David Axelrod Quotes
Far be it from me to denigrate Senator McCain's advice on vice presidential nominees.
Axelrod, David. Interview with George Stephanopoulos. This Week, ABC, 15 Apr. 2012.
The president had just been nominated for a second term. A Union League delegation called on him to offer their congratulations:
He was a liberal Republican in an era where the Republican paty was controlled by arch conservatives, the Tea Party extremists, and evangelical Protestants while Gullani was divorced, a Catholic, and lived openly with a woman to whom he was not married. He supported a woman’s right to abortion and gay rights.
At that time, the right wing of the Republican party was so anti-Federal Government, that they would de facto veto any Washington Politician who tried to get the Presidential nomination.
Abraham Lincoln was the only third party candidate to win the presidency in U.S. history. However, when he was nominated, there was little conviction among Republicans that a third or fourth party could actually win:. Lincoln's primary opponent, William H. Seward
At that time the Presidential nominee had influence but could not unilaterally determine who his running mate would be as the Party Conventions—especially the Democratic Party Convention—was wide open. The candidate joked in this quotation, but the party leaders were very unhappy with such an open convention and after the 1972 election which they lost handily, the rules were changed to give party leaders more influence. By the 21st century, the primary elections had all but made the party conventions a quaint celebration and no serious decisions were made by the party leaders or the party delegates.
Eisenhower prior to entering politics was very inexperienced and innocent.
David M. Axelrod is an American political consultant and analyst and former White House official. He is best known for being the chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns. After Obama's election, Axelrod was appointed as Senior Advisor to the President. He left the position in early 2011 and became the Senior Strategist for Obama's successful re-election campaign in 2012. Axelrod wrote for the Chicago Tribune, and joined CNN as Senior Political Commentator in 2015. As of December 2019, Axelrod serves as the director of the non-partisan University of Chicago Institute of Politics. His memoir is titled Believer: My Forty Years in Politics.