Sunday, June 5, 2016

McGovern and the 1972 Democratic Campaign

Draw your own conclusions....

From Britannica.com :
"In the primaries that followed, McGovern continued to build up a lead in convention delegates. He was even more successful in the nonprimary states, where his devoted followers made certain that delegate-selection caucuses voted his way. But that success overrode the much more basic process that was taking place: the Democratic Party was tearing itself apart. One reason lay in the work of the commission that carried McGovern’s name. Founded in the wake of the disastrous and violent Democratic National Convention in 1968, the McGovern Commission put forth guidelines for the selection of delegates. They were designed to open the party’s deliberations to more young people, toAfrican Americans, and to women. The guidelines worked, but they also functioned to diminish the participation of many longtime Democratic Party workers. Prominent national Democrats found themselves in some cases unable to find a spot on their own states’ delegations.
McGovern’s rise made many Democrats nervous. Some were worried about his antiwar views, while others thought that he went against traditional Democratic principles. For many, unfairly or not, McGovern came to symbolize a candidacy of radical children, rioters, marijuana smokers, draft dodgers, and hippies. With the California primary approaching, Humphrey tried to bring all the objections to McGovern together in a last attempt to save the nomination for himself. He excoriated his old Senatefriend for his expensive ideas on welfare and his desire to cut the defense budget. It almost worked. Humphrey closed fast in May and early June, but the McGovern organization held on. McGovern won all of California’s giant delegation, and he beat Humphrey 44.3 to 39.1 percent in the popular vote. The margin was not as large as McGovern had hoped for, and the bitterness of the fight, together with the effectiveness of the Humphrey charges, had not been lost on the silent watchers at the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP).
here's the link to the page

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