Not saying that at all. The voters still choose. Just that both of these guys should have the style and Grace to let it go. Do the Lyndon Johnson. Ain’t running. Ain’t serving if elected.
“Do the Lyndon Johnson. Ain’t running. Ain’t serving if elected.”
Well that isn’t remotely what Lyndon Johnson was doing.
Lyndon Johnson was running for a 2nd term until the serious antiwar challenge in his own party took a chunk out of his hide. He quit the race only when he saw that he was going to lose the nomination.
Gene McCarthy, the half-serious antiwar candidate, pulled 40% of the New Hampshire primary to LBJ’s 50% in March. And when the much more serious Bobby Kennedy entered the race Johnson withdrew in favor of VP Humphrey.