Japhy
Banned
To take a break from Bush Gore, and the other tickets that keep popping up here, I would throw out a few other suggestions.
1912 Democratic: Wilson picked Thomas R Marshall (A rather decent VP all things considered, though he never did much) to appease the Populist-Dry Wing of the Party, but he wasn't the only chose to be considered. William Jennings Bryan was of course the kingmaker at the convention so its difficult to really see how, but if any "Wet" was put on the Ticket with Wilson, the Democratic solidarity might crack, and while the GOP division makes it still rather hard to imagine a Democratic defeat that year, Taft and TR could both gain ground in such a situation.
1912 Republican: Considering the fact that the two men had previously had good relations and would develop them again later, its not impossible to see TR and Taft being able to reconcile. Taft remaining on the ticket with a Roosevelt Selected VP pick (Knox, Borah, Root) and a promise that TR would get the Secretary of State job would allow the Party to go into 1912 Competitively. With a strong Republican ticket on one side and Debs gaining more votes on the other, Wilson could go down in a defeat easily.
1896 Democratic: William Jennings Bryan, then a young semi-insurgent candidate made a very half-hearted attempt to appease the Gold Democrats (Who were already walking out) of the Party with the nomination of Arthur Sewall as VP. The Swedeborgian Shipbuilder brought in the specter of odd religion, and further weakened the 2 term congressmen's experience problem, while upsetting Liberal Democrats and failing to woo Conservative ones. A stronger Gold candidate (Vilas, Hill, Bragg) or a sterner moderate (Blackburn, Hogg, Palmer) gives Bryan the experience he lacks, and can help woo Gold Democrats back to the party banner. Of course the Populist fusion nomination was a close run thing and a Strait-Out Populist ticket almost happened IOTL with Sewall pick, so any of them could provoke another third party run. If Bryan nominates a sterner Silverite as his nominee (Bland, Boies or Weaver) the Gold Democrats might be able to win their own state.
As a side note, had John Palmer picked a slightly younger VP pick then the also 80+ aged Simon B Buckner the National Democrats could probably have done much better. Blackburn is also from Kentucky, is also an Ex-Confederate, and like Buckner can appeal to moderates better. So you can take a 1% result to 2-5%.
Liberal Republicans 1872: There's not really such a thing as a Good Liberal Republican, but Greeley (A Terrible Candidate) selected his own terrible VP pick (Benjamin G Brown). He brought nothing to the campaign, except alcoholism and drunken commentary on Reconstruction that along with Greeley's stance completely gutted the party. Many Liberal Republicans simply opposed Grant's use of the Spoils system but sought a continuation of Reconstruction, and the fight for Civil Rights. Greeley and Brown both were from the faction that had only wanted Slavery to end, and turned against Reconstruction when it included blacks voting and owning property. Other options arn't much better (Trumbull is the best of a rotten bunch in regards to that Civil Rights fight) but could have kept the party from collapsing up North. Or David Davis could have been nominated bringing in Proto-Labor support while agreeing with the Anti-Freedmen message.
Or to appeal to the Democrats that they would fuse with they could have picked Winfield Scott Hancock, Baynard, Jeremiah S Black or Charles OConner as VP who would agree with the End of Reconstruction message. Or they could have balanced both parties factions by nominating a New Departure Democrat, Tilden, Sickles, or Palmer and balanced the Anti- and Pro- Civil Rights wings of the Democrats and Liberal Republicans.
There's still alot standing against the Liberal Democrats, but the election could have been closer, with a different VP. (With a sane Presidential Nominee they might even have won)
1856 Know-Nothing: In this election the American Party made the two classic third party mistake of the 19th Century, they nominated an Ex-President, and they nominated a VP from the other party. Now Fillmore is a shoddy choice already and they could have done better, but he did help them secure the official Whig nomination in the process so one can argue he evens out. But here's the thing. In the North the Know-Nothings support base are nativists and oppositionists who will vote no matter what. Wins there will only come by getting a plurality of votes with the rest split between the Democrats and Republicans. In the South though the party is really just THE opposition, the Republicans can't possibly win votes in slave states, so the Know-Nothings are just the banner by which the Whigs continue on in Dixie.
And with this, the path to success opened based on appeasing Ex-Whigs in the North to not vote Republican and by maintaining Whig morale down in Dixie, what do they do? They nominate Andrew Jackson Donaldson, the nephew and political heir of his namesake father of the Democratic Party. While appeals to bipartisanship work for Free-Soilers, Libertites, Populists and Greenbacks, it doesn't make any sense when your party is a re-branded continuation of a previous party entirely. George Law, Henry Gardner, Anyone who ran as a Constitutional Unionist in 1860, Nathaniel P Banks... All of them open up the option for the American Party, for all of its nativist idiocy, to be more then just a flash in the Political pan, with wins far beyond just Maryland.
1912 Democratic: Wilson picked Thomas R Marshall (A rather decent VP all things considered, though he never did much) to appease the Populist-Dry Wing of the Party, but he wasn't the only chose to be considered. William Jennings Bryan was of course the kingmaker at the convention so its difficult to really see how, but if any "Wet" was put on the Ticket with Wilson, the Democratic solidarity might crack, and while the GOP division makes it still rather hard to imagine a Democratic defeat that year, Taft and TR could both gain ground in such a situation.
1912 Republican: Considering the fact that the two men had previously had good relations and would develop them again later, its not impossible to see TR and Taft being able to reconcile. Taft remaining on the ticket with a Roosevelt Selected VP pick (Knox, Borah, Root) and a promise that TR would get the Secretary of State job would allow the Party to go into 1912 Competitively. With a strong Republican ticket on one side and Debs gaining more votes on the other, Wilson could go down in a defeat easily.
1896 Democratic: William Jennings Bryan, then a young semi-insurgent candidate made a very half-hearted attempt to appease the Gold Democrats (Who were already walking out) of the Party with the nomination of Arthur Sewall as VP. The Swedeborgian Shipbuilder brought in the specter of odd religion, and further weakened the 2 term congressmen's experience problem, while upsetting Liberal Democrats and failing to woo Conservative ones. A stronger Gold candidate (Vilas, Hill, Bragg) or a sterner moderate (Blackburn, Hogg, Palmer) gives Bryan the experience he lacks, and can help woo Gold Democrats back to the party banner. Of course the Populist fusion nomination was a close run thing and a Strait-Out Populist ticket almost happened IOTL with Sewall pick, so any of them could provoke another third party run. If Bryan nominates a sterner Silverite as his nominee (Bland, Boies or Weaver) the Gold Democrats might be able to win their own state.
As a side note, had John Palmer picked a slightly younger VP pick then the also 80+ aged Simon B Buckner the National Democrats could probably have done much better. Blackburn is also from Kentucky, is also an Ex-Confederate, and like Buckner can appeal to moderates better. So you can take a 1% result to 2-5%.
Liberal Republicans 1872: There's not really such a thing as a Good Liberal Republican, but Greeley (A Terrible Candidate) selected his own terrible VP pick (Benjamin G Brown). He brought nothing to the campaign, except alcoholism and drunken commentary on Reconstruction that along with Greeley's stance completely gutted the party. Many Liberal Republicans simply opposed Grant's use of the Spoils system but sought a continuation of Reconstruction, and the fight for Civil Rights. Greeley and Brown both were from the faction that had only wanted Slavery to end, and turned against Reconstruction when it included blacks voting and owning property. Other options arn't much better (Trumbull is the best of a rotten bunch in regards to that Civil Rights fight) but could have kept the party from collapsing up North. Or David Davis could have been nominated bringing in Proto-Labor support while agreeing with the Anti-Freedmen message.
Or to appeal to the Democrats that they would fuse with they could have picked Winfield Scott Hancock, Baynard, Jeremiah S Black or Charles OConner as VP who would agree with the End of Reconstruction message. Or they could have balanced both parties factions by nominating a New Departure Democrat, Tilden, Sickles, or Palmer and balanced the Anti- and Pro- Civil Rights wings of the Democrats and Liberal Republicans.
There's still alot standing against the Liberal Democrats, but the election could have been closer, with a different VP. (With a sane Presidential Nominee they might even have won)
1856 Know-Nothing: In this election the American Party made the two classic third party mistake of the 19th Century, they nominated an Ex-President, and they nominated a VP from the other party. Now Fillmore is a shoddy choice already and they could have done better, but he did help them secure the official Whig nomination in the process so one can argue he evens out. But here's the thing. In the North the Know-Nothings support base are nativists and oppositionists who will vote no matter what. Wins there will only come by getting a plurality of votes with the rest split between the Democrats and Republicans. In the South though the party is really just THE opposition, the Republicans can't possibly win votes in slave states, so the Know-Nothings are just the banner by which the Whigs continue on in Dixie.
And with this, the path to success opened based on appeasing Ex-Whigs in the North to not vote Republican and by maintaining Whig morale down in Dixie, what do they do? They nominate Andrew Jackson Donaldson, the nephew and political heir of his namesake father of the Democratic Party. While appeals to bipartisanship work for Free-Soilers, Libertites, Populists and Greenbacks, it doesn't make any sense when your party is a re-branded continuation of a previous party entirely. George Law, Henry Gardner, Anyone who ran as a Constitutional Unionist in 1860, Nathaniel P Banks... All of them open up the option for the American Party, for all of its nativist idiocy, to be more then just a flash in the Political pan, with wins far beyond just Maryland.