[ChildOfThe60s]

He worked in Sen. Eugene McCarthy's 1968 campaign to unseat President Lyndon B. Johnson.

That was successful

He joined Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in trying to deny President Carter renomination in 1980.

More success

He worked for Jesse Jackson's presidential bids in 1984 and 1988.

Well damn. I'm impressed.

[SunkenCiv]

Those were cited in the context of his being a maverick. The fact is, “Clean Gene” showed LBJ that he couldn’t win the nomination, and he dropped out of the race. RFK entered the race, was on his way to the nomination, was assassinated, and Humphrey wound up the nominee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_McCarthy#The_1968_campaign

“Despite strong showings in several primaries, McCarthy garnered only 23 percent of the delegates at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, largely due to the control of state party organizations over the delegate selection process.”

(some things never change, eh?)