Can Clinton Avoid a Primary Challenger?

Larry Sabato notes that “when no incumbent was running, the only precedent for a consensus choice in the entire post-World War II era is Richard Nixon in 1960. This impressive feat was nonetheless achieved with some difficulty and embarrassment. Nixon thought he had averted a serious GOP challenge when New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller withdrew as a potential candidate in December 1959. But Nixon’s unappealing persona and substantial baggage from the political wars of the 1940s and 1950s worried many Republicans eager for a third consecutive White House victory. Rockefeller sensed it and reconsidered, toying with a surprise candidacy on the eve of the 1960 Republican National Convention. At the last instant, Rocky relented, mollified by the so-called “Treaty of Fifth Avenue,” a series of concessions by Nixon negotiated in an all-night session and announced by the New York governor himself.”