[accessed December 29, 2011].

77. "Debate with Walter Mondale (Domestic Issues) (October 7, 1984)," Miller Center, University of Virginia,

http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/5459

[accessed December 29, 2011].

78. Erickson, "Once and Future President," 317; United Press International, "101 Academics Buy Ad to Back Mondale," New York Times, October 31, 1984.

79. CBS, Inc., and New York Times Company, CBS News / New York Times Poll: National Election Day Survey (USCBSNYT1984-NATELEC), November 6, 1984. National Election Day Exit Polls Database (Storrs, CT: Roper Center, University of Connecticut, 2012).

80. See Jonah Goldberg, "Ted Kennedy's America," National Review Online, October 26, 2007,

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/222638/ted-kennedys-america/jonah-goldberg

[accessed April 4, 2012].

81. Ronald Reagan, "Remarks on Presenting the Robert F. Kennedy Medal to Mrs. Ethel Kennedy," June 5, 1981, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project,

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43909

[accessed December 28, 2011].

82. Edward M. Kennedy to Ronald and Nancy Reagan, November 13, 1981, Presidential Handwriting File, Box 1, Folder 14, Ronald Reagan Library; "The Daily Diary of President Ronald Reagan, July 22, 1982," Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library website,

http://www.reaganfoundation.org/white-house-diary.aspx

[accessed January 3, 2012].

83. Eunice Shriver to Ronald Reagan, March 19, 1985, Presidential Handwriting File, Series II: Presidential Records, 3/1/855/28/85, Box 12, Folder 175, Ronald Reagan Library; Eunice Shriver to Ronald Reagan, April 24, 1985, Presidential Handwriting File, Series II: Presidential Records, 3/1/855/28/85, Box 12, Folder 175, Ronald Reagan Library; Ronald Reagan to Eunice Kennedy Shriver, August 5, 1987, Presidential Handwriting File, Series II: Presidential Records, 2/20/878/27/87, Box 18, Folder 299, Ronald Reagan Library.

84. Edward M. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, October 24, 1985, Presidential Handwriting File, Series II: Presidential Records, 5/29/8510/31/85, Box 3, Folder 207, Ronald Reagan Library.

85. Lois Romano, "Family, Friends Pay Tribute to Kennedy at Mass Here," Washington Post, November 23, 1983.

86. Ronald Reagan, "Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the Death of President John F. Kennedy," November 22, 1983, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project,

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=40800

[accessed February 14, 2012].

87. Letter from Caroline B. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr., to Ronald Reagan, March 10, 1985, ID#297993, FE008, WHORM: Subject File, Ronald Reagan Library.

88. Ronald Reagan, "Remarks at a Fund-raising Reception for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation," June 24, 1985, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project,

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=38816

[accessed December 28, 2011].

89. Letter from John F. Kennedy, Jr., to Ronald Reagan, March 12, 1985, ID#297993 (1), FE 008, WHORM: Subject File, Ronald Reagan Library.

90. Telephone interview with Ron Reagan, Jr., March 8, 2012.

91. Two letters written after the airport meeting are indicative of the men's cordial relationship. Johnson wrote: "Please know that I value your friendship, as I did your father's ... " When asked why he had broken away from GOP celebrations to see off Johnson, Bush told Joe Frantz, director of the LBJ Oral History project at the University of Texas, at the airport on January 20, 1969: "He has been a fine president and invariably courteous and fair to me and my people, and I thought that I belonged here to show in a small way how much I have appreciated him." E-mail from Liza Talbot, LBJ Library, May 16, 2012.

92. Timothy Naftali, George H. W. Bush (New York: Times Books, 2007), 20.

93. Sabato, Feeding Frenzy, 14851.

94. Biden would run for president again in 2008, doing poorly and dropping out early-until Barack Obama put him on his winning ticket for vice president.

95. Representative Richard Gephardt (D-MO) made this quip during a roast for Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ) that was attended by Biden and other Democratic presidential aspirants. See Robin Toner, "Far Trumpet Is Heard Anew As Candidates Invoke J.F.K.," New York Times, July 5, 1987.

96. Ibid.

97. The idea behind the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or "Star Wars" program, was for the Pentagon to launch laser-powered satellites into space that could shoot down enemy missiles before they reached U.S shores. See Frances Fitzgerald, Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War (New York: Touchstone, 2000).

98. "Echoes of Kennedy," New York Times, July 5, 1987.

99. Peter Goldman, Tom Mathews, and the Newsweek Special Election Team, The Quest for the Presidency 1988 (New York: Touchstone, 1989), 248.

100. However, Robertson's father had been a U.S. senator from Virginia, Democrat A. Willis Robertson, who served from 1946 to 1966, and the younger Robertson had long been involved in politics.

101. Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency 1988, 383.

102. This is an excerpt of a longer exchange. The complete transcript is available here: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Vice-Presidential Debate in Omaha, Nebraska," October 5, 1988, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project,

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29424

[accessed January 6, 2012].

103. Lee Atwater, who was George H. W. Bush's campaign manager in 1988, said Dan Quayle cost Bush 2 to 3 percentage points. Roger Simon, "McCain Camp Trying to Scapegoat Palin," Politico, October 30, 2008,

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/15073.html

[accessed May 2, 2012]. See also Roger Simon, "Would the Dream Ticket Be a Nightmare?" Politico, June 4, 2008,

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/10856.html

[accessed May 2, 2012]; and Martin P. Wattenberg, "The Role of Vice Presidential Candidate Ratings in Presidential Voting Behavior," American Politics Quarterly 23, no. 4 (October 1995): 50414.