Carter, Gore and McGovern are also high on my list.

RFK would have been at the top if he had been able to get the nomination.

The Kennedys were the last time I felt like my views were represented by government.

And look what they did to him.

Not just for what he represented back then, also for the things he has done since.

He is probably closest to what a New Deal Liberal would look like.
LBJ comes close except for the war. If not for that he would easily be on top of the list.
As it turns out Obama is the least liberal person on that list. I don't thin anyone could have said that in 2008.

Some of these men weren't the best candidates.

Come Home America. One of the great speeches that too few people heard.

- Well that is if a person believes in expanding the economic safety net, expanding the New Deal and Great Society and reducing military spending as well as significantly reducing American military interventionism - the only major party candidate in American history who qualified in all of those respects would of course be Sen. George McGovern.

Again for those who have not heard his historic speech or would like to hear it again - here it is in its entirety:

I know, not a nominee. But, had I been old enough, I'd have been 'Clean for Gene.'

wasn't Jimmy Carter pro-deregulation and pro-life. and still is?

This is interesting.

he made sense way back then and it still makes sense today!

dropped by 50% by the accounts I've read. Good policy and it's working for them.

The 1948 version and the 1968 version. I really liked the former--more of a firebrand populist than the 1972 McGovern, even.

Take the time (if you haven't already) and read "The Assault On Reason" and you'll understand why.

He was the nominee that most closely matched my political outlook.

whom RFK once called the most decent man in the Senate. Talk about gold-plated testimonials.

McGovern was also a veteran of WW II, where he served as a B-24 aviator, piloted 30 missions, completed 35 missions over Europe and was awarded the Distinguised Flying Cross. To quote Charlie Pierce, "you don't fly 35 missions in a B-24 and come away with a DFC without a big clanging pair of brass ones, kids."

He also earned a Ph.D. in history from Northwestern University.

My first post-RFK political hero and a man I have always looked up to and admired as representing the best of what the Democratic Party can and should offer. A great American and a true patriot.