1968 U.S. General Election (Kennedy Timeline)

Overall
The 1968 U.S. Presidential election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5th, 1968. The Democratic Nominne was U.S. Senator, Robert F. Kennedy and between the Republican Nominee, Richard M. Nixon.

Incumbent president, Lyndon B. Johnson had decided not to run for re-election which left a bunch of candidates in the running. In the end it was New York Senator, Robert F. Kennedy who won the nomination very narrowly against Eugene McCarthy. After seeing how strong of a candidate Eugene McCarthy was Kennedy had decided to chose him as his running mate. In the Republican nomination Richard Nixon won against popular California Governor, Ronald Reagan. Nixon had decided to pick Maryland Governor, Spiro Agnew as his running mate.

Democratic Nomination
For the Democratic Nomination many people ran to replace Johnson. These were the main candidates in the nominee selection: In the end it was Robert F. Kennedy who won the nomination very narrowly against Hubert Humphrey. Kennedy only got 941,145 more votes in the primaries than Humphrey. Many supported Kennedy but some Humphrey supporters wanted a recount in the delegates. After the recount Kennedy had actually extended his vote lead by 40,000 votes.
 * Lester Maddox. W: Aug 28, 1968
 * Channing E. Phillips. Lost Nomination: Aug 29, 1968
 * George McGovern. Lost Nomination: Aug 29, 1968
 * Eugene McCarthy. Lost Nomination: Aug 29, 1968
 * Hubert Humphrey. Lost Nomination: Aug 29, 1968
 * Robert F. Kennedy. Won Nomination: Aug 29, 1968

Republican Nomination
For the Republican Nomination once again many ran but these were the main candidates for the nomination:
 * George W. Romney. W: Feb 28, 1968
 * Harold Stassen. Lost Nomination: Aug 8, 1968
 * Nelson Rockefeller. Lost Nomination: Aug 8, 1968
 * Ronald Reagan. Lost Nomination: Aug 8, 1968
 * Richard M. Nixon: Won Nomination: Aug 8, 1968

Campaign Season
At the start of the Campaign Season Nixon had a 15 point lead against Kennedy but after they officially got the nominations it was neck and neck between the two. Kennedy had done campaigning off his late brother, John F. Kennedy and claimed how he was fit for the job. Nixon had used the Vietnam War to his advantage calling Democrats "Radical War Starters" at a rally. At this point in time before the debates Nixon was plus 11 and many newspapers had him winning with 300+ electoral votes. Vice Presidential Nominee, Spiro Agnew had done heavy campaigning in states like California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. McCarthy had done campaigning in the south which was turning a little bit more Republican.

Debates
In the debates many agreed Kennedy dominated against Nixon in all 3 debates. Nixon mostly talked about the Vietnam War which many people claimed got boring. Kennedy brought up a lot of dirt on Nixon which many didn't know about. Critics of Kennedy said he brought up his brother way to much at the debates.

Election Night
Going into Election Night both campaigns were confident about winning the election. At 1:26 AM on November 6th, 1968 when Kennedy had 268 electoral votes is when Nixon called to concede the election. At 2:02 AM after wins in California, Michigan, and Pennsylvania is when Kennedy won the election. He received 404 electoral votes with Nixon only getting 134 electoral votes.