McGovern in 1968

I heard it said that one of the reasons RFK ran in 1968 was that he had very little respect for Eugene McCarthy, and had more time for McGovern. In OTL McGovern was up for re-election in 1968 and so did not run.

However what if McGovern had won the other S Dakota Senate seat.

I think he would have led a much more united peace faction in the Democratic party.

If he did not win the nomination either Humphrey or Johnson might have looked so illegimate that a third party candidacy might be an option.
 
George Who? In 1968 McGovern was a nobody. Ideologically, before he goes loony-left, he's more in line with McCarthy than RFK, who in between tactical moves right (Indiana) and left (Oregon) is basically a centrist. There's no way he can win the '68 nomination. RFK mostly ran because of the war. His strategic-minded advisers, including Ted, wanted him to wait until 1972. Of course, then Nixon would win, and RFK would have to wait until '76. Of course, knocking off LBJ is a huge bonus.
 
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You guys realise that he held RFK's delegates at the convention and had a very real chance of being nominated over Humphrey, right?
 
Only the 175 delegates from California. Daley would never allow McGovern to be nominated, and in '68 he was not, nor was he ever, presidential timber.
 
RFK and McCarthy hated each other. Even in that picture at MLK's funeral, they have their hands over their mouths, and Gene looks like he's holding his nose. RFK and McGovern were friends, but there is no way that he gets that coalition. Abortion? Acid? Amnesty? I don't think so. These people were cultural conservatives, including RFK privately on abortion.

Originally Posted by Robert Kennedy: "Gene McCarthy feels he should've been President just because he knew more St. Thomas Aquinas than my brother."

Originally posted by Eugene McCarthy: "Bobby had an inferiority complex, but Jack never did." If he means the Franklin/Orthogonian thing, then I agree. Otherwise: Sock It To 'Em!
 
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Before RFK's murder, they had no more than a 50-50 chance of winning. Post 6/6, Nixon was a lock. All a fourth-party candidacy would do is give Nixon a landslide bigger than Obama's IOTL.
 
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