October 28, 1980: The only debate between the 2 major-party nominees in this election is held at Public Hall in Cleveland. The Democratic incumbent, President Jimmy Carter, was struggling with the Iran Hostage Crisis, the Cold War, and inflation and interest rates running out of control -- but not, yet, high unemployment.
The Republican challenger, former Governor Ronald Reagan of California, had been hammering Carter on the stump, using his skills honed as an actor and, before that, as a remote announcer (using telegraphed-in plays) for the Chicago Cubs at a radio station in Des Moines, Iowa.
Carter said that, if elected, Reagan and the Republicans in Congress would cut spending on Medicare. Reagan laughed, and said, "There you go again." Translation: "Oh, no we won't. You Democrats are always saying that, and it's never true."
Reagan used his closing argument to ask, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" More Americans could truthfully answer that question "No" than "Yes," and Reagan won in a landslide a week later, taking 44 States.
Four years later, his opponent, conveniently, was Carter's Vice President, Walter Mondale. Mondale said the Democrats would never cut Medicare. Reagan said, "You know, I wasn't going to say this, but... There you go again!" Big cheers from the audience. And Mondale correctly pointed out that, four years earlier, Carter was right: Reagan and the Republicans did cut spending on Medicare. And that got a bigger round of applause from the audience. Mondale had called Reagan a liar, right to his face.
But at the end, Reagan asked the question again" Are you better off than you were four years ago?" This time, enough Americans could say "Yes," despite a lot of evidence that millions of others were not better off -- the national unemployment rate was actually higher in November 1984 than in November 1980, although inflation and interest rates had been tamed -- that Reagan won 49 out of 50 States, despite Mondale beating him badly in both debates. Sometimes, Americans would rather feel good than admit the truth.
Ever since Reagan, the "better off" line has usually told the story of the Presidential election -- but not always:
* 1988: More Americans could say they were better off than couldn't. Republican George H.W. Bush beat Democrat Michael Dukakis.
* 1992: More Americans could not say it than could. Democrat Bill Clinton beat Bush.
* 1996: More Americans could say it than not. Clinton beat Republican Bob Dole.
* 2000: More Americans could say it than not. Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote over Republican George W. Bush. But Bush won the Electoral Vote, by stealing Florida.
* 2004: It was a close call, but Bush scared voters about what they could expect from Democrat John Kerry. Bush won the popular vote, but may again have won the Electoral Vote by stealing a big State, in this case Ohio.
* 2008: More Americans could not say it than could. Democrat Barack Obama beat Republican John McCain.
* 2012: More Americans could say it than not. Obama beat Republican Mitt Romney.
* 2016: More Americans could say it than not. Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote over Republican Donald Trump. But Trump scared enough people that the States of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin became close enough to steal, and he won the Electoral Vote.
* 2020: Over 231,000 Americans -- 77 "9/11s" -- were dead from the COVID-19 epidemic by the time of Election Day. Over 11 million jobs had been net lost under Trump. Police brutality was every bit as epidemic as COVID-19. Until the epidemic, it seemed as though there was a mass shooting every day of the Trump Administration.
Anybody who said he was better off in November 2020 than he was 4 years earlier was either super-rich or a liar. And Joe Biden beat Trump.
Remember: The old line, "Don't change horses in midstream" doesn't apply when the current has knocked you off your horse, your horse has been swept away, and there's a man with a lifeline on the other side.
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October 28, 1980 was a Tuesday. The baseball season had ended the week before, with the Philadelphia Phillies beating the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA that night:
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Kansas City Kings, 119-109 at The Omni in Atlanta. Despite the Kings' loss, their Scott Wedman led all scorers on the night with 34 points.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 119-101 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls, 106-99 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Utah Jazz beat the expansion Dallas Mavericks, 104-96 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 120-112 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Diego Clippers, 131-101 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now named the Pechanga Arena).
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Golden State Warriors, 119-102 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
And there were 5 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the St. Louis Blues, 5-4 at the St. Louis Arena. Rookie Jörgen Pettersson had a hat trick for the Blues.
* The New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-4 at the Nassau Coliseum. The guard had bene changed: The Canadiens won 4 straight Stanley Cups from 1976 to 1979, but the Islanders were now in the process of winning the next 4.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Calgary Flames, 8-0 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Flyers got 2 goals each from Behn Wilson and Bill Barber.
* The Chicago Black Hawks and their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, played to a 2-2 tie at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-4 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. It was actually 4-4, 7 minutes into the 3rd period, but the Kings broke out. Dave Taylor scored a hat trick.
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