Stormy presidential race winds down

Ronald Reagan was not completely satisfied with his landslide victory in the 1984 presidential election.

A few weeks after he won all but one of the states to secure a second term, he famously answered a question about what he wanted for Christmas: “Well, Minnesota would have been nice.”

The Democratic lamb to slaughter that year was Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter’s vice-president in the late 1970s and subsequent running mate in the failed bid for re-election in 1980. All Mondale had to show for his challenge against Reagan were the paltry votes of Washington, DC and his own home state of Minnesota.