Former Vice President Walter Mondale dies

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a liberal icon who lost one of the most lopsided presidential elections after bluntly telling voters he’d increase taxes if he won, has died.

The death of the former senator, ambassador and Minnesota attorney general was announced in a statement from his family yesterday. No cause was cited.

Mondale was 93.

Mondale followed the trail blazed by his political mentor, Hubert H. Humphrey, from Minnesota politics to the U.S. Senate and the vice presidency, serving under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.

In a statement last night, Carter said he felt Mondale was “the best vice president in our country’s history.”

Mondale’s own try for the White House, in 1984, came at the zenith of Ronald Reagan’s popularity. His selection of Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate made him the first major-party presidential nominee to put a woman on the ticket.

But his declaration that he would raise taxes helped define the race.