https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/when-you-cant-stand-your-candidateCarter had expressed his loathing for McGovern in several conversations with Jackson. . . . What happened just after McGovern received the nomination irrevocably colored Jackson's view of Carter. . . . Carter called Jackson at 4 a.m. with this request: "Would Scoop be willing to approach McGovern to help get Carter selected as his vice president. . . . Scoop could not ever think of Carter again without a certain feeling of revulsion" [Jackson staffer and confidant Richard Perle said]. McGovern also found it off-putting that Carter solicited the vice presidential nomination so assiduously after saying such nasty things about him during the primary campaign.
The quote is actually from Robert Kaufman's
Henry Jackson: A Life In Politics.
Carter was a leader in the ABM (Anyone But McGovern) movement in 1972. He bolstered Jackson's candidacy (after hinting he might swing Georgia's delegates to George Wallace, leaving Wallace somewhat miffed). Carter already had a long view; supporting Wallace was the thing to do if he wanted to be Governor again or Senator from Georgia, but not if he wanted to be PRESIDENT, and Carter was already looking down that road.
The article shows how put off Jackson was at this. And the book is no exaggeration. Carter went out of his way to be cold to McGovern prior to the 1972 DNC. After showing up at a meeting of Democratic Governors in June, 1972, Carter said, "I couldn't say he changed my mind, but it was nice of him to come." After being nominated, Carter stated he would vote for McGovern, but would not campaign for him, viewing him as a liability for other Georgia Democrats; he did not speak favorably of McGovern at all during 1972. Governors Ford (KY), Edwards (LA), Briscoe (TX) and Waller (MS) refused to endorse McGovern to the end and Carter did nothing to help. (The feeling would be mutual; McGovern referred to Carter in 1972 as "the biggest prick in politics", and he hadn't changed his mind in 1976 when he voted for Ford.)
Such a pick would have done little to help Carter and would not have enabled McGovern to carry any Southern states. Indeed, if Carter had been McGovern's running mate he would likely have never won the nomination in 1972; he'd have drawn blame for the landslide loss. In addition, he'd have been unelectable in Georgia from there on out; he would likely not have been re-electable as Governor (he was not eligible to run in 1974 and George Busbee became a popular incumbent) and would not have been elected to the Senate from Georgia in 1980 when Herman Talmadge got in trouble.
The chemistry would have been awful. Carter would have wanted his own Georgia staff; imagine how they'd have interacted with the McGovernites who ran the show. Carter would have left that campaign unelectable in Georgia and with a whole new set of enemies from within the National Democratic Party.
This would have been one of the worst arranged marriages in history. I can't think of a single state that would have shifted to McGovern because Carter was on the ticket.
