https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1979/11/04/how-carter-won-on-november-4-1980/d98966b4-08a4-4471-adc2-160d7b371af9/For the first time, the Jordan-Carter strategy became clear. In 1976 he had run as an outsider; in 1980 he would run as an outsider who had tried to change the system and who knew how evil it really was. The enemy was the Congress -- and his own party.
Just wanted to share one of my favorite pieces of retroactive alternate history with the forum! Written by Garrett Epps for the Washington Post in November 1979,
How Carter Won (On November 4, 1980) imagines President Carter inspired by Harry Truman and his famous comeback in 1948 to turn things around in 1980. Eschewing his normal conciliatory tone in his State of the Union Address, Carter hedges his candidacy for reelection on the "no-account, low down, good-for-nothing 96th Congress" not passing a package of reforms "needed to break the unprecendented grip of special interests on our country", reinvigorating himself to the public as a fighter against special interests.
Going on the offense, Carter delivers a famous "Blue-jeans Speech" in the Plains in dungarees and a workshirt before launching a primary strategy concentrated on rural and conservative areas. He barely defeats Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown to his left in a brutal primary, with Brown's delegates putting him over the top at the convention after Brown is promised a position as head of NASA, a position that would later be elevated to Secretary of a new Department of Space. A third-party ticket of Sargent Shriver and Tom Hayden is formed to Carter's left.
A special session of congress in July balks at wage-and-price controls, allowing Carter to shift the blame for rising prices from himself amid skyrocketing inflation. The unspecified Republican challenger- who, according to attacks from Mondale and Andrew Young, was close enough to Nixon to have had alleged ties to Watergate and had a poor record on civil rights- struggles with charges of "extremism". Sounds like Bush, maybe? Carter again goes on the offense with an October blitz of television and radio ads and literally resurrects Harry Truman's specially shielded railroad car as "The Last Chance Special", emphasizing the Carter campaign's claim as the last chance to end government by specials interests.
Carter wins 1980 271-267 with a surprise flip in California, winning 49.1% of the popular vote to the GOP's 49.05% and Shriver and Hayden's 1.3%. Apparently, he carries Texas, Ohio, New York, and all of the "Old South" except Virginia, while the Republican wins New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois, and the rest of the West. I'll share my best attempt at the map.
