William M. Rainach , a state senator from Claiborne Parish who was a delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles , agreed with Smallenberger . In Rainach 's words , " the Republican platform is not quite as bad " as that offered by the Kennedy/Johnson forces . Rainach said that the influence of Rockefeller had reduced the practical usefulness of the Republican Party to southern conservatives . Rainach added that if unpledged electors had gained sufficient support across the South , as they did in Mississippi and Alabama , he would have urged negotiations among the electors themselves , rather than having the U.S. House of Representatives choose the president with one vote per state in event of a deadlock in the electoral college . Were the House to have chosen a president in 1961 , Kennedy would have been an automatic winner because the majority of state delegations were then in Democrat hands , Rainach said
1960 Democratic National Convention
1960 Democratic National Convention
LeRoy Smallenberger