That's exactly right.
I'd almost forgotten all about John Anderson.
Most people hear John Anderson and they think country singer. But there was also an Illinois congressman named John Anderson, RINO to the core (they called them "Rockefeller Republicans" in those days).
Anderson HATED the fact that "warmonger" Ronald Reagan was representing the Republican Party in the general election and he felt it was his duty to run a third party campaign and provide an alternative for Republicans and Independents who felt Reagan was too conservative.
In the end, he was a non-factor but he did put a scare into the Reagan campaign that he would split the GOP vote and hand an easy re-election to Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter, doofus that he was, refused to debate Anderson in the fall. So it was just Reagan and Anderson debating on national TV. Reagan's performance showed America that Reagan wasn't the "scary warmonger" that both Carter and Anderson made him out to be. Remember, this was way before the Internet and cable news. The big 3 networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) controlled everything. So this Reagan/Anderson debate was the first time many Americans got to actually see Reagan on national TV.
Had Carter debated both Reagan and Anderson, he would have amplified Anderson's stature and that could have split the conservative/independent vote enough to get him re-elected.
Very interesting election that was. It was not a sure thing until maybe the weekend before the November election that Reagan would win. I think the final Gallup poll had Reagan only 3 points ahead.
Thanks for jogging the memory on John Anderson!
