[Fiji Hill]

George Wallace's third party candidacy took enough votes from Humphrey that Nixon won.

I tend to believe that it was Nixon who was hurt by the Wallace vote. After all, the Alabama governor took several states that had gone to Goldwater in 1964.

[neverdem]

I tend to believe that it was Nixon who was hurt by the Wallace vote. After all, the Alabama governor took several states that had gone to Goldwater in 1964.

When the campaign began, a poll showed Nixon with support from 42 percent of voters; Humphrey, 29, Wallace, 22. In the end, Nixon and Humphrey each got 43 percent of the vote, Wallace 13. The bigots who left Wallace went back to their historic home in the Democratic Party.

Nixon probably didn't have too many of those descendants of the Dixiecrats. I read one piece that said Wallace hurt Nixon in the South, and he hurt Humphrey in the North, especially the votes of labor in the cities. My point was more that third parties and our system of an electoral college can have unpredictable results in close elections, since there is so much dissatisfaction with the current GOP.