Outsider

Landslide

NPR

History

4.8 • 762 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bruised after the primaries, the unpopular Ford looks headed for a blowout defeat in the 1976 general election. But his campaign adopts a clever strategy, and Carter struggles in the spotlight as the frontrunner. Gaffes, attack ads, Playboy magazine, and a new institution — a series of presidential debates — build to a razor-close election. It marks a turning point for the types of candidates America will elect.
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Transcript

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0:00.0	What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2025?
0:04.9	We don't know, but we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year.
0:09.4	Listen now to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR.
0:14.0	This podcast is a production of nuanced tales in partnership with WFAE, distributed by the NPR Network.
0:20.7	A warning, this episode contains some strong language.
0:25.9	The challenge for Gerald Ford was daunting.
0:29.3	He'd survived his brutal, exhausting primary fight against Reagan,
0:33.8	but he'd emerged, bruised, limping into the general election.
0:38.3	And now he faced an opponent who'd looked unstoppable.
0:41.2	The Democrats were leaving New York City today.
0:43.8	Their party transformed by Jimmy Carter.
0:46.3	If the election were held tomorrow, Carter would win a massive victory.
0:50.1	I think we'll win in the fall.
0:51.5	The polls look good everywhere.
0:53.1	In the Oval Office, Ford flipped through a black briefing book his campaign strategists had prepared.
0:59.0	It was filled with bad news.
1:01.1	That he was at least 20 points behind Carter in the polls.
1:04.9	That voters saw him as uninspired, after his primary fight as undignified.
1:10.8	That no president had ever won against the
1:14.2	kinds of obstacles he was facing. But Ford was ready to try, ready to get back out to the campaign
1:22.7	trail and see what happened, until his top strategist stopped him.
1:31.9	Stu Spencer had helped Ford beat Reagan, and now he wanted a word.
	...

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