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Let' s say that in 1856 James Buchanan for some reason is unavailable at the Democratic national convention. (Either he dies or some scandalous correspondence is unearthed concerning his relationship with the late William R. King...) The two major candidates would then be Pierce and Douglas (there were a few votes for Cass, but he was too old) and both have their disadvantages. There was little support for Pierce outside the South after the violence in Kansas. As for Douglas, while northern Democrats knew that they would have to defend the Kansas-Nebraska Act, they may still have had reservations about nominating someone so closely associated with it. And southern Democrats were suspicious about his association with "squatter sovereignty." Other names were mentioned, like former (and future) governor Horatio Seymour of New York, but Seymour took himself out of contention in OTL, and let's assume he will do so in this ATL as well.

Now what did the Democrats do in that era when they were deadlocked? They looked for a dark horse candidate, as in 1844 and 1852. And maybe, as in 1844, they go for a Tennesseean--Governor Andrew Johnson. After all, he had twice (1853 and 1855) defeated Whig candidates for governor in a state that had voted for Whig presidential candidates since 1836 (and which Fillmore would seriously contest in 1856). Even though Polk had actually disliked Johnson, the analogy with 1844 would be obvious. Johnson's one problem with southerners would be his advocacy of a homestead bill--which many of them opposed because they felt it would favor non-slaveholding farmers. But that same position might help him in the North. And on other issues, Johnson's record was sufficiently pro-slavery as of 1856.

It may seem that Johnson was a bit too obscure as of 1856. Yet look at 1852: there were Douglas, Buchanan, Cass, and Marcy--strong candidates, one would think. Yet the Democrats rejected all of them in favor of the little-known Franklin Pierce. The same thing with Van Buren and Cass in 1844 (though Polk was hardly as obscure as the Whigs claimed). The two-thirds rule in that era could easily lead to drawn-out battles that were resolved by the choice of a "dark horse."

Of course, by definition a "dark horse" is unpredictable and there were many alternatives to Johnson. But Johnson does seem to have entertained at least a vague hope for the nomination in 1856, and for that reason tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent Tennessee from sending pro-Pierce delegates to the national convention. "But the governor and his supporters did not give up. Local and county conventions continued to name him as a favorite son, and the Nashville *Union and American*, in an obvious bid for his nomination, published a favorable biographical sketch. His friends thought his chances were pretty good." https://books.google.com/books?id=blkUcM2B3dgC&pg=PA103
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