This is not Lyndon Johnson’s Senate

[Art_from_Ark]

4. In the 1970s, American politics were still pretty liberal

Both the House and Senate were firmly in Democratic control throughout the decade.

McGovern lost in large part because he was running against an incumbent, but also that incumbent was a crook ("break-in at Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel&quot whose crimes were brushed aside in the months leading up to the 1972 election. Nixon also appealed to the basest emotions of many voters, especially in the South, and Reagan even further capitalized on that strategy. McGovern also hurt his own cause immensely by not completely vetting his first running mate, Senator Thomas Eagleton, who was later revealed to have been undergoing psychiatric treatment and consequently deemed unfit by the media to serve as a running mate. At first, McGovern stood by Eagleton, but later dumped him, and that really sealed his doom.