But then, given the acute sensitivities of the time, Mr. Deardourff and Mr. Bailey went over the top. When Robert Teeter, a pollster for Mr. Ford, showed the ad to a focus group, there were gasps. As Mr. Bailey recalled, these viewers “absolutely hated” it. Mr. Bailey explained to his colleagues that “it was designed to shake them up,” but he did not prevail. As for Mr. Ford, Bailey said, “I don’t know to this day whether he ever saw this ad.”In his narrow defeat of November 1976, Mr. Ford lost the Lone Star State anyway.

Source: New York Times September 03, 2016 15:11 UTC