From my Buddy:
http://millercenter.org/oralhistory/interview/walter_mondale:
Martin
I’m curious, as someone who has run for President and has served as Vice President, did your feelings about your average fellow citizen change as a result of these experiences?
Mondale
I told somebody afterwards that I think I would have voted for Reagan if I weren’t running, because he is a nice guy. He never was mean to me. I was never mean to him, and look at that campaign. It was a pleasant year, I think, for Americans. I think we ended up a united country, and so I could see why the average American liked the guy. They thought he was stable and good. They had a lot of memories about Carter and me that weren’t very good from the tough times we’d had, and that was a cloud over my campaign. Even though I could explain it, people don’t all hold doctorate degrees in political science and sort out this stuff. They have to deal with moods and feelings and tendencies, and he persuaded them that it was morning in America, feeling good, and it worked.
My Mom always told me you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Of course, no one ever censured her.
