Thank God for the internet and Free Republic.
My good friend, Ohio Congressman John Milan Ashbrook, challenged Nixon in the Republican primaries of 1972 through California. By the time the California primary votes were counted, it was certain that the nominee in 1972 would be Nixon. John dropped out and offered his support to Nixon.
My favorite memory of John, is from 1976. My former wife and I were attending the county fair. We had just entered the grounds and were looking at an exhibit. John and his wife walked up and spoke. We decided to tour the fair together. Everywhere we stopped John stuck up a conversation with fellow fair goers. He would ask questions about issues currently before congress and the nation. He never told them who he was unless asked.
I asked him why he did not tell the people who he was... after all that would be good campaigning. He said "Right now I am more interested in peoples views than votes". He said, "If they know who I am, they might not give me honest answers."
In the 1976 election the major labor unions set out to defeat Ashbrook. They spent a ton of money but their candidate lost.
After John's untimely death, the Ashbrook Think Tank at Ashland University was formed to honor his memory. It sometimes gets quoted here on FR.
It was interesting. In 1972 after all the biased media coverage, both the left and right thought Nixon was an easy take down. Watergate proves that much if not all of the Nixon administration believed Nixon was vulnerable too.
They were all wrong..... including me. In 1972 Nixon came with in 1 tenth of one percent of breaking FDR's victory record.