WI: Biden Runs in 1992

[Amadeus]

What if Delaware Senator Joe Biden had run for President in 1992? What would be his chances of winning the nomination and/or the general election? What might a 1990s Biden administration look like?

OP's Note: Please keep this discussion OFF current politics.

 

[Thomas Jefferson]

Biden would be a somewhat similar candidate to Clinton on paper (Baby Boomer, moderate), but he'd have a hard time overcoming the memory of his disastrous 1988 campaign, which included a bizarre plagiarism scandal and extremely poor staffing. The best way for him to win is probably to take advantage of Gennifer Flowers and put Clinton in the bag.

 

[V-J]

Refer back to my reply about him being a VP choice that year - https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-biden-vp-under-clinton.466583/#post-18832121

1992 just isn't his year.

 

[Amadeus]

Biden would be a somewhat similar candidate to Clinton on paper (Baby Boomer, moderate), but he'd have a hard time overcoming the memory of his disastrous 1988 campaign, which included a bizarre plagiarism scandal and extremely poor staffing. The best way for him to win is probably to take advantage of Gennifer Flowers and put Clinton in the bag.

If he stresses his middle class roots and emphasizes the economy, he might have a chance in the primaries. Yet as 1988 and 2008 show, Biden would initially strong but proved weak on election day. Then again the 1992 field was pretty poor, so maybe he could brush past Tsongas and Brown to become Clinton's main challenger.

 

[tzmb]

Biden had a disastrous '88 launch. With that in mind, he could make it a little bit more difficult to Bill by appealing to a similar base and putting some salt on Clinton's fresh political wounds.