AHC: The Presidency of John McCain

I wish McCain had campaigned in 2008 like McCain in 2000. He would have picked Lieberman as VP because he didn't give a damn about conservative ire. And he was always at his best running an insurgent, underdog campaign (instead of the Toothless Bush-like campaign he sold out to run).

He still would have lost unless Obama had been horribly mauled by a longer primary campaign against Clinton. Or bring back a Ralph Nader type run to split the vote on the left.
 

jeffking

Banned
McCain was actually leading in the polls in the summer and running neck and neck in September until the Wall St collapse killed his chances. No Wall St Meltdown= McCain wins, Palin runs for the RNC in 2016.
 
I wish McCain had campaigned in 2008 like McCain in 2000. He would have picked Lieberman as VP because he didn't give a damn about conservative ire. And he was always at his best running an insurgent, underdog campaign (instead of the Toothless Bush-like campaign he sold out to run).

He still would have lost unless Obama had been horribly mauled by a longer primary campaign against Clinton. Or bring back a Ralph Nader type run to split the vote on the left.
I doubt he could get a majority of Republican convention delegates to vote for a pro choice liberal like Liberman. If somehow he can get Lieberman the nomination, he would anger much of the Republican base.Palin actually helped McCain by shoring up his support among skeptical social conservatives.
 

iddt3

Donor
McCain was actually leading in the polls in the summer and running neck and neck in September until the Wall St collapse killed his chances. No Wall St Meltdown= McCain wins, Palin runs for the RNC in 2016.
No. Given anything like OTL's timeline, McCain is still in serious trouble.
1. He's coming in on the heels of a roundly disliked Republican president and is directly associated with the Status Quo on a deeply unpopular war.
2. His campaign is poorly managed and does little to exploit his strengths.
3. Obama by contrast is riding a wave of near religious enthusiasm in his base and is running what was arguably one of the tightest and most sophisticated campaigns in American history, as well as having access to massively more cash.
4. His choice of VP. Sure it energized his base, but they were pretty damn uncomfortable with Obama anyway, and I know that for me personally it killed any chance of him getting my vote.
5. The Recession. His vote on Tarp. This sealed his fate. Even without it, not changing anything else he's still in a crappy position.
 
Top