In the 1972 movie “The Candidate,” Robert Redford plays Bill McKay, a public interest lawyer and longshot Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator from California. At one level, the widely praised movie explores the incompatibility between a candidate’s ideals and winning political office, but at another — Democrats, especially left-leaning ones, take notice — it’s about what it takes to win elections.

A cagey political operator named Marvin Lucas (played by Peter Boyle) recruits McKay for the race by assuring him that he can’t possibly beat the popular Republican incumbent, Crocker Jarmon (Don Porter). The race, Lucas suggests, is instead a golden opportunity for McKay to promote his liberal ideals. “You don’t have a chance, so say whatever you want.”

Lucas, who has no interest in ideals, is betting on McKay’s Kennedy-esque, California surfer good looks, his famous last name (his father had been a popular governor) and, most of all, on his ambition and ego. After McKay stakes out bold liberal positions — support for busing, welfare, legalizing abortion (the movie came out........

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