How centrist/conservative can the post-Reagan Democrats become?

It has been remarked that Bill Clinton was governed as a hardcore centrist (if not as a moderate Republican) in the 1990s and the Democrats in general, with the rise of the DLC, shifted in a rightward direction on the political spectrum in response to the GOP's success during the Reagan years.

Dukakis catered to the centrists/conservatives in his choice of Lloyd Bentsen as running mate.
1992's primary was a fight between the centrist Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown who was both very progressive and very conservative (supporting a flat tax and wanting to abolish the Department of Education).
Gore-Lieberman was a fairly centrist ticket.
Obama governed as a center-left neoliberal who used some early 90s GOP ideas as well (Cap and trade, individual mandate, etc).
Clinton's preferred running mate in 2008 was Strickland and in 2016 the final two were Kaine and Vilsack supposedly.

How to the center/right could the Democrats get after the Reagan Revolution?
 
I think its somewhat difficult for a Democratic president to really be that much further to the right than Bill was, while still being liked by the base (and actually being able to win the primaries). In fact Clinton himself probably wouldn't of been able to do some of some of the things he did without the general prosperity of the 90s and his own strong charisma.
 
Have Gore win in 2000 and then die in some sort of accident, putting Joe Lieberman in charge. That would be about as conservative a Democratic Administration as you could possibly get without some really unlikely fluke.
 
Have Gore win in 2000 and then die in some sort of accident, putting Joe Lieberman in charge. That would be about as conservative a Democratic Administration as you could possibly get without some really unlikely fluke.

What about Al Gore - Zell Miller?
 
What about Al Gore - Zell Miller?

Not sure that was too likely. Lieberman was a proponent of the late Clinton Administration's turn towards an interventionist foreign policy, and more importantly, as someone who'd stand strong on moral values in the wake of Monicagate. Miller probably wouldn't be too different in those regards, but he was out of office at the time, and I don't think he'd be seen to add as much. Still, I don't know enough to rule it out, and that would indeed be even worse.
 
Could a Democrat run as an immigration hawk in the 90s? Being in favor of restrictive immigration policies (especially illegal immigration) seemed to still be regarded as a respectable position back then, not only nationally, but among parts of the Democrat base as well, especially blue collar voters i imagine. I wonder if such a position could remain part of the Democratic platform to this day.
 
Miller worked for Lester Maddox -- no-go, I think. Of course President Lieberman could work on this.

Well, Miller DID get to speak at the Democratic convention in 1992, so he wasn't too much of a pariah. I remember when it was Jimmy Carter's turn to speak, after Miller, he got a lot of applause just by mentioning Zell's name.

I think the next time I heard anything from Miller was a few days after 9/11, when he was on TV saying he thought it was okay to kill civilians in other countries 'cuz those countries had killed Americans.

EDIT: Why does my quote of sciscisciortini include an extra line not in his original post?

EDIT: Oh, now the posts match again.
 
Could a Democrat run as an immigration hawk in the 90s? Being in favor of restrictive immigration policies (especially illegal immigration) seemed to still be regarded as a respectable position back then, not only nationally, but among parts of the Democrat base as well, especially blue collar voters i imagine. I wonder if such a position could remain part of the Democratic platform to this day.

Diane Feinstein supported Prop-187 when she ran for Governor of California in 1994. Immigration really wasn't a partisan issue yet.

Miller-Feinstein or Feinstein-Miller perhaps?


Alternatively there could be a Lieberman-Nunn or Lieberman-Miller administration as Lieberman succeeds Gore following something tragic happening. Maybe Lieberman-Bayh.

I'd say Lieberman-Feinstein, but I can't see an all-Jewish ticket happening.
 
Well, Miller DID get to speak at the Democratic convention in 1992, so he wasn't too much of a pariah.

Milller was a big cheerleader and surrogate for Bubba in 1992, (Think they knew each other through Carville?) that's why he got the keynote, his slow drift to sheer DINOness hadn't begun at that point.

It's definitely true though that Bentsen was very much outside the mainstream when he was selected, (A fact obscured somewhat by all the Jackson platform/veep psychodrama at the convention) and it's not inconceivable that Sam Nunn might have ended up on a national ticket either. Get the election won, and they're a heartbeat away.
 
Milller was a big cheerleader and surrogate for Bubba in 1992, (Think they knew each other through Carville?) that's why he got the keynote, his slow drift to sheer DINOness hadn't begun at that point.

It's definitely true though that Bentsen was very much outside the mainstream when he was selected, (A fact obscured somewhat by all the Jackson platform/veep psychodrama at the convention) and it's not inconceivable that Sam Nunn might have ended up on a national ticket either. Get the election won, and they're a heartbeat away.

Nunn was discussed as a possible Obama VP.

Considering some of the accusations of Obama being a moderate republican OTL, that might compound it.
 
Have a liberal/ish Democrat pick a very conservative V-P, win, and die.

Andrew Cuomo or Jerry Brown runs with Jim Traficant as V-P to win the rust belt and run against NAFTA in 1992, and win. Cuomo dies, and viola President Traficant.
 
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Well, Miller DID get to speak at the Democratic convention in 1992, so he wasn't too much of a pariah. I remember when it was Jimmy Carter's turn to speak, after Miller, he got a lot of applause just by mentioning Zell's name.

I think the next time I heard anything from Miller was a few days after 9/11, when he was on TV saying he thought it was okay to kill civilians in other countries 'cuz those countries had killed Americans.

EDIT: Why does my quote of sciscisciortini include an extra line not in his original post?

EDIT: Oh, now the posts match again.

Having an ex-segregationist as keynote speaker or even as a Senate leader is one thing. On a Presidential it's gonna be a distraction.
 
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