AHC: President Jesse Jackson

Pretty self-explanatory. What needs to happen for Jesse Jackson to win the nomination? What can he do to succeed where Dukakis (or, for extra challenge, Mondale) failed? I'm specifically interested in something happening during the primaries in which he ran, but if you can think of a different POD that somehow gets the good Reverend in the White House, I'm interested.
 
In 1992, Jerry Brown publicly said that he would consider Jackson as his running mate if he were to win the nomination:

Wikipedia said:
As the press focused on the primaries in New York and Wisconsin, which were both to be held on the same day, Brown, who had taken the lead in polls in both states, made a serious gaffe: he announced to an audience of various leaders of New York City's Jewish community that, if nominated, he would consider the Reverend Jesse Jackson as a vice presidential candidate. Jackson was still a controversial figure in that community and Brown's polling numbers suffered.

Now, Brown was doing fairly well at this point, and it's plausible to imagine that if he didn't announce this he;d have been able to win the two states, and possibly the nomination given the momentum that would follow, at which point he could name Jackson as his running mate. While it would probably not be all that well received, as his OTL announcement proved, I imagine that the issue would blow over relatively quickly; even if it didn't, the Democrats were so overwhelmingly favoured in 1992 that I'm skeptical that, if everything else goes relatively the same (i.e. Perot dropping out than reentering the race), it would do enough damage to cost the Democrats the presidency, at which point Jackson's either perfectly set-up for 2000 or just a death away from the presidency.
 
Well, what the heck I'll accept the challenge.

1. Jesse Jackson doesn't call New York "Hymietown" in 1984. Mondale still wins the nomination and loses to Reagan, but Jackson is in better shape going into 1984.

2. Iran Contra goes worse for Reagan/Bush than it did OTL. Instead of coming clean about the Weapons Sale to Iran (well, barely) like in OTL, Reagan continues to lie about it into 1987 and is investigated and the truth comes out, showing both Reagan and Bush had knowledge about it. They don't get impeached or anything, but this really hurts Bush going into 1988, enough for Dole to narrowly take the nomination.

3. Jesse Jackson, who came in second place in the Democratic primaries in OTL, defeats Michael Dukakis, winning the nomination. He moves more toward the center in the General election, has good debate performances against a bland and bitter Senator Dole and goes on to win the Presidential election by a hair. Jackson loses in a landslide to Governor Pete Wilson of California in 1992.
 
In 1992, Jerry Brown publicly said that he would consider Jackson as his running mate if he were to win the nomination:



Now, Brown was doing fairly well at this point, and it's plausible to imagine that if he didn't announce this he;d have been able to win the two states, and possibly the nomination given the momentum that would follow, at which point he could name Jackson as his running mate. While it would probably not be all that well received, as his OTL announcement proved, I imagine that the issue would blow over relatively quickly; even if it didn't, the Democrats were so overwhelmingly favoured in 1992 that I'm skeptical that, if everything else goes relatively the same (i.e. Perot dropping out than reentering the race), it would do enough damage to cost the Democrats the presidency, at which point Jackson's either perfectly set-up for 2000 or just a death away from the presidency.
That's an interesting thought I hadn't considered. I wonder how he'd do in 2000. He certainly seems like he'd be a more controversial figure than Gore. I wonder what kind of opposition the Republicans would run, which I suppose depends largely on what the Brown administration looks like. This actually seems like a really fun TL.
 
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