Carter-Glenn 1976

  • Thread starter Deleted member 109224
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Deleted member 109224

What if Jimmy Carter had picked John Glenn as his running mate in 1976?
 
I think nothing against Mondale, the man from Ohio would have been an assist both to the ticket and governing afterward.
 

Deleted member 109224

I think nothing against Mondale, the man from Ohio would have been an assist both to the ticket and governing afterward.

It'd also be a very fresh ticket given how Carter sort of came out of nowhere and Glenn only entered the Senate in 1974.

I wonder how Glenn would impact Carter's governance. 1980 likely is a closer election if Carter governs better, and Glenn probably fares better against Reagan than Mondale did.
 
Carter would still win in 1976. It's hard to imagine how a popular and respected man like Glenn would harm the ticket in anyway, although an argument could be made that as an experienced Senator with insider connections Mondale helped to reconcile Carter with the party establishment that opposed him in OTL. That said, Carter still wins narrowly and his administration still tanks. The VP is an almost powerless sinecure, so it's not likely that having Glenn in that position would really change how Carter governs. The real difference is 1984 - and whether or not Glenn ends up running like Mondale. Glenn wasn't known to be a very good speaker, whereas a big reason that Mondale narrowly beat Hart was his classic "Where's the beef?" smackdown, so it's quite possible that Glenn would actually lose to Hart and then retire from politics altogether. Either way, whether it's Hart or Glenn who faces Reagan, they probably do much better than Mondale who was hurt by several gaffes about taxes and Reagan's age, but they still lose to the popular incumbent.
 
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