Was Gerald Ford's 1976 performance in the general election actually impressive?

[Mr.Phips]

Very much so considering where he started. Good chance he would have won if the race went on a little longer. The same is true for Humphrey in 1968 by the way.

Agreed. Or if Johnson just leaked information that Nixon was sabotaging the peace talks. Something that was actually worse than Watergate.

That was partly Humphrey's fault. He advised Johnson not to release it, thinking he already had the election in the bag by that point. He would later admit it was his biggest regret.

From what I read about the Humphrey campaign was that they were never confident they would win and viewed it as a somewhat uphill battle right until the end.  They were behind in polling in Texas and Pennsylvania the whole time, which they ended up winning.

[Mr.Phips]

Very much so considering where he started. Good chance he would have won if the race went on a little longer. The same is true for Humphrey in 1968 by the way.

Agreed. Or if Johnson just leaked information that Nixon was sabotaging the peace talks. Something that was actually worse than Watergate.

That was partly Humphrey's fault. He advised Johnson not to release it, thinking he already had the election in the bag by that point. He would later admit it was his biggest regret.

From what I read about the Humphrey campaign was that they were never confident they would win and viewed it as a somewhat uphill battle right until the end.  They were behind in polling in Texas and Pennsylvania the whole time, which they ended up winning.

My source:

Johnson did make information available to Humphrey, but at this point Humphrey thought he was going to win the election, so he did not reveal the information to the public. Humphrey later regretted this as a mistake.

That was pretty presumptuous for Humphrey and also did not reflect polling reality.  Even at the very end, Nixon led in states worth 299 EVs:

https://dks.library.kent.edu/?a=d&d=dks19681105-01.2.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

If Humphrey was going to win, he needed something like this tape being released to give him a final boost.

[Mr.Phips]

Very much so considering where he started. Good chance he would have won if the race went on a little longer. The same is true for Humphrey in 1968 by the way.

Agreed. Or if Johnson just leaked information that Nixon was sabotaging the peace talks. Something that was actually worse than Watergate.

That was partly Humphrey's fault. He advised Johnson not to release it, thinking he already had the election in the bag by that point. He would later admit it was his biggest regret.

From what I read about the Humphrey campaign was that they were never confident they would win and viewed it as a somewhat uphill battle right until the end.  They were behind in polling in Texas and Pennsylvania the whole time, which they ended up winning.

My source:

Johnson did make information available to Humphrey, but at this point Humphrey thought he was going to win the election, so he did not reveal the information to the public. Humphrey later regretted this as a mistake.

For most of the time I actually thought Johnson refrained because he feared Nixon would still win and enter office very damaged.

But I'm sure LBJ would have leaked it, if he himself was the candidate. He wasn't a guy that was playing softball.

Why would Johnson care if Nixon entered office damaged?  Thinking this way is why Democrats lost so many times during 1968-2000.

[Mr.Phips]

Let's not forget to that LBJ could've landed himself in hotwater leaking the info about Nixon sabotaging the peace talks due to the fact that how LBJ obtained the info was illegal wire taps. Granted, he wouldn't have gotten in nearly as much trouble as Nixon, but still that might've played a role in it.

Not if it was an anonymous leak to the major newspapers. He likely would have been dead by the time he was implicated in it.