1984, both for the degree of slaughter and being, to my knowledge, the only election in which there is a video record of the exact moment the loser realized he was going to get slaughtered.
For those who do not know, that would be when Reagan made his age joke about not using his opponent's youth and inexpereince against him. Mondale laughs and you can see in his eyes that his last chance to win, to beat Reagan in a second debate, has just come to an end.
I remember watching that debate. There was a huge buildup to it, because Reagan had performed so poorly in the first debate, and it was thought that another poor performance would call his heretofore almost certain re-election into serious question.
Clearly, the line was well-rehearsed and prepared for, but it did the trick, and it's true -- it was obvious that Mondale knew at that moment that he was defeated, even though he laughed.
The interesting thing about that election, and the same thing happened in 1972, was the huge delirious crowds that turned out for Mondale in the final weeks. If the crowds were any indication, he should have won in a landslide. Yet he had almost a 50-state defeat.
I loved the 1984 election, but I liked 1980 better because it meant a real change from the oppressive depression and apprehension of the Carter era. 1984 simply meant more of Reagan, and his victory that year had been widely expected, while 1980 was considered a very tight election until the last minute. Therefore, the strong victory by Reagan wa a very pleasant surprise.
