Another Huey Long question

Huey Long, before he died, was the subject of speculation on whether or not he would challenge Roosevelt for Democratic Nomination in 1936. According to Wikipedia, his plan was to supposedly challenge Roosevelt for the nomination and generate publicity for himself. He would then have run another candidate on a third party ticket with his "share the wealth" program as it's platform. The party was supposed to split the progressive vote and lead to a Republican President being elected. So my question is this. If Huey Long had lived, would his plan have worked and would Alf Landon have stood a better chance of winning the presidency in 1936?
 
It might have worked, if only barely. The problem with Huey Long is that his platform would largely appeal in areas where the Republicans could not really pick up electorally, such as the South, or where they would need to make ground, such as in the Northeast. That and a lot of "Share Our Wealth" supporters (Poor Whites) are probably not going to be able to vote in the South; the region is still contested but is not the granted most people give it credit for.

There are of course battlegrounds; the Midwest and West were receptive of Long's message, and given the Republicans had a "respectable" showing there states like Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Pennsylvania could tip to them. However this is far from a given as well.

To be honest, it all depends on how Long's primary campaign against Roosevelt would have went. If he does enough damage to Roosevelt's reelection campaign there and at the convention, he can certainly mount a serious third party challenge and take away much of the Left. At the same time though, if he flops, then there is not much chance of it taking off as RogueBeaver has stated.

In short, your more likely to send the election to the House and Senate, which should be interesting.​
 
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I honestly think that the plan would fail myself. Roosevelt wasn't really facing too much flak for his policies yet, and the third party would still find it pretty hard to make Landon win. Landon would get a few more states, but Roosevelt's still going to probably win.
 
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