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Worse yet, Mondale disliked the whole frantic hoopla of running for the presidency and the business of asking people to give him money. Confessed Carter: "I had a slight feeling of resentment that I had worked hard, and he had not." (There was some irony in Carter's choosing the dropout over men like Jackson and Church, who had fought hard in the primaries.) But the Georgian was persuaded by Mondale's explanation that he had simply assessed his campaign realistically and concluded it was going nowhere.
The also-rans took the decision with good grace. Within minutes of his phone call to Mondale, Carter called each of the others. Said Muskie: "Aside from the frustration he created, I thought he handled it with dignity and without demeaning any of us." Church joked that he had had an omen: "Lightning struck my house two days ago in Bethesda, and you know they say that lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place." John Glenn confessed regret, but smiled: "We finally found out who's going to mow my lawn this weekend. Me."
In the Democrats' harmonious mood, few objected to Mondale. Some Southerners were unhappy with the choice of a Northern liberal, but Carter said he was reassured when the Alabama and Georgia delegations expressed their enthusiasm for Mondale.
Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley had been pushing Stevenson, but accepted Carter's choice warmly. "I'm very happy with the ticket," said Daley. "In Illinois, it'll help." Basil Paterson, chairman of the Caucus of Black Democrats, described the caucus as "overwhelmingly enthusiastic."
When Mondale was re-elected to his second full term in the Senate in 1972, Hubert Humphrey said: "We are seeing the beginning of a truly great national career that can take Fritz Mondale to the office that I long sought." After Mondale dropped out of the race in November 1974, he returned to Capitol Hill. But he had not really abandoned his interest in gaining higher office. He was impressed by Carter —whom he hardly knew.
Urged by some liberal Senate staffers to get back into the race after the Pennsylvania primary seemed to leave Carter with a clear field, Mondale said, "No, I've signed up with Berlitz for a course in Southern."
During more than three hours of talks in Plains, Carter and Mondale found they agreed on the basic issues, although the Georgian has generally walked the middle of the road, while the Minnesotan is a staunch liberal (his voting record last year received a 94% rating from the Americans for Democratic Action—the same as Humphrey's). Mondale has a reputation of being one of the leading supporters of busing, but he and Carter even had a meeting of minds on that touchy issue. Choosing his words carefully—and seeming to hedge his previous positions a bit—Mondale says: "I have never been an advocate of busing for the purpose of achieving racial balance. But I have supported the courts in enforcing the law, which occasionally required busing." That is just about what Carter has been saying all along.