The Contenders, Historians Retrospective

Richard Norton Smith, Carl Cannon, and Jean Baker participated in a roundtable discussion reflecting on the C-SPAN series, “The Contenders: They Lost the Election But Changed Political History.” They talked about the concept of the series, what was learned about each of the 14 candidates chosen for the series, and what themes emerged. They reacted to video clips from the programs. Also shown were a few clips, including George McGovern and Ross Perot, that were not included in the series. Topics included the historical context of the presidential candidates and their relevance to the upcoming 2012 presidential election.