WI:Ronald Reagan Fails To Win The Race For Governor?

So, lets say that ROnald Reagan fails to win the race for Governor of California in 1966. My questions are...

1)How could this happen? What are some possible PODs?

2)What happens if Pat Brown wins another term as Governor?

3)Whaat happens to Reagan? Is he out of any chance at an elected office, or could he run and win elsewhere?

4)What effecct would this have on future presidential elections, as well as American History?


Your thoughts? I'm thinking Reagan could always run for the senate in 1968, and maybe build his political career around that.
 
1/2) Pat Brown was unlikely to win re-election that year. He had decided to seek a third term when he had previously forgone that option, his LG had thoroughly bungled Watts when Brown was on vacation in Greece. The other Republican candidate was George Christopher, the former mayor of San Francisco. If there hadn't been minor candidates in the race, LA Mayor Sam Yorty, a conservative Democrat, would've taken the Democratic nomination from Brown. Yorty could also be criticized for Watts. In 1965, he'd been publicly deflated by Bobby Kennedy (who swiped Yorty in his Ambassador speech), who after a testy exchange, remarked at a Senate hearing that: "perhaps the Mayor should stay for the remainder of these hearings, for as I understand he has nothing to get back to." Yorty had claimed that Watts had nothing to do with him.

3) Another possible choice is Max Rafferty, who narrowly lost the California Senate race in '68 after defeating Minority Whip Tom Kuchel in the GOP primary.

4) This means that American conservatives will not have a candidate against Nixon in 1968. It will be a straight Nixon-Rocky battle, perhaps Romney joins in. Nixon wins easily of course, since Rocky was too liberal for the GOP base. Democratic race is debatable as usual.
 
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