Former GOP presidential candidate John Anderson died in the last few days

[misanthrope]

and if you want a great indication of how far to the right this nation has lurched after Reagan, look no further than Anderson's bio.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/05/568489924/john-anderson-independent-for-president-in-1980-dies-at-95

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/politics/john-anderson-who-ran-against-reagan-and-carter-in-1980-is-dead-at-95.html?_r=0

Those of us who remember him -- I was in high school during his run -- aren't surprised by any of this. However reading the particulars of his life and stances may jog some memories.

There's no place in his party for a man like him anymore and he began to realize as much over the resulting decades. He didn't drift leftward; his party and nation shifted under him.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I voted for him in 1980.

I liked his platform and hoped to split the republican vote for Reagan.

[Chasstev365]

2. Good Guy, but....

did he throw the election to Ronald Reagan which set this nation on a disastrous path?

[misanthrope]

3. No more so than Ted Kennedy did

Or than Ross Perot did for Bill Clinton in 1992.

But that is beside the point. If you read the NYT piece, it becomes obvious how much bigger the GOP tent once was. It also contains Anderson's warnings about the oncoming rightward direction of his party.

[former9thward]

9. No.

Reagan got 51% and Carter got 41%. No one threw the election.

[H2O Man]

4. Recommended.

I remember him well. Not that I voted for him, but I found him to be likeable. I felt that he recognized the Gipper was taking the republican party to the Goldwater-right. And this was when I was out of college, and in my most radical phase.

[misanthrope]

5. Bingo

This says a lot about what has happened in both parties and the national cultural fabric over time. It's why Obama referenced Ray-gun when mentioning what degree of influence he hoped to have, not as worship of the 40th POTUS' policies but the length and depth of his shadow.

[madinmaryland]

6. He spoke at the university I was going to in NW Ohio and I was very impressed by him.

I got to meet him and had a brief conversation with him (15 seconds), but still interesting.

I still ended up voting for Carter, because I didn't want to see Reagan elected.

[PufPuf23]

7. John Anderson is the only non-Democratic politician to ever receive my vote.

I voted for Anderson in the 1980 GOP primary over Reagan, a strategic vote to weaken Reagan.

I was for Jerry Brown and voted for Carter of course in the general election.

[clementine613]

8. A Rethuglican