Alternatives to Reagan in 1980?

I personally prefer Bush-Laxalt.

Perhaps, but this is a Reagan-less scenario and Laxalt's OTL prominance was due in large part to Reagan's. In addition to Kemp, I see Bush's short list as including: Howard Baker, Lowell Weicker and Phil Crane. Another interesting, though unlikely possibility would be William Simon. Laxalt, I imagine, might/would be in the next tier of possibilities, along with: John Heinz (interesting butterflies here), Alexander Haig, Charles Percy, Bill Brock, John Danforth, James Thompson, Donald Rumsfeld (more interesting butterflies) and Richard Lugar.
 
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I forget the exact reasoning as to why Gerald Ford decided not to run, but Reagan had a lot to do with it. I remember reading that given the experience of 1976, where he had nearly lost, he was unsure if he actually beat him without being an incumbent; not to mention the polling was against him as well. He entertained the idea into March of 1980, but ultimately decided against it.

Without Reagan, Ford will jump right in with nothing really holding him back. The primary race would be interesting, however, given that many conservatives would flock to Phil Crane or John Connally, and Ford would have to compete with George Bush and John Anderson for their base; Howard Baker too. What must be considered if any of these candidates would back out if Ford were to jump in; among those, however, Baker is the only one I think who would endorse Ford, and even then it isn't a given.

So Ford is the heavy favorite, no question. However, it is dependent upon the early primaries. If Bush manages to still squeak a win in Iowa, you will see a lot of Ford supporters probably moving into the Bush camp; even if Bush loses for that matter, as long as it is narrow, he could consider it a "victory". Then you have New Hampshire, where Ford MUST win. Again, it is up in the air. Ford and Bush would be fighting it out, while Crane and Connally try their luck.

All these details aside, I believe that it would in the end become a Ford-Connally race, with Ford eventually rising to the top by the end; Connally would likely have won South Carolina, and then remained in the race till the end. Bush, however, if he had unbalanced Ford enough, could easily take the latter's place, especially with victories in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Again, on a closer look, it is really up in the air.

An excellent analysis/scenario Ariosto. I had not considered that Ford would actually run again. His big fear in OTL was that another Reagan-Ford primary & convention battle would weaken the party to such a degree that it would be unable to mount a successful fall campaign against Carter. He wouldn't have that concern in TTL and so might run. Perhaps we'd have Ford-Connally or Ford-Bush running in '80 against Carter-Mondale. Imagine, if he had defeated Carter and if Hinkley's OTL demons moved him in TTL to shoot the President, that Ford would have had 3 attempts made upon his life while POTUS.

Gerald Ford 1981 -1985
John Glenn 1985 - 1993
(In 1998 he became the oldest person and 1st former president in space!)
Jack Kemp 1993 - 2001
Dick Gephardt 2001 - 2009
Jeb Bush 2009-
 
I'm not really sure I'm convinced by this idea of Ford doing a Cleveland. Ford has a LOT of baggage, (I.E, Nixon) and I'm not sure he would be acceptable to the party, or if he could be, there's a big question mark over the country.

What exactly is Ford's platform going to be? 'Under me, it wasn't all quite as bad as it is now'? I just can't see that kind of back to the future appeal working for him.

I think if Ford runs, the right is courted by, and eventually bolts towards, one of the other candidates, and Ford crashes and burns. This must surely be the fear. And I think it would be enough to keep him out of the race.
 
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Perhaps, but this is a Reagan-less scenario and Laxalt's OTL prominance was due in large part to Reagan's. In addition to Kemp, I see Bush's short list as including: Howard Baker, Lowell Weicker and Phil Crane. Another interesting, though unlikely possibility would be William Simon. Laxalt, I imagine, might/would be in the next tier of possibilities, along with: John Heinz (interesting butterflies here), Alexander Haig, Charles Percy, Bill Brock, John Danforth, James Thompson, Donald Rumsfeld (more interesting butterflies) and Richard Lugar.

But depending on he POD, Reagan and/or his wing of the party will still have had some influence going into 1980.
 
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