In 1988, Vice-President George Bush defeated Colorado Senator Gary Hart to become America's 41st President. Hart initially had a massive polling lead after taking the Democratic nomination, but his support evaporated during the general election campaign. The Republicans relentlessly attacked Hart for his McGovernite past, and accusations of womanizing constantly dogged the telegenic Senator. Hart refused to respond to the attacks, believing such politics were beneath him and instead tried to focus on his "New Ideas." A major highlight of the campaign was a disastrous press conference when Hart snapped at the media for questioning his personal conduct. When asked about the issue of adultery during his TV debate with Bush, Hart froze and broke out into a sweat before stammering the widely panned answer, "that's not a fair question Mr. Shaw!" Hart's gaffes and weak campaign allowed Bush to take the lead and win the election.

But suppose that Hart had been taken down by a sex scandal during the Democratic primaries, and anyone of the other candidates had been nominated instead. Which one of them stood the best chance of beating Bush, and what are the odds of them actually winning the election?
 
Hard to say. Unlike in 1992(i.e., Joe Biden, who would, IOTL, go on to beat Bush that November, and then Dole in '96) , we didn't have any really good candidates back in '88; Hart may have been our best hope-but at least he kept Bush below 350 EVs, though.
 
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Honestly, Hart's nomination was beneficial in the long run while the Republican's attacks bit them back at the same time. Hell, even early on, Goldwater called the GOP out on it.

Biden would do a fairly good job in trying to recover the economy and go on without scandal, but then Bush Jr came in during the early 2000s and screwed alot up. Hell, had Biden not preemptively stopped Bin Laden's plot, Bush would have to deal with that (though it would've served as a massive boon for Bush Jr.)

The tax cuts and Bush Jr's mishandling of Katrina doomed him and he would be blamed for the 2008 Recession (which was not his fault entirely, but his pointless Iraq War and tax cuts made it worse.) 2004 was when Hart's protege (the name escapes me) ran for the Democrat primary.

He didn't win, but when the news began talking about Gary Hart and George McGovern again, suddenly their ideas became alot more receptive to the American people. Granted, it didn't sink in until 2008, but then, ooh, the people took it. Plus, looking back, people weren't as bothered by infidelity as they were, especially as the news kept growing with it and alot of people saw the GOP attacks as being plain bullying. Some politicians took it further and said it showed that GOP focused on personal attacks rather than real answers and that Hart's nervousness made him seem like a real guy and thus relatable.

Plus, the growing scandals on the GOP's own problems and they would lose big time in 2008 to President Feingold, who used the opportunity to push alot of reforms in. especially since he and Senate minority leader at the time McCain worked together before. Granted, pushing a universal single-payer healthcare system cost him alot of political points, but Vice President Bernie Sanders did a very good job at getting attention at the chicanery by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, which won them some back.
 
He didn't win, but when the news began talking about Gary Hart and George McGovern again, suddenly their ideas became alot more receptive to the American people. Granted, it didn't sink in until 2008, but then, ooh, the people took it. Plus, looking back, people weren't as bothered by infidelity as they were, especially as the news kept growing with it and alot of people saw the GOP attacks as being plain bullying. Some politicians took it further and said it showed that GOP focused on personal attacks rather than real answers and that Hart's nervousness made him seem like a real guy and thus relatable.

But most people just found it pathetic. Here was a guy who talked a tough game about "ethics" and hit Reagan hard on Iran-Contra, yet he himself was so transparently unethical. Voters weren't bothered so much that Hart was unfaithful as they were by his apparent hypocrisy and dishonesty. And there were some politicians who defended Hart after the press conference and the debates, like Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, but when they saw him break out into a cold sweat on national TV most Americans saw Hart as a weak and cowardly man unfit to be Commander in Chief.

Interestingly, Clinton himself would have his presidential ambitions devastated by revelations of infidelity - not to mention draft dodging - in 1992. But he couldn't even make it past the primaries and lost to Biden. After Hart, the last thing the Democrats wanted was yet another scandalous nominee. If Hart hadn't been nominated it's possible that Clinton would've been elected in 1992, but I doubt that a hypothetical Clinton presidency would end well.
 
But most people just found it pathetic. Here was a guy who talked a tough game about "ethics" and hit Reagan hard on Iran-Contra, yet he himself was so transparently unethical. Voters weren't bothered so much that Hart was unfaithful as they were by his apparent hypocrisy and dishonesty. And there were some politicians who defended Hart after the press conference and the debates, like Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, but when they saw him break out into a cold sweat on national TV most Americans saw Hart as a weak and cowardly man unfit to be Commander in Chief.

Interestingly, Clinton himself would have his presidential ambitions devastated by revelations of infidelity - not to mention draft dodging - in 1992. But he couldn't even make it past the primaries and lost to Biden. After Hart, the last thing the Democrats wanted was yet another scandalous nominee. If Hart hadn't been nominated it's possible that Clinton would've been elected in 1992, but I doubt that a hypothetical Clinton presidency would end well.

I agree, and it also kinda reminds me of how V.P. Sanders's campaign for 2016 was torpedoed by that little essay from 1972, because Sanders did a similarly poor job handling the fallout from that, as Hart did with his own scandal in '88. (Thankfully, Hawa'ii Senator Barack Obama swept in and managed to wipe out Tucker Carlson in the 2016 election: he even almost won Texas! Albeit, largely thanks to the 3rd party run of Kasich-Gilmore taking just enough moderate GOP votes, which also allowed Obama to narrowly win Indiana and Georgia, something that even Russ Feingold couldn't pull off in 2008)

OOC: Yup, that Tucker Carlson.
 
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