That election, of course, offered up Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and States’ Rights advocate George Wallace.
There really wasn't a lot of excitement about the election per se. Recall this was in the throes of an escalating Vietnam war that led to incumbent Lyndon Johnson dropping out, and the nascent candidacy of Minnesota's Eugene McCarthy, who served as the political lightening rod for the growing anti-war movement, and was no small factor in Johnson's decision not to seek re-election.
Paulsen only “ran” that one year, and his entire “campaign”, such as it was, was geared to adding political farce as entertainment value to the Smothers brothers’ show. They weren't the only ones doing that, by any means, as there was Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and NBC’s That Was The Week That Was adding to political comedy over the airwaves.
True “perennials” in presidential races in that time were Harold Stassen of Pennsylvania, Nelson Rockefeller of New York, and even the little known Norman LePage of New Hampshire.
‘68 was the first election that revealed the old order was indeed changing, and gave first evidence to the phenomenon of shifting sands under the ground of both political parties. This election set the stage for ‘72’s candidacy of George McGovern and the attendant violent jerk to the left of the Democratic party. It also witnessed the Republicans’ first serious flirtations with moving left following the epic loss of Goldwater in ‘64. And it's worth noting that, except for the Reagan years, the GOP never really stopped with their flirtations.
But all in all, it would be a serious mistake to label Paulsen as a “serious” candidate, when in reality he was in just for giggles - for both him and the country.
I'll close this by saying I loved the guy. He was great...a lot of laffs.
CA....
You have an excellent memory of what those times felt like, and you can tell a good story. Eugene McCarthy is someone I’d forgotten about. I recall walking through my neighborhood on Nov. 1st, in 1968.
Uneaten Halloween candy still littered the sidewalks. Both of us wanted to bend over to pocket the candy, but knew the other would have told on us. So we pretended not to notice the Jujubees, Dum-Dums and Rasinettes lying there helplessly. Walking with my oldest sister, we distributed paper fliers for Hubert H. Humphery as incumbent V.P. We walked over 10 blocks in a circle, going back to the house. We had no supervision or (of course!) weapons either, except maybe a rolled up newspaper to chase stray dogs away.