1988: Super Tuesday works the way it was intended(maybe Jesse Jackson dies in a car crash, or Gore also appeals to Northerners better as well and does respectably in Iowa and New Hampshire)with Gore sweeping the Soith and then winning the nomination over Dukakis. Al Gore picks John Glenn as his running mate and runs on a 'New Democrat' platform, opposing gun control, vowing 'no new taxes' and supporting school prayer. Bush in turn attacks Gore as a 'lightweight' and benefits when Gore sighs in the debate and comes off as arrogant and obnoxious. By Election Day the polls are neck and neck. Gore beats Bush 50-48 but is only confirmed to be the winner after a divisive month-long recount in Ohio.
1992:H W Bush surprises them all by declining to run for a second term, as Dubya said in his book 41 that this was considered for a short time after Neil Bush's scandal. Dole easily wins the primary and picks Colin Powell as his running mate. Dole/Powell initially struggles amid the recession, but is able to win a comfortable victory after demolishing Democrat nominee Mario Cuomo as a 'bleeding-heart liberal who holds Middle America in contempt', to quote Dole's convention speech.
1996: In October 1995, after heightening media speculation, General Colin Powell announces he is running for President. Powell quickly upsets the front runner Dole, but before the Iowa caucuses comes under attack by Dole and Buchanan for being pro-choice. The Iowa caucuses narrowly go for Dole, but Powell wins a landslide in New Hampshire. Buchanan soon drops out and Powell then defeats Dole. Powell picks Dole as his running mate and wins a comfortable victory against Bill Clinton. Clinton, while popular, struggled against the successful combination of the universally-popular Powell, who got a quarter of the black vote based on himself being black, and the attack-dog Dole.
2000: Bill Bradley wins the New Hampshire primary and gains a burst of momentum against Al Gore. The media finally pays attention to the Democrat race, and Gore's campaign panics with high-profile resignations, while Gore performs poorly on the campaign trail. The result is that Gore, the inevitable candidate, doesn't even get the nomination of his party. They said Bradley's liberal platform would not find acceptance, but they didn't count on Donald Trump's surprisingly successful bid for Reform getting 6% of the vote, with 4.5% of those coming from Bush. Bradley won a narrow victory in Ohio and the election.
Or...
McCain gives a stirring speech two days before the South Carolina primary, lambasting Bush's 'gutter politics'. The result is an upset victory, where he wins Sc and then the nomination. From there his 4-point election is relatively easy. Campaign finance reform and true leadership comes to Washington, which proves useful when 9/11 hits. Hey, Bush did lose the popular vote and only won a shady recount!
2004:John Edwards wins the Iowa caucuses. Kerry wins in New Hampshire. On Super Tuesday, the Democrats declare that Iowa doesn't just pick corn and picks Edwards as their nominee. Edwards comes under attack by Bush as a lightweight, unable to handle the terrorist threat and an ambulance lawyer. Edwards fires back attacking Bush's record, promising new leadership. A compelling debate performance tips the balance in favour of Edwards, though not after another recount, this time in Ohio. That new leadership does not turn out well, to say the least.