Editing Angus Lewis Macdonald (section)

===Federal campaign, 1930===
The federal election in the summer of 1930 gave the 40-year-old Macdonald a chance to run for office. He decided to contest the riding of [[Inverness (federal electoral district)|Inverness]] in his native [[Cape Breton Island|Cape Breton]]. There he faced a Conservative opponent whose style contrasted sharply with his own cool and reserved manner. According to biographer John Hawkins, [[Isaac Duncan MacDougall|I. D. "Ike" MacDougall]] "was a gifted performer who before an audience could cut an opponent's well-marshalled arguments until they fell amid roars of laughter. He was the master of hyperbole, pun and high spirits. He could win a rural audience, not by his logic, but by his performance on the platform".<ref>Hawkins, p.96.</ref> Macdonald campaigned hard, but the trend was against him. The Conservatives led by [[R. B. Bennett]] defeated [[William Lyon Mackenzie King|Mackenzie King's]] unpopular Liberals. And in Inverness, Ike MacDougall was re-elected by the narrow margin of 165 votes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/HFER/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=311|title=History of Federal Ridings Since 1867. Inverness County, Nova Scotia (1867–1933).|publisher=[[Parliament of Canada]]|access-date=June 15, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609211221/http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/HFER/hfer.asp?Language=E|archive-date=June 9, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was to be Macdonald's only election defeat. Afterwards, Macdonald retreated to [[Halifax (former city)|Halifax]] where he opened his own private law office in August 1930.<ref>Henderson, p.40.</ref>