On Mon, 20 Apr 2009, Dennis Claxton wrote:
> Written in 1968 when Reagan was Governor of California.
But here he's referring to him as "the candidate" which implies to me he's concentrating on him as the front-running candidate for the Republican nomination.
People forget that Reagan's original plan, after the great reception of his speech in 1964, was to become California governor in 1966, and President in 1968 -- pretty much the same as the Obama trajectory. And according to the polls, he would have pulled it off had Nixon not snookered him with a classic and brilliant insider's working of a loophole in the nomination rules that nobody else caught onto until it was too late. Reagan didn't realize he wasn't the candidate until the voting started, and it was just as much a surprise to the public. Although back then, people were used to being surprised by the outcomes of conventions.
Michael