http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2061610,00.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110326/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_ferraro;_ylt=ArRN8CiknRWlpOg..x1Yb4ha24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTMzZG9vcXZzBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzI2L3VzX29iaXRfZmVycmFybwRjY29kZQNtcF9lY184XzEwBGNwb3MDMgRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2ZpcnN0ZmVtYWxldg–

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//110326/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_a1a710d735684034bf8acf94b96742db/

Retrospection:

I remember well that 1984 campaign where the most distinguished accomplished progressive Walter Mondale, earlier Hubert Humphrey’s Senate colleague from MN and later VP under Jimmy Carter 1976-80,  selected Geraldine Ferraro as his presidential running mate againt the Gipper and runing mater George Bush, Sr. In that campaign Walter Mondale as I recall issued the courageous edict that he would raise taxes if elected to help finance needed expenditure to maintain the strength of the American economy.  Reagan/Bush  decimated this ticket at the polls  because then-as now-Americans seem mesmerized by the  siren song of Reaganomics that continues to  poison the fabric of our Democracy.  A recent post here indicates how the Reaganomics ideology continues to erode neded research efforts at Argonne National Lab that are required to resisticate the stagnant American economy.  Senator Durbin’s  efforts noted on that blog  fall on deaf ears of a nation still mesmerized by the Reaganomics siren song as was the case in 1984.

http://www.tenthdems.org/2011/03/durbin-is-cutting-700000-jobs-the-way-to-deal-with-the-defecit/

in 1984, Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro fought the Reaganomics ideology with dignity and perserverence and in my view won for themselves with their courage a place in American history.

I remember well the VP debate where George Bush , Sr. made the condensending remark about Ferraro’s ability to handle foreign policy and Ferraro shot back with a forceful response to the Bush condescension .

The 1984 campaign that Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro fought so heroically reminds us the very future of our democracy hinges on our ability as Americans to outgrow the primitive ideology of Reaganomics which makes tax cuts for the most wealthy the focal point of structuring the American economy.

Local IL Tenth  Democratic efforts in that campaignwere intense. I lived then in Wheeling Township  later represented in the State Legislature by Lauren Beth Gash. The late  founder Wheeling Township Democrats Eugenia Chapman-may her memory be blessed- had built up the Democratic party in NW suburban Cook County and  worked successfully  in IL State Legislature to initiate  a community college network in IL Eugenia put  together an active support network for the Mondale/Ferraro ticket and also for the underdog US Senate campaign in IL  of Paul Simon.

It was my privilege to have  engaged with Eugenia,  and other Wheeling  Township Democrats in those campaigns , to elect the underdog  national ticket and the uphill challenge  of Paul Simon against the three term incumbent Charles Percy. With Mondale’s daughter Eleanor, Wheeling Township Democrats led by Egenia campaigned at the Arlington Heights Metra Station. We marched together with Chicago Mayor  Harold Washington,  then SF Mayor Dianne Feinstein, and candidate  Walter Mondale in  one of the last Torchlight parades  down North Michigan Avenue in Chicago .

On election night, at Wheeling Township democrats  Hqs, Eugenia received a  late call as the  national onslaught for Reaganomics buried the Mondale/Ferro ticket.  That call from the Simon  Campaign indicated that the successful efforts of Eugenia Chapman to cut down in NW suburban Cook County  the vote for Percy was probably  going to  translate into a  narrow victory for Paul Simon.

Out of the National rubble in 1984  emerged a person who because like his mentor the blessed Pau; H. Douglas  of Hyde Park  became a  conscience of the nation and one of the most effective legislators ever to serve in the Senate. That legacy,   translated in later years into the election of Richard Durbin and Barack Obama as US  Senators from IL, became possible through the dedicated efforts of Eugenia Chapman.  Hopefully five years hence, Paul Simon’s daughter  Shiela Simon will be  the person to recapture the US Senate Seat now held by the current Reaganomics cheerleader  and closeted  Tea Party Darling Mark  Kirk.