Word: michigan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Endless meetings. Panic. Conflicting advice on strategy. Confusion and disarray. That was the situation in Gerald Ford's White House as he faced the primary in Michigan this week, to be followed by elections next week in six Southern and Western states that are mostly bastions of strength for Ronald Reagan...
...have spent most of my life in Michigan," said Ford, as he stepped off the plane in Detroit last week. If that was one of the most superfluous remarks the President ever made, it was also a sign of his desperation. He was pleading plaintively, almost pathetically for the home folks' support in what could be the most crucial contest so far in his political career. After a string of five primary losses to Reagan, climaxed by a defeat in Nebraska last week, he needs a victory in Michigan as well as Maryland to slow the challenger...
Imitating Harry Truman, Ford whistle-stopped by railroad through Michigan over the weekend. But unlike "Give 'Em Hell" Harry, he did not turn his listeners on much. His style was reassuring but plodding and predictable. Sometimes defending his record, sometimes sounding almost as anti-Washington as Jimmy Carter, the President often seemed to say the right thing the wrong way. Earlier, at a shopping center in a Detroit suburb, the audience started to drift off as soon as he began talking...
...appealed to "every person registered in this state to vote for me, whether they call themselves Democrats, Republicans or independents." He was especially anxious about the kind of cross-over vote that sealed his defeats in Texas and Indiana. In 1972 in Michigan, more than 800,000 people voted for George Wallace; Ford hoped to deter them from swinging to Reagan. Said he: "We must win in Michigan...
Easy Jokes. Reagan was better at striking sparks. Displaying increasing confidence and elan, he campaigned in Kentucky and Idaho before moving on to Michigan. The jokes came easily. Asked for the umpteenth time about his position on the Panama Canal, he quipped: "If they don't watch out, I'll come out and start defending the Erie Canal." In keeping with his levity, his accompanying son Ron Jr., 17, sported a T shirt emblazoned with a caricature of Richard Nixon, wearing red, white and blue shoes and flashing a victory sign, and the joshing slogan "Perfectly clear-Nixon...