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October
28, 2002 9:00 a.m.
The
Dinosaur
The
bizarre return of Walter Mondale.
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will not make
age an issue in this campaign," said Ronald Reagan in 1984, during
a presidential debate. "I'm not going to exploit for political purposes
my opponent's youth and inexperience."
Reagan was 73 years
old at the time. His opponent, former vice president Walter
Mondale, was 56. Mondale had tried to make hay of the septuagenarian
president's age. He failed miserably, thanks in no small part to Reagan's
humor. (Another line: "I'm afraid the age factor may play a part
in this election. Our opponent's ideas are too old.")
Today, Mondale is
74 years old — one year older than the Gipper when Mondale tried
to suggest it was time for the American people to send him into retirement.
And he may also be on the verge of reviving his political career —
he is the Democratic party's first choice to run for the Senate following
the death last Friday of Senator Paul
Wellstone. Under Minnesota law, the Democrats have until this Thursday
to pick a replacement, whose name will appear on a special ballot against
GOP candidate Norm Coleman, the former mayor of St. Paul.
Mondale was appointed
to the Senate in 1964, to fill the vacancy left by Hubert Humphrey when
he became vice president under Lyndon Johnson. Minnesotans then elected
Mondale to the Senate twice, in 1966 and 1972. After the second election,
he began to test the national waters for a run in 1976, but bowed out,
citing the rigors of campaigning. Jimmy Carter pulled Mondale back into
the spotlight, however, when he picked him as his running mate. One of
Mondale's functions was to provide Carter with the Washington experience
that Carter had lacked.
Mondale is sometimes
said to have been the first vice president who wielded actual authority,
rather than occupied a ceremonial office. He served four years with Carter,
but voters booted the duo from office in 1980, when they favored the Republican
ticket of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
Four years later,
Mondale challenged Reagan for the presidency and suffered what must be
considered the worst electoral-college defeat in American political history:
He carried only his home state of Minnesota, plus the District of Columbia.
There were many reasons for Mondale's poor performance, but one of the
most conspicuous was his promise to hike taxes. "Mr. Reagan will
raise taxes, and so will I," he said. "He won't tell you; I
just did." Later on, Mondale realized his blunder: "Reagan was
promising them 'morning in America,' and I was promising a root canal."
That was the end
of Mondale's political career, or so it seemed. In 1990, he considered
running against Republican senator Rudy Boschwitz, but decided against
it. The man who thought Reagan was too ancient for elective office was
perhaps remaining true to his principles: "I believe it's time for
other candidates to step forward." Mondale was 62.
One of the candidates
who did step forward was Paul Wellstone, a left-wing college professor.
He waged an uphill battle against Boschwitz, and prevailed in what must
be considered one of the biggest upsets in modern Senate-election history.
During the 1990s,
Mondale served as Bill Clinton's ambassador to Japan, for four years.
But he hasn't faced the voters in 18 years, and he hasn't faced them successfully
in 26 years. In the coming hours, he must decide whether he wants to be
a senator with a term that expires when he's 80 years old.
Is he really serious
about this, or is Walter Mondale in the midst of a Walter
Mitty fantasy?
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