Carter: Today's Middle Class Looks Like Poor From His Presidency Due to Income Gap

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34. But, conflict with Dems in Congress wasn't the major reason for his defeat in the 1980 election.

There was a nasty rift at the '80 Convention with Kennedy, but I don't believe that was nearly as big a cause of the electoral defeat in November as the other factors I mentioned.

I tend to agree with H20 Man who in January '08 wrote:

One of the issues that has been raised since Senator Edward Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama is the 1980 democratic primary, when Kennedy challenged President Jimmy Carter. There are people who have an agenda which includes using that to discredit Kennedy, by blaming him for Carter’s eventual loss to Ronald Reagan. The implication is, of course, that Senator Kennedy is again taking an underhanded action that harms the legitimate democratic candidate, and is selfishly putting our nation at risk of another republican victory.

Kennedy’s challenge of Carter is an interesting and important episode in the democratic party’s history. A real discussion of the events that led to Ted Kennedy entering the primary should be encouraged. It is important, however, to consider the event in a larger context, rather than in the simple semi-mythical story that intends only to arouse emotions.