263: Gerald Ford/Ronald Reagan - 47.0%
275: Scoop Jackson/Jimmy Carter - 44.6%
Eugene McCarthy/John Lindsay - 5.5%
Others - 3.9%
Despite a good popular vote victory, Ford lost the election. The states he focused on, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, and New York, seemed very receptive to "New Republicanism". However, Reagan's campaigning in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa did not go over too well. His debate performance was ruined by John Lindsay, who called him "the greatest at orating since William Jennings Bryan and the worst at governing since Herbert Hoover." While Ford's image was greatly improved by the campaign, Reagan's seemed ruined. In 1980, Ford led a coalition, including McCarthy, Lindsay, Howard Baker, Bob Dole, and other various allies to a large victory, getting Millicent Fenwick elected Speaker and Baker elected Senate Majority Leader. The Ford coalition eventually led to the Democrats being taken over by the Jackson-Carter-Southern-Western wing. The Progressive Party, composed of those like Eugene McCarthy, usually coalitioned with the Republican Party, which itself would be lead by those like Howard Dean, Paul Tsongas, John Lindsay, Birch Bayh, Mo Udall, and Christine Todd Whitman.
