"The whole campaign was a tragic case of mistaken identity"

This quote by George McGovern is referring to his 1972 governmental campaign. McGovern was the Democratic candidate for head of state, but eventually shed to incumbent Richard Nixon. The quote recommends that McGovern's campaign was doomed from the beginning due to a misunderstanding of who he was and what he meant. McGovern was a dynamic candidate that wanted to end the Vietnam War and apply social reforms, yet his message was outweighed by Nixon's "law and order" platform. McGovern's project was additionally injured by his absence of support from the Democratic facility, which was much more traditional than McGovern. Eventually, McGovern's project was an unfortunate case of mistaken identity, as the public fell short to acknowledge the progressive perfects he was promoting for.