The Digital Journalist
Dirck Halstead
WINNERS AND LOSERS: One of these people is about to lose his bid for president in the 1980 campaign. Guess which one? George Bush had cruised into New Hampshire after an overwhelming victory in Iowa. He was the guy to beat. Ronald Reagan? A has-been! Shortly before this photograph was taken at a GOP fund-raising dinner, Reagan had been told that his time for rebuttal had been limited in the last debate, which was to take place a few hours later. When the chairman of the debate tried to cut off Reagan’s microphone, he grabbed it back, and exclaimed, “ I PAID FOR THIS MICROPHONE, MR. CHAIRMAN!” There was a gasp in the auditorium as, collectively, the audience realized there was a lot of life left in the Gipper. It was the end of George Bush in 1980.