Friday, February 24, 2023

1976: Why Not the Best?

They didn't know it yet in Burbank, ...

... but Jimmy Carter and President Ford are going to win today 1976's New Hampshire presidential primary.


I just love art like that (from Collier's 1977 Year Book Covering the Year 1976) and this (from this 1976 week's TV Guide).


Comments flow.

28 comments:

  1. The 1976 primaries represent a major break from the last 16 years of American politics, which have been largely dominated by the fallout from the epic Kennedy/Nixon battle of 1960. Both parties are discombobulated by the failure in Vietnam, the impeachment of Nixon, and the ongoing problems with the U.S. economy. For once, the mainstream press doesn't really have much advice to give the voters, because the press itself doesn't see much of a path forward. Left to their own devices, the voters will try all sorts of experiments, and we won't have another clear consensus until after the election of 1996. On the other hand, by the time we get to 1996, most of the political problems facing the country in 1976 will be resolved, which indicates that the voters did a pretty good job.

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  2. Thank you for weighing in with this.

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  3. I cannot begin to express to you how big a deal Jimmy Carter and all of the Carters were in my house at this point. Dad is going to drift by the late 1970s, but they never lost Mom. One of the first things Mom and I did together after Dad died in 1999 was go visit Plains, Georgia.

    Mom also supported Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen vs. Pat Summerall/John Madden as we moved into the 1980s. Dad was totally off Carter by 1980, but he was split on the football commentators. Dad was totally good with Bobby Knight, but Mom and I were totally down on him and mostly stuck with Joe B. She and I also never left Don Shula and the Dolphins, but Dad took his love to town with Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw.

    By 1984 and '85, our house had re-united around Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro, Dan Marino (though Dad thought Don Shula held him back) and Eddie Sutton (though Mom didn't like his hair).

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  4. Peggy Noonan was great on President Carter a couple of days ago, by the way.

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  5. Here were the Republican results in New Hampshire, with 283 of 299 precincts reporting, per the Wednesday-morning Boston Globe:

    1. Ford 50,212
    2. Reagan 49,311

    And the Democratic results:

    1. Carter 20,802 (30 percent)
    2. Udall 16,241 (24 percent
    3. Bayh 11,338 (16 percent)
    4. Shriver 5,980 (9 percent)
    5. Humphrey 3,693 (5 percent)
    6-15. Blest, McCormick, Wallace, Jackson, Arnold, Schechter, Clegg, Bona, Leewenherz, Kelleher

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  6. Replies
    1. One of the greatest SNL sketches of all time includes a section where Jimmy Stewart (played, I think, by Dana Carvey) shows up to visit Reagan (played by Phil Hartman) at the White House.

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  7. Wikipedia has zero on the politics of Paul Lynde, Charlie Callas, Joey Bishop, Ruth Buzzi, Georgia Engel, Nipsey Russell or Foster Brooks of Louisville.

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  8. I love The Hindenburg, and, for the life of me, I don't know why I am such a sucker for movies like that.

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  9. Replies
    1. I'm stunned that Republicans in Massachusetts voted for the Establishment's preferred candidate.

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  10. Huge primary for the Democrats on March 9, as Florida decides between Jimmy Carter, George Wallace, and Scoop Jackson.

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