[Al B.]

I'm in the middle of Craig Shirley's fantastic book on the 1980 campaign and all the "inside baseball" stuff on all this. A great look back on how touch and go it was for the Gipper.

Reagan was toast until just before the NH voting and all the polls nationwide showed him in deep trouble. Dick Wirthlin had some inside polling that showed it turning around at the last minute after Reagan's barnstorming and the debate debacle ("I paid for this microphone Mr. Green!"). It was the Bush campaign's big screw-up.

It was a close call.

[Brices Crossroads]

I tried to find the cover online, but I could not. It is great. Newsweak must have put it down a memory hole. It had to be one of their worst nights, but they had not gone as far to the dogs then as they have now. it was a great shot of the Gipper.