Eyes on Mondale

On January 8^th, 2008, Walter Mondale spoke at the Phillips
Eye Institute’s annual dinner and review. As the daughter of an
ophthalmologist for this clinic, I’m
not usually invited to the dinner, which I consider a blessing after having endured 18 years of LASIK eye
surgery and patient stastistics. But this was Mondale, after all; and I was curious to discover what stellar contributions he might offer the opthalmology community.

Much as expected, the clinic president subjected the audience to more statistics and eye surgery stories before ceding the stage to Mondale — the price to pay, I suppose. But he still left me wondering what a former presidential candidate was doing at an ophthalmologist dinner — a question that Mondale himself finally shed some light on.

According to Mondale, he was having his
eyes checked and his doctor asked him if he wanted to talk at the annual
dinner, to which he replied, “What am I going to say to a bunch of
rich, Republican doctors?” His doctor suggested talking about the
primaries, which is precisely what Mondale set out to do, focusing on the differences between today’s campaigns and his own campaign against Ronald Reagan in 1984.

One big difference, Mondale pointed out, is that the states are having their primaries and
caucuses closer together. Each state wants to have an impact on the
next state, so they’ve all pushed their caucuses and primaries
earlier in the year. This year, about 20 states (including Minnesota)
are having their primary elections on February 5th, known to the news
networks as “Super Tuesday.” These close election dates make it harder
for the candidates to campaign. While in the past they might have had more time to visit the states, talk to citizens personally, and go to town hall meetings, they are now limited to national debates and speeches — a fact that could cost less-skilled public speakers votes.

Mondale went on to describe his one-day trips from New York to California, stopping in other states along the way. Back when there was more time between primaries, candidates would do this regularly, he explained. He would arrive in
California, fly back to New York, and start over the next day.

According to the former presidential candidate, the Internet has also helped with the candidates’ fast campaigning. Each
candidate has his/her own website, where you can sign up for mailing
lists, catch up on campaign news, or volunteer. The Youtube
Democratic debate, as well as many groups, debates, and polls on Facebook,
have involved more people with the election.

Mondale spoke briefly about the differences in cost between the
elections. In 1984, Mondale’s campaign cost him $325 million. This
year, each candidate will spend about $1 billion just for a
nomination to their party. That’s a lot of wasted money for those who
don’t get nominated.

This election is significantly different from any other election
because of the candidates who are running. This is the first time in
history that a woman, an African American, and a Hispanic American are running
for president in this country. Mondale mentioned that many other countries — such as
India, Argentina, and Germany — are ahead of us by already having
multiple presidents who more widely represent their country. During his campaign, Mondale
took a huge risk by choosing Geraldine A. Ferraro as his running mate,
making her the first woman nominated to this position. Now Hillary
Clinton is running for president, which shows how much our views have
changed over 24 years.

No analysis is complete without a few suggestions for improvement, so of course, Mondale tossed in some ideas to making the primaries a little less
hectic for the candidates, and a little more interesting for the rest
of us. He thinks that we should change the order in which the states
have their primaries. Instead of Iowa, have South Carolina or Arizona
be first. He also suggested that the country be divided into eight
different geographical regions, each with its own date for primaries. This would give candidates time to campaign in each region prior to the primary election.

Overall, the ideas he proposed seemed like good ones, but let’s face it, politics moves very slowly. Despite the current candidates’ continued focus on the need for change, we all know politicians — and this country, in general — are reluctant to major modifications. I doubt that the way primary
elections are run will change any time soon.