Mr. Reagan decided to underwrite the entire debate himself after Mr. Bush declined to pay for half. So when the newspaper’s moderator tried to cut Reagan’s microphone after he tried to get five other candidates included in the debate, Reagan snapped, “I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!”
Two things are interesting here. First, he got the name of the moderator wrong (it was “Breen,” not “Green.”)
Second, although Reagan’s anger seemed authentic, it was also probably not an improvised line. His Hollywood contemporary, Spencer Tracy, used an almost identical line in the movie State of the Union.
None of that mattered. Reagan won New Hampshire in a landslide, and this moment paved the way for his ascension to the White House.