whidbey: Any Republican victory is now the "Greatest Landslide in History." Got it.

In 1984 Reagan got 97.58% of the electoral votes and 58.77% of the popular vote.

In 1964 Johnson got slightly more of the popular vote (61.05%), but "only" 90.33% of the electoral vote.

The only president ever elected by a wider electoral margin was George Washington himself. However, he was the only candidate, so that hardly counts. Monroe got 80% of the popular vote in 1820--but he also was running unopposed. Even then he did not get all the electoral votes.

It's no stretch, therefore to call the presidential election of 1984 the greatest landslide in history. You could quibble about Johnson's victory in '64, but since the president is elected not by popular vote, but rather electoral votes, I say 1984 is still No. 1.

Sorry it bothers you that it was a Republican who won.

1984 results (pops)

1964 results (pops)

Snarfangel: Unfortunately, four years wasn't sufficient time to erase the memory of Carter/Mondale.

Shoot, Mondale hardly needed any help. He promised to raise taxes if elected, and raise them a lot.

Oddly enough, people believed him.

whidbey: I would indeed continue to call it a stretch, and a propagandistic pat on the back to boot with a paltry half of the country showing up to vote that year.

*shrugs* Suture self. If we elected presidents via electoral votes and Reagan got more of them than anyone else in history--and we seem to agree that Washington's election doesn't really count here--then winning with 97% of the electoral votes is indeed the biggest landslide in history.

Wouldn't matter if one person in each state voted--numbers would be the same.

whidbey: When little over half of the country shows up to vote, your victory is a spin.

What difference does that make? If we're assuming the people who didn't vote might have changed the outcome, it's irrelevant--because they didn't show up.

whidbey: Were you there? Somehow I doubt it.

I was there. Voted in both the 1980 and 1984 elections.

My memory's a little fuzzy, but somehow I seem to recall the world not coming to an end.

whidbey: Hindsight is golden.

Ah. I guess the world DID come to an end, then.

It seems to be critically important to you to somehow explain away Reagan's landslide as if bad voter turnout means it somehow didn't happen or didn't count.

Knock yerself out, buddy. I'm all for maintaining mental health, by whatever means necessary. If you need to convince yourself Reagan didn't really win in an enormous landslide, go for it.

whidbey: It's not a landslide, it's a spin based on a poor voting turnout, and I'll admit that applies to almost any of our recent elections.

Spin? How can it be a spin? Reagan got 97% of the electoral votes. Mondale got 2%. Period, new paragraph.

But like I said, do whatever you gotta do. Don't let ME disturb your reality.

whidbey: I was pleased that more people bothered to vote last time. There's still hope.

I know that place where you miss your sunsets. Darned shame it fell into the ocean.

whidbey: Again. Voter turnout was for sh*t.

Again: Doesn't matter. Those who turn out are those whose votes count.

I heard the same nonsense from the DNC in 2000, 2002 and 2004: If the youth vote had turned out they would have won.

But they didn't turn out. So wouldacouldashouldas are pointless.

You're trying to make it like America OVERWHELMINGLY LOVED THIS MAN and voted him in on a golden beam of light...;)

No; I'm trying to make it like 58% of the voters who bothered to turn out that year voted for him and thus delivered him 97% of the electoral votes.

Which, oddly enough, is exactly what happened.

I neither know nor care about the whole country's emotional state. Just the votes.

You do? Serious? I'm going back next week for my first campout of the year...:)

Ecola Park. I have some great photos from nearly the same spot, taken about three months before they roped the place off and I'm not sure exactly how long before it fell off the cliff.

Interesting. You could swap our pics and I bet no one could tell.