1984 all over again

For those of you who were paying attention in 1984, the buzz surrounding the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket in 2008 ought to sound familiar. More than 20 years ago, Democrat Walter Mondale was closing in on his party's nomination for president and hoping to perform a seemingly insurmountable task: defeat President Ronald Reagan, who was running for and would eventually win his second term. Mondale ended up selecting Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, a New York congresswoman to be his running mate. In doing so, Mondale united and energized the Democratic Party base (much of which was still supporting disgraced Sen. Gary Hart) going into the convention.

Sound familiar? Switch a few names around, and you have the McCain-Palin resurgence; the same goes for some of the news coverage in 1984. Click here for a PDF of the report that ran in The Times on July 12, 1984. Note the similarities to the buzz in 2008: "The selection of the first woman for a national ticket is 'a rather exciting move,' said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He said Ferraro's selection 'will make me more enthusiastic in supporting the Democratic Party' ticket. 'She will be one of the most exciting things in the campaign,' said New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. 'She will be the moon to Walter Mondale's team.'"

The following day, July 13, The Times' editorial board presented its largely positive reception to the Ferraro-Mondale ticket. The editorial board went on at length about how historic Ferraro's nomination was but cautioned against putting too much stock in the fact the '84 vice presidential nominee was a woman. Note that The Times said "boldness writ large" would have been "a black" on the ticket, but that could have been "reckless boldness." Full editorial: