[SoConPubbie]

There was no grassroots rising in 1980, as polls were tight going into the last week of the election. Polls had even shown Reagan in 3rd place at one point in the early Summer.

And you can prove this how?

That's your opinion using a set of loosely coupled together observations on your part. Then you go about using that weak argument of yours to pretend that Senator Cruz is attempting to re-write history.

Once again, how do you prove this analytically, and not just with the loosely coupled information that you provided?

[SoConPubbie]

And you can prove this how?

I question your statement, because I was there and I know that before the campaign even started, essentially from the point where Reagan lost to Ford at the convention, Ronald Reagan hit the road and communicated his small-government conservative message to anyone and everyone who would listen to him. He united and energized the grass-roots by doing this.

Pretending that this was not a component of his two POTUS wins is simply wrong.

[research99]

Pull up some old AP newspaper reports from June-July 1980.

Reagan was running behind both Carter and Anderson at the time. Revisionist history serves no one when it is so easily disproved.