(7 of 7)
Mondale, once the reluctant campaigner, let it be known that he intends to give the campaign everything he has. He acknowledges, "I'm not the world's best speaker," and the fact is that his high-pitched voice can be irritating. Yet twelve hours after Carter put him on the ticket, he did a better than creditable job in his acceptance speech, with an impassioned Humphreyesque plea for a return to the old-fashioned virtue of compassion. It was a sermon that he began to learn nearly half a century ago from a populist Methodist minister and a proud woman in the small, stricken towns of Minnesota.
* Last week, Carter said he would propose that future conventions recess to allow the presidential nominee about 30 days to decide on a running mate and then reconvene to ratify the choice or allow the Democratic National Committee to do so.