Editing Eugene McCarthy (section)

==Politics after the Senate==

=== 1972 presidential campaign ===
{{main|1972 United States presidential election}}
McCarthy returned to politics as a candidate for the [[1972 United States presidential election|Democratic presidential nomination in 1972]], but he fared poorly in [[New Hampshire]] and [[Wisconsin]] and soon dropped out.

Illinois was the only primary in which McCarthy actively participated. He got 38% of the vote to the then leading contender [[Edmund Muskie]]'s 59%, but the media ignored McCarthy's Illinois campaign.

=== 1976 presidential campaign ===
{{main|1976 United States presidential election}}
After his 1972 campaign, McCarthy left the Democratic Party, and ran as an [[Independent (politician)|Independent]] candidate for president in [[1976 United States presidential election|1976]]. During that campaign, he took a [[libertarianism|libertarian]] stance on [[civil liberties]], promised to create [[full employment]] by shortening the [[working time|work week]], came out in favor of [[nuclear disarmament]], attacked the [[Internal Revenue Service]],<ref>[[Jesse Walker|Walker, Jesse]] (November 1, 2009) [http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/nov/01/00012/ "Five Faces of Jerry Brown"], ''[[The American Conservative]]'', November 1, 2009.</ref> and said whom he would nominate to various [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]] posts if elected. Mainly, however, he battled [[ballot access]] laws he deemed too restrictive and encouraged voters to reject the [[two-party system]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.4president.org/brochures/mccarthy1976brochure.htm |title=Eugene McCarthy for President 1976 Campaign Brochure |publisher=4president.org |date=September 22, 2007 |access-date=June 15, 2017}}</ref>

His numerous legal battles during the election, along with a strong [[grassroots]] effort in friendly states, allowed him to appear on the ballot in 30 states and eased ballot access for later third-party candidates. His party affiliation was variously listed on ballots as "Independent," "McCarthy '76," "Non-Partisan," "Nom. Petition," "Nomination," "Not Designated," and "Court Order". Although he was not on the California and [[Wyoming]] ballots, he was recognized as a [[write-in candidate]] in those states. In many states, he did not run with a vice-presidential nominee, but he came to have a total of 15 running mates in states where he was required to have one. At least eight of his running mates were women.<ref name=USAtlas>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1976&minper=0&f=1&off=0&elect=0|first=David|last=Leip|work=Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|title=1976 Presidential General Election Results|date=2005}}</ref>

Nationally, McCarthy received 740,460 votes, 0.91% of the total, finishing third in the election.<ref name=USAtlas /> His best showing came in [[Oregon]], where he received 40,207 votes, 3.90% of the vote.<ref name=USAtlas/>

===Further activism===
[[File:Eugene McCarthy 1968 (b).jpg|thumb|McCarthy in 1968]]
McCarthy opposed Watergate-era campaign finance laws, becoming a plaintiff in the landmark case ''[[Buckley v. Valeo]]'', 424 U.S. 1 (1976), in which the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] held that certain provisions of federal campaign finance laws were unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignfinancesite.org/court/buckley1.html|title=Campaignfinancesite.org|access-date=April 26, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717105323/http://www.campaignfinancesite.org/court/buckley1.html|archive-date=July 17, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> McCarthy, the [[New York Civil Liberties Union]], philanthropist [[Stewart Mott]], the [[Conservative Party of New York State]], the [[Mississippi Republican Party]], and the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] were the plaintiffs in ''Buckley'', becoming key players in killing campaign spending limits and public financing of political campaigns.

In [[1980 United States presidential election|1980]], dismayed by what he saw as the abject failure of [[Jimmy Carter]]'s presidency (he later said that "he was the worst president we ever had"),<ref>{{cite web|last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2166661/ |title=The latest absurdities to emerge from Jimmy Carter's big, smug mouth. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine |publisher=Slate.com |date=May 21, 2007 |access-date=July 20, 2010}}</ref> he appeared in a campaign ad for [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] candidate [[Ed Clark]] and wrote the introduction to Clark's campaign book.<ref>[[Jesse Walker|Walker, Jesse]] (August 31, 2010) [http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/31/the-cold-crisp-taste-of-koch The Cold, Crisp Taste of Koch], ''[[Reason magazine|Reason]]''</ref> He eventually endorsed [[Ronald Reagan]] for president.<ref>{{cite news |title=Remembering Eugene McCarthy |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/july-dec05/mccarthy_12-12.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060218074245/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/july-dec05/mccarthy_12-12.html |archive-date=February 18, 2006 |date=December 12, 2005 |work=Newshour with Jim Lehrer |publisher=PBS}}</ref>

===Final campaigns===
In 1982, McCarthy [[United States Senate election in Minnesota, 1982|ran for his old Senate seat]] but lost the Democratic primary to businessman [[Mark Dayton]], 69% to 24%.

In the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 election]], McCarthy appeared on the ballot as the presidential candidate of a handful of left-wing state parties, specifically the Consumer parties in [[Pennsylvania]] and [[New Jersey]] and the [[Minnesota Progressive Party]] in Minnesota. In his campaign, he supported trade [[protectionism]], Reagan's [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] and the abolition of the [[two-party system]].<ref name = Cline>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/national/11mccarthy.html|work= The New York Times|title=Eugene J. McCarthy, Senate Dove Who Jolted '68 Race, Dies at 89|first=Francis X.|last=Cline|date=December 11, 2005|access-date=January 29, 2016|page = A1|url-access = limited}}</ref> He received 30,905 votes.<ref name=USAtlas88>{{cite web|url=http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1988&minper=0&f=0&off=0&elect=0|first=David|last=Leip|work=Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|title= 1988 Presidential General Election Results|date=2005}}</ref>

In 1992, returning to the Democratic Party, he entered the New Hampshire presidential primary and campaigned for the [[1992 United States presidential election|Democratic nomination]], but was excluded from the first televised debate. Along with other candidates who had been excluded from the 1992 Democratic debates (including two-time [[New Alliance Party]] presidential candidate [[Lenora Fulani]], former [[Irvine, California]] mayor [[Larry Agran]], ''[[Billy Jack]]'' actor [[Tom Laughlin]], and others), McCarthy staged protests and took unsuccessful legal action in an attempt to be included in the debates. Unlike the other excluded candidates, McCarthy was a longstanding national figure and had mounted credible campaigns for president in previous elections. He won 108,679 votes in the 1992 primaries. In his campaign for the Democratic nomination, McCarthy proposed the use of import fees to help Japan and Western Europe pay for military security and raise taxes on the wealthy in order to eliminate the national debt.<ref name=USAtlas92>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?f=1&year=1992&elect=1|first=David|last=Leip|work=Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|title=1992 Presidential General Election Results|date=2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-02-24-9201180021-story.html|title=MINNESOTA'S OLD POLS JUST KEEP RUNNING AND RUNNING AND RUNNING|website=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=February 24, 1992 }}</ref>