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*if you are a presidential candidate in the USA.

Simple POD: President Grant drops dead on December 15, 1872. Horace Greeley is already dead (as of November 29). Those two men were the only people to earn electoral votes that year; IOTL, Greeley's electors scattered, but Grant won handily anyway.

I see a few possible resolutions to this event:

1) The Republican electors vote Grant's running mate Henry Wilson in as vice president, and block any selection of a president before Inauguration Day by not casting a majority to anyone in the EC or the House. Result: Wilson / vacant.

2) The Republicans put Wilson in as veep and pick someone else to fill the presidency. The caveat here is that they would only have a week or so to get enough electors to vote for one person to give em a majority of electoral votes, or at least one of the top three spots for a House selection. Result: ? / Wilson.

3) Wilson is drafted for president directly. This suffers from the same organizational caveat as 2. Result: Wilson / ?.

4) The Republicans mess up, not putting their EVs where they can count. I have no idea how this could turn out.

It's worth noting that IOTL Wilson died as vice-president, so if option 1 happens (admittedly, not that plausible) and he dies on schedule, then the last year of his term would be served by the president pro tempore of the Senate. Kill him off two months earlier, though, and the presidential election cycle is permanently shifted one year sooner.
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