Word: buckley
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...Buckley is the political wonder of the year. A right-wing Republican by background and a Nixon follower on most issues today, Buckley ran on the Conservative Party ticket in the nation's most consistently liberal state. More than any other major candidate, he made the social issue work, drawing enough of a Silent Majority vote with an approach summarized by his motto...
Still a small minority, the Conservatives had a serious chance this year because of several fortuitous circumstances: Jim Buckley's intelligence and sun-dappled personality plus the nearly identical liberal positions of Republican Senator Charles Goodell and Democratic Candidate Richard Ottinger. In addition, the Democrats were burdened with Arthur Goldberg as gubernatorial candidate. His feckless campaign lent no strength whatever to Ottinger...
What sets Buckley apart from so many other ideological conservatives, is his obvious class, the way he wears his education and inherited money with nonchalance. His manner exudes sincerity and good will. During the campaign he pronounced the usual warnings of doom, decadence and destruction by federal power, but he said these things without malice. Buckley could take a hard stand on campus dissenters, but, as one of his aides put it: "Jim was not the guy who was about to bayonet your kids...
Indeed, unlike most conservatives ?and many other politicians of assorted persuasion this year?Buckley attracted thousands of college-age volunteers. Humor helped. One of the party's founders, J. Daniel Mahoney, collected anti-conservative bromides into a rah-rah song...
Despite these assets, Buckley still had a major problem. He could not win unless his opponents split the moderate-liberal vote closely enough to allow a Conservative plurality. Enter the Nixon Administration. The White House decided early that Goodell had no chance to win. From its viewpoint, good riddance; Goodell had become more liberal and more troublesome to Nixon than many Senate Democrats. Buckley early-on vowed to vote with the Republicans in Washington...