alternatehistory.com

A Different Moral Majority

1981: Howard H. Baker Jr./Phillip M. "Phil" Crane [1]
def. 1980 James E. "Jimmy" Carter/Walter F. "Fritz" Mondale
1981: Phillip M. "Phil" Crane/vacant [2]
1981-1985: Phillip M. "Phil" Crane/George H. W. Bush [3]
1985-1989: Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings/Gary W. Hart [4]
def. 1984 Phillip M. "Phil" Crane/George H. W. Bush
1989-1997: John C. Danforth/Nancy L. Kassebaum [5]
def. 1988 Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings/Gary W. Hart
def. 1992 William J. "Bill" Clinton/Thomas R. "Tom" Harkin, Henry R. "H. Ross" Perot/James B. "Jim" Stockdale
1997-2001: Nancy L. Kassebaum/Carroll A. Campbell Jr. [6]
def. 1996 Albert A. "Al" Gore/William. W. "Bill" Bradley, Henry R. "H. Ross" Perot/Pat Choate
2001-2007: Johnny R. "John" Edwards/Patricia L. "Patty" Murray [7]
def. 2000 Carroll A. Campbell Jr./Michael O. "Mike" Leavitt
def. 2004 John E. "Jeb!" Bush/Elizabeth "Betsy" DeVos
2007: Patricia L. "Patty" Murray/vacant [8]
2007-2009: Patricia L. "Patty" Murray/Thomas J. "Tom" Vilsack [9]
2009-2013: John S. McCain/Joseph I. "Joe" Lieberman [10]
def. 2008 John F. Kerry/Barbara A. Mikulski
2013-0000: Willard M. "W. Mitt" Romney/Marco A. Rubio [11]
def. 2012 Brian D. Schweitzer/Barack H. Obama Jr.
def. 2016 Hillary D. R. Clinton/Timothy M. "Tim" Kaine

1. As Ronald Reagan geared his campaign up for 1980, Jerry Falwell, the leader of the burgeoning Christian Right/Moral Majority, looked for a candidate that was a committed family man to represent them and chose to support Howard Baker, the Senator from Tennessee and noted deal breaker. After a brutal nomination fight that saw George Bush, the third place finisher, earn the position of Chief of Staff in a Baker administration and Reagan get a voice in the naming of the VP nominee, they chose Phil Crane, a representative from Illinois, to join Baker. Falwell, gaining in popularity, capitalized on President Carter's Playboy interview, sinking Carter's campaign.
2. John Hinckley Jr., looking to impress Jodie Foster, assassinated President Baker in March of 1981.
3. Crane chose an in-house candidate to get the promotion, Chief of Staff George H.W. Bush.
4. An unpopular economic plan labeled as "voodoo economics" and a shoddily run campaign saw Crane and Bush lose to Fritz Hollings, a former Governor and current Senator for South Carolina.
5. As the 1988 campaign geared up, Falwell decided to endorse John Danforth, an Episcopal priest, saying that "no one loves God and America more than John Danforth." With Falwell's help, Danforth, alongside Nancy Kassebaum, are able to defeat Hollings over an unstable economy that he wasn't able to fix.