Mar. 11, 1964 - Senator Barry Goldwater said last night he had “goofed up somewhere” in the New Hampshire primary election. The Arizona Republican appeared before a crowd of his supporters at a downtown Washington hotel as returns showed him trailing Henry Cabot Lodge, Ambassador to South Vietnam.
The Senator said he would “just work harder” in the remaining months before the Republican National Convention, which opens July 13 in San Francisco. He insisted he had a “whale of a chance” to be nominated.
Goldwater was sharply critical of Lodge. As “decent, fine, and respected” as Lodge is, he said, many Republicans “realize that one of the reasons we lost in 1960 is the man who is winning in New Hampshire.” He said Republicans would realize that the 1964 election could not be won with a candidate who campaigned only an hour or two a day. This was a reference to Lodge’s relaxed campaign techniques as Vice-Presidential candidate in 1960. As for himself, Goldwater asserted, he had not been “hedging” or “staying out of the country to avoid having to say anything.”
The Senator’s mood during his appearance last night in a jammed ballroom alternated between contained anger and humor. He thanked his supporters and told them not to be discouraged.
In the “game of politics,” he said, it is possible to “lose some battles and still win the war.” He observed that Lincoln had had the “tar beaten out of him” several times in his political career. The Senator said he would follow an old Army adage to “take one more step.”
“I’m going to take that one step this week,” he said, in beginning his campaign for the California Presidential primary, which takes place June 2. Because he is a Westerner and is known in that state, he said, “California will be a much better place for me.”
“This candidate is not the least bit impressed by what happened in New Hampshire,” he continued. It would have been “nice” to win the preference poll, he remarked, but delegates interest him more.
