1976 Presidential Election

Only two weeks lay between the New Hampshire and Florida primaries, and Ford rolled into the Sunshine State on a high tide, his narrow New Hampshire victory propelling him to as much as a 17-point lead in some state polls. This masked problems, however, within the Ford camp. The campaign lacked a national plan, according to Stu Spencer. Rather, the campaign was organized around the assumption that "Reagan has to win New Hampshire and Florida to get in the game." Should the President lose either, "it was over with." This meant heavy investments in both states. Additionally, the campaign's Florida chairman was distracted by his own political ambitions. Spencer maneuvered to have him replaced with his former business partner from California, Bill Roberts. Together, they soon turned things around.

President Ford spent two days in Florida before the New Hampshire primary. Now, with only days remaining before Floridians voted, he and his wife abandoned joint appearances to cover more ground. The President toured cities and communities via a motorcade, from West Palm Beach southward and then around Sarasota and Coral Springs. Mrs. Ford toured schools in Miami, Melbourne, and Tampa. The Ford campaign continued to pound Reagan's "$90 billion package," adding to it remarks he made that seemed to suggest social security should be made voluntary and that its funds should be invested in the market. Both ideas made retirees in Florida nervous.

Reagan, meanwhile, opened a new foreign policy front, claiming that Ford had "neither the vision nor the leadership necessary to halt and reverse the diplomatic and military decline of the United States." Ford and Kissinger, he railed, had presided over "the loss of U.S. military supremacy." Raising the issue of the Panama Canal, Reagan suggested that Ford might have been duped by his State Department and others into secretly surrendering sovereignty of the canal zone to Panama. Slowly this line of attack swelled, cutting Ford's lead to fewer than eight points. Still, on election eve, Reagan's internal polls showed a 53-47 lead for Ford.

The Ford campaign, growing more confident, believed a solid win in Florida would knock Reagan out of the race. Rogers Morton, a chief White House political consultant, said of Reagan's campaign, "If it doesn’t end it here, it will be ended in Illinois or North Carolina." Election night saw the president win with 53 percent of the vote.

"They vastly underrated Reagan…. And they had him down. He was beaten until North Carolina…. And they allowed that to happen because they should have won it and they didn’t." So remembered Hal Bruno, who, in 1976, covered the election for Newsweek. President Ford had defeated Reagan in the New England conservative stronghold of New Hampshire and in Florida, the South's largest state. A week before North Carolina would vote, Ford handed Reagan another loss in the California governor's native state of Illinois. Along the way, Ford also notched wins in Massachusetts and Wisconsin.

Both campaigns stumbled into the Tar Heel State cash-strapped and disheveled. Reagan was $2 million in debt, and his staff bickered over how best to use the gifted orator. Ford, too, was financially pressed, and his campaign manager, Bo Callaway, was forced to step aside over charges he had used his public office in the Pentagon for private gain. This left Stu Spencer to run both the ground game and oversee administrative tasks in North Carolina. Spencer, by his own admission, was no administrator.

As both campaigns turned their attention to North Carolina, John Sears, Reagan's campaign manager, approached people on Ford's team, floating the idea that Reagan might bow out of the race. To make it possible for Sears to persuade Reagan, the Ford campaign would need to soften its attack, especially regarding his $90 billion dollar and social security remarks. Ford agreed to do this and focused his remarks in North Carolina on the improving economy and other achievements of his administration.

When members of his staff raised the possibility of Reagan ending his campaign, the Gipper's spine stiffened and he ramped up his attack. He sent thirty minutes of video of him lambasting Ford's foreign policy, especially détente and the Panama Canal, to television stations across North Carolina, most of which used it. Reagan traveled to North Carolina often, while Ford visited the state only twice. Reagan's efforts paid off. Ford's double-digit lead in the polls evaporated, and on election night both camps were stunned when Reagan won with 52 percent of the vote.

President Ford could take solace from the fact that Reagan earned only two more delegates in North Carolina than did Ford (28-26), leaving the President with 192 delegates to Reagan's 82. He could point to a recent national poll of Republicans that showed 56 percent supported Ford while only 32 percent supported Reagan. There was no escaping, however, that new life had been breathed into Reagan's campaign. He became only the third challenger to defeat an incumbent president in a primary election. Money flowed in, which allowed Reagan to take his message nationwide. Later, Dick Cheney would admit, "It was our most serious mistake, easing off in North Carolina."