Yes, some of them, like Debs, Wood, and Stevenson, were within either the Democratic, Socialist, or Republican parties. My rationale is that, with the creation of a powerful Populist Party, these men's political goals will coincide with the Populist platform and they will join that party instead of the others.
James Baird Weaver - He was, simply, the Populist candidate in the 1892, and, I figure, would have been the candidate in the next two elections had the Populist Party survived.
Robert Marion La Follette, Sr. - One of the principal leaders of the U.S. Progressive movement. La Follette broke completely with the Republican Party after its 1924 convention rejected his platform proposals. He organized the League for Progressive Political Action and became its presidential candidate in the same year. With combined agrarian and labor support, including that of such organizations as the American Federation of Labor, the agrarian Non-Partisan League, and the Socialist Party, La Follette received 13 electoral votes and about 4,831,000 popular votes, badly trailing the Republican and Democratic candidates. He returned to his Senate post and died in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 1925. I figure he would have been the Populist candidate in 1924.
John Llewellyn Lewis - President of the Panama (a town in Illinois; not the country
)local of the United Mine Workers of America, lobbyist for the United Mine Workers (UMW), organizer for the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and vice president of the UMW. The first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Perhaps the most colorful labor leader in America, Lewis was often the center of stormy controversy. Most labor historians both accused him of exerting dictatorial control over the UMW and credited him for the remarkable rise in the standard of living of miners between World Wars I and II. His control over the UMW also gave Lewis an important position in national labor affairs and considerable influence over the American economy; and his flair for drama and pungent statement made him a favorite source of newspaper copy. A brilliant organizer as well as a superb orator, Lewis successfully challenged the giant automobile and steel industries by means of crippling sit-down strikes. After World War II, however, his power waned as the importance of coal in the economy declined. In 1947 and 1948 Lewis was a subject of nationwide controversy as he defied newly enacted provisions of the new National Labor Relations Act that put certain constraints upon labor. He broke with the AFL in 1947 over the issue of compliance with these provisions, known as the Taft-Hartley Act, and remained one of its most consistent opponents. After his retirement as president of the UMW, Lewis continued to work as trustee of the UMW retirement fund. Probably the Populist candidate in 1928 and 1932.
Thomas Watson - A powerful orator, Watson was a Populist leader from Georgia who urged cooperation between blacks and whites. He was the Huey Long of the early 1900s. Later in his life he turned bitter and racist but I figure that won't happen in TTL. He'd have been the Populist candidate between 1904 and 1912.
Any others? Can anyone think of a possible Populist President that I'm missing?