Why won't Ron Paul suffer the fate of McGovern?

[csen]

As a 25-year old I know nothing about why McGovern lost. Could those of you old enough to remember the 1972 election fill me in on why he got his butt kicked so bad? It's kind of perplexing to me, and I want to know why a similar thing won't happen to Ron Paul.

[JoshLowry]

Here's a good start: http://RonPaul.MeetUp.com/about

Check out that beautiful map, we have the internet which is one hell of an equalizer.

There's always electronic voting fraud sitting in the back of my mind though. :(

[BillyBeer]

THREE WORDS: AMNESTY, ABORTION, ACID.

Read Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing, on the Campaign Trail '72.

Also, there were no debates that election. There was the 60 debate between JFK and Nixon, then no Presidential debate until 76 between Ford and Carter. In many elections the debates have been a huge factor.

60, Nixon looked haggard and ill. That along with some voter fraud gave Kennedy the election.

76, Gerald Ford said Poland wasnt under Soviet domination. That may have cost him the election as Carter won a close race.

80, Reagan says "Are you better off than you were four years ago" and turns dead heat race into a landslide.

88, Mike Dukakis responds cooly and dispassionately to a question from Bernard Shaw about whether he would favor the death penalty if his wife Kitty was murdered. A close election turns into a rout.

92, George HW Bush looks at his watch and appears out of touch.

[LibertyEagle]

The word that comes to my mind is SOCIALIST.

[Brandybuck]

The word that comes to my mind is SOCIALIST.
Ditto. Although I was just a young kid, I do remember he was considered quite socialist. It took a few more decades before the general public started demanding the cradle to grave nannyism that McGovern championed.

[freelance]

In addition to the socialist image...

CREEP - Committee for the Reelection of the President (Nixon). Lots of shenanigans, the campaign from which Watergate evolved. That was one finely oiled machine.

[zMtLlC]

On kind of the same topic, why wouldn't the same thing happen to him that happened to Goldwater? In addition to his views being completely distorted, much of the Republican party establishment, like Rockefeller, came out publicly against him. He had a pretty staunch grass roots following, and he talks in his memoirs about having a group of volunteers who really ran a lot of his campaign spontaneously.