49 of 67 seats in the Minnesota Senate. In 1978 the DFL suffered devastating losses in what is known as the "Minnesota Massacre." The two U.S. Senate seats and governorship went Republican, Republicans picked up an additional Congressional seat, and the DFL lost its majority in the state House, ending up with a 67–67 tie. (The Minnesota Senate was not up for election in 1978.) The DFL party chair was elected at the state party convention, conducted in June of each election year. In 1980, the prevailing issue was how the DFL could recover from the devastating loss in 1978. There were six candidates for chair, all but one of whom had significant interest groups or officeholders supporting them. Hatch, the one candidate without significant support from an interest group, ran a geographically based campaign focused primarily on the support of county and congressional district chairs. The convention was tumultuous, with various interest groups opposed to each other over abortion, labor, and farm issues. Hatch, who had the least amount of political experience, campaigned as a centrist who focused on economic issues and promised to elect more Democrats in the 1980 election. He was elected chair on the third ballot. At the time of his victory in June 1980, the mortgage on the party headquarters was in default and the party had no campaign funds for the 1980 election. Under Hatch, the DFL became the first state Democratic party to acquire a computer and jet printer. He published a monthly newspaper that was printed on the computer and mailed to each contributor of a "Sustaining Fund." In spring 1981, Hatch invited Vice President Mondale and Senator Ted Kennedy, the likely Democratic presidential candidates in the 1984 election, to a "Jefferson-Jackson Day" dinner. The invitation to Kennedy to a dinner in Mondale's home state was controversial, but the dinner, with 5,000 in attendance, was the largest and most profitable in the history of the DFL Party. In 1980, the DFL Party was deeply divided over issues ranging from abortion to gay rights to gun control. The party rules encouraged division by requiring delegates to be elected from "sub-caucuses" organized around specific issues or interest groups. In 1981, Hatch printed political buttons, posters and letterhead under the name "The Centrists," promoting the notion that the party had to stand for more than just a conglomeration of interest groups. Feminists, pro-lifers, gun control