Clinton runs in 1988

Does he do well in the primaries? Can he win the nomination? If not, does it help him or hurt him in 1992?

If he wins the nomination, can he beat Bush? If he can't, is he an also-ran, or does it just increase the "Comeback Kid" aura if he tries for a rematch in 1992?
 
He did consider it, which makes for interesting circumstances.

I think his key problem is Jesse Jackson bleeding his Southern support, Gephardt hitting Midwest, Dukakis in the North, and so forth. Overall the field in '88 was quite a bit better than in '92 and therefore harder for Clinton to stand out.

In the ATL does his history come out? Can he still mount any kind of Comeback Kid thing? No Harkin means Iowa is a free-for-all, and N.H. seems like a close fight.

I don't think Clinton can win, I do think butterflies + Clinton doing well means things are going to change quite a lot…*but I'm not sure in what direction.
 

raharris1973

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President Al Gore in 1992?

Unless he ran in '88 also and he and Clinton sucked away each other's oxygen,making them both look like losers.


.....or we get to return to the favorite of Mario Cuomo

All the above assumes the Democrat would not win.

I don't think that was preordained, but the only way this PoD gets a Dem in the White House is if alters the ultimate nominee to someone more appealing than Mike Dukakis.

If Gephardt was going to have a year, '88 would have been it.
 
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