[ansel12]

There is absolutely no reason to think that Reagan would have lost in 1966. Brown was badly damaged goods, only pulling 52% of the primary vote for his third term, and Reagan destroyed him in a massive landslide, 1968, here we come.

""Reagan won in a landslide; his nearly 1 million vote plurality surprised even his staunchest supporters. He dramatically unseated Brown with 58% to 42%.""

Lodge was a weak candidate at any time and had been last driven from elective victory in 1953, he was never going to be the nominee, and who knows what JFK's health would have been in 1968, or if he would even had been alive.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Remember now, I’m going by what the dynamics would’ve been under a 1961-69 Nixon Administration. We don’t know how popular or unpopular Brown would’ve been by 1966 (or if he might’ve been beaten by another Republican in 1962, such as Assemblyman Joe Shell, since Nixon would not have been the nominee). Had the Conservative Shell won, Reagan wouldn’t have had the Governorship to pursue until at least 1970 (unless he would’ve opted to run for Senator in 1964 instead of his friend George Murphy).