AHC: Johnson vs Nixon

That would be a fascinating Presidential election, there's no doubt! What PODs could make it happen? The PODs, I am sure, would also determine the winner, but off the top of my head I'd give the nod to LBJ.
 
I remember reading Pat Buchanan's book on his time in the Nixon campaign. A matchup against LBJ (without Wallace) was predicted at the time to yield a result something like this:

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I think it's fairly easy, though not a certainty, in '64 if Nixon wins in '60.

JFK could try for a rematch a la Stevenson and Eisenhower, and if it's really close in '60 he's young enough to do it, but would his playboy image casue some problems? Or, would LBJ even use that image to smear him and get his way? There is also Kennedy's Addison's Disease, though i see that as more of a problem by 1968. (Then again, it also means he'd try harder in '64 seeing it as his last shot.)

LBJ was more liberal than many Democrats wanted, but if Nixon is really popular, you could see a number of Democrats backing out like OTL's 1992, and letting Johnson carry the mantle to a likely defeat while preparing for 1968. Combine that with Johnson's own dogged determination to succeed, and I think he could pull enough strings with his alliance in the Senate to get the nomination.

He'll have detractors, and the Kennedy factor, so that's why i say it's not a given, but I think there's a pretty decent chance that Johnson gets the nomination and opposes an incumbent Nixon in '64.
 
1964 be the year of the incumbent, given a good economy and civil rights (Nixon's pro but certainly it would be delayed if he won in '60), thus making Kennedy think he should run in 1968 (Vietnam ,etc.).
 
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