General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How many DUers are old enough to have experienced our bad losses? [View all]Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Jerry Brown, my governor now and then, did not inspire Democrats to vote for him. Clinton won more votes in the primary than all challengers put together.
The Death of Kennedy and the nasty dynamic between McCarthy and Kennedy screwed McCarthy. Kennedy's delegates did not align with any one candidate, but many of them detested McCarthy. But McCarthy never even cam close to Humphrey's delegate total. Only 14 states at the time held primaries, and though Humphrey won the popular vote in those states, he was never close to Humphrey, who had more than twice McCarthy's delegates when Kennedy died, and won the nomination with almost three times his delegates.
I do find it interesting that the left wing of the Democratic Party doesn't do well in Presidential Politics, much like the Republican Party whose far right wing makes a lot of noise but doesn't win the primaries.
It appears that Americans prefer center left ot center right Presidents.