Reply #83: Reading this, my conclusions are:

[karynnj]

That in 1972 on a college campus, Edwards was for the first time in an environment where he was seeing a point of view different than the Republican 1950s "government knows best" mentality. I assume that NCSU was less anti-war than many other colleges, but I seriously doubt that there were many colleges without a significant anti-war contingent. (Indiana University in 1970 or 1971 had a student vote on the issue - and the "US out of Asia" sentiment was around 95%)

His roommate clams that he (the roommate) was "in the direction of protesting the war". This was not an election where people thought the candidates were similar. It was a choice. This was John Edwards' first vote for President (based on his age). I remember distinctly actually voting - in both the primary in Bloomington, Ind and the general election in NJ - for McGovern. (I remember who I voted for in subsequent years - but do not have the crystal clear visual memory of going into a building to vote that I have with the first vote. )

I do not find it believable that he "forgot" who he voted for. I suspect that he is part of the demographic that accounted for polls taken in 1973 and 1974 showing a higher proportion of people voting for McGovern than really did. The liklihood is that he - as many Democrats did - voted for Nixon and likely wishes he didn't. I would be impressed if he simply said that. That said who he (or Clark) voted for 34 years ago is irrelevant. This was a VERY long time ago and people do change. That vote (sad for me as one who canvassed in a red county for McGovern) was a landslide. I suspect there were more "Don't blame me, I voted for McGovern buttons" than McGovern voters.