AHC:Timothy Leary for Governer in 1970

How could we possibly get a non arrested Timothy Leary to win the democratic primary for Governor of California in 1970 and than defeat Ronald Reagan to win the governorship ?
 
How could we possibly get a non arrested Timothy Leary to win the democratic primary for Governor of California in 1970 and than defeat Ronald Reagan to win the governorship ?
He doesn't become a prophet for drug use and counter culture and instead builds support among the growing liberal viewpoint of college students and galvanizes their need for change in a political rather than cultural way. Counter culture just wasn't interested in voting, choosing to leave THAT world behind. As long as Leary is labeled a druggie and hippy, he isn't beating Reagan.
 
Have him publicly turn against the drug culture, maybe act as an informant against some of the more commercialized dealers to establish his bona fides, and then(assuming the people he ratted out don't send hit men after him) run for governor as a liberal who has nevertheless seen the dark side of the counterculture and wants to temper it, while still preserving its best elements.

That's still a long shot, but in any case, given the man's notoriety, I think Leary only wins if he somehow positions himself as ANTI-drugs.
 
To quote Yours Truly...

Have him publicly turn against the drug culture, maybe act as an informant against some of the more commercialized dealers to establish his bona fides, and then(assuming the people he ratted out don't send hit men after him) run for governor as a liberal who has nevertheless seen the dark side of the counterculture and wants to temper it, while still preserving its best elements.

Apparently, he actually did something in that general ballpark. But in Algeria...

Soon after the opening of the embassy Timothy Leary, the high priest of LSD (‘turn on, tune in, drop out’), and his wife arrived in town. Leary had been sprung from a US prison by the Weather Underground, who’d been paid $25,000 (some say $50,000) by the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a California hippy group that manufactured and distributed high-grade marijuana and LSD. Nixon had called Leary ‘the most dangerous man in America’. Cleaver and I gave Slimane Hoffman a toned-down version of Leary’s story, emphasising his career as a Harvard professor. Cleaver assured Hoffman that he was capable of controlling Leary’s drug use and his bouts of nonsensical eloquence. The commandant wished us well.

My first impression was that the Learys were elderly hipsters. I don’t know what I expected: something crazier, more flamboyant and exciting. In the name of the revolution Cleaver decided that Leary had to denounce drugs, and Leary agreed to take part in a BPP film session aimed at US audiences. Cleaver opened the interview by saying that the idea that drugs were a way to liberation was an invention by ‘illusionary guys’: the real path was through organisations like the Weathermen and the BPP who were involved in direct action. Leary’s reply was cagey. ‘If taking any drug postpones for ten minutes the revolution, the liberation of our sisters and brothers, our comrades, then taking drugs must be postponed for ten minutes … However, if one hundred FBI agents agreed to take LSD, thirty would certainly drop out.’

The London Review Of Books

The writer's description of both the Panthers and the Learys in Algeria is well worth the read. Suffice to say, these American New Left types didn't go out of their way to treat their hosts in a respectful manner.
 
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