There hasn't been a whole lot mentioned about Gerald Ford lately, or Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neil for that matter. I don't think either of them have been forgotten, but Ford doesn't stand out in history books as much more than the first non-elected President or vice-President during a time when America was reeling from Watergate and the Nixon era. 1975 was still shaky ground for a lot of people and we were in the midst of a recession. And O'Neil is probably best remembered as the one almost perpetually in a state of battle with Reagan.

But in 1975 the talk was about the 1976 elections and what were the chances of Ford's re-election (or official election if you want to get technical). As was evidenced by this Face The Nation episode from July 29, 1975, O'Neil didn't see the possibilities.

Marya McLaughlin (CBS News): “Mister Ford, um . . I take it that you don’t think he’s the niftiest President we’ve ever had.”

Tip O’Neil: “I don’t think that President Ford has a chance of being re-elected, even though the polls at this time show about fifty percent.”

MacLaughlin: “Why do you say that?”

O’Neil: “Well uh . . maybe it’s a hackneyed phrase but, let me say this, his philosophy and his thinking is such that he would bring you back to the Dark Ages. He’d bring you back to the days of the high button shoes, the lamp lighter, the celluloid collar. The days of McKinley. That was just twenty five years in Congress being against . .he’s an affable, friendly fellow. His philosophy is about as far to the right as you can get. He came to the Congress with no plan as far as the economy is concerned. He came to the House with no plan as far as housing is concerned. I just can’t imagine Gerry Ford being re-elected as President of the United States because the economy . . . the campaign will be on the economy and the economy will not be good. Any turn in the economy that has happened up to date is because of the actions of the Democratic Party and sticking the tax bill down his throat.”

At least part of his predictions were right. The part about Ted Kennedy . . .well.

The name George Wallace has rapidly faded from view over the years. He is probably best known as the Alabama Governor who was a staunch supporter of Segregation and States rights. During his unsuccessful bid for the 1972 Presidential nomination, Wallace was victim of an assassination attempt that left him paralyzed from the waist down. So by 1976 his bid for the Presidency was viewed more as a symbolic gesture than an actual attempt.

Wallace came to be the symbol for everything prejudicial and intolerant. And like many of his peers (Strom Thurmond comes to mind), spent the remainder of his political life white-washing and non-denial denying that he perceived or had done anything wrong.

Bill Monroe (NBC News) :”As a Presidential candidate in 1976 who once said that he favored segregation, are you unwilling at this point to say that, at this point you do not any longer favor segregation?

George Wallace:“Segregation is gone. I no longer favor going back to any attempt to reinstall what we had years ago which was separation . . .”

Monroe: “ Do you personally believe in it anymore?”

Wallace: “I believe that we ought to have the system that we have now, which is non-discrimination which you can call Integration.”

History has a curious habit of remembering - much to the dismay of those Leopards wishing to change their spots.

(Pick which one is going to get all rogue and strange)

Fear of the independent voter. It's certainly been around for a while. Probably since there was such a thing as a secret ballot. In 1975 the big worry was the coming election in 1976. Who were all those independent voters and were they really going to vote another Republican into the White House? The concern was mostly for the demise of the two-party system. Were they irrelevant?

On May 7, 1975, NPR ran a National Town Meeting entitled "The Independent Vote: Is It Killing the Two Party System?" Hosting the discussion was Robert Novak and the panel consisted of Arthur Schlesinger, Louis Harris and Richard Obenshain, co-chair of the RNC.

Arthur Schlesinger: “No one can doubt that the two-party system is in grave trouble. And no one can doubt the rise of independent voting. But I think the rise of independent voting is the consequence, rather than the cause of the crisis of the party system. The real question, it seems to me is why is the party system in this trouble, why have party loyalties become so weak, party affiliations so fluid, party organizations so irrelevant?”

Then as now, the difficulty in pinning down who the independent voter was and what made them tick. But the real question was if two party politics was going to head into obscurity.

They wondered in 1975 - they worry in 2010. No change.