Tell the rest of the story, why don’t you?
Ronald Reagan had nearly defeated Gerald Ford, and had the Republican establishment use a barrage of dirty tricks to steal the nomination for Ford. Reagan adopted a strategy of avoiding the establishment events altogether, not just the Iowa debate. And he went on to lose Iowa. And he plummeted in the polls in Massacusetts and South Carolina.
In New Hampshire, he shifted tactics. He realized he needed to debate... and defeat... Bush. The Nashua Telegraph agreed to sponsor a debate between Bush and Reagan. Careful not to violate RNC rules, Reagan instead offered to pay for the debate, and invite other candidates. Bush was surprised to find other candidates in attendance, so Reagan went to the mic to explain what was going on.
Famously, the sound engineer tried to cut Reagan off, leading to Reagan demanding, “I’m paying for this microphone, Mr. Green.” The debate ensued between Bush and Reagan, and Reagan trounced Bush in New Hampshire.
But while eventually his demand to Mr. Green became legendary, the damage was done. Bush and Anderson pulled even in many Northern states, and Connelly pulled even in many southern states. Reagan went on to place 3rd in Massachusetts, virtually tie in Vermont, and was losing to Connelly in South Carolina. Lee Atwater’s “dirty tricks” were needed to rescue the Reagan candidacy. Connally quit the race in disgust.
Fortunately for Reagan, Bush and Anderson had abandoned the South, leaving Reagan essentially unopposed in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, and Louisiana.
He still had a much tougher go of it than he imagined. Reagan won by modest margins in Illinois and Wisconsin, and easily won in Kansas. Bush beat him in Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
Finally, on May 3rd, Reagan eeked out a narrow win in Texas over Bush, and Anderson withdrew, eventually running as an independent. Finally, that broke Bush’s back. He would still trounce Reagan in Michigan, but Reagan finally was winning state after state.
the fact of the matter is.
when you are up big just days before the voting you have almost nothing to gain and everything to lose from attending a debate.
I was saying BEFORE the tweet controversy that Trump shouldn’t do any more debates. He has the nomination in the bag. He just needs to play it safe at this point.
no link
Rating the debate and nondebate on Iowa hustings
Christian Science Monitor, The (Published as Christian Science Monitor, The (Boston, MA)) - January 9, 1980
Author/Byline: Godfrey Sperling Jr.,
Staffocratic nondebate? The answers, based on editorial comment and the views of politicians from both parties:
* The GOP was the only clear winner in the confrontation of six of its presidential candidates.
The consensus of observers is that all of the debaters — John B. connally, George Bush, Sens. Howard H. Baker Jr. and Robert Dole, US Reps. John B. Anderson and Philip M. Crane — came through on television as intelligent, articulate, and as men of high caliber.
Whether Ronald Reagan, by his absence, was the “loser,” as some analysts were saying just after the debate, is not clear. Politicians from around the United States say they see no signs of erosion of support for Mr. Reagan. He remains the distinct front-runner among Republicans.
(snip)
But Reagan didn’t skip the debate because he could not handle a girl reporter who was not nice to him.
Everything Trump does is for show and Trump will not win in a Reagan type landslide. Current polling shows aver 20% of Republicans will not vote if he is the nominee. There is also a large chunk of independents who do not care for Trump as well. While his supporters love his brashness, forked tongue and his lack of detail and substance, there is large part of the electorate who are put off by Trump and find to be a bitter and vile man.
He will have a hard time in the election. He still loses to Hillary in most polls and is not polling well with independents.
From my perspective, if he can’t handle Megyn Kelly in a debate, how is he going to be able handle a hostile press if he is POTUS?
Trump is unstable and is not fir to be President.
Ronald Reagan wasn’t scared of Mehgan.
BTTT!
There were all sorts of debate controversies back in 1980. Remember when Reagan had the “I paid for this microphone” moment? Then you have the general election where Carter wouldn’t debate if John Anderson was included. I also remember John Anderson doing his own “town hall” debate while Carter and Reagan did finally meet.
I highly doubt Trump is really serious about not showing. IMO, he’s probably doing this to generate more drama....claiming he’s not gonna show, he’s not gonna show, he’s not gonna show....then at the last minute, Oh I decided to go. Then more people will watch to watch the drama unfold and it’ll be a typical nothing burger of him just repeating his same generic catch phrases and lines. Yawn....
For the record, Reagan actually lost the Iowa Caucus’s after skipping the last Iowa debate and had to shake up his campaign staff.
It seems to me that the difference is that Trump, I believe, agreed to attend the debate and is now pulling out. Nothing about Reagan doing that is reported in your link, only that he didn’t attend. There’s a difference.