General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: All three Democratic presidential losses in the Eighties were caused by centrism. [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Last edited Fri May 30, 2014, 11:23 PM - Edit history (1)
McCarthy actually won more total votes than any other candidate in the '68 primaries(McCarthy and RFK took something like 75% of the total vote between them, according to the Wikipedia entry on the Dem nomination process for that year)but most delegates were chosen by undemocratic methods or were under the personal control of LBJ). In at least one state, the 1968 conventiion delegation had been chosen in 1966. Polling in the summer of 1968 consistently showed McCarthy, after RFK's murder, running a much stronger race against Nixon than Humphrey did, often beating Nixon while Humphrey ran several points behind. And Teddy Kennedy kept dropping hints that he might accept a draft for the nomination, which made it impossible for McCarthy to unite what anti-Johnson delegates there were.
McCarthy didn't fail as a candidate, the process was rigged against him.
I've discussed what doomed McGovern's chances in other posts in this thread. Suffice it to say that no Dem had a fair shot against Nixon in '72.