. Standing behind her are California Congressmen
Bob Matsui and
Norman Mineta and future San Francisco supervisor
Tom Hsieh. As the 1984 U.S. presidential election primary season neared its end and
Walter Mondale became the likely Democratic nominee, the idea of picking a woman as his vice-presidential running mate gained considerable momentum. The
National Organization for Women and the
National Women's Political Caucus pushed the notion, as did several top Democratic figures such as
Speaker Tip O'Neill. both of whom were on Mondale's five-person
short list. Mondale selected Ferraro to be his vice-presidential candidate on , 1984. She stated, "I am absolutely thrilled." The Mondale campaign hoped that her selection would change a campaign in which he was well behind; in addition to attracting women, they hoped she could attract ethnic Democrats in the Northeast U.S. who had
abandoned their party for Reagan in 1980. As Ferraro was the first woman to run on a
major party national ticket in the United States, and the first Italian American, her nomination at the
1984 Democratic National Convention was one of the most emotional moments of that gathering, with female delegates appearing joyous and proud at the historic occasion. In her acceptance speech, Ferraro said, "The daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love." Convention attendees were in tears during the speech, for not just its significance for women but all those who had immigrated to America. advertised a post-convention
Queens Borough Hall rally, for Ferraro to introduce Mondale to New York City voters. Ferraro gained immediate, large-scale media attention. At first, journalists focused on her novelty as a woman and her poor family background, and their coverage was overwhelmingly favorable. Nevertheless, Ferraro faced many press questions about her foreign policy inexperience, and responded by discussing her attention to foreign and national security issues in Congress.
Ted Koppel questioned her closely about
nuclear strategy and during
Meet the Press she was asked, "Do you think that in any way the Soviets might be tempted to try to take advantage of you simply because you are a woman?" The choice of Ferraro was viewed as a gamble, and pundits were uncertain whether it would result in a net gain or loss of votes for the Mondale campaign. While her choice was popular among Democratic activists, polls immediately after the announcement showed that only 22 percent of women were excited about Ferraro's selection, versus 18 percent who agreed that it was a "bad idea". By a three-to-one margin, voters thought that pressure from women's groups had led to Mondale's decision rather than his having chosen the best available candidate. Nonetheless, in the days after the convention Ferraro proved an effective campaigner, with a brash and confident style that forcefully criticized the Reagan administration and sometimes almost overshadowed Mondale. (While the Mondale campaign had anticipated some questions, it had only spent 48 hours on vetting Ferraro's family's finances.) This was also the first time the American media had to deal with a national candidate's husband. with each half partners in Zaccaro's company, Ferraro had little knowledge of his business, or even how much he was worth. Zaccaro did not understand the greater public exposure that his wife's new position brought to their family, and resisted releasing his financial information. She joked, "So you people married to Italian men, you know what it's like." The tax announcement dominated television and newspapers, Republicans saw her finances as a "genderless" issue that they could attack Ferraro with without creating a backlash, and law enforcement officials downplayed the allegations. A week after her previous statement, Ferraro said Zaccaro had changed his mind and would indeed release his tax records, which was done on . The full statements included notice of payment of some $53,000 in back federal taxes that she owed due to what was described as an accountant's error. No campaign issue during the entire 1984 presidential campaign received more media attention than Ferraro's finances. The exposure diminished Ferraro's rising stardom, removed whatever momentum the Mondale–Ferraro ticket gained out of the convention, and delayed formation of a coherent message for the fall campaign. In a 1982 briefing for Congress, Ferraro had written that "the Catholic position on abortion is not monolithic and there can be a range of personal and political responses to the issue." Ferraro was criticized by
Cardinal John O'Connor, the Catholic
Archbishop of New York, and
James Timlin, the
Bishop of Scranton, for misrepresenting the
Catholic Church's position on abortion. After several days of back-and-forth debate in the public media, Ferraro finally conceded that, "the Catholic Church's position on abortion is monolithic" but went on to say that "But I do believe that there are a lot of Catholics who do not share the view of the Catholic Church". Mondale and Ferraro rarely touched during their appearances together, to the point that he would not even place his palm on her back when they stood side by side; Ferraro later said this was because anything more and "people were afraid that it would look like, 'Oh, my God, they're dating.'". There was
one vice-presidential debate between Congresswoman Ferraro and Vice President
George H. W. Bush. Held on , the result was proclaimed mostly even by the press and historians; women voters tended to think Ferraro had won, while men, Bush. In the days leading up to the debate,
Second Lady of the United States Barbara Bush had publicly referred to Ferraro as "that four-million-dollar—I can't say it, but it rhymes with 'rich'." Barbara Bush soon apologized, saying she had not meant to imply Ferraro was "a witch". Teeley declined to apologize for the remark, saying it had no sexist implications and the Ferraro campaign was being "hypersensitive" in complaining about it. Ferraro's mother had never told her about his arrest; The printing of the story led Ferraro to state that
Post publisher
Rupert Murdoch "does not have the worth to wipe the dirt under [my mother's] shoes." Ferraro's womanhood was consistently discussed during the campaign; one study found that a quarter of newspaper articles written about her contained gendered language. Throughout, Ferraro kept campaigning, taking on the traditional running-mate role of attacking the opposition vigorously. , September 1984 On November 6, Mondale and Ferraro lost the general election in a
landslide. They received only 41 percent of the popular vote compared to Reagan and Bush's 59 percent, and in the
Electoral College won only Mondale's home state of
Minnesota and the
District of Columbia. The ticket even lost Ferraro's congressional district, which had long been one of the more conservative districts in New York City; it tended to vote Republican in presidential races. Ferraro's presence on the ticket had little measurable effect overall. Of the tenth of voters who decided based on the vice-presidential candidates, 54 percent went to Mondale–Ferraro, Reagan's personal appeal and campaign themes of prosperity and "
It's morning again in America" were quite strong, while Mondale's
liberal campaign alienated Southern whites and northern blue-collar workers who
usually voted Democratic. Political observers generally agree that no combination of Democrats could have won the election in 1984. After the election, the
House Ethics Committee found that Ferraro had technically violated the
Ethics in Government Act by failing to report, or reporting incorrectly, details of her family's finances, and that she should have reported her husband's holdings on her congressional disclosure forms. However, the committee concluded that she had acted without "deceptive intent", and since she was leaving Congress anyway, no action against her was taken. Ferraro is one of only four U.S. women to run on a major party national ticket. The others are
Sarah Palin, the
2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee; The campaign did lead to the greater adoption of the honorific "
Ms." Two years after the campaign, the
Times finally changed its policy and began using "Ms." ==First Senate run and ambassadorship==