Imagine the fun that Senator Joseph McCarthy would have had with her. As a student in college she was a Marxist.
Her political choices mirrored Reagan. First a democrat then a republican. When I was 17-18, I figured I was a communist because I didn't believe in God and I despised Reagan. Took me a few years to get it all sorted out. So many students have mixed premises.
On many social-domestic issues, she was still more to the left than Reagan. I admired her for her views on defense and national security. I would have campained hard for her and would have voted for her in a heartbeat.
Kevin