the last two elections were reason to recall the immortal words of mo udall, the democratic center ran for the democratic presidential nomination in the late 1970's. it did not turn out well in the new hampshire primary. he went out and face the cameras and said the voters have spoken, the bastards. [applause] 3 practical points, to cautionary and one optimistic. already has not come up yet today -- ronald reagan is often at the forefront of the discussion about what the conservative future should be. it is very important for us to remember two things about reagan. one, despite all his incredible political skills, he would not have one the election if it were not for inflation, if it were not for gas lines, if it were not for the iranian hostage crisis, if it were not for afghanistan, if it were not for the entire linney of carter's administration failures -- entire litany of carter administration failures. when you are as far down as republicans were in the 1970's and as far down as they are today, you need the other side to fumble, and for its vision to be discredited. at the moment,