DBWI: LBJ goes negative against Goldwater

OTL, Johnson was able to win in '64 by running a generally feel-good campaign that emphasized his continuity with the New Frontier, and his own plans for a better future, with only slight mention of Goldwater's supposed irresponsibility, mostly in regards to military matters.

But, given some of Goldwater's more, umm, interesting statements(eg. flying a missile into the Kremlin men's rooom), not to mention his perceived alignment with extremist groups, could the Democrats have done even better by portraying him as some sort of raving lunatic? Or would the public just assume that was just so much scaremongering and view Johnson himself as unhinged?
 
Maybe LBJ would have won by 60% instead of 56%. And it would probably have an impact down ballot on narrow races the Democrats lost in OTL. But otherwise not much else changes.
 
Yeah, I guess it would be pretty hard to improve on the results LBJ got sending out positive vibes in that campaign.

It was especially neat the way he managed to mix different issues in one ad. Like for example, education and the space program, in that one with the little girl sitting on the swings in her schoolyard reciting her multiplication tables, and then you hear the countdown, and as she looks into the distance it switches to a shot of a rocket taking off into the sky. Nice segue between better schools and a better space program.
 
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