Alternate Running Mates For OTL Presidents(Post-1900)

Basically, the goal of this thread if to find as many possible running mates for OTL Presidents, that actually had a chance of being picked.

For Example, in 1944 before Harry Truman was put on the ticket with FDR, their was a chance that Henry Wallace might have stayed on as VP, or James Byrnes might have gotten the spot.

We can also discuss what the effects might have been if they had been on the ticket instead.
 
2000: Al Gore/Bob Kerrey

2008: Barack Obama/Tim Kaine

Some possibilities from timelines around here. :)
 
I'll start us off. ;)

1960- Democratic

Stuart Symington: OTL was rejected due to Ted Sorensen's advice: "we don't want the ticket to be known as the 'whiz kids'." JFK would lose the election without LBJ to hold the South.


1964- Democratic

Robert Kennedy: As improbable as it sounds given their mutual loathing, a Rockefeller nomination would force LBJ to ask Bobby. Odds of acceptance are 50-50.

Eugene McCarthy: Contemplated as a "fuck you" to RFK, being an under-50 Irish Catholic as well.

Robert McNamara: Considered as a bipartisan move, but McNamara didn't want it because he had no electoral experience and a Daley veto.

1968-Republican

Gerald Ford: Quite likely, because Ford could shore up the Rust Belt and was acceptable to Strom.

Charles Mathias: Considered, acceptable to Nixon and the South.

George H.W. Bush: Considered by Nixon, a Southern moderate acceptable to Strom.


1972-Republican

Ronald Reagan: Quite likely, because Reagan would put away any potential Wallace challenge, and serve as POTUS at a much younger age than OTL.

1980-Republican

Donald Rumsfeld: Quite possible, but that might mean a POTUS Rummy in 1988.

Richard Schweiker: From OTL '76, he served in Reagan's Cabinet.

1988-Republican

Dick Lugar: A much better choice than the male Palin, Dan Quayle.

2000-Republican

Elizabeth Dole: Like Cheney, she would not run in 2008.
 
1944 - Democratic

James Byrnes
- Ultimately rejected because he was seen as too conservative and not cozy enough with organized labor.

Henry Wallace - Preferred by Roosevelt, but rejected by the rest of the party because he was too liberal and too close with the Soviets.

Harold Stassen - Roosevelt actually considered asking Stassen on board in a show of bipartisanship for the war effort, but the DNC wouldn't have it.

There was also a Governor of Indiana, IIRC, but I don't remember his name.


1952 - Republican

William F. Knowland - If Nixon had been removed from the ticket.


1956 - Republican

Christian Herter - Ike thought Nixon wasn't popular enough with Democrats (who were at the time the large majority of the American voting public), and thought that Nixon might damage his chances of re-election, so he briefly considered moving Nixon to Defense and having him replaced by Christian Herter of Massachusetts.
 
IIRC, Kerry honestly considered picking Dick Gephardt for the Veep spot, as you can see from this pre-selection cover of the New York Post.

500x_custom_1262625230102_kerry-gephardt.jpg
 
1944 - Democratic

James Byrnes
- Ultimately rejected because he was seen as too conservative and not cozy enough with organized labor.

Henry Wallace - Preferred by Roosevelt, but rejected by the rest of the party because he was too liberal and too close with the Soviets.

Harold Stassen - Roosevelt actually considered asking Stassen on board in a show of bipartisanship for the war effort, but the DNC wouldn't have it.

There was also a Governor of Indiana, IIRC, but I don't remember his name.

(/quote)

The IN Governor was Paul McNutt, but FDR actually disliked him and never seriously considered his candidacy. William O. Douglas was a better contender.

Not quite a running-mate, but John Connally was Nixon's first choice for Veep after Agnew resigned, and was a possible Reagan running mate.

LBJ considered Thomas Dodd of Connecticut before picking Humphrey.

1912 is interesting, because of Wilson's stroke in his second term. Would Judson Harmon, Gilbert Hitchcock, or Oscar Underwood have forced Wilson from office, as Thomas Marshall refused to do?
 
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1912 is interesting, because of Wilson's stroke in his second term. Would Judson Harmon, Gilbert Hitchcock, or Oscar Underwood have forced Wilson from office, as Thomas Marshall refused to do?

IIRC, the only reason Marshall didn't become President was because Wilson's inner circle HATED Marshall. They kept his infirmity a secret for that very reason.
 
2008 - Obama/Sen. Jim Webb (D, VA) - Would give the administration some good cred on defense issues much the same way picking Biden bolstered their foreign policy cred.
 
Mysterion: Too inexperienced. If McCain had picked someone other than Palin, he could wave the experience card in the Dems' face ad infinitum. McCain would do a lot better EV-wise, and maybe even pull off a squeaker win.
 
Mysterion: Too inexperienced. If McCain had picked someone other than Palin, he could wave the experience card in the Dems' face ad infinitum. McCain would do a lot better EV-wise, and maybe even pull off a squeaker win.

Good points there. I agree with you. Maybe as Secreatary of Defense, then.
 

mowque

Banned
Mysterion: Too inexperienced. If McCain had picked someone other than Palin, he could wave the experience card in the Dems' face ad infinitum. McCain would do a lot better EV-wise, and maybe even pull off a squeaker win.

I'm not as...learned as you Rougebeaver but I have a really hard time seeing McCain win in any (realistic) scenario.
 
I said maybe, but yes, I cannot see a McCain victory either.

Something like this.

genusmap.php


(D) Barack H. Obama/Joseph R. Biden Jr.: 298 EV, 50.5%
(R) John S. McCain/Timothy Pawlenty: 240 EV, 49.3%
 
Here you go. You can set them to have numbers and shaded by popular vote, but after receiving complaints I removed both from all my electoral map posts. It is very confusing to have pink (Dem/Rep win with under 40%) Southern states in '68. ;)
 
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