Donald Trump’s victory in the Iowa caucuses was resounding enough to make the race for the Republican nomination look essentially finished at the start.
But it wasn’t resounding enough to remove the sense that it could have been otherwise, that yet again his opposition within the Republican Party made things ridiculously easy for his candidacy.
Trump is essentially running an incumbent’s campaign, presenting himself as the default leader of the party, declining to debate, rolling up endorsements.
Eugene McCarthy’s 42 percent of the New Hampshire primary vote in 1968 forced Lyndon Johnson out of the race.
Ted Kennedy’s 31 percent in Iowa and 37 percent in New Hampshire in 1980 betokened a long and bitter campaign for Jimmy Carter.
Persons:
Donald Trump’s, Trump, Eugene McCarthy’s, Lyndon Johnson, Ted Kennedy’s, Jimmy Carter, Pat Buchanan’s, George H.W, Bush
Organizations:
Republican, Republican Party, New
Locations:
Iowa, New Hampshire, George H.W . Bush