2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: In 1980, did Ted Kennedy endorse Jimmy Carter? [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)Who had expressed a desire to a number of his staff to leave politics three months before RFK even jumped in.
RFK was a former AG, a Senator, and connected to the previous POTUS. If you don't believe he had a network, then, fine--don't believe that. There's no way I can convince you of it, but I'd be shocked if he didn't have an inkling.
I was no one, but when I worked on the Hill, I heard a LOT of stuff. There are things that have hit the news that are "shocking," even to this day (and I have been gone for awhile) that are not surprising to me. That town IS a tiny little fish pool.
It was HHH who did the clobbering--I was referring to the 68 convention in Chicago. There were two schools of thought about the war, and at that time, the anti-war side lost.
Kennedy never had a hope in hell of winning--he just wanted to screw Carter over, and he did that. What he didn't count on is that the movie star would resonate so well (I still do not understand that--the guy seemed like a two - bit phony to me) and usher in an era of GOP dominance that would resonate down the decades.