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Yet the fact remains that while others were getting the primary votes, Goldwater was getting the delegates in state after state. Why? One answer is that Goldwater's followers, just as in California, were willing to work. Another is that in nonprimary states, Barry had no opposition in the form of serious contenders for the nomination. Rockefeller, the only other major avowed candidate, based his whole campaign on the primaries, made little effort to win delegates at state conventions. That left Goldwater confronted only by favorite sons and state leaders who wished to go to San Francisco uncommitted. It was not much of a contest, and while others were making headlines with their primary showings, Barry was simply moving closer to the nomination.
Faced by Fact. Thus California's 86 delegates very nearly put Goldwater over the top, and his bandwagon was on the move. His national campaign manager, Phoenix Lawyer Denison Kitchel, predicted after the California victory that the wagon would soon be overflowing. Said New York Public Relations Executive F. Clifton White, another top Goldwater aide: "I can hear those adding machines clicking out there in the uncommitted states already. From here on in, we just hit those state conventions and rack up the delegates." Noting that Ohio State G.O.P. Chairman Ray Bliss controls 56 delegates who are prepared to give their first ballot to Favorite Son Governor James Rhodes, another Goldwater staffer said: "If I were Bliss, I'd be adding all this up and thinking that I'd hate like hell to be the last one to come over to Goldwater."
All of which leaves the Republican Party, the nation and the world faced with a probable G.O.P. nominee for President of the U.S. who is one of the most controversial politicians in recent history. The reaction to Goldwater's California victory in the foreign press was nearly hysterical. Said the London Times: "The sight of a major party endorsing and promoting a man so blatantly out of touch with reality, so wild in his foreign policy, so backward in his domestic ideas and so inconsistent in his thinking, would be a serious blow to American prestige abroad." West Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau called Barry "not only conservative, but what is more dangerous, a confused and weak man who hides his weakness and uncertainty with fiery speeches." Stockholm's Dagens Nyheter called California "a victory for stupidity and ignorance." The Glasgow Herald said that "Goldwater in the White House would be disastrous. His policies are not merely reactionary, they are (some of them) stupid to a degree that is incredible."
What has Republican Goldwater done and said to arouse such feeling? First of all, he is basically too conservative for the taste of a great majority of important editorialists and commentators. Moreover, he has made some rash statements and taken some reckless stands, only to modify them later. Particularly when talking off the cuff, he is often distressingly imprecise, lending his generalizations to misinterpretation. In some cases, his statements have either been taken out of context or subjected to downright distortion. Just where does Barry Goldwater actually stand on the issues? Items: