Video: 'NH Primary Vault: Ronald Reagan's microphone moment in 1980'

(Saturday, February 23, 1980, evening EST; during the 1980 Republican Party presidential primaries) — Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, running a close race with George H.W. Bush just three days before the critical New Hampshire primary, scolded the moderator of a debate tonight in Nashua, declaring, “I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!”

The Federal Elections Committee had forced the newspaper sponsoring the debate, The Telegraph, to withdraw its funding, so Reagan decided to underwrite the entire debate himself after Bush declined to pay for half.

Video: 'Television & the Presidency Part 11' (Feb. 23, 1980 at 5:48)

While Reagan campaign money financed the debate, the newspaper still set the ground rules and invited only the front-runners, Reagan and Bush.

At the start, Reagan insisted all the GOP candidates should participate.

Video: 'ABC News: Images of the 80's 12/26/89' (Feb. 23, 1980, at 4:14)

The moderator, The Telegraph editor Jon Breen, disagreed and finally asked that Reagan’s microphone be turned off.

Reagan fired back: “I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!” flubbing Breen’s name.