alternatehistory.com

In what may have been one of the greatest political comebacks in political history, in the span of just four months Gerald Ford had managed to overcome a divided party and triple digit polling deficit to be neck and neck with his opponent, Georgian governor Jimmy Carter. Carter, exploiting the dissatisfaction over Watergate along with his outsider status had secured a commanding lead, yet Carter through his blunders in the debates and elsewhere in the campaign (such as doing an interview with Playboy, hurting his support with Evangelicals and women) had led to the two candidates being neck and neck with each other in the polls. As election day approached, both candidates were tied in polling, leading to a general feeling of uncertainty when election day did finally approach. As votes began returning, initially it was projected that Jimmy Carter had won. However, it would had to be decided in two important states - Ohio and Hawaii, which Carter won by less than 1,500 votes [1] and thus needed a recount. As the recount was under way, those states were projected to going to either Carter or Ford. This process added to the uncertainty of the election, and added to the general feeling of malaise that was accumulating following Nixon's resignation. On December 18th, the recount concluded, and both Ohio and Hawaii went to Gerald Ford, who won them both with less than 1,000 votes. Carter conceded, and told his supporters to accept the results despite his victory in the popular vote. Despite this, calls for the abolition of the electoral college reached a crescendo, and such calls were not explicitly rebuked by Carter. As Ford's inauguration takes place on January 20th, he presides over a nation who a large segment of the population view him as illegitimate, and an increasingly unstable world despite the gains made by detente. Indeed, how his second term goes will have Ford be seen as either one of history's greatest or worst US presidents.



Gerald Ford/Bob Dole (Republican Party): 270 Electoral Votes (-250), 48.0% (-12.7%)
Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale (Democratic Party): 268 Electoral Votes (+251), 50.1 (+12.6%)
Others: 0 Electoral Votes, 1.9% (+0.1%)

----

1 - The POD
Top