almost certainly not. Mainly because he was well ahead in the polls. I cant remember the exact numbers but it had to be at least 10 pts in the summer. Then there was the bump that a candidate gets when he is nominated. For McGovern this was about mid June; but he didnt make his acceptance speech until like 2 in the morning due to some idiotic planning by the Dems.

So the bump was very little, and in any event it was completely dissipated about a week later when McGovern finally had to dump Eagleton from the ticket (his vice pres. running mate) because he had electro shock therapy and didnt tell McGovern. And McGovern said he was "1000 percent behind Eagleton" and two days later he dumped him...

At this point, I guess its now late June, the McGovern campaign is far behind and they have no money and no real way to do anything to stop Nixon. Of course the planning for Watergate had gone on many weeks before; and really the same guys: LIddy, Hunt and I suppose Mitchell were really the same group that was after Ellsberg. So their plans had really more to do about stopping the enemies of Nixon then focus on McGovern.

It wasnt like they were about to stop for a moment and think: "Hey Nixon's well ahead in the polls why are we doing this?" They were on a roll and just kept doing what they were doing.