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Yes - The Ides of August
The Ides of August
Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (R-NY)*/Gov. Ronald Reagan (R-CA) 1968-1972 1968 def. Vice President Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)/Sen. Fred Harris (D-OK), Gov. George Wallace (R-AL)/Gen. Curtis E. Lemay (R-CA)
Pres. Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/Sen. Robert Dole (R-KS) 1972-1977 1972 def. Sen. George McGovern (D-SD)/Fmr. Mayor John Lindsay (D-NY)
Gov. Reubin Askew (D-FL)/Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN)1977-1985 1976 def. Pres. Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/Vice Pres. Robert Dole (R-KS) 1980 def. Sen. John Connally (R-TX)/Gov. William Milliken (R-MI)
Sen. James L. Buckley (R-NY)/Gov. William P. Clements (R-TX) 1985-93 1984 def. Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO)/Gov. Richard "Dick" Celeste (D-OH) 1988 def. Gov. Tom Bradley (D-CA)/Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX)
Sen. Walter Mondale (D-MN)/Gov. James "Jim" Hunt (D-NC) 1993-2001 1992 def. Fmr. VP/Sen. Robert Dole (R-KS)/Gov. Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL) 1996 def. Gov. Jack Kemp (R-NY)/Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)
Gov. Neil Bush (R-TX)/Fmr. Gov. Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL) 2001-2005 2000 def. Fmr. Gov. Bill Clinton (D-AR)/Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE)
Sen. Al Gore Jr. (D-TN)/Gov. John Kitzhaber (D-OR) 2005-2013 2004 def. Pres. Neil Bush (R-TX)/Vice Pres. Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL) 2008 def. Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)/Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ)
William O'Reilly (R-NJ)/Gov. John Engler (R-MI) 2013-17 2012 def. Vice Pres. John Kitzhaber (D-OR)/Gov. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Gov. Zephyr Teachout (D-NY)/Sen. James "Jim" Webb (D-VA) 2016 def. Pres. William O'Reilly (R-NJ)/Vice Pres. John Engler (R-MI)
I may try to come up with footnotes when I can. The short-version POD is Rocky and Ron somehow manage a deal-with-the-devil ambush of Nixon at the '68 convention, contingent on giving Reagan at-that-point unprecedented vice presidential powers on behalf of Thurmond's Southern bloc. There's tension over that through Rocky's administration until he is felled by the bullets of Arthur Bremer on the '72 campaign trail and Reagan takes office in his own right with all the powers of righteous indignation behind him.
Also O'Reilly's wafer-thin EC victory and loss of the popular vote (after a campaign targeted, like the famous Karl Rove-led assault on the records of Clinton and Kerrey, against indiscretions and irregularities in Vice President Kitzhaber's life) put him on brittle ground; the economic crash during his term opened the door to the Democrats' populist wing.
ETA: Among other things ITTL, US Ambassador to India Daniel Patrick Moynihan's plan crashed over Kashmir on a diplomatic jaunt to Islamabad, so Buckley ran against Bella Abzug as expected, and then in '82 also squeaked through in a vote against the stagflated economy and lame-duck Askew, thereby making him (Jim Buckley), together with Goldwater and former president Reagan, one of the three elder statesmen of the New Right.
And Fritz (hey, he's a fjord, not a Lincoln) finally got to debate somebody he could put away