AHC: A Leap Year Baby for POTUS

Who would be the most plausible president of the US born on February 29? Most of the names listed at http://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/date/born-02-29.html do not seem too promising. The one real possibility I see is if Jack Lousma had won his 1984 race for the US Senate against Carl Levin. Given Reagan's coattails in Michigan in 1984, it does not look impossible, and the Senate race was fairly close--51.8-47.2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Michigan,_1984 "but he [Lousma] was hurt late in the campaign when video surfaced of him telling a group of Japanese auto manufacturers that his family owned a Toyota.[5] This did not play well in the Detroit area ." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_R._Lousma

Reading CQ' s *Politics in America 1990* pp. 722-23, it seems that one of Lousma's problems is that he had retired from NASA in Houston and returned to his boyhood home of Grand Rapids just before launching his campaign, and seemed unfamiliar with Michigan issues. "In one unfortunate moment during the summer, he told an audience that any Michigan schoolboy could understand the state's problems in a few hours. Many voters were not so sure..." Yet with all that, he came fairly close to being elected, and if he had won, I could see him as GHW Bush's running mate in 1988. Bush wanted a conservative from the Midwest, and Lousma who in 1984 "was strongly supported by anti-abortion forces, anti-tax advocates,and other conservative Republicans" according to *Politics in America 1990*, p. 722, would seem to qualify, not to mention the glamour of having an astronaut on the ticket. And of course once you're vice-president, you're just a heartbeat away...
 
Bartholomew Thomas "Bart" Stupak, born February 29, 1952, Representative from Michigan, retires from the House in 2011.

In 2014, incumbent Democratic Senator Carl Levin decided to retire instead of running for re-election to a seventh term, Bart Stupak, decides to seek the nomination for senator and wins, defeating Republican, former Michigan Secretary of State, Terri Lynn Land.

In 2024, Bart Stupak is nominated as Democrat Presidential Candidate.
 
I think you've pretty much answered your own question. Lousma would tick off most of the same boxes as Quayle (region, right-wing, etc.), plus, simply due to the fact that he's a former astronaut, he'd probably be seen as far more credible - even if he does prove to be a little bit gaffe-prone, as he seemed to be when he ran for the senate - than Quayle ever was IOTL.

This would set him up well for 1996 (in case Bush wins re-election, or Lousma opts to challenge Clinton) or, more likely, 2000.
 
Bartholomew Thomas "Bart" Stupak, born February 29, 1952, Representative from Michigan, retires from the House in 2011.

In 2014, incumbent Democratic Senator Carl Levin decided to retire instead of running for re-election to a seventh term, Bart Stupak, decides to seek the nomination for senator and wins, defeating Republican, former Michigan Secretary of State, Terri Lynn Land.

In 2024, Bart Stupak is nominated as Democrat Presidential Candidate.

Bart Stupak was a pro-lifer mostly known for nearly holding up the ACA in a spot of grandstanding over federal funding for abortion -- this wasn't an issue in his rural district, but I think he'd have a hard time winning a statewide primary in Michigan and no chance in hell of making a national ticket.
 
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