Mondale made to eat 18-year-old words about Reagan's age
Thu Oct 31 2002 10:22:57 ET
Former U.S. vice president Walter Mondale, embarking on a last-minute U.S. Senate campaign, expressed regret Thursday for a 1984 comment about then-president Ronald Reagan's age.
Mondale, after serving in the U.S. Senate and as Jimmy Carter's vice president from 1977-81, was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1984 to challenge the re-election of Republican Ronald Reagan. During the campaign, he had once made a comment about the relative age of the then 73-year-old president.
On Wednesday, Mondale was officially named to represent the Democratic Party on the ballot in Tuesday's election for U.S. senator in the north-central state of Minnesota. He replaces U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, who was killed in an October 24 place crash.
In his first press conference on Thursday, Mondale, now 74, was immediately asked about his age relative to Reagan's age in 1984.
He immediately said that he was ;sorry'' for having raised the issue in 1984 and pointed out that he had apologized to Reagan's family the day after the comment.
