and vermont. ford won both. illinois. ford win. this was the scene in the middle of march 1976, newspapers all across the country saying republicans want reagan out of the race. he said give me one more chance. give me one more chance. if i can t win in north carolina i m out of the race. so he fought on to the 1976 republican primary in north carolina and lo and behold it was a big upset. ronald reagan dmokd off ford in the republican primary in north carolina. he got hot. he did not win the nomination but he came as close as you can in 76. and when ford lost the general election republicans looked to reagan and they said there s the guy for 1980. wouldn t have happened if he hadn t turned everything around in the north carolina primary. he might have been an afterthought. try imagining that. the other one we say, it was in 2008. democratic race started in 2008 in iowa.
and racing for the presidency, what we say? the north carolina primary, sometimes it hasn t mattered at all. sometimes it s been late in the process. but there are two times where the north carolina primary made presidents. and we thought we d tell you about them. remember these two guys, gerald ford, ronald reagan. the year was 1976. remember, ford was the unelected president, succeeded to the presidency when nixon had to resign. reagan challenged him in the primaries. the primary season started off and it started off as a disaster for reagan. ford one iowa. ford won new hampshire. they went down to massachusetts and vermont. ford won both. illinois. ford win. this was the scene in the middle of march 1976, newspapers all across the country saying republicans want reagan out of the race. he said give me one more chance. give me one more chance. if i can t win in north carolina i m out of the race. so he fought on to the 1976 republican primary in north carolina and lo and behold it