1988 Democratic Primaries
The results of the 1988 Democratic Presidential primaries marked the beginning of the end of an era in the history of the Democratic Party. For the last few decades, the party had been dominated by its liberal wing. Occasionally this would lead to the nomination of candidates so far to the left that they had no real chance of winning. This started with George McGovern in 1972, who was nominated almost entirely due to his dominance of the student focused "New Left" and just a little bit of rigging. He had lost everything but one state and Washington, D.C. The next time this happened was in the previous Presidential election year, 1984. That year the party had nominated former Vice President Walter Mondale, who would be crushed by Reagan in a similar fashion. Now, the party would nominate another of these candidates.
Jesse Jackson could arguably be considered the strangest nominee in party history. For one, he had never held elected office, and the only office he had ever tried for was the presidency. Secondly, his platform had remained largely unchanged since his failed run in the previous election. Jackson also used the same strategy he used in the previous election, attempting to unite a "Rainbow Coalition" of various minority groups. This time however, he was a far more experienced campaigner, and had far more notoriety and support from the outset. He also had the accidental assistance of Delaware Senator Joe Biden.
The relatively unknown Biden had surprised many by winning the Iowa caucuses. He had done it with just above 20% of the vote, but he had done it and he was instantly propelled into the spotlight. This was at the expense of the Gephardt and Simon campaigns that were both heavily banking on a win in Iowa. Some suspected Biden might also be able to just barely snag a win in New Hampshire, but Dukakis carried the state instead. Biden then won South Dakota on the 23rd (again damaging the Gephardt campaign), while Dukakis carried Minnesota. The first win for the eventual nominee Jesse Jackson came from a bizarre place. Jackson's first win came from Maine, where he won by a hair against a divided opposition. Jackson nearly won Vermont in a similar fashion but narrowly lost to Dukakis. Jackson's Rainbow Coaliton was beginning to take shape and his surprise victory in Maine saw a spike in his polling numbers.
Then came Super Tuesday, the day that would make or break campaigns. 20 states were up on this year's Super Tuesday and most of them were southern states. Biden, Gore and Gephardt focused their attention entirely on these states, while Dukakis focused on his home state and the few other states outside of the South. Simon was at this point running low on cash, and could barely campaign. Still he didn't withdraw, hoping he could pull off a victory in his native Illinois. Babbitt who had been in similarly bad shape had withdrawn in late February. All eyes were on the southern states, if one candidate could sweep them that candidate would instantly become the front runner.
Jackson did exactly that. Biden, Gephardt and Gore for all the effort they threw towards the Southern States, had only managed to weaken each other and let Jackson sweep the south. The only southern state up that day that didn't vote Jackson was Tennessee which narrowly went for its favorite son. Gephardt came in last of the three in most of the southern states and would withdraw the next day. Gore would suspend his campaign soon afterwards. Simon would lose Illinois later that month and drop out soon afterwards. At this point Biden and Dukakis still had a significant chance of winning, but then Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition were able to pull off an impressive victory in New York and by that point it was over. Biden and Dukakis still held out, but at this point they had no real chance. They would still trudge on through the rest of the primaries, slowly losing what remained of their momentum. Much to the chagrin of many in the party, Jesse Jackson would be their nominee.
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Hope this is plausible. I think it is, but I did rush it a bit and it was VERY difficult to find a way for Jackson to get the nod. Anyway, hope you guys like the TL
