There's just not much telling who he may be. I do not believe it's George
Wallace. We have not gotten into this third party. And it's interesting
that you should not even ask about it since Wallace is so strong in
Harris County and actually prevented Nixon from carrying the state in
'68. It may be a totally independent person, such as it was in Maine.
But the Democrats have got an awful lot of candidates floating around.
Whether they're the one on the white horse or not is hard to say. But
again I say the Rockefeller-Ford—now I'm putting Rockefeller first
already—or the Ford-Rockefeller ticket, to me, is not going to be able
to carry the country. And certainly it's not going to be able to carry
Texas in '76. The image is too old. The image is too rich. And I have
said this publicly to the
New York Times. I think I'm
one of the few Republican officeholders—even party officeholders—who
opposed the nomination of Rockefeller the day it was made. And did so
publicly, on television, radio, and the
New York
Times. I don't know where we're going as a country. It's something
that troubles me very, very much. And I said last night at a social
function that I was going back to see
Gone with the
Wind and
Doctor Zhivago because I think we are in
a period in this country of almost as total turmoil as those two eras
Page 21 in Russia and America were at that time. I think
we may be in for an absolute change in the form of government that we
have. I think this is particularly true if we see the growth of
independent candidates being able to get on the ballot. Or third
parties. Now I do think this new federal campaign spending act will make
it very difficult for a third party or an independent candidate to
secure federal financing. And that the two major parties will have a
great advantage there. But when you realize that tremendous money can be
raised in small donations by one major, nationwide television appeal,
there's still the possibility of somebody coming out on that white
horse.