Movement conservatives were undeterred by Goldwater’s massive loss and continued with their plot to take over the Republican Party. A year later, Buckley ran for mayor of New York on the Conservative Party ticket, with the conscious aim of drawing enough votes away from the liberal Republican John Lindsay to elect the Democratic candidate, Abe Beame, and thereby weaken the GOP’s left flank. (The contrast with liberals, who shy away from any third-party challenge that might lead their party to a loss, is a vivid symptom of their lack of conviction.) [...]