Reply #11: Republicans did in Muskie [View All]

[union_maid]

Seems to me that '72 was lost before the general. I voted McGovern and liked and admired him, but I've always had this realist streak, even when I was very young. I knew he couldn't win. The country was divided and he didn't speak to enough of it. Muskie was a very popular vice-presidential candidate in '68, polling better than Humphrey IIRC, and might have had a shot. He didn't carry the LBJ taint that Humphrey did. He couldn't stand up to the dirty tricks, though. The Republicans targeted him right out of the box and that's where they won that election. They picked the candidate they wanted to run against.