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• Author: Mahoney, Garrett
• Position: Letter to the Editor

Chuck Todd's comparison ("A Kerry Landslide?" May) of the 2004 election to the election of 1980 is flawed. Does Todd remember the economic conditions in 1980? The United States was suffering from double-digit inflation, high unemployment, and a 15.5 percent prime interest rate. In response, President Carter went on national TV to blame the citizenry for being in a malaise. We had a weak president who had accomplished almost nothing despite a Congress controlled by huge majorities of his own party, and who had allowed Americans to be held hostage in Iran for more than a year.

Compare the above to the current conditions. The United States has enjoyed the highest GDP growth over the last three quarters than any period since 1984. Today's unemployment rate of 5.7 percent is low by any historical standard, and the outlook looks good for more job creation throughout the rest of the year. There have already been 500,000 jobs created in the first quarter. Interest Pates are at a 50-year low, which has allowed tens of millions of Americans to refinance their home loans and save billions of dollars in interest. Inflation is nil, which has served to increase the purchasing power of Americans. Last, we have a strong chief executive who, after 9/11, is taking the war to America's enemies.

If there is any landslide this November, it will be a massive victory for President Bush.

Garrett Mahoney

Oakland, Calif.

Todd's article is running on two flawed assumptions: 1) that this election will follow the pattern of past elections, and 2) that John Kerry is comparable to Reagan while Bush is to Carter. This misguided theory is actually reversed. Kerry is tied right now because he is Carter, and Bush is holding his own right now amid more violence because he has the resolve of Reagan.

The problem is that the story ignores other important facts about modern presidential electoral history. The author's examples of the five defeated incumbent presidents fails to note the special circumstances in the four Republican losses that do not apply in the case of George W. Bush.

In the case of...