Could Ed Muskie Have Won in '72?

[liberalpragmatist]

Just curious. This is coming from a young-ish poster, who nevertheless enjoys political history and is curious about the '72 race. I realize that with Wallace's total being mostly added to Nixon's, Nixon had a very strong chance of reelection, but would Muskie have been a tougher opponent and could he have conceivably won?

Also, what was Muskie's Vietnam War position in '72?

Also, Wallace ran in the Dem primaries that year until he was shot and paralyzed. He was doing quite well. Is it plausible that he could have been nominated or would the Democrats have never accepted him?

[ButterflyBlood]

1. It's commonly accepted now no one could've beat Nixon

Muskie would've done better but still lost. Much as if Gary Hart had been nominated in '84 he would've done better than Mondale, but no one could've beaten Reagan.

As for Wallace, he wouldn't get shit outside the south so I definately can't see him being nominated, and if he somehow was the non-racist Democrats would've ran their own third party candidate.

[buycitgo]

2. Muskie CRIED on camera

he was dirty tricked by the infamous Canuck Letter

his candidacy effectively ended at that point

even had he won the nomination, he'd have gotten hammered unmercifully

hard to imagine him losing any worse than McG, though

[swag]

3. Not only the Canuck Letter, but also the

"Boohoo", i.e., Jerry Rubin, incident detailed in Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72."

The deciding moment.