If You Were Barry Goldwater's Campaign Manager in 1964...

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

The only way to have been competitive would have been to sink to LBJ's level rather than continue to try to run a gentleman's campaign as he had planned to do against JFK.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

As soon as JFK died I would've tried to convince Goldwater not to run, allowing Rocky to win the nomination and take the inevitable fall, which would put Goldwater in a good place to run in 1968. If I coudln't do that, I'd convince Goldwater to choose a moderate, prominent Rockefeller Republican like Margaret Chase Smith, to avoid scaring as many moderate Republicans as Goldwater did in real life (Goldy mainly chose Arthur Miller because he drove LBJ nuts). I also woudl get Goldwater to ruthlessly attack LBJ for using smear tactics such as the Daisy ad and allegations that Goldwater was racist (which would involve Goldwater trying to rationalize his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that he doesn't look like an actual racist). With this beign said though, it'd still be a losing fight, but I could see Goldy doing a little better.

That's William Miller, not Arthur.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I'd tell him to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (while simaultanously making clear that he opposed affiramtive action and welfare handouts). Also, I'd tell him to pick a charismatic moderate as VP, to aggressively respond to LBJ's smear tactics, and to avoid making stupid comments and try to moderate his image.

Sure, if he wanted the electoral map to look like this:

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I'd tell him to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (while simaultanously making clear that he opposed affiramtive action and welfare handouts). Also, I'd tell him to pick a charismatic moderate as VP, to aggressively respond to LBJ's smear tactics, and to avoid making stupid comments and try to moderate his image.

Sure, if he wanted the electoral map to look like this:

As least his reputation and legacy would have been better. He mgiht ahve been able to win some Midwestern and Western states in this scenario, though. Even though Goldy was pretty much screwed in 1964 no matter what.

No, his reputation and legacy would be ruined as he would have sold out his principles for political gain that ended up getting him nowhere anyway.