2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Ripples of Hope [View all]H2O Man
(73,537 posts)McGovern did consider serving as a substitute for RFK after he was murdered in '68. The machine was not going to allow RFK to serve this nation as president. But Humphrey, who didn't enter any primaries, was selected by the establishment as our nominee.
George could have won in '72, when he was our candidate, but for two related factors. First, the Democratic establishment was looking to regain the power of the Kennedy Democrats -- who took control in 1960, despite the establishment's attempts to have another candidate as the nominee. LBJ was acceptable to the establishment, until he suffered a sometimes severe, on-going mental breakdown. Then HHH in '68 lost, because he stuck with LBJ's Vietnam policy for too long. But what they were doing with George McGovern in '72 resulted in his making some errors .....because he was competing against both party's establishment. It was the worst lack of party loyalty of the last century.