The anxiety was high. The suburban living room was still. The press conference finally flickered on the television set, live from New York. If Geraldine Ferraro was going to humiliate herself, and doom the Democrats' chances, at least Walter Mondale would be able to witness the dreadful spectacle at home, in Minnesota, alone except for his wife Joan and a couple of aides.
Ferraro sat before a thicket of microphones, three dozen TV cameras and 200 insistent reporters in a hotel ballroom near Kennedy Airport, ready for one of the memorable political press conferences of modern times. The questions, about her family finances and personal ethics, were complicated and often barbed, yet she managed to seem neither combative nor defensive. Her manner was precise and serious, but relaxed and good-humored too. Her answers were lucid and carefully organized, anecdotal and unpretentious. In North Oaks, Mondale stared at the TV image of his running mate, transfixed by her grace under extraordinary pressure. "The tone is right," he marveled. "The honesty is coming through. Her integrity shows. Her integrity shows."
When he stepped out into the fresh air a little later, his sense of release was palpable. "I've never seen Mondale so relieved," said Campaign Chairman James Johnson. "He had an enormous amount riding on that." The worst seemed past and, even more important, Mondale felt his instincts about Ferraro had been vindicated. After her "superb performance," he told reporters, "I'm even more confident that I made the right choice. There has been a clear demonstration here of leadership, of strength, of candor, of values that the American people will respond to favorably."
Ferraro certainly showed that she has an astonishing knack for handling journalistic inquisitors. The reporters in New York were as jumpy and eager as hounds. For 18 hours they had been able to examine the financial records of Ferraro and her husband John Zaccaro, a real estate executive. The candidate was open to a slew of questions about her compliance with congressional finance rules. In 1978, during her first run for Congress, Ferraro's husband and children had loaned her $134,000; federal election law permits only $1,000 from each family member.
The Federal Election Commission notified her of the violation; to repay the loan, Ferraro arranged through her husband to sell her share of a Manhattan building. The property was bought by a middleman, then repurchased by Zaccaro—a curious transaction resulting from Zaccaro's apparent ignorance of campaign finance laws. Then the couple miscalculated their profit on the deal and ended by owing the IRS $29,709 in back taxes plus interest of $23,750 (see following story).