Word: spoiler
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Carter's lead held up even when the Yankelovich analysts figured in the support for Eugene McCarthy. Though McCarthy could conceivably have a spoiler role in some states, the poll showed that he is actually losing ground in the 29 states in which he is on the ballot. In the nationwide sample, McCarthy wins the backing of 7% of the voters surveyed, the same proportion as in late September. But when the analysts subtracted his strength in states where he is not on the ballot, the presidential race shaped up as follows...
...York, Wisconsin, Oregon, Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and California. That strategy looks as if it is designed to maximize the damage to Carter, and McCarthy seems almost to relish the role of wrecker. He says almost gleefully to applauding audiences: "I've been accused of being a spoiler. Well, how can you spoil this election when there's nothing to spoil...
...calls Jimmy Carter "the incarnation of compromise," and to warnings that he might be ruining the Georgian's chances, he responds, "I don't see why the Democrats have to win; they don't stand for anything anyway." Speculating further on his role as a possible spoiler, he asserts, "The issues we are raising are so important that this is a risk we will have to take...
Only Hubert Humphrey could hope to stall the stampede to Carter. But just before an 8 a.m. speech on Wednesday, Humphrey made clear to reporters that he would be a nogo. Said he: "I've never been a spoiler in my life." Still, he was urged to hold out by the two leaders of the latest Humphrey-for-President movement, Erie County (Buffalo) Democratic Chief Joseph Crangle and Illinois Congressman Paul Simon. At 1:30 p.m., Humphrey showed them a withdrawal statement. Crangle and Simon asked him to tone it down, to keep the door open a crack...
...brutal the last-minute campaign would be, that by his reckoning the most he could bring to the convention would be 600 delegates, and that Carter would have many more than that. "Besides," he said to her, "Carter would be attacking us every day for being a spoiler, for dividing the party-and so would the press." At 1 o'clock they went to bed, and at 6:30 the next morning, deadline day, Humphrey was up and back on the phone. He couldn't let go. It was as if he thought that, by telephoning, he might...