AHC: President Springsteen

He gets hammered over his lack of knowledge about baseball as shown in "Glory Days"... :D

That's just a weird line too. Because "fastball" would work just as well, and I'm sure he or someone in the band knew that a speedball is not an actual pitch.
 
I started a thread on this a while back.

I think making him get elected Governor of NJ in the '90s is a good start. And from there, he's a very good Presidential candidate if he ever runs (in '04 maybe?).

That where my prediction would be if Springsteen ever ran for office. I think one of The Boss main strengths is that he appeals to many Republicans/Independents who are blue collar and admire The Boss for being like one of them despite being in the 1% nowadays. I'll say the best time for Bruce Springsteen to run for president is either in 2004 or 2008 and I'll think he'll win either way and Springsteen will be beloved by millions of voters.
 
So he would run for governor in 1997, win re-election in 2001 because let's face it, Gore isn't going to tap him for VP nominee. Then he could run for the nomination in 2004, but I think Springsteen is going to want to go the Reagan route and finish out his full second term.

Now the problem is that in 2008 he knows that he'll be running against Hillary unless some massive butterflies intervene. His relationship with the Clintons is pretty good from what I can tell and it will only be better if they helped him run for governor in 1997. So if there isn't some way that Hillary isn't running or there's a giant schism between the Clintons and Springsteen I'm not sure he'd actually run.

Supposing that he did run in 2004, though, I don't see a whole lot of obstacles to him winning the nomination. The problem will be that he's not going to have a whole lot of gravitas in an election that will revolve entirely around foreign policy even if he picks someone like John Kerry or Wesley Clark as his running mate. For my money, I think he'd probably lose to Bush.

Now, maybe he runs for governor 8 years earlier in 1989, wins, serves until Bradley announces his retirement in 1996, and then runs for the senate in that year. If he wins that race and is re-elected in 2002, I think he's a much stronger candidate in 2004 and might have a shot at winning.

Nevertheless, Springsteen as president would be very disappointing. I like his music too much to want him to sell out and be a part of the system (even more than he already has).
 
Supposing that he did run in 2004, though, I don't see a whole lot of obstacles to him winning the nomination.

I think you're underestimating how massive an obstacle Kerry's infrastructure (and wealth) turned out to be in OTL's 2004 primary. I would think that if Springsteen were closely aligned with the Clinton machine, they would discourage him from running in '04.

If the Boss is a candidate in '04, he'll face the Iraq Test. If he came out in favor of it, he'll be an also-ran to Kerry. If he came out publicly against it, he might be able to supplant Dean as the insurgent candidate. Either way, I think Kerry prevails.

The problem will be that he's not going to have a whole lot of gravitas in an election that will revolve entirely around foreign policy even if he picks someone like John Kerry or Wesley Clark as his running mate. For my money, I think he'd probably lose to Bush.

Not sure I agree with that; 2004 was essentially a referendum on Bush, and Kerry -- terrible candidate though he was -- came awfully close.
 
Not sure I agree with that; 2004 was essentially a referendum on Bush, and Kerry -- terrible candidate though he was -- came awfully close.

Right, but in a scenario in which Springsteen runs in 2004 when he has only been governor since 1997 it seems likely to me that Bush's strategy of running on the War on Terror and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be far more potent than they were against Kerry. My point is that Rove and his minions will destroy Springsteen even if he picks Senator Kerry or General Clark as his running mate because they'll be able to use the card Gore tried to use against Bush four years earlier; namely that he's not prepared in the realm of domestic affairs. For this reason, I'd actually look for Bush to win with a wider margin against Springsteen than IOTL.

On the other hand, if Springsteen runs for Governor back in 1989 and spends 8 years in the Senate going into 2004, then he will be viewed very differently, possibly winning that race against Bush barring any other butterflies.
 
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