No-Show, No-Go

"Let's face it: the only way we're going to make national headlines is if we screw up," said George Bush's press secretary when asked why the vice-presidential hopeful refused to debate Democratic rival Walter Mondale during the 1980 election. For his part, Mondale personally sent a telegram to the League of Women Voters, the group that organized that year's debates, expressing his enthusiasm for a showdown. But Bush refused to yield, dubbing the vice-presidential debates strictly minor-league: "We're the Toledo Mud Hens," he explained.