[Koblenz]

Good article. I remember Jimmy Carter, when he'd smile and show all those silly teeth. But before Reagan, I only remember little bits -- I was 10 years and 1 month old when he was elected. I remember us giving away the Panama Canal. My dad was the precinct chairman for the Reagan campaign and I remember going to the polls with him all day long. I remember everyone expected it to be a tight race. At the end of the day, a little after 8:00 pm, they opened the ballot boxes. It was a lever machine, so they had the results right away.

I remember when they opened the first machine. The Dem guy was there, my dad, me and a poll worker or two. The count in the first machine was Reagan 847 and Carter had under 300. Andersen and Clark had a few too. My dad sort of let out a holler there. The other two machines had similar results. I remember my dad racing home with the numbers to call the Reagan campaign to report figures. My dad was so happy. He called the Viginia HQ, and reported the numbers. They told him that it was going overwhelmingly for Reagan.

I remember the hostages coming home after the inauguration, and how everyone seemed so happy after he was elected.

In 1984, I was a Freshman in HS. I remember everyone had a Reagan button. People had pictures of RR in their locker, next to Eddie Van Halen. Quite a site.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Where did you live? I wish I could say like you and some others that my home was full of Reagan-lovers. I didn't see such things in school (and it looks like we're the exact same age). Too much liberalism still. MD is Democratist country, always was. I think we squeeked in for Reagan in '84, but that was a close 1. Not enough to see kids sporting Reagan/Republican stuff. Or maybe we were all scared to show it, knowing how liberal our area is!