"Well, if I were him I’d want to debate me too. He’s got nothing else to do.”

  • Kellamity@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    No sitting president has ever lost their party’s primary

    LBJ dropped out of his party’s primary, and although it was far too soon to say if he would have lost, he faced strong opposition in New-Politic anti-war candidates Kennedy and McCarthy. He is on record as worrying about the primary and it doubtless played a big part of his dropping out

    Kennedy of course got shot, and the more conservative Humphrey ended up with the nomination over McCarthy (or late entry McGovern), sparking riots at the DNC. The situations and systems were quite different, but i think there’s some parallels with Biden/Clinton vs Bernie there

    I think Truman also dropped out rather than fight a tough primary, but i don’t know so much about that