After the primary, he fired Sears and hired his old friend, William Casey. Casey wanted Ronald Reagan to start a more vigorous campaign and that is exactly what he did. Over the course of a couple weeks, Reagan won all but four primaries. Reagan saw his only opponent in these primaries to be George Bush. By winning all the primaries, he collected enough delegates needed for a nomination. The Republican National Convention nominated him by a vote of 1,949 to 55. .
The 1980 Presidential campaign would be Ronald Reagan coming up against Jimmy Carter. Throughout the campaign Reagan courted blue collar workers and made an attempt to win black support. The major issue that Reagan pushed throughout the campaign was President Carter's economic policy. Inflation had risen to twelve percent and eight million people were currently unemployed. Carter would argue for his side that if you wanted a war and someone that would drop nuclear bombs you should vote for Reagan; if you wanted peace, you should vote for himself. Reagan was really pushing to get blue-collar whites votes. "With some justification, Reagan aides claimed they were gaining on the President in his native South. The reason: Reagan's apparent strength among blue-collar whites." Reagan was also trying to get women to come to his side by revealing, "One of the first appointments to the Supreme Court would be female." .
As far as issues go, on the economy Reagan promised the people he would balance the budget by 1983. Reagan wanted to reduce individual tax rates by ten percent in all of his three years of office. "Carter with some reluctance, has also proposed a tax cut for next year." Carter's tax cut would provide 27.6 billion dollars in relief to taxpayers and would make a faster write-off for business depreciation. More money under Carter's proposal would go to businesses than individuals. On the issue of defense, "Reagan has long demanded an increase in spending to strengthen both strategic and conventional military forces.
