Third Parties Galore
1972: The Robber or the Racist?
With Congress certifying him as President,
President Nelson Rockefeller got to work despite many Socialists mumbling of "Robbyfeller" who apparently "stole" the election from the man who many Socialists held high, Governor Richard Nixon of California. The Burmese War continued into President Rockefeller's first term to the disappointment of his anti-war supporters. Progressive policies slowly became more socially-oriented, angering conservatives, and the "New Frontier" programs continued with the historic passing and implementation of the universal healthcare system "AmeriCare" with bipartisan support, much to right-wing anger at "socialized medicine".
Barry Goldwater declared in 1971 "If people ask me about this a decade hence, I shall say 'I did not leave the Progressive Party, the Progressive Party left me'." and formed the Libertarian Party in protest at the Progressives' "growing socialist tendencies". Many Progressives of a libertarian bent joined the Libertarians, including Senator Ronald Reagan of California and Governor Roger MacBride of Vermont. Goldwater chose television producer Tonie Nathan of Oregon as his running mate as many prominent Libertarians wished to focus on ensuring re-election as Libertarians.
Rockefeller nevertheless declared his intention to seek re-election, and easily won re-nomination, electing to continue the ticket with Vice-President William Scranton of Pennsylvania. The bitter anti-war voters finally had a choice in Socialist George McGovern [who chose Representative Shirley Chisholm of New York, one of the few Socialists willing to be the bottom of a seemingly-doomed ticket] while the AIP, in a bid to expand outside the South chose Governor Happy Chandler of Kentucky and Senator Evan Mecham of Arizona. Louisiana still held out against the AIP as the Populists, led by Governor John McKeithen of Louisiana and Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas slowly chipped away at AIP support in the Deep South as the AIP increasingly focused on the North and on opportunities to become a "national" party instead of a "Southern" party, like the Populists and States' Rights were.
In the end, Chandler got an impressive second place as McGovern collapsed in support [but won his native South Dakota easily] and voters afraid of the possibility of an AIP victory voted overwhelmingly Rockefeller, his so-called "moderate majority". Rockefeller would be the last nominee to win an outright electoral majority, as the rigamarole following the 1976 election would be the final straw to an exasperated American people tired of an archaic electoral system so transparently unsuited to the fragmented multi-partisan politics of modern-day America.