Challenge: A modern-day Van Buren or Fillmore

Thande

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Martin Van Buren and Millard Fillmore are both people who served as President of the United States for a major party (the Democrats and Whigs respectively) but then came back, years after their terms had ended, in order to stand again on third-party tickets--the Free Soil Party and the American Party or "Know-Nothings" respectively. Neither won but both managed to draw a significant percentage of the vote and Fillmore carried a state.

Your challenge is to have this repeated in the modern day (1900-present)--a former President comes back to stand as a third-party candidate. They need not win the presidential election (in fact it's very difficult) but they should draw a significant vote and perhaps carry states. The only 20th century example is Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, but that was a case of him founding his own party after failing to gain the Republican nomination--this is mainly about former presidents running for existing minor parties. Like, I don't know, Jimmy Carter running as the Modern Whig Party candidate in 2012 or something (stupid example but you get what I mean).

I realise this is made harder after the two-term limit amendment because most presidents will either have already served two terms or will have lost an election and been branded losers...but let's see what scenarios we come up with anyway.
 
In 1968, LBJ ran in the Democratic primary. With several anti-war candidates running on LBJ's left, the field was fractured enough to allow George Wallace to be the nominee. Wallace then chose solid Dixiecrat Sen. Richard Russell as his running mate (a deliberate slap in the face to the rest of the party), leading LBJ to continue running.

On which ticket? An expansion of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party from the 1964 convention. Nationally, it served as a vehicle for the New Deal coalition excluding the Dixiecrats.

The "National Freedom Democratic Party" (LBJ-Humphrey) won MN, MI, DC, PA, NY, CT, RI, MA, HI, and ME, for 141 EVs.

The Democratic Party won VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, TN, KY, WV, AR and FL, for 137 EVs.

The GOP (Nixon-Agnew) won the rest for 261 EVs.

No one reached 270, leading to a brokered electoral college. Wallace tried to cut deals with both sides and failed. LBJ liked his chances in the House, and Nixon maintained he was the legitimate winner and the whole process was unfair to him.

It then was thrown to the House, Nixon won 18 states (AL, AZ, NM, UT, WY, ID, NE, KS, ND, IA, IN, MN, MI, VA, VT, NH, MD, DE), LBJ 15 states (CA, NV, HI, WA, CO, IL, WI, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, ME), Wallace 12 states (NC, WV, SC, GA, AL, MS, LA, AR, OK, MO, KY, TX) on the first ballot. All other states were deadlocked. On later ballots, Oklahoma, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina and Florida switched between all three candidates several times. California briefly supported Nixon, since he won the state, but then reverted. DC petitioned the Supreme court to include their delegate in the voting, but were not granted cert. . George Goodling (R-PA) briefly seemed to have a solution of all states supporting the popular vote plurality winner, Nixon with Wallace as veep. All the Democrats balked. After twelve days and 42 ballots, no one gained a majority.

Finally, LBJ engineers a deal. Wallace becomes president, with NC Gov. Terry Sanford as VP. LBJ also is to name several members of his cabinet. Wallace was not to undo any of the Great Society programs or the VRA, but could pursue an end to enforced busing. Wallace seethed, but accepted the terms.

Nixon flew into a rage. Corrupt bargain! Unelected president!

But with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, and an electoral college that had technically never met, there was nothing legally to be done.

George Wallace was sworn in as the 37th President of the United States. He became the only POTUS in history to become married while in office on January 4, 1971 to Cornelia Ellis Snively, aka the "Redneck Jackie Kennedy".

His term lasted until May 15, 1972, when C'nelia's nickname became eerily accurate.
 
After Obama's electoral defeat in 2012, the Democratic party is in shambles, with the Democrats rebranding as centrists under the Blue Dogs and the Progressive Part getting the more left party members, and even has Obama run aas it's Presidential candiate in both 2016 and 2020 (he loses both).
 
After Obama's electoral defeat in 2012, the Democratic party is in shambles, with the Democrats rebranding as centrists under the Blue Dogs and the Progressive Part getting the more left party members, and even has Obama run aas it's Presidential candiate in both 2016 and 2020 (he loses both).


The Democrats under Obama are already branding themselves as centrists and Obama is a blue dog. Why would a progressive party run Obama? Progressives hate him. Obama would be better off running as a Republican.
 

CalBear

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George H. W. Bush running as the head of the "My son is a frigging idiot" Party?
 

CalBear

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The Democrats under Obama are already branding themselves as centrists and Obama is a blue dog. Why would a progressive party run Obama? Progressives hate him. Obama would be better off running as a Republican.
Obama is a Blue Dog?

Excuse me?
 
In 1968...

Problem, Johnson was not a former president in 1968. You could have him win in '72, in which case, if he dies as per OTL, he would only be in office 2 days. Also, what do you mean by "the E.C. technically never met?" What stopped the electors in each state from meeting? What votes did the House & Senate have then to act upon? Additionally, George Goodling's proposal would be a no-go as Wallace was not a candidate for VP, and neither was Sanford, so he won't be elected VP either - Humphrey or Agnew (to use your names and E.C. vote numbers) would be.
 
The Democrats under Obama are already branding themselves as centrists and Obama is a blue dog. Why would a progressive party run Obama? Progressives hate him. Obama would be better off running as a Republican.

No, Joe Manchin is a Blue Dog. Obama is about as much of a centrist as Rick Perry.
 
Former President Gerald Ford and John B. Anderson run on a "New Conservative Party" ticket of moderate Republicans after Ronald Reagan selects John Connally as his running mate and runs a hard-right wing campaign in 1980. The Ford-Anderson ticket splits the Republican vote. This, combined with a better handling of the Iranian hostage crisis by Carter, has the President elected to a second term by a slight margin, with less than 50% of a popular vote.
 
How about this:

Things run as in OTL until 1981. Hinckley misses Reagan in the shooting at the Hilton. A month later, Paul Volcker is killed in a traffic accident and Reagan appoints a right-winger to head the Fed. This, in turn, changes Fed policy such that the nascent 1983-84 recovery never happens. The KAL 007 shoot-down happens as in OTL, but the saber-rattling is more intense, fuelling fears of a showdown with the Soviets. Gerald Ford decides to jump into the GOP nomination contest, but is unable to defeat Reagan in the primaries, though the contest is close. Mondale is nominated by the Democrats as in OTL. Ford, backed by the moderate wing of the GOP, which senses impending GOP disaster due to Reagan's unpopularity over the economy and relations with the Soviets, runs as an independent, arguing for a moderate, centrist course against the liberal Mondale and the right-wing Reagan. Ford wins more than a handful of states and siphons off enough votes from Reagan to throw quite a few electoral votes to Mondale, though he does not win enough electoral votes to eclipse Reagan. End result: nobody has 270 electoral votes and the election heads to the Democratic House...
 
Former President Gerald Ford and John B. Anderson run on a "New Conservative Party" ticket of moderate Republicans after Ronald Reagan selects John Connally as his running mate and runs a hard-right wing campaign in 1980. The Ford-Anderson ticket splits the Republican vote. This, combined with a better handling of the Iranian hostage crisis by Carter, has the President elected to a second term by a slight margin, with less than 50% of a popular vote.

John Anderson does look like John Major. ;)
 
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