Smith: Mr. Reagan?

Reagan: (Startled) Er, uh. I paid for this microphone. Let's make America great again.

Smith: The next question is from the chair of Ms. Walters and is directed toward the chair of Mr. Carter.

Barbara Walters' chair:

Carter's chair:

Smith: Mr. Reagan, your response?

Reagan: I couldn't make out the question. But I pledge here and now to the American people that should I ever become senile during my term of office, I'll, I'll (fumbling through note cards)...

Smith: Mr. Anderson, your response?

Anderson: In my 20 years on the floor of the Congress in the House of Representatives of the United States, I've done some things that I can't say I'm proud of today. Perhaps the worse of those was my vote in favor of H.R. 13546, which was the bill to fund construction of deep water wells to provide irrigation to apple orchards of less than five square miles owned by minority farmers in the northwest regions of Washington state.

Smith: The next question is directed toward Mr. Reagan.

Hedrick Smith: Mr. Reagan, a recent New York Times/CBS poll indicates that you are now running neck and neck with President Carter. In view of the fact that just six weeks ago, you were rated in some polls as 15 points ahead of Mr. Carter, how do you explain the volatility of the American electorate?

Reagan: Well, I, too, have noticed that the crowds at rallies have been particularly loud this year, and I think, in general, that Americans are just an excitable people.

Smith: I said volatility, not volubility, Mr. Reagan. What I am asking in essence is what you feel the American people are looking for in a presidential candidate?

Reagan: I'm glad you asked me that question here in Baltimore, home of the John Birch Society and birthplace of 567 men who died defending our country's honors and values in our last noble war. But to answer your question, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said-(five Reagan aides gag the candidate and remove him from the studio.)

Smith: Thank you, Mr. Reagan. Mr. Carter's chair:

Carter's chair:

Smith: The last word is yours, Mr. Anderson.

Anderson: As has been the case throughout history, in our country and elsewhere in the world, in democracies and totalitarian states alike, ordinary people, like the citizens I meet every day as I travel through this land of ours, have cried out for something new when the old begins to...(transmission of sound interrupted for 27 minutes)...this vast land of ours, which I have traveled for months now, speaking with people from every walk of life, the lowly to the mighty.

Smith: Our time is up, Mr. Anderson. That concludes the first of the League of Women Voters' 1980 Presidential debates. Thank you candidates. Thank you, questioners. Thank you, chairs.