And, now for some fact checking:
“He won the governor’s seat by accident: a coalition of party-crossing Republicans and hardcore segregationists made him the surprise winner of a 1966 Democratic runoff against two moderate candidates.”
Let’s correct the several errors there.
There weren’t 3 candidates in the Democrat runoff.
What really happened
There were 5 candidates in the Democrat primary. Front runner was liberal former governor Ellis Arnall. Maddox came in second, liberal Jimmy Carter was third, and strong segregationist James Gray was fourth. (A couple of minor candidates didn’t have any impact).
In the runoff between the liberal Arnall and the moderate Maddox, Maddox easily won. (There were only two candidates, not 3 in the runoff. But he is correct that crossover Republicans voted for him, thinking he would be easier to beat that the establishment Arnall)
But, as we have seen with liberals, they are sore losers, and the liberals launced a write in campaign in the general election.
So the general election pitted Maddox against Republican Bo Callaway. The write in campaign pulled about 7% of the vote, with Callaway edging out Maddox. But since the liberals had siphoned off enough votes to hold both Maddox and Arnall to under 50%, the election was decided in the Georgia General Assembly. Since the legislature was overwhealmingly Democrat, Maddox became governor, and Callaway eventually fled to Montana.
It would be years before the Republicans had another good shot at the Governor’s office.
It doesn’t look like either Zoellner or his Border Collie are strong on basic research.