1980 Presidential Primaries

Here are a few colorful notes on the divisiveness of the 1980 presidential primaries. The first one concerns the Democrats:

In full bravado mode, Carter told a group of Democrats when asked about a Kennedy challenge, “I’ll whip his ass.” Stunned to hear the president use such language, one of those present asked him to beg their pardon, but what did you say, Mr. President? Carter repeated the sentence, word for word.

On the Republican side, less remembered, is Congressman Phil Crane. His challenge to Reagan was crippled by his wife, who wanted to be a key figure and was an outsized personality:

Mrs. Crane once told a reporter that raising seven daughters was easy: “You just put birth control pills in their cereal.”

And then there is George H. W. Bush, whose problem seemed to be that he did not appreciate the ascendancy of movement conservatism and had not cared to court conservatives:

As chairman of the Republican National Committee, Bush was asked if he was a conservative, a moderate, or a liberal and he dismissively said, “Labels are for cans.”

[Source: Craig Shirley, “Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed Everything”]