Let's remember that HHH didn't actually begin to gain traction until his September 30th Salt Lake City speech where he moderated his stand on the war. This was the que that doves were looking for and then began to return to the fold.
Although Gallup Polls did suggest that the 1968 Presidential race between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey was close during early 1968, Humphrey's support took a dive shortly after the disastrous '68 Convention in Chicago and I believe at one point after the Convention, Nixon was leading Humphrey 48-28 in the Polls. I do believe that Humphrey's support did infact begin to gain traction upon his Salt Lake City speech regarding the War in Vietnam. If we do look at Gallup Polls in October, especially mid October, Humphrey increased his total from 31 to 36 percent in nationwide polls against Nixon. That my friend was when the doves, alienated by the riots at the '68 DNC Convention come back into Humphrey's camp.
As I said in my scenerio, that HHH's selection of McGovern was an early sign he wanted to bring the two sides together and that he began to moderate his stand then on the war rather than a full month later, giving him the opportunity to begin to gain ground earlier. Also, McGovern wasn't preceived as a radical in '68, he was anti-war but a strong democrat who supported the party.
George McGovern
moderated his stances on the War in Vietnam in 1968? I believe that he was infact an early vocal opponent of the War in Vietnam, and little more than a year into the Presidency of Richard Nixon, himself and Senator Mark Hatfield proposed an amendment to withdraw every American solider in the Vietnamese conflict. And let us also remember that it was the Convention that selected Humphrey's running mate in 1968 not Humphrey.
Sure Humphrey might have wanted to make peace between the anti-war and pro-war factions of the Democratic Party, however the Convention would have left it in droves had Humphrey selected an anti-war candidate like George McGovern as his running mate in 1968. Thus the then unknown, Maine Senator Ed Muskie was selected, who in the eyes of many, or I believe so, was a status quo candidate.
While you may disagree I do feel that if the party had come together earlier that HHH could easily have won states like Oregon, California and Wisconsin which were strong dove states (in the primaries certainly you recall that McCarthy won primaries in Wisconsin and Oregon and RFK won CA).
Even had the two factions of the Democratic Party did indeed come together and were a united front upon the Convention's conclusion, the Presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey's would have been were it was in RL 1968. Significantly trailing Nixon in the Polls due to the Convention violence.
