DWBI: Anyone but Biden

DTanza

Banned
If Gary Hart's affair doesn't become public knowledge, or if you can find a way to prevent it altogether, he's basically assured the nomination. Otherwise, you could have Al Gore Jr. do better in the debates. Maybe someone can coach him to not look so damn stiff and arrogant.
 
Well he's a could-be candidate, but I don't know if he's any more likely than Hart, Gore, or Kennedy...

I think Dukakis would've been a very strong candidate. He was still very popular in Massachusetts when he left the Governor's mansion in 1991.

(ooc: I think Dukakis iwould look a lot better on paper than they ultimately did in practice.)
 
I think Dukakis would've been a very strong candidate. He was still very popular in Massachusetts when he left the Governor's mansion in 1991.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Dukakis is unlikely exactly -- just that he'd be up against some guys with much better name recognition.
 
Dukakis was too conservative to win the nomination.

By today's standards perhaps, but remember than in 1988 the country hadn't gone through the leftward shift it went through during the Biden administration and Dukakis could have had a decent shot at the nomination if he ran a strong campaign.
 
By today's standards perhaps, but remember than in 1988 the country hadn't gone through the leftward shift it went through during the Biden administration and Dukakis could have had a decent shot at the nomination if he ran a strong campaign.

No, that's not what I meant (although Dukakis would probably be a Republican today), people think Dukakis is a lot more liberal than he really is because he was the governor of Massachusetts. The same happened with Jerry Brown (before he turned Reform, that is). He was really a technocratic pragmatic governor, a moderate at the time, but a conservative for the Democratic Party.
 
As it says on the tin, who else could be the Democratic candidate in 1988?

What about Clinton? I mean sure, it helped that Ross Perot split the conservative and moderate vote in both '92 and '96(Biden declined to run for another term after the fall of the USSR in 1991; with Gorbachev leading the transition from Communism to Social Democracy, Old Joe felt his work was done.).....but Bill could've won in 1988, too. :D
 
What about Clinton? I mean sure, it helped that Ross Perot split the conservative and moderate vote in both '92 and '96...but Bill could've won in 1988, too.

Really, Clinton? Back in 1988 he was less of a nationally known figure than Dukakis. Besides, I really have trouble seeing anyone using Governor of Arkansas of all things as a springboard to the Presidency :rolleyes:
Maybe Jesse Jackson?

Sadly, Jesse may be one of the more likely to be nominated candidates (if a lot less likely to win the general election than literally just about anyone).
 
What about Dick Gephardt? I know that IOTL his campaign went basically no where with Biden's campaign sapping all the blue collar votes. Without Biden he could sweep the rust belt and midwest.

Baby faced Clinton would go no where. And remember when he tried in '96 and that woman came forward? I'm sure he probably would have the same questions in '88, especially with the scrutiny turned up to 11 after Hart.
 
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