In 1968, Eugene McCarthy, the peace candidate, was moderate on gun issues.

[Ken Burch]

On everything else, he was always the most progressive candidate in the race.

Does that mean we should retroactively declare that his near-victory in New Hampshire and his blowout win in Wisconsin didn't actually count? Or that Democratic voters in those primaries weren't really rejecting LBJ and his war?

[DonViejo]

1. Senator McCarthy's victory in NH...

is somewhat mitigated by the fact President Johnson was a write-in candidate that year. OTOH, Senator McCarthy accomplished what he set out to do; defeat the President and force him out of office. Well I remember that, I was clean for Gene but,...drafted in September, 1969

President Johnson declined to have his name placed on the presidential preference ballot. The resulting misguided attempt to educate the voters on how to write in his name provided the McCarthy camp with their first advantage

http://www.unionleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/NEWS0605/110509966

The upshot of this activity was a candidate who’d been polling earlier in the year at 12 percent nearly upsetting the incumbent president by getting 42 percent of the New Hampshire primary vote. LBJ’s defenders will point out that the president wasn’t on the ballot, and that his votes were write-ins, which is true.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/03/31/mccarthy_lbj_and_the_day_the_1968_campaign_turned_126106.html

[RobertEarl]

2. I saw Eugene

Eugene was no Bernie.

Comparison not valid. Try again.

[Ken Burch]

3. The comparison was that both were dismissed, then did far better than expected.

Didn't say they were identical.

[wyldwolf]

11. It's yet to be seen if Sanders will do better than expected

[BlueMTexpat]

7. I agree 100% with your assessment. eom

[Ken Burch]

9. Could you clarify what you mean by that?

Which one of them do you feel lacks in the comparison?

It goes without saying, I think, that Bernie would never, EVER have endorsed(and actively campaigned for)Ronald Reagan(as McCarthy did in 1980, possibly costing Carter Oregon's electoral votes in doing so).

[dsc]

4. well that was before we had two assassinations in one year

and before guns started taking tens of thousands of lives per year, every year for decades. Right now a whole lot of black and brown people are paying with their blood so some white people can have their toys. That state of affairs should sicken anyone who calls themselves a progressive.

[Ken Burch]

5. Bernie gets a D- from the NRA.

He's for an assault weapon ban.

It's not fair to make it sound like he's the Heston of the Left, for God's sakes.

[dsc]

6. He isn't the Heston of the left

but this crap about instant backround checks was the NRA position. It was a significant weakening of backround checks that Bernie favored and quite well might have been why the two of the last three mass shootings (Charleston and Lafayette) happened. Add in his dreadful vote for the gun runners protection act that prohibited suits against both sellers and manufacturers in all but very rare cases no matter how irresponsible they have been and frankly his record on this is appalling. And again, black and brown lives are being sacrificed so the white heads of gun companies can have multi million dollar salaries. I am glad he has changed his position at least a little on this.

[bigtree]

8. 1968? Really?

...you're really comparing what we face today to '68?

[MineralMan]

10. Hmm...1968...

I'm certainly hoping for a far better General Election result than that year. I guess that'll depend on the candidate who ends up as the nominee.

I remember 1968. It was not a good year. The next year, I got personally introduced to Richard Milquetoast Nixon while wearing a USAF uniform. Protocol demanded that I say, "Good Morning, Mr. President." I had different words in mind, though.

Let's please not have another 1968, thanks!

[PATRICK]

12. So many differences here

but the main point is that you usually represent the gun owners of your state according to that state and that usually is so reasonable they lose support of the NRA anyway, at least now. The second is that some gaffe and underestimation of McCarthy gave him the momentum to quickly do in the secretly ailing LBJ. Do we expect anymore gaffes on any scale like that from the Clinton Campaign? They can only be hurt by failing to perform and being inflexible in the so-called center which is solidly on the record along with really unfair smearing. While not a sitting president(or maybe because) she can endure and overpower the other campaign unless the vote shift is AS decisive as McCarthy's. We can compare the histories when this plays out.

[Ken Burch]

13. McCarthy didn't break through because of anyone's gaffes.

He broke through because the country had turned against the war.

[PATRICK]

14. The lesson of hardcore political power

versus the nation. In this case the weakness of the first guaranteed the expression of the people's will. Structurally the frontrunner who is competent will do what they can as needed, the national mood be damned. Hopefully the Dems will continue not to be as rewarding of pure power advantage over the people. Advantage is not always by dint of what the people want or need but something both sides eagerly welcome, the two-edged sword. I think the what-if argument of whether Johnson's campaign had made better choices earlier is just that. Because of who they are they continued to do what they did and the result is equally predetermined. A hopeful sign because all the money in the world seems not to effect the predetermination of other trapped candidates- to make them politically effective and winners. Instead they are all glass jaws against the people's punch.