Elect Donald Rumsfeld POTUS

You could have him decide to get back into electoral politics some point from 1980 onward. Either that, or he's appointed Secretary of Defense, National Security Adviser, Secretary of State, or maybe even Secretary of the Treasury. Maybe after that Bush decides not to run in 1988 for health reasons and Rumsfeld emerges as one of the frontrunners.
 
Well, apparently some people saw him as a viable VP candidate in 1980. Not sure if Reagan himself seriously considered him, but you could always have Rumsfeld take the same path as Bush. VP under Reagan for 8 years and then get swept into office in 1988 on Reagan's popularity.

There was also a Senate election in Illinois in 1980. He could run for that and then go from there.
 
Well, apparently some people saw him as a viable VP candidate in 1980. Not sure if Reagan himself seriously considered him, but you could always have Rumsfeld take the same path as Bush. VP under Reagan for 8 years and then get swept into office in 1988 on Reagan's popularity.

There was also a Senate election in Illinois in 1980. He could run for that and then go from there.

I think I actually remembering a thing on wikipedia where a certain Conservative, I'm not sure, thought that the choice of Bush was the worst decision of Reagan's Presidency, and had he chosen Rumsfeld, America would've avoided the (in his eyes awful) "Bush-Clinton" era. I'll have to find out who said that.
 
Pretty easy, actually. Reagan aide Richard Allen gives Reagan Rumsfeld's name instead of Bush's.

Years later, when Rumsfeld's old friend Richard Allen revealed that he had persuaded Reagan to pick George Bush as his vice presidential running mate and supplied Bush's phone number (Bush had given up hope by the time Reagan called and was getting drunk with James Baker), Rumsfeld called Allen and asked, "Why didn't you tell him to pick me?" To which Allen generously responded, "Because I didn't have your number."

Rumsfeld is then dutifully nominated for president in 1988 as Reagan's vice president. He defeats Michael Dukakis and serves from 1989-1993, getting beaten by Bill Clinton in 1992.
 
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