presidential campaign led to subsequent victories in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Indiana. The result was a seesaw battle for the minimum of 1,130 delegates required for their party's nomination that neither would reach. Ahead of the Kansas City convention in August, Reagan took John Sears' advice of choosing liberal Richard Schweiker as his running mate to distract Ford. Instead, conservatives were left alienated. Ford would pick up the uncommitted delegates and prevail, earning 1,187 to Reagan's 1,070. Before Ford gave his acceptance speech, he invited Reagan to address the convention. In his speech, Reagan emphasized individual freedom and the dangers of nuclear weapons. In 1977, Ford told Cannon that Reagan's primary challenge contributed to his own narrow loss to Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 United States presidential election. 1980 election Beginning in 1977, Reagan emerged as a vocal critic of President Carter. The Panama Canal Treaty's signing, the 1979 oil crisis, and rise in the inflation, interest and unemployment rates helped set up his 1980 presidential campaign, which he announced in November 1979 with an indictment of the federal government. Reagan and many of his Republican primary opponents stressed his fundamental principles of tax cuts to stimulate the economy and having both a small government and strong national defense. Heading into 1980, Reagan's age became an issue among the press, and the United States was in a severe recession. In the primaries, Reagan lost Iowa to George H. W. Bush, but rebounded in New Hampshire. Soon thereafter, Reagan's opponents began dropping out of the primaries, including John B. Anderson, who left the party to become an independent candidate. Reagan captured the presidential nomination with ease and chose Bush as his running mate at the Detroit convention in July. The general election pitted Reagan against Carter amid the multitude of domestic concerns and ongoing Iran hostage crisis that began in November 1979. Carter "suggested that Reagan would wreck Social Security" and portrayed him as a warmonger while Anderson had support from liberal Republicans. In August, Reagan gave a speech at the Neshoba County Fair, stating his belief in states' rights. Joseph Crespino argues that the visit was designed to reach out to Wallace-inclined voters, and some also saw these actions as an extension of the Southern strategy to garner white support for Republican candidates. Reagan's supporters have asserted that this was his typical anti-big government rhetoric, without racial context or