I nearly forgot the "Lincolnesque" Ed Muskie as his supporters would lovingly write.

There he was, ladies and gentlemen of the RIA. He in the New Hampshire primary, a pol from the neighboring state of Maine, and supposed to be able to beat the stuffing out of the midwestern George McGovern.

Instead McGovern was pushing him very hard, and the Manchester Union Leader attacking him at every turn. What the Union Leader said about Ed's wife was true, but tacky, to say the least. Her actions and language were reported by many news outlets as "earthy."

What does Ed do? He grabs a copy of the newspaper, stands out in the falling snow with the television cameras grinding, and blubbers in front of millions of viewers how the nasty newspaper is slandering his wife.

Lights out, folks. You didn't need to slip him acid. Eddie had never had a serious race for years, and he expected the deference due him as a high, ahem, potentate of the party. He came unhinged when the unwashed, scruffy and pesky voters weren't going along with him.

No, contrary to Hunter S. Thompson's claim, Muskie lost on his own merits! Two things derailed his Presidential campaign: one was the fact that he ran a more traditional presidential campaign. 1972 was a critical year for the Democratic party. This was the first year that the primaries played a big role in determining the winner of the parties nomination. Before that, it was mostly done in the "smoky backrooms", usually right before the party convention. He was indeed the inside favorite in '72 to go up against Nixon. Instead, Muskie underestimated liberal George McGovern's strength in the grassroots, which he used to propel himself to win the nomination. Ultimately McGovern went on to lose to Nixon by a huge margin. Secondly, Muskie was subjected to brutal attacks in conservative media outlets during the New Hampshire primary that had an effect on his image. They even went so far as to slander the man's wife, saying that she drank excessively and used foul language on the campaign trail. Muskie went out and emotionally defended her in front of one of the newspapers which were printing the stories. He defened her so strongly that the media reported that he broke into tears. That was later found not to be true, but it was already too late. Muskie's image as a cool and reasonable person was gone and his campaign faltered late, when it should have started picking up. Muskie would have been Nixon's strongest opponent in 1972, but I still think Nixon would still have nevertheless won. Watergate hadn't really come out yet and Nixon was riding high with his huge diplomatic opening into communist China. But Muskie would have made it a closer race than George McGovern did, who lost to Nixon by 61-38%!

Ed Muskie's emotional breakdown during the 1972 campaign was attributed to an acid high by Hunter S. Thompson. He believed that the Republicans slipped it into Muskie's drink or food. No evidence is cited, other than Muskie's sudden changes in behavior, including breaking down into crying in a public place.