In 1965, Buckley ran for New York City mayor as the candidate for the new Conservative Party.
He ran to restore momentum to the conservative cause in the wake of Goldwater’s defeat.
He tried to take votes away from the relatively liberal Republican candidate and fellow Yale alumnus John Lindsay, who later became a Democrat.
He used an unusual campaign style. During one televised debate with Lindsay, Buckley declined to use his allotted rebuttal time and instead replied, “I am satisfied to sit back and contemplate my own former eloquence.”
When asked what he would do if he won the race, Buckley responded, “Demand a recount.”
One of the weakness of the documentary on the ‘65 mayoral races is that they fail to mention that the lesson the Buckleys learned in that race (i.e., the appeal of the conservative message to working class and middle class Catholics) laid the groundwork for Jim Buckley’s senatorial win in 1970.
Speaking of Jim Buckley, his brief appearance in doc in the context of Watergate was a reminder of the paradox of brothers, born only a couple years apart and raised together, having such wildly divergent accents (i.e., Bill 10/10 on New England preppy voice scale, with Jim maybe 2/10.)
And Lindsay was a disaster for New York.
That “demand a recount” line is one of the classics of political wit. Thanks for posting it.