Ford wins in 76.
- Thread starter Duke 4
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Reagan vs. Kennedy...
Without an incumbent Democrat to blame, Reagan's conservatism will likely seem too radical for the general populace. However, Ted has major issues, and though probably not too liberal to be elected in a good Democratic year, Chappaquiddick pretty much ended his non-Senate career. He likely wouldn't run, instead letting Mondale win the nomination.
Reagan wins in a squeaker (against Ted), gets squashed in '84.
Without an incumbent Democrat to blame, Reagan's conservatism will likely seem too radical for the general populace. However, Ted has major issues, and though probably not too liberal to be elected in a good Democratic year, Chappaquiddick pretty much ended his non-Senate career. He likely wouldn't run, instead letting Mondale win the nomination.
Reagan wins in a squeaker (against Ted), gets squashed in '84.
I don't think it would be Kennedy. Of the three brothers, he was least presidential, and was a legislation wonk meant for the Congress. For the problems the above has listed, I doubt it would be him to get the nomination.
Maybe someone like Gary Hart, or other Democrats that ran in the OTL. Although I have an inkling it wouldn't happen, maybe Jimmy Carter even gets another go.
I doubt Reagan would win. You had had a GOP which was in control of the Presidency from 1969 to 1981. And, in that time, you had had Nixon disgraced, and Ford bungling (or at least being the one to be said to have bungled things since the crap that took down Carter will be blamed on him).
Maybe someone like Gary Hart, or other Democrats that ran in the OTL. Although I have an inkling it wouldn't happen, maybe Jimmy Carter even gets another go.
I doubt Reagan would win. You had had a GOP which was in control of the Presidency from 1969 to 1981. And, in that time, you had had Nixon disgraced, and Ford bungling (or at least being the one to be said to have bungled things since the crap that took down Carter will be blamed on him).
usertron2020
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Wouldn't Ford run again? I don't believe the 22nd Amendment would block him.
And Teddy getty nominated is near-ASB, never mind him being elected. 1980 is a promising year for Democratic Presidential contenders ITTL. Teddy gets crowded out, if nothing else.
Ford assumed office in 1974. That means he could not seek another term lest he serve more than ten years in office.
Given the OTL chronology of how Watergate unraveled, this is very unlikely. When Nixon resigned, he'd lost the Supreme Court case regarding the tapes and the House Judiciary Committee had already voted on articles of impeachment with a full House vote coming up soon. I don't see the Senate, controlled by Democrats and smelling blood in the '74 midterms, delaying the Senate trial into January '75. For this to be plausible, you'd need a major departure in how the matter was uncovered; something along the lines of Butterfield lying to the Senate about the tapes or Nixon burning them or Mark Felt ("Deep Throat") dying in a car accident.
Kennedy may not have run; he was always ambivalent about running for president and ran in 1980 partly because he felt nobody else was willing to challenge Carter. Without Carter in the WH, Ted might have held off as he did in most other years when the nomination was free OTL (1976, 1984, 1988).
You may have had a very different cast of Democrats emerge. People like Gov. Hugh Carey of New York, Sen. Adlai Stevenson III of Illinois, Gov. Reubin Askew of Florida - all of whom major Democratic pols of the late 1970s who didn't run in 1976 or for whom the political calender just didn't work out.
You may have had a very different cast of Democrats emerge. People like Gov. Hugh Carey of New York, Sen. Adlai Stevenson III of Illinois, Gov. Reubin Askew of Florida - all of whom major Democratic pols of the late 1970s who didn't run in 1976 or for whom the political calender just didn't work out.
John Glenn could be a real possibility as he polled second to Mondale in '84, I think that would be really fascinating. And Gary Hart would be a good VP for any number of candidates if he didn't take the nomination himself.
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He probably would have botched it just the same. Ford was really never designed to be President. He had a legislative mind, not a Presidential one.
As far as 1980 contenders, you'd probably have Mondale, Jerry Brown, Reubin Askew, Adlai Stevenson, and John Glenn as front runners. Glenn would probably be the frotrunner due to name recognition, and might win.
Except his candidacy collapsed when he got close to nothing in Iowa. Maybe this timeline would be sufficiently different from him to win, but he was a very wooden stump speaker and just could never translate his on-paper strengths to actual votes in a presidential primary.
Anyway, in Jeff Greenfield's new book, he has a "Ford wins '76" alternate history that, in an obvious play on OTL 2008, has Gary Hart upsetting Ted Kennedy for the '80 nod, then defeating Ronald Reagan (Dole having chosen not to run) who, incidentally, had put an obscure woman politician - Sandra Day O'Connor - on the ticket in a futile bid for women's votes.