My first vote for President was in 1968: Dick Gregory!

[skip fox]

In Wood County Ohio (Bowling Green). He was a "write-in" of course.


I tell my students (young, voting age) that they should vote for themselves. I tell them how great I felt after my first vote (I omit the particulars) and how great I still feel remembering that day.

[Walleye]

1. Shirley Chisholm. She was on the ballot. 1972 Cal. Primary

[skip fox]

8. She was remarkable.

[CaptYossarian]

2. Excellent choice.

At least we'd have a legitimate comedian in the WH, instead of wannabes like Donald Swamp.

I'm more conventional. If it was after June 6th, I would have picked Eugene McCarthy, although one of my neurons would write in Pigasus from the Yippies.

[skip fox]

10. I was in Chicago in '68 when the Yippies promoted the pig for president.

I was working for Mobilization Housing, finding accommodations for new arrivals.

Ended up bailed out of jail (Cook Co.) by my father.

[CaptYossarian]

11. 48 years later, we got our pig in the WH.

Worse than Nixon though.

[skip fox]

12. He would look good with an applle in his mouth!

[CaptYossarian]

14. You'd have to fry it first to get it in there.

[StopTheNeoCons]

3. So, you helped elect Nixon, correct?

[skip fox]

4. Here we go . . .

[onenote]

6. 392 votes were cast for Gregory in Ohio. Do you think it changed the outcome?

Nixon only got 45.23% but he still easily defeated Humphrey, who only got 42.95%. George Wallace got almost 12%, which should tell you everything you need to know about Ohio in 1968.

[George II]

9. Hardly.

[UniteFightBack]

13. I mean that's what it sounds like but they felt really good about it and did it for themselves..yay!

[HarlanPepper]

23. Yeah that was my first thought as well.

I’m not sure I’d be boasting about voting for the equivalent of Jill Stein or Nader as Nixon was winning the election. Totally bizarre, actually.

[Dem4Life1102]

5. So helping Nixon get elected makes you feel great?

[skip fox]

7. Voting made me feel good as the post made clear.

I'm amazed at the semi-attacks over this post.

[CaptYossarian]

16. A couple of folks don't know it's Friday.

And they may be too young to know who the great Dick Gregory was.

Read the book, people!

[Dem4Life1102]

17. Voting is not all about you

That is just self centered. It's a civic responsibility, not a feel good exercise. And it is the duty of every person to vote for the candidate who will best serve the country and their fellow americans otherwise you are just helping people like Nixon, Bush and Trump get elected.

[skip fox]

24. Geez.

To be responsible is to maintain your ability to respond, as Robert Duncan wrote. Following someone else's notion of responsibility does not qualify.

I was jailed in Chicago in Aug. of 1968. Friends had been killed in Vietnam. They tried to draft me into their madness.

I'm comfortable with my vote and tired of public scolds.

[Dem4Life1102]

25. Still not all about you

Voting is a civic duty, not a self righteous feel good exercise. That you haven't learned that in over 50 years is just sad.

[skip fox]

27. Thing about scolds . . .

they are always right.

[Dem4Life1102]

28. And the problem with the self righeous

they learn from or admit they've made mistakes.

[skip fox]

30. Hereafter I afford you the attention your posts

so clearly show you deserve.

[Dem4Life1102]

34. Not surprised

The self righteous hate being called out on their BS

[onenote]

15. How did voting for Gregory in Ohio in 1968 help get Nixon elected?

What got Nixon elected wasn't folks voting for Dick Gregory in Ohio, it was folks voting for Richard Nixon (and George Wallace) in Ohio.

[Dem4Life1102]

18. Voting for anyone other than Humphrey in 68 helped Nixon

Just as voting for anyone other than Gore in 2000 helped Bush and anyone other than Clinton in 16 helped Trump.

[skip fox]

19. Some people seem to like to tell other people how to think

and feel even about an election 50 years ago. Does that make them feel good? Does that encourage ideological purity?

I must also point out I've been jailed twice because of my beliefs and help stall Kenneth Starr in his impeachment of Clinton.

[Dem4Life1102]

20. No it is not telling people how to feel

but asking them to take responsibility for the consequences of the actions.

[onenote]

22. the difference between 2000 and 2016 v. 1968:

In 2000, the number of people voting for third party candidates was large enough to impact the outcome. Indeed, just the Ralph Nader votes was enough, even if all the votes for other third party candidates had gone to Bush).

In 2016, there were at least a half dozen states where Trump got less than 50 percent of the vote. In most of these, the big difference maker were votes cast for Libertarian Gary Johnson -- probably not votes that would have gone to Clinton. But in three states, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, the votes that went to Jill Stein were enough to cost Clinton those states. If she had won all three (or even just Michigan and Wisconsin), she would have won the election and so those votes helped Trump win.

In 1968, Nixon won at least 17 states in which he didn't get 50 percent of the vote. But in every one of those states, the difference maker was George Wallace. The votes cast for any other third party candidate or write in simply were insufficient to impact the outcome. They didn't help Nixon win. He would have won even if all those votes had gone to Humphrey. Indeed, Nixon lost several states because of the Wallace vote -- but it would be pure fantasy to imagine that any of the Wallace voters gave any thought to voting for Humphrey.

In short, those folks who voted for Stein or Nader need to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Those folks who wrote in Dick Gregory or someone else in 1968 didn't take an action that had any actual "consequences" with respect to the outcome.

[Greybnk48]

21. I was in Ketchikan, AK and first vote was for Hubert Humphrey 1968.

By then I was 19, and was a resident of Ketchikan, so I was permitted to vote!

My boyfriend and I married earlier than we had planned (me 18, him 19) so I could go with him for four years in the military. We sped things up so much we actually married in Ketchikan, 2 months after he got there and deemed it would work!

We had a blast!

[Throck]

26. Talk about a name from the past.

Haven't heard that name since Oberlin College days.

[maxsolomon]

29. Mine was for Mike Dukakis.

I never fuck around in elections. The GOP is too evil.

[RGTIndy]

31. 1988: Jessie Jackson

Indiana Democratic Primary

[luvs2sing]

32. 1976. Jimmy Carter.

I hadn’t been 18 for very long, but my dad made sure I got registered, and we went to the polls together. We were among the first voters that day. Afterward, we stopped at my favorite bakery and each got a pastry. Then he went to work, and I drove to my college classes an hour away. It is one of my favorite memories of times with my father. He also voted for Carter, but he wanted to know exactly why I was voting for him. He wanted to make sure I was making my own decision.

[MiniMe]

36. That was mine too

They registered us im High School if we were going to gbe 18 by the next election.

[tavernier]

33. And how did that work out for you?

My grandson voted for a name way down the ballot in 2016 because he didn’t care for either of the two top candidates. I told him that in a national election it’s very simple and all about the math. I told him in the future if he isn’t going to vote for the top two candidates, instead of wasting his gas to go to the polls, stay home and write a fan letter to anyone else he prefers.

Because one of those top two candidates is going to win, period, and the only way his vote will make a difference is to give it to the right person.

[brokephibroke]

35. Mine was for John Anderson.

He was an alum from U of Illinois where I was a student in 1980.

[BigDemVoter]

37. I voted for Mondale - Ferraro in 1984.