1966 Mid Term Election Preview- California Governor's Race ABC News

I found this great gem today and I just had to upload this. This is a short clip from ABC's Mid Term Election Preview special on Sunday November 6th 1966. This clip is about Reagan's quest to become Governor of California. At this point, the pollsters expected Reagan to win by 4 or 5 percent, but on Election Day it was not even close. Reagan won by 15% and won all but three counties.
Howard K. Smith is the lead anchor, and Bill Lawrence interviews ABC's pollster

[@countenanceblog]

"November 6, 1966" The irony of that date is that it is the last date on which someone could have been born so that he or she would have been able to cast a vote for Ronald Reagan for any office he ran. Election day 1984 was November 6, subtract 18 years makes November 6, 1966. One thing that surprises me from this is that I was under the impression that Pat Brown was more or less ahead in the polls the whole season, and Reagan's win came something as a shock. According to this, it was Reagan who led in the polls for just about the whole season.

[@terrihenricks4160]

By the time election day approached, the commentators were saying that unless Reagan fell completely flat on his face in the last days of the campaign, he would be going to Sacramento.

[@APOCALYPSE_X-MEN]

I think it was Reagan's margin of victory that was the shocker, not that he won... similar to his 1980 victory over Jimmy Carter.

[@ocska5408]

Vocabulary, metaphors, in-depth analysis...network journalism has gone backwards.

[@Illpol1]

Thanks, that was great. I am reading Nixonland and just got through the 1966 midterm. This was a great clip to watch!

[@efan2011]

I have the CBS coverage on DVD actually! I just have not had time to put it up, I will eventually. It's different from the NBC coverage from '60 that's for sure.

[@Michael1966W]

Do you have the election night coverage from 1966?

[@altfactor]

Roger Grimsby was longtime news anchor at ABC's flagship station in New York.

[@solojinglesradio1]

And Roger Grimsby at the start, another ABC New York legend and later on NBC

[@evanbrandes5875]

I note hat you said you have the CBS coverage on DVD. I think it is high time that you share that golden age of television

[@ericsamuelson5656]

Roger Grimsby back then anchored KGO Ch 7 before he moved to WABC Ch 7 New York 2 years later. ABC used those same color cameras NBC did at the time. Love the name credits in blue.

[@efan2011]

@Illpol1 Actually you would be quite surprised with one of them. I don't want to ruin it so I might upload both if i have time.

[@Illpol1]

Nixonland is very good and I highly recommended it. Please keep posting old news clips, I really enjoy watching them

[@jameshanold6545]

Election night-November, 1966-turned out to be a series of huge political victories for the Republicans-in addition to Ronald Reagan soundly defeating the egregiously incompetent Liberal Democrat incumbent governor Pat Brown in California-the Republicans scored a net gain of 47 seats in the House of Representatives; and added to their margins among Governors, Senators, and state legislators.

[@DaveSmith-yi2pu]

The start of Ronald Reagan's long road to the White House

[@terrihenricks4160]

And don't forget his 1964 TV talk for Goldwater, "A Time for Choosing."

[@georgemusic4all4seasons]

3 days away from the November 6 2018 midterm election and this will definitely be it for any Brown as Governor!!!!!

[@davalvideo]

All of this is just so amazing to watch. I've seen the NBC coverage from 1960, which was taken frpom the 1990 A&E Special. Does anyone have Election Night 1960 from CBS, which Cronkite anchored?

[@clairekeesey1285]

also at the desk were Bill Beutel, Roseanne Scamardella [whose name was the basis for Roseanne Rosanadanna] and a newcomer named Geraldo Rivera.

[@TheJMascis666]

Excellent upload

[@TomSanderson100]

I love Bill Lawrence's voice

[@efan2011]

@Illpol1 No problem, I was glad to find this, it makes me wonder if ABC actually has any of the election night footage around. I know the Vanderbilt archive has Election Night 1968, so maybe. How is Nixonland? I have been considering to buy it.

[@kamciofu]

The birth of the legend

[@Michael1966W]

@sboudreaux27 he didn’t

[@efan2011]

@Illpol1 Thanks you! I will read it then when I get the money. I am actually getting to ready to upload some more, including possibly Election Night 1972, I just have not decided the network yet. I have both ABC and CBS's, which one would you rather see?

[@terrihenricks4160]

I suspect even Bill Lawrence would have acknowledged that the 47 House seats picked up by Republicans exceeded the "modest gains" he anticipated. While the House remained under Democratic control, many House Democrats in those days were conservatives from southern and border states. Nor were the new House Republicans as liberal as suggested here. Contrary to the analysis in this report, Republicans and conservative Democrats were quite willing to vote together in the new Congress. It was anything but smooth sailing for LBJ during his last two years in office.

[@efan2011]

@observer9670 I knew that, I was just saying he was the main guy in this video.

[@Illpol1]

I don't really have a preference. I suppose CBS because it had Walter Cronkite, but ABC is good too. I would like to see the 1972 election night special, my bet is they call the race pretty early :)

[@tomservo56954]

Who saved this...in COLOR yet? I never realized George Romney (father of current contender Mitt) was being touted that early.

[@terrihenricks4160]

It was assumed in 1966 that George Romney would be a contender for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination if he could get re-elected as governor of Michigan. He did, but his 1968 bid got sidetracked. (He said in a TV interview that he had been "brainwashed" about Vietnam. It was just a poor choice of words, but the media crucified him for it.)

[@terrihenricks4160]

Mitt Romney didn't run for reelection as governor of Massachusetts (perhaps because he knew he wouldn't win), and we all know what happened when he ran for president. However, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Utah in 2018.

[@Illpol1]

Awesome, I look forward to it!

[@billsmith5985]

Bill Lawrence: "Modest gains" for the Rep.s.....They gained 44 seats.

[@mkm2963]

Bill Smith They actually gained 47, but they call it modest because the Democrats still had 248 seats to the Republicans 187, a +59 majority.

[@mkm2963]

Bill Smith They actually gained 47, but they call it modest because the Democrats still had 248 seats to the Republicans 187, a +59 majority.

[@ahabarhossain8747]

Republicans still weren't left with a bunch of seats. Democrats still had a 247 seat majority.

[@efan2011]

@altfactor I did not know that!

[@tomservo56954]

@Illpol1 Does that book explain how Nixon--after losing to JFK in 1960 and Pat Brown in 1962--became a contender again by this time?

[@terrihenricks4160]

Read Pat Buchanan's "The Greatest Comeback." Nixon positioned himself for 1968 by widely campaigning for Republican candidates in 1966.

[@terrihenricks4160]

To clarify, Buchanan believes the two main things that contributed to Nixon's comeback to win the 1968 Republican nomination were: (1) His strong support for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 General Election (when other top Republicans like George Romney and Nelson Rockefeller were keeping their distance), which endeared him to conservatives; and (2) His active and often successful campaigning for GOP candidates in the 1966 midterm elections, which re-established him with the party regulars and shook off his "loser" image.

[@Michael1966W]

Nixon made the comeback because of ABC News being stupid with a tv show the political obituary of Richard Nixon a week after the 1962 elections

[@loricrane5315]

Like a woman trying to buy a new hat. Insulting , but funny.

[@everettduncan7543]

"Could be close" not anymore in Wyoming unless they pay attention to ranchers

[@wmbrown6]

@altfactor - Except, at the time of this midterm coverage, he was with KGO-TV in San Francisco.

[@Semonyacob]

The state has had enough of Governer Brown.

[@Semonyacob]

Both of them