Post by The Horny GoatOn Sun, 22 May 2011 21:27:02 -0700 (PDT), Stan Boleslawski
Post by The Horny GoatOn Sat, 21 May 2011 14:56:08 -0700 (PDT), Stan Boleslawski
Post by Stan BoleslawskiYou do know that Billy Graham is a Democrat, although
he supported Nixon and was very close to Nixon.
Is this based on anything specific like being from North Carolina or a
good personal friend of Jimmy Carter?
Graham himself:http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/8326362
Thank you for the reference - though I will point out in passing that
in my opinion that a Democrat who will say "Locally, I'll vote one way
and nationally, maybe another." is not my idea of a hard core
Democrat. One might reasonably speculate whether such a person had
voted Democrat his whole life.
He didn't vote Democratic in the 1960, 1968 or 1972
presidential elections.
Post by The Horny GoatAs opposed to someone like Molly Ivins (she's the one that said that
Pat Buchanan's speeches sounded better in the original German)...
While Graham in politics is ASB, the idea of a Dem
candidate in 1968 running against Humphrey from the
right (and getting a substantial number of votes) is
an interesting one. George Smathers and Roger
Branigan were to the right of Humphrey, but both
ran as Humphrey proxies (and the campaign of
Branigan was unsuccessful, as he lost his own
state, Indiana, to Bobby Kennedy).
At one point there was discussion of Mark Hatfield going to the
Democrats and he certainly would have been quite acceptable to
evangelicals such as Graham and his ilk. Certainly he was probably the
candidate most acceptable to evangelicals before Carter.
When?
The GOP establishment on Oregon didn't
support his run in the primaries for governor
in 1958 - however, considering the attacks
on Hatfield from Wayne Morse, his major
political enemy, I don't see him switching
parties as of that early.
Hatfield as governor could have easily been
a Democrat - he shared the same moderate,
infrastructure oriented view of developing his
state that the Dem governors of his neighboring
states, Brown and Rossellini, had. (This
emphasis on infrastructure and development
even crossed borders - e.g. Bennett as BC
premier.) As a US Senator he became more
of a fiscal conservative, and self-described
as a "Taft Republican" - don't know if there'd
be a place for him in the Democratic Party.
Especially considering that Wayne Morse was
as close to an arch-enemy as Hatfield had,
so he wouldn't get an endorsement from
the grand old man of the Oregon Democratic
Party.
In any case, he'd be out of the running for
'68. And even if he somehow manages
to switch before that year, would he
take any votes away from Humphrey?
The problem with a candidate running from
the right against Humphrey on a fiscal
conservative platform is that said types
of Dems generally supported Humphrey
in the first place, e.g. Branigin. Now if
there was some way that Branigin could
break ties with the Johnson Administration
such that he'd turn against Humphrey and
make a serious run of his own, that might
accomplish the desired POD. Unlike
Hatfield, Branigin had a long history in the
Democratic Party, dating from the end of
his service in the JAG during WW2.
However, without the direct ties to LBJ
and Humphrey, is it possible Branigin
could do even worse than OTL? Hard
to think of a POD in which he wins his
own state. Especially because he'll have
alienated party hierarchy and unions by
breaking with the Great Society.
Branigin on social issues wasn't that
different from Hatfield ; could he get
the support of evangelicals, also?
This makes me think: if we're going to
have a fiscal conservative challenger to
Humphrey, is there any way William
Proxmire would run? His combination
of fiscal conservatism and social
liberalism could take votes away from
Gene McCarthy as well as Humphrey.
As for social conservatives, I really don't see
Smathers breaking with Humphrey.
Any way to get Wallace to run in the
'68 primary?
Post by The Horny GoatNot sure whether he would have been a credible candidate for president
in 1968 - he only entered the Senate in 1967 and probably would have
been more credible as former Governor of Oregon. Later on for sure but
in 1968?
In '68, Graham did urge Nixon to pick Hatfield
as VP, although Nixon ignored Graham's advice.
Best
Stan B.