Pretty straightforward question, who did people/the papers believe were the up and comers, new, rising stars during Richard Nixon’s 1st term? Primarily looking for House Reps. and people in general who seemed as though their career was going to take off but it just kind of didn’t.
One good example would be Pete McCloskey, a Californian in the House from 1967 to 1983. He was a war hero, good looking, articulate, and progressive in his politics: he was against the Vietnam War, co-authored the Endangered Species Act. He was the first Congressman to call for Nixon's impeachment after Nixon tied to stop the Watergate investigation in the Saturday Night Massacre. All this was thought, at the time, to make him a great candidate for higher office.
At the time of Nixon's first term, it seemed as though the radical spirit of the 1960's would dominate US politics. Instead, there was a reaction to it. . The Republican Party turned sharply to the right in the 1970's and had little use for a Progressive, even in California. McCloskey failed to win the Republican nominations for President in 1972, for Senate in 1982 and finally for a House seat in 2006, each time losing to more conservative candidates. In 2007 he switched affiliation to the Democratic party