Sometimes 58 = 97... or, "On Math, Reagan Wasn't Fuzzy, Wuzzy?"

[Jason Taylor]

Here's an interesting little bit of trivia that I've been quizzing some of my like-minded friends with lately:

In the 1984 Presidential Election, name all of the states that Reagan lost. You don't have to name all of them, just tell me which states you think that Reagan probably wasn't able to win, and I'll then tell you how many of your guesses are correct.

Now, since you are just going to go and Google the answer anyway, let me give you the answer. (drum roll, please)

...

Minnesota and Washington, DC


That's it! In fact, Reagan won 97% of the Electoral College votes, beating Mondale 525 to 13, while taking most of the counties in most every state.

I'm sure some of you are going to say, "Well, that's because he was the incumbent." Well' you're right. In 1980, when Reagan was up against the incumbent Carter, he only won 489 to 49, with an unimpressive 90% margin. :)

What's important to note here is that he won "leftist" states like California, New York, New Jersey, Mass., etc., and that this was all done without today's talk radio, without Fox News, and without the Internet.

Now, here's the kicker: In order to win 97% of the Electoral vote, Reagan carried just 57% of the popular vote. So, what does that tell us?

He had an amazing grassroots machine which allowed him to consistently carry the majority, district by district, county by county, state by state. He didn't just win the big electoral states, he took the whole US county by county.

All politics is local, my friends. Though they were technically "enough to win", the victories that we have had in the past 15 years have not been because we have had won the hearts and minds of most every American, but rather because our message was viewed by many as the "lesser of two evils".

The next election for most of us is 700 days away, but the time to start is now. We need to build that grassroots, city by city, town by town type of mentality now, and have the people and processes in place to start winning hearts and minds today, before there is even an election to think about.

[Uburalus]

Wow,but then,that was Reagan for you,I think we can do it again,but we have to get back our standing as a party of limited government.

[Michael Salaba]

I am a disenfranchized conservative that lives in Minnesota. Yup, its been blue all my life. How depressing.

I have a RINO governor. RINOs in the state house and senate. RINOs in the US House and Senate. And worst of all, Al Franken...

It is hard at the grassroots as there are few charismatic conservative leaders to rally behind. I think the high taxes scare them away.

[William Lang]

I agree that elections are won on the local level, and wish that the local parties and state parties here in Maryland would understand this. We had one great win, and a chance to really capitalize on the momentum, but got swept aside by poor planning and execution. This past election has motivated me to get more involved at the local level, so hopefully we will see results at the mid-terms.

[Whitehorse (Robin Ray)]

Quite true! In my home county of Cheatham in TN, we have done this. We have 4 municipalities - 3 of the mayors are conservative Republicans. Our county mayor is a conservative Republican, & we have a majority on the county commission. When the primaries come, about 52% of our folks vote in the Democrat primary.

Reagan was a complete conservative - economic, national security, & socially. All of these were in bold colors - no pale pastels or muddying the difference between he & his Democrat rivals. He brought people to conservatism - didn't change conservatism in an attempt to get them. This also worked great in 1994. It can work great in 2010, 12, & whenever our candidates & elected representatives decide to run & govern as complete conservatives.