Drummond, R. (1966, July 12). Can
Reagan beat Pat Brown? Youngstown
Vindicator. Retrieved from http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KwJJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-oIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2698,3491894&dq=ronald+reagan&hl=en
In this even-handed piece, Roscoe Drummond opines that
anyone purporting to predict the outcome of the 1966 California Governor’s race
is either a fool or a liar. Drummond
held that both Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan would have serious hurdles to
overcome in winning the general election.
In Reagan’s case, Drummond repeated the frequently-heard
(even today) complaint that Reagan had heretofore spoken “largely in attractive
generalities.” I’m skeptical, however,
that the reality of the Reagan campaign was quite as vanilla as Drummond makes
it sound.
(I’ve read numerous books and articles over the years which
emphasized Reagan’s use of town-hall style Q&A sessions in his primary
campaign. Indeed, Reagan himself contended
that it was the citizens of California who kept bringing up the issue of
student unrest at Berkeley—an issue which, even today, some
contend Reagan inflamed for the purpose of winning the election.)
In any event, Drummond concluded:
[Reagan’s] potential supporters may not feel they must agree with him on everything, but they will want a fuller disclosure of his convictions and his capacity to deal with the burgeoning problems of [California]
With regards to Governor Brown, Drummond candidly admitted the incumbent was vulnerable, in part, “because many feel that his
administration has become weary and self-righteous.”
Well…let’s just be thankful that we don’t have any Democrats
like that running for re-election
today.
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