The Presidential Race: 40 Years Ago Today

1/11/08 | Self

[Nextrush]

(This is part of an actual newscast from 40 years ago today as broadcast in Los Angeles at 1pm Pacific Time.)

"Its 1pm, 61 degrees at Civic Center, no smog, this is David Rogers, KFWB News.....

California seems to be a veritable stomping ground for those who desire White House occupancy. The most recent to be hitting the hustings, one who doesn't like the way the current chief executive is handling things across the Pacific.

KFWB's Charles Arlington has details of what he has to say:

'Minnesota's Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy in Los Angeles to campaign to get on the ballot in this state is what many call a peace candidate in this year's elections said he honestly believes he can win the presidential nomination.

He said he did have support of many Democratic Party liberals and said the fact that the Democrats have allowed him to come to their Fresno conclave was a true indication that he has support from many of them.

He denied reports that he had stalking horse or any other kind of arrangements with New York Senator Robert Kennedy and said that former Alabama Governor George Wallace's effect upon the elections will hurt the GOP more than the Democrats.

Then he estimated the cost of his campaigning in California .. something around 200-thousand dollars, saying it would cost about a million for the five or six states where he hopes to get on the primaries.

Eugene McCarthy in Los Angeles.

This is Charles Arlington at the Press Club in Los Angeles.'

Senator George Murphy isn't aiming for the Presidency, but he'll ride the bandwagon of any Republican who is. KFWB's Arlington also attened his news conference at which he declined predicting who would be standard bearer, but Murphy did look at the front runners.

According to the former actor Richard Nixon 'is conceded to be the best qualified'. New York Governor Rockefeller in Murphy's words 'may not be running but he's certainly in the bullpen warming up.' And of California's chief executive Ronald Reagan again 'has the same attraction as Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and the finest record of any first term governor I've ever heard of.'

KFWB news time is 1:02.

A select committee has been named by Governor Ronald Reagan to put together his favorite son presidential delegation to the GOP national convention. Even though all 36 members are firmly loyal to the man who appointed them, they did work in previous elections for former Vice-President Richard Nixon and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.

Expectations are they will pick delegates who would stay on Reagan's bandwagon so long as there were a chance he would garner the nomination himself. The steering committee will be headed by Los Angeles attorney William Smith.

In the meantime, the governor has pictured his five-day Eastern and Midwestern trip next week as his 'final swan song of political tours' saying he has no intention of campaigning in open primary states.

Reagan has said he'd discourage any formation of any group to press his candidacy in primary election states, however at the same time, he also won't file an absolute disclaimer of being a contender....."

[se_ohio_young_conservative]

are you saying the man did absolutely nothing good in his lifetime ?

[wardaddy]

we are discussing his legacy....that entails weighing good and bad.

he was something of a race baiting hypocrite which doesn’t do much for me

a bigtime nany stater

a big part of the Kennedy brothers losing their vaunted balls and leaving men to die on the beach in Cuba ...just for starters

but I’m sure he kissed Ethel before going out philandering

and tucked the kids into bed

Hitler patted his Alsatian too on occasion I’m told

and Saddam was known to get teary at Tikrit sunsets I’m told

[Nowhere Man]

Yeah, I think both RFK and Scoop Jackson would have been much better for the Democrats, although they would hold some liberal ideals, mainly the New Deal, I would trust them a lot more on national security issues and even some social conservative issues. I know RFK was against the Vietnam War and although technically we won the Tet offensive, things were turning against it at home and I think the decision should have been to try for a quick victory or to start pulling out. I pretty much blame LBJ for that one, he should have explained the need for the war better and allow the military more of a free hand to fight.

As to Nixon beating RFK in a computer simulation, I have a more modern program somewhere and I'll try running it again but I think things could have gone RFK's way too.