Walter Mondale obituary
Though his long political career did not warrant such a disaster, Walter Mondale, who has died aged 93, gained an unwelcome place in American political history. In 1984, challenging the incumbent president, Ronald Reagan, he won only 13 of the nation's 538 electoral college votes, the worst defeat ever suffered by a Democratic presidential candidate. Only Alfred Landon had put in a worse performance: his 1936 Republican campaign against Franklin Roosevelt foundered with a mere eight of 531 electoral votes.
Reagan's performance in his televised debates with Mondale had revealed early signs of the former actor's growing mental confusion, but he romped into his second term with 59% of the popular ballot and 525 electoral votes. Had Mondale not scraped a razor's edge victory in his home state of Minnesota he would have become the nation's all-time loser, winning only the three electoral votes of the irrepressibly Democratic District of Columbia.
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