In a short period of time well over 15,000 signatures of registered Democrats were collected in over 50 New York counties, with the requirement that there be at least 100 such valid signatures in each county. Many of the upstate counties in New York have few residents and even fewer registered democrats. This made the petition drive difficult. The petition drive, however, succeeded and Morgenthau began his primary race against Goldberg. A third political party, the Liberal Party, then decided to give its nomination to Goldberg. This decision (which would have had the effect of splitting the vote against the incumbent Governor if Morgenthau won the Democratic primary) made it virtually impossible for Morgenthau to defeat the incumbent Governor, Nelson Rockefeller, in the general election. Morgenthau therefore withdrew from the primary race. Goldberg ran as the Democratic/Liberal candidate against Rockefeller in the general election and was defeated.