Doonesbury’s Candidate

The second day of spring in Hartford, Connecticut feels more like the twentieth day of autumn, and John Anderson doesn’t make things any more pleasant by running behind schedule. The hair of the reporters and spectators standing outside the Traveler’s Insurance Building is beaded with diamonds, and an unmailed letter in a woman’s hand wrinkles and droops. The candidate was scheduled to arrive for hand-shaking at 7:25 A.M.; it’s now a quarter of eight.

Three days earlier, the Republicans picked 92 delegates in Illinois. Anderson had going for him a primary law allowing cross-overs, an endorsement from the Chicago Tribune, and an embarrassing performance by Bush in Florida. A Tribune poll showed Anderson and Reagan running neck and neck. Reagan’s neck turned out to be 12 percentage points longer, and Anderson, undismayed, went promptly into the next rounds—the Connecticut primary March 25, the Wisconsin primary April 1.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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The second day of spring in Hartford, Connecticut feels more like the twentieth day of autumn, and John Anderson doesn’t make things any more pleasant by running behind schedule. The hair of the reporters and spectators standing outside the Traveler’s Insurance Building is beaded with diamonds, and an unmailed letter in a woman’s hand wrinkles and droops. The candidate was scheduled to arrive for hand-shaking at 7:25 A.M.; it’s now a quarter of eight.

Three days earlier, the Republicans picked 92 delegates in Illinois. Anderson had going for him a primary law allowing cross-overs, an endorsement from the Chicago Tribune, and an embarrassing performance by Bush in Florida. A Tribune poll showed Anderson and Reagan running neck and neck. Reagan’s neck turned out to be 12 percentage points longer, and Anderson, undismayed, went promptly into the next rounds—the Connecticut primary March 25, the Wisconsin primary April 1.