Where were you in 1980 or 42 years ago this weekend? I was almost packed to move to Mexico. My company was transferring me to the bank branch in Mexico City. It was an exciting time, especially as I went through the last details of my Mexico work visa and other matters related to the change.
I was also a volunteer on the Reagan-Bush team. On Friday night, I recall working a phone bank and hearing all the senior people talking about a close election. A few days before, we had seen Mr. Reagan debate President Carter, but the impact of “there you go again” was still unclear.
On election day, I voted early, went to work, and then listened to the radio for any detail I could find.
At 7:00 P.M., I tuned in to the TV, expecting to stay up all night, as I had in 1976, when the Ford-Carter contest literally went into the early morning.
Around 7:00 P.M., the Eastern results came in, and Carter looked weak. By 9:00, the Southern results started projecting a Reagan victory. By 11:00, the Western results made it a landslide.
The Reagan-Bush team got 489 electoral votes and almost 44 million votes. It was amazing, to say the least.