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As more mothers entered the paid workforce, and as the women's movement mobilized, members of Congress proposed building a nationwide system of universally available child care services. Although the 1971 child care bill initially had broad support, proponents battled over who would control programs, and conservative opposition to the idea of government‐funded child‐care centers mounted. Ultimately, President Nixon vetoed the bill, slamming shut the window of opportunity for creating a unified public system for child care and early education. The implications of this bill's failure would be far‐reaching, making it politically difficult to act on the issue for years to come. As the demand for child care grew through the 1970s, therefore, it was met largely through the private market. Child care continued to be seen as a responsibility of individual families, not of society as a whole.

Reagan's 1980 landslide came with one silver lining for Democrats: the gender gap. As the first presidential election where men and women significantly diverged, Democrats believed women offered them a route back to the majority. Nominating Geraldine Ferraro to serve as Walter Mondale's running mate was the culmination of the “gender gap” strategy. Unfortunately for Mondale, Democrats misunderstood gender gap politics. Tapping a pro-Equal Rights Amendment prochoice Catholic backfired. Igniting a firestorm of protest, Ferraro's stance on the ERA and abortion further antagonized the Democrats’ issues with women and white ethnics. Lindy Boggs, however, understood the gender gap. The widow of House Majority Leader, Hale Boggs, by the late 1970s Lindy Boggs emerged as the most powerful female member of Congress. Emphasizing bread-and-butter economic issues, such as Title IX, Boggs showed Democrats the way to effectively exploit their nascent advantage with women.

This chapter describes the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party’s efforts to dominate the Minnesota legislature, culminating in an election in 1972. The attainment of such a goal required various complex parts spread across the state. These include framing of issues, recruitment of able candidates, effective campaign management, and a strong “get out the vote” effort for loyal supporters. Some of the prominent figures involved were Senators Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey, Warren Spannaus, Rudy Perpich, as well as caucus leaders Martin Sabo and Nick Coleman. The DFL Party decided that the emphasis in the election should be on the House and Senate legislative races, taking advantage of the 1971 amendments to the Permanent Rules of the legislature that had been proposed by the Liberal Caucuses.

Despite Reagan’s favorable treatment in the recent historiography and his close association in contemporary public discourse with democracy promotion, key elements of the Reagan Doctrine presented an electoral liability in the run-up to the 1984 elections. This chapter examines the impact of regional conflicts in Nicaragua and Lebanon on the overall attempts to modify Reagan’s image for the 1984 elections. While foreign policy issues were rarely a primary concern during the election, Reagan’s pollsters and strategists wanted to diminish the early 1980s association in the public of the candidate as a warmonger as confrontation with the Soviet Union still resonated. Moreover, the prospects of intervention in Nicaragua frequently invoked the negative memories and reverberations of the Vietnam War. As Reagan’s identity was recast across 1984 through overtures to China and the Soviet Union, it was imperative to operate a form of damage control over the issues of Nicaragua and Lebanon. Keeping these issues out of the electoral discourse was considered to be crucial.

Shilts settles on concept that gay bathhouses in San Francisco are breeding ground for the emerging AIDS crisis and should be closed. Shilts’s reporting draws fire from gay community leaders who view bathhouses as key component to sexual freedom of homosexuals. Shilts admits to coordinated effort to time his AIDS-related stories for highest impact, including forthcoming 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Shilts breaks Chronicle story that Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro will be first woman nominated for Vice President. Troubled relationship develops between Shilts and Dr. Mervin Silverman, the county health officer and Harry Britt, openly gay supervisor who succeeded Milk. Letters to the gay press cast Shilts as “uncle Tom” and sell-out. Bathhouse owners accuse Shilts of “advocacy reporting.”