What if Jerry Brown won the 1992 Democratic nomination and the presidency? How could this be done? Not sure about the primaries, maybe Brown avoids his Jesse Jackson gaffe. I think he could win the general, Perot would probably stay dropped out and given Brown holds similar positions to him Perot and a lot of his support would likely go Brown. It'd be close, but with Bush's unpopularity he has a chance. Finally, if Brown somehow wins, how does his presidency go? How are the 1990s different? How are US politics altered? What if?
Jerry Brown Wins 1992 US Election
- Thread starter Pericles
- Start date
Well, as for the primary, say Clinton's affair(s) and involvement in Whitewater surface, and he drops out. Brown channels this new anti-Establishment sentiment, and fights Tsongas at the Convention, winning narrowly. He chooses someone Gore-like to ease moderates, and wins by a narrow margin.
NAFTA won't go into effect, and NATO won't intervene in Yugoslavia, probably no Iraq sanctions, either.
NAFTA won't go into effect, and NATO won't intervene in Yugoslavia, probably no Iraq sanctions, either.
Not necessarily. Brown and Perot had identical views on virtually every issue. Maybe Perot could endorse Brown and this could give Brown a 2008-esque victory.
Brown is likely as effective as President as he is as Governor right now. NAFTA is dead for good or naught. I don't know too much about his foreign policy, but expect rather large cuts as, after all, the Cold War is over. Brown won't be able to get some of his silly proposals like a flat tax through (I'm not even sure if he'd try to get it through considering his proposal was a tax increase on the poor and middle class and a large tax cut on the rich), but expect him to raise the minimum wage successfully. In 1992, there'd likely be Republican gains, but not enough to capture either House. With a good economy, Brown likely wins reelection. In his second term, with Brown being even more fiscally responsible than Bill Clinton, expect rather large surpluses. I'd say Congress falls to the GOP in 1998. He ends his presidency with a high note; I can't see any scandal for Republicans to exploit.
AP
SAN FRANCISCO:
Eric "Jello Biafra" Boucher, former lead singer of punk rock group "The Dead Kennedys", announces on his internet mailing list that he's moving to Vancouver, British Columbia. Biafra, a well known critic of Jerry Brown, cites the recent election of President-Elect Brown as a reason for moving to Canada.
SAN FRANCISCO:
Eric "Jello Biafra" Boucher, former lead singer of punk rock group "The Dead Kennedys", announces on his internet mailing list that he's moving to Vancouver, British Columbia. Biafra, a well known critic of Jerry Brown, cites the recent election of President-Elect Brown as a reason for moving to Canada.
Jerry Brown in '92 is a good, and severely underutilized POD. Who would his VP be?
For geographical balance I'd suggest:
- Bill Clinton
- Al Gore
- Chuck Robb
- Tom Harkin
- Fritz Hollings
yourworstnightmare
Banned
The only thing the GOP could critisize him about, and probably would is weakness in foreign policy. And whether his preisdency would be seen as succesful or not might also hang on how his forign policy causes butterflies worldwide. If the Republicans have a case to make that his policy has made US less secure, then that might outweight economical success.
Paul V McNutt
Banned
In 1992, as a Clinton volunteer, I got to meet and chat with the candidate. I learned that he didn' like Jerry Brown. I assume the feelings were mutual. So I don't see a Brown Clinton ticket.
If Brown gains much more steam in the primaries, maybe Perot goes beyond a simple endorsement when he drops out. Maybe, the same way that Clinton "doubled-down" when he picked Gore as a running mate, Brown pulls a game change - he arranges for Perot, another protectionist populist, to be his running mate.
Such a ticket would probably dominate in every region of the country but the South (and even then there'd be real potential to pick off Oklahoma and Texas).
Such a ticket would probably dominate in every region of the country but the South (and even then there'd be real potential to pick off Oklahoma and Texas).
He could choose Tom Harkin, a fellow unconventional Democrat, as his running mate. Harkin has quite a bit of foreign policy experience and maybe that could help Brown have effective foreign policy. He could play the same role Hillary Clinton played for Obama: a very competent advisor virtually running foreign policy.