Liberal Democrat Reagan in 1980

Goobo

Gone Fishin'
Somehow (no Nancy?) Reagan does not become conservative and join the Republican Party. After an unsuccessful presidency Jimmy Carter decides to not run again in 1980, opening it to Reagan. Despite the shadow of Carter hanging over him, Reagan is elected in 1980 as a Democrat. During his Presidency he uses his charisma to become popular, influence the American public and make many Americans convert to Liberal and Democrat.

How different would his presidency be and how would American history be changed?
 

woweed

Sadly, the Butterflies from Reagan being Liberal would probably keep Jimmy Carter from being elected.
 

Goobo

Gone Fishin'
woweed said:
Sadly, the Butterflies from Reagan being Liberal would probably keep Jimmy Carter from being elected.
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Stolengood said:
Damn, you've just massacred so many butterflies, boy...
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Some have said that a Democratic president during the 1980s would have been a great thing for America and none of the Democrat Reagan threads really get into him having a presidency. That is why I was specific about him still being elected and also still being elected the same year.
 

woweed

Goobo said:
Some have said that a Democratic president during the 1980s would have been a great thing for America and none of the Democrat Reagan threads really get into him having a presidency. That is why I was specific about him still being elected and also still being elected the same year.
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Yes but the Butterflies make that impossible.
 
Meadow

Meadow

Getting him to beat Ford (as a Democrat) in 76 is surely easier, and he could secure the White House for his Veep in 1984.
 

Paul V McNutt

Banned
I can see a Democratic Reagan going into politics. If he was elected to the Senate from California in 1964, he could be a presidential candidate by 1968, I don't see how this automatically cancels Jimmy Carter's presidency. Carter figured the right appeal for 1976.
 

Statesman

I think it would be a bit more realistic to have him lose in 1968 because Johnson secure's the Nominatiom for Humphrey, sit out '72 because of Nixon's strength, lose in 1976 because he is unacquainted with the idea of primaries, have Ford reelected in 1976, and then you could POSSIBLY have a Liberal Reagan (D) Presidency emerge in 1980. It still is pushing it.
 

David T

Paul V McNutt said:
I can see a Democratic Reagan going into politics. If he was elected to the Senate from California in 1964, he could be a presidential candidate by 1968, I don't see how this automatically cancels Jimmy Carter's presidency. Carter figured the right appeal for 1976.
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I don't believe that it's a coincidence, though, that California has never elected a liberal Democratic actor to any office higher than US Representative. (Indeed, apart from Al Franken, that is true elsewhere in the country too--and Franken's first victory in 2008 was very narrow despite Obama winning Minnesota by ten points that year.) Conservative actors have, I think, the advantage of "casting against type" (the "Hollywood liberal" stereotype).
 

racefan31

Paul V McNutt said:
I can see a Democratic Reagan going into politics. If he was elected to the Senate from California in 1964, he could be a presidential candidate by 1968, I don't see how this automatically cancels Jimmy Carter's presidency. Carter figured the right appeal for 1976.
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With Reagan on the spotlight, perhaps Cater decides to not become President.
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
I have a POD. Similar to LBJ in '68, President Carter announces in April 1980 that he is focusing all his effort on the hostage crisis and will neither seek nor accept the nomination of his party. And it is not the embarrassment of a failed rescue attempt. Carter set a threshold that any such attempt would need an 80% chance of success and even with his own personal attention as a former navy man, it's no where near that, so they don't do it.

And this also has the aspect of a very shortened season for the democratic primaries.

And I do want Ronnie to marry Nancy. They had a very close marriage and it was part of who he was. Let's just say that he finds it endearing that she's a Republican. He thinks of himself as a middle-of-the-roader even though he tacks to the liberal side.
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
*If Carter resigns (announces no second term), it a little bit puts him in a weakened position. You've probably heard that in a negotiation, the party which cares more loses. So, maybe President Carter announces that he's focusing all his efforts on America's economy and the energy situation.

Maybe he realizes that the Iranians hold him personally responsible for admitting the Shah to the country and a successful resolution of the crisis requires him to step aside. But he's enough of a wily country boy to realize it's better not to say this out loud.
 

woweed

Sanderford said:
Sadly?

I'm pretty sure in the political climate of 1980, a left-wing Reagan would pass largely unnoticed.
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If Left-wing Reagan is as charismatic as OTL Reagan and as far Left as OTL Reagan was Right, we basically have FDR 2.0 on our hands.
 

David T

woweed said:
If Left-wing Reagan is as charismatic as OTL Reagan and as far Left as OTL Reagan was Right, we basically have FDR 2.0 on our hands.
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If the Democrats had been in the White House in 1929-32 and the economy had behaved as it did in OTL, FDR 1.0 couldn't have gotten anywhere in 1932.

I think that that there is a tendency here to overestimate the importance of a candidate's charisma and underestimate the importance of whether the party that controls the White House has been perceived as being successful or not. If it has been perceived as unsuccessful, a charismatic candidate can't save it--and an uncharismatic candidate of the opposition party can defeat it.

(If Reagan had won the presidency in 1968, I can see people saying that it was a good thing the Republicans didn't go with an uncharismatic guy like Nixon, who would have been sure to lose...)
 
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