Alternate Democrats in 1976

What's wrong with that

Take a look at the number of people from the House of Representatives that were Vice-Presidential candidates in the 20th century.

A Congressman doesn't have enough of a profile to matter outside (at best) his state, and unlike Governors (and some Senators) doesn't have enough of a political organization to win his home state.

You'd pick an innoffensive Senator/Governor over 434 or so of the 435 Congressman in a heartbeat.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
If Hugh Carey (D-NY) is willing to accept the VP slot, he's a good balance pick for Church.
Would he be willing to give up the governorship of NY for the vice presidency, though?

Gov. Ken Curtis of Maine might be a good choice.
 
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For Frank Church to win, he needs to make a very difficult choice. In OTL he chose to remain in the Senate to continue his investigations of the Ford Administration and the Intelligence Community. This was his major focus, and the major goal of his career. He entered the race late in an attempt to stop Carter, who he rightfully saw as unable to lead the nation in the right direction.

But if Church decides to run from the very start, he has a shot. More than any other candidates (besides Carter) he's the most likely to embrace the McGovern reforms and actually campaign in Iowa and the other early states. He's also the ideal candidate in Iowa, considering he is from a farm state, is pro-gun, pro-farmer, and a foreign policy dove. If he wins Iowa, he could go on to win the nomination in a similar manner to Carter. At that point he beats Ford, possibly by a wider margin. His running-mate is probably Lawton Chiles, Fritz Hollings, or John Glenn. Someone to give regional balance.
 
Glenn looks good on paper, but remember that he's held elected office for about 10 minutes by the time Church has to throw his hat in the ring.
 
Glenn looks good on paper, but remember that he's held elected office for about 10 minutes by the time Church has to throw his hat in the ring.

Though it wasn't his first elected office, Barak Obama had served in the US Senate for only 3 years prior winning the presidency. Glenn has some credentials and stature from his pre-political life that are pretty substanitive.
 
The Obama Glenn comparison is an interesting one. While Glenn had the advantage of spending a dozen years as a national hero before entering politics but he was handicaped by the flop keynote address he gave in 1976.
 
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