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So first part - what, if any, US Presidential Elections were pretty much doomed for one of the two major parties (not counting re-elections) at the start of the primaries (or conventions, if prior to 1912)?

Second part - who else could have gotten the doomed nomination for said year? Or alternatively, with the same nominee, who else might have been chosen for running mate?

Third - how would American political history be altered by said change? Again, taking it as given that said alternate ticket is still going to lose, and still badly.

Possible scenarios for discussion off the top of my head - Rockefeller getting the GOP nomination in 1964; Mondale tagging Jesse Jackson for VP in 1984.

We can also talk about historical elections in other countries, provided the selection of party nominees is close enough to the election for them to still effectively be doomed going in (eg UK is probably out; even a clobbering like 1983 could be reversed if we go as far back as 1980).

So, any ideas or thoughts?
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