabama, California, and Wisconsin and placed second in Massachusetts.[26][27][28] Mondale won a straw poll in Maine in October. Glenn criticized the excessive spending on the straw poll as Cranston and Mondale both spent $100,000 and Hollings spent $25,000 while campaigning for it.[29]
Jackson ended up winning 21% of the national primary vote but received only 8% of the delegates to the national convention, and he initially charged that his campaign was hurt by the same party rules that allowed Mondale to win. He also poured scorn on Mondale, saying thatHubert Humphrey was the "last significant politician out of theSt. Paul-Minneapolis" area.[30]
Colorado SenatorGary Hart was little-known when he announced his run February 1983, and barely received above 1% in the polls compared to other well-known figures. To counter this, Hart started campaigning early inNew Hampshire, making a then-unprecedented canvassing tour in late September, months before the primary. This strategy attracted national media attention to his campaign, and by late 1983, he had risen moderately in the polls to the middle of the field, mostly at the expense of the sinking candidacies ofJohn Glenn and Cranston.[31][32]
Hart criticized Mondale as an "old-fashioned"Great Society Democrat who symbolized "failed policies" of the past. Hart positioned himself as a younger, fresher, and more moderate Democrat who could appeal to younger voters. He emerged as a formidable candidate, winning the keyOhio andCalifornia primaries as well as several others, especially in the West. However, Hart could not overcome Mondale's financial and organizational advantages, especially amonglabor union leaders in theMidwest and industrial Northeast. Hart was also badly hurt during a televised debate when Mondale used a popular television commercial slogan to ridicule Hart's vague "New Ideas" platform. Turning to Hart on camera, Mondale said that whenever he heard Hart talk about his "New Ideas", he was reminded of theWendy'sfast-food slogan "Where's the beef?". The remark drew loud laughter andapplause from the audience and caught Hart off-guard. Hart never fully recovered from Mondale's charge that his "New Ideas" were shallow and lacking in specifics. Earlier in the same Democratic primary debate, Hart committed a seriousfaux pas that largely went underreported. Asked what he would do if an unidentifiedairplane flew over theIron Curtain from aWarsaw Pact nation, Hart replied that he would send up aUnited States Air Force plane and instruct them to determine whether or not it was an enemy plane by looking in thecockpit window to see if the pilots were wearing uniforms. Fellow candidateJohn Glenn, a formerMarine Corpsfighter pilot, replied that this was physically impossible.
At a roundtable debate between the three remaining Democratic candidates moderated byPhil Donahue, Mondale and Hart got in such a heated argument over the issue ofU.S. policy in Central America that Jackson had to tap his water glass on the table to get them to simmer down.
Jackson's campaign was bolstered after he led a delegation to Syria that convincedHafez al-Assad to releaseBobby Goodman in January 1984. Jackson received large and overwhelming positive news coverage. However, positive news coverage ended after he called Jews "Hymies" and New York City "Hymietown". Jackson was also criticized for his relation withLouis Farrakhan.[33][34][35]
Mondale won the Iowa caucus with a plurality of the vote. Glenn performed poorly and came in sixth.[36] Hart's campaign was bolstered by his second place showing. Hart, despite not winning Iowa, was now viewed as the only viable opponent to Mondale. Hart was polling below 10% nationally in late February, but was polling above 30% by March 2, and near 40% by March 6.[37]
Mondale led Glenn by two-to-one in New Hampshire and Glenn led Hart by two-to-one in New Hampshire in polling from March 1983 to February 1984. However, Hart's polling improved shortly before the primary and won in New Hampshire. Mondale and Hart both won 6 delegates, despite Hart's popular vote victory, due to mathematical distribution.[38][39][40]
Reubin Askew,Alan Cranston, andFritz Hollings ended their campaigns after their poor results in New Hampshire.[41][42] Hart had incomplete delegate slates, such as him having 45 delegates slated for the 117 delegates up in Pennsylvania's primary. Hart adopted the delegate slates of withdrawn campaigns.[43]
Glenn's campaign stated that he needed to win Alabama and perform well in Georgia.[44] Mondale won the statewide popular vote in Georgia, but Hart won in more congressional districts and won a plurality of the state's delegates.[45][46]
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Illinois held their contests with a total of 510 delegates on March 13 as a part ofSuper Tuesday. The three leading candidates' delegate counts rose from 126 to 301 for Mondale, 17 to 164 for Hart, and 7 to 34 for Jackson.[47]
Hollings was expected to win South Carolina as a favorite son candidate, but withdrew before the state held its caucus.[48]
On March 31, the Kentucky precinct caucuses elected a plurality uncommitted delegation supported byMartha Layne Collins. Mondale won the Virgin Islands caucus.[49]
Hart won the Wisconsin primary, but none of the major candidates campaigned in the state due to the primary having no pledged delegates.[50] Mondale won the caucus which was responsible for the allocation of 78 of the state's 89 delegates.[51]
Louisiana cancelled its primary, as it was unable to afford the $1.5 million cost, and caucuses were held for both parties instead.[52]
On May 1, Jackson won Washington D.C. and Mondale won Tennessee. In order to gain the nomination Hart needed to win 91% of the remaining delegates after these contests.[53]
Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Ohio held their contests with a total of 483 delegates on May 8 as part of Super Tuesday II.[47]
Mondale gradually pulled away from Hart in the delegate count, but the race was not decided until June, on Super Tuesday III.[54] Decided that day were delegates from five states:South Dakota,New Mexico,West Virginia, and the big prizes of California andNew Jersey.[55] The proportional nature of delegate selection meant that Mondale was likely to obtain enough delegates on that day to secure the stated support of an overall majority of delegates, and hence the nomination, no matter who actually "won" the states contested. However, Hart maintained that unpledged superdelegates that had previously claimed support for Mondale would shift to his side if he swept the Super Tuesday III primary.[56] Once again, Hart committed afaux pas, insultingNew Jersey shortly before the primary day. Campaigning in California, he remarked that while the "bad news" was that he and his wife Lee had to campaign separately, "[t]he good news for her is that she campaigns in California while I campaign in New Jersey." Compounding the problem, when his wife interjected that she "got to hold a koala bear," Hart replied that "I won't tell you what I got to hold: samples from a toxic-waste dump."[56] While Hart won California, he decisively lost New Jersey after leading in polls by as much as 15 points.
North Dakota held its first presidential primary, but no delegates were bound by it. Hart won the primary againstLyndon LaRouche, the only other candidate on the ballot.[57]
McGovern endorsed Mondale on July 11, and instructed his 23 delegates to vote for Mondale. Mondale was already 28 delegates above the minimum required to win.[58]
Mondale had the support of 81 state chairs and vice-chairs, Hart had 13, Jackson had 1, and 19 were uncommitted one week before the convention.[59] The final CBS poll of delegates before the convention showed that among the superdelegates 384 supported Mondale, 58 supported Hart, 25 supported Jackson, and 101 were uncommitted.[1]
By the time the Democratic Convention started inSan Francisco, Mondale had more than enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination. However, after Mondale's landslide loss toRonald Reagan, Hart would quickly emerge as the frontrunner for the1988 Democratic Party's presidential nomination. He would maintain that status until asex scandal derailed his candidacy in 1987.
Mondale performed best in states with primaries.[61] Hart won more states than Mondale and performed better both in primaries, with 16 victories out of 27, and caucuses, with 13 victories out of 23, but he won in states with lower delegate counts and which allotted them proportionally. Mondale won four of the five winner-take-all states. His plurality victories gave him all of Pennsylvania's 80 delegates and 102 of New Jersey's 107 delegates.[62] Mondale's strong support among superdelegates meant that the delegations of five states won by Hart (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Indiana, Ohio, and New Mexico) were controlled by Mondale.[63]
The delegate results were malapportioned when compared to the popular vote. If all of the contests used a proportional system then the results would have been 1,591 delegates for Mondale, 1,307 for Hart, 645 for Jackson, and 390 for others and uncommitted. This would have placed Mondale below the minimum number of delegates needed to win and doubled the number of Jackson's delegates.[64]
Mondale lost all of New England and almost every state west of the Mississippi.[65]
Two-thirds of the delegates attending the convention identified as liberals compared to 7% who identified as conservatives.[66]
One-third of people who supported Hart during the Democratic primary voted for Reagan.[67] 4% of Mondale supporters and 6% of Jackson supporters voted for Reagan.[68]
The 1984 Democratic presidential primary vote by demographic subgroup
^This is an approximation; a source with a hard date was not found
^This is an estimate based on prior polls; no hard dates were given.
^Combined for Jay Rockefeller, John Y. Brown Jr., Bruce Babbitt, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bill Bradley, Alan Cranston, Gary Hart, Ernest Hollings, Reubin Askew, and Robert Strauss, each of whom received less than 2%.
^Jay Rockefeller, John Y. Brown Jr., Bruce Babbitt, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bill Bradley, Alan Cranston, Gary Hart, Ernest Hollings, Reubin Askew, and Robert Strauss were included in the poll but each received less than 2%.
^Gary Hart with 2%, Alan Cranston with 2%, Reubin Askew with 1%, Ernest Hollings with 1% and less than 2% each for Bruce Babbitt, John Brown, Jay Rockefeller, Lloyd Bentsen, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bill Bradley, Mo Udall, Robert Strauss.
When he made his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, Mondale said: "Let's tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did." Although Mondale intended to expose Reagan as hypocritical and position himself as the honest candidate, the choice of taxes as a discussion point likely damaged his electoral chances.[citation needed]
Mondale choseU.S. Rep.Geraldine A. Ferraro ofNew York as his running mate and she was confirmed by acclamation, making her the first woman nominated for that position by a major party.
Aides later said that Mondale was determined to establish a precedent with his vice presidential candidate, considering San Francisco Mayor (Later U.S. Senator)Dianne Feinstein andGovernor of KentuckyMartha Layne Collins, who were also female; Los Angeles MayorTom Bradley, an African American; and San Antonio MayorHenry Cisneros, a Hispanic, as other finalists for the nomination.[30] Unsuccessful nomination candidate Jackson derided Mondale's vice-presidential screening process as a "P.R. parade of personalities"; however, he praised Mondale for his choice.
Others however preferred SenatorLloyd Bentsen because he would appeal to more conservative Southern voters. Nomination rivalGary Hart had also been lobbying for the vice-presidential spot on the ticket once it became apparent that Mondale had clinched the majority of delegates; Hart's supporters claimed he would do better than Mondale against President Reagan, an argument undercut by a June 1984 Gallup poll that showed both men nine points behind the President.
Politicians considered for vice presidential nomination:[219]
^"McGovern Backs Mondale".Argus-Leader. June 14, 1984. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 4, 2025. RetrievedNovember 14, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"'A New Sense of Direction'".The Greenville News. March 10, 1984. p. 1. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. RetrievedNovember 14, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Crowder, Ken; Gannaway, Glenn (March 27, 1984)."No winner in Lee, WIse caucuses".Kingsport Times-News. p. 15.Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. RetrievedMay 13, 2022.
^Moses, Charles T. (April 1, 1984)."Primary Called Test of Black Voting Power".Newsday (Suffolk Edition). p. 15.Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. RetrievedMay 13, 2022.Others closely tied to the Democratic Party structure, including Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan), national vice chairman for Walter Mondale's campaign and a powerful leader in the black community, have described Jackson's candidacy as one blacks cannot afford to endorse.
^abHOWELL RAINES (November 4, 1983)."A Provocative Candidate".The New York Times.Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. RetrievedAugust 11, 2014.
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