Could 2012 Primaries turn out to be like 1976

1976 Republican National Convention was the last major party convention, where the party nominee was not decided before the Primary Process concluded.

On one side you had the incumbent, President Gerald Ford.  Gerald Ford was appointed President upon the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.  Gerald Ford faced a strong primary challenge from former California Governor Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan and the conservative wing of the Republican party faulted Ford for failing to do more to assist South Vietnam and for his signing of the Helsinki Accord, which they took as implicit U.S. acceptance of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe.  They were also mad by Ford’s negotiations with Panama to hand over the Panama Canal.

PRIMARY RACE

Ford narrowly defeated Reagan in the New Hampshire Primary and then proceeded to beat Reagan in the Florida and Illinois primaries by comfortable margins. By the time of the North Carolina primaries Reagan’s campaign was running out of money.  However, with the assistance of U.S. Senator Jesse Helms Reagan would go to upset Ford in North Carolina. Ronald Reagan would go on to win several key states including Texas, were he would carry all of the Congressional district and won all 96 delegates at stake.

By the time the Republican National Convention open in August of 1976 the race for the nomination was still too close to call.

FLOOR ACTION

The turning of the convention occurred when Reagan’s managers proposed a rules change that would have required Ford to publicly announce his running mate before the presidential balloting.  Reagan’s managers hoped that when Ford announced his choice for vice president, it would anger one of the two factions of the party and thus help Reagan. 

The proposed rules change was defeated by a vote of 1180 to 1069 and Ford gained the momentum he needed to win the nomination.  Ford won the nomination with 1187 votes to Reagan 1070 votes.

Could the 2012 Republican primaries turn out to be 1976 all over again.

Only time will tell.