Walter Mondale

Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (born January 5, 1928 in Ceylon, Minnesota) is an American politician and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He was the 42nd US Vice President (1977-1981) under President Jimmy Carter. He was also a two-term US Senator from Minnesota and the Democratic Party nominee for president in 1984 against the incumbent, Republican Ronald W. Reagan, who was reelected in a landslide when Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

2002 election

In 2002, Democratic US Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, who was running for re-election, died in a plane crash just 11 days before the Nov. 5 election. Mondale, at age 74, replaced Wellstone on the ballot, but narrowly lost the election to the conservative Republican opponent Norm Coleman. Upon conceding the election, Mondale said, "At the end of what will be my last campaign, I want to say to Minnesota, you always treated me well, you always listened to me". Mondale finished with 1,067,246 votes (47.34%) to Coleman's 1,116,697 (49.53%) out of 2,254,639 votes cast. Mondale set a political record of sorts as a result of this loss, becoming the only major party candidate in U.S. history to lose statewide elections in all 50 states (having won only Minnesota in the 1984 election).

Related Topics:
2002 - Paul Wellstone - Plane crash - Nov. 5 - Election - Republican - Norm Coleman - 1984 election

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