One of the reasons for Dukakis's loss was that his vice presidential nominee, Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen, was seen as more qualified/presidential/badass. What if Bentsen won the nomination, and just for kicks picked Duke as his veep?
WI: Lloyd Bentsen '88?
- Thread starter Snowstalker
- Start date
Still loses IMO, though the margin will be narrower EV-wise. At least it will be a campaign on the issues rather than the Atwater Cultural Blitzkrieg of OTL.
As others have said, he'd do better then OTL, but would still lose to Bush/Quayle. Who might his running mate be? I seriously doubt that it would be Dukakis.
Mario Cuomo?
Clinton/Gore are obvious ones, but a bit too close, geographically and otherwise.
Clinton/Gore are obvious ones, but a bit too close, geographically and otherwise.
I once did a basic outline time-line/story on this.
Basically Bentsen won a narrow win like OTL (1960,2000,2004).
I had him pick Michigan Governor James Blanchard as his running mate.
Basically Bentsen won a narrow win like OTL (1960,2000,2004).
I had him pick Michigan Governor James Blanchard as his running mate.
I think my map looked something like this
Bensten 270
Bush 268
He won the election but lost by his own state and his running-mates state as well.
Bensten 270
Bush 268
He won the election but lost by his own state and his running-mates state as well.
As Doonsbury pointed out in 1988 GHW Bushs' official mailing address was a mail-box at a private club in downtown Houston that also gave him dibs on a suite of rooms there. Local Democrats rented the ballroom and the apartment and had an orgy in his alleged apartment to show that he wasn't really a Texan. From what I hear the party was way wilder than anything that ever happened in that unadvertised club on West **** Street. If you know what I'm talking about, don't say the name. It must not be named
Bentsen would do well in South Texas, would take much of the Houston area after the 1998 orgy and would get lots of votes in Austin and DFW. Bentsen was pretty fluent in Spanish and campaigned for Dukakis in Spanish. This could make a difference too.
And yes, there really was an orgy in GHWB's alleged apartment.
The problems here are two-fold. First, Bentsen didn't seek the nomination in 1988. Second, even if he did, he's hardly the kind of candidate that would appeal to the early state Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire. He was, for a Democrat, very conservative. He'd be reduced to the Gore strategy from '88: skipping the early states and hoping for lightning to strike in the Southern Super Tuesday contests. I suspect it would work for him just about as well as it worked for Gore.
That map makes no sense. BUsh may do worse against Bentsen than Dukakis, but the fundamentals in 1988 favor Bush.