came as ronald reagan was on his way to the greatest landslide in american politics and governor cuomo offered the liberal wing of the democratic party hope on two fronts. both that traditional liberalism could still be packaged as an agenda that most americans would support. and that democrats could compete with the awesome communication skills of governor reagan. now on the first point, ultimately i think the governor cuomo's side of the argument lost out to the one that bill clinton represented. but no doubt in the 1980s, he was a central figure a beacon of hope for democrats who had grown lost confidence in the party's ability to compete at the national level at that point. >> you talked about the 1984 convention speech. you talked about the soaring oratory. let's play a little of that. i remember ron, i'm a little younger than you, i remember watching this on the floor of my father's house, looking at the room that was electrified in san francisco with the lights dimmed at the words of mario cuomo. so let's listen.