Feb. 17, 1980:

George Bush President 1980 button.

The Republican presidential primary season opens in Puerto Rico, where former Rep. George Bush (R-TX) -- victorious in the Iowa caucuses a month earlier -- wins a landslide victory. He gets 59 percent of the vote, 20 percentage points better than the runner-up, Sen. Howard Baker (R-TN).

Bush gets all 14 delegates in the winner-take-all contest, helped in large part by the efforts of his son Jeb, who speaks fluent Spanish and had been campaigning on behalf of his father on the island for months. No other GOP candidate, including former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, competes in Puerto Rico.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

Wanna be on our mailing list? Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

categories: Today In Campaign History

5:38 - February 17, 2009

What is this?

Share