I remember seeing maps in the test thread showing McGovern barely winning a primary against Scoop and then winning 270-268. (bruh)
And the elusive Texan somehow gets shot/impeached/25th'ed in the mid-80s and his VP Paul Laxalt becomes POTUS.
I think its been confirmed that McG will face a primary challenge from Henry Jackson. As for the GOP, I wanna say Reagan but that's too obvious.
Same. Maybe we can change that.
All that of course depends on finding fixed points in what I like to point out is an Ever-Evolving Tapestry. If one goes back to early sketches in the early/mid-2010s, although I don't think I've ever posted any of them anywhere around here, that was back at the phase I was convinced that I'd do a "Ford's Second Term/Democratic Eighties" TL first, the primary presidential protagonist wasn't even George yet. There have already been a variety of soft retcons just in material that's made its way into the McGoverning Thread here, the most noticeable to do with sports and bits of pop culture but also things where, when I sit down and revise chapters for what I hope will be an eventual ebook, details shift and sometimes change outright.
As for things not yet published they take on all sorts of changes. Some have changed already in places I've posted about; others are deliberately up in the air until much closer to chapter-drafting so I can see where the broader Ever-Evolving Tapestry wants to take things; others get altered by strokes of creativity, dissatisfaction, new research data, or simple good luck; and many more have been held much closer to my chest in the last year or two, especially as a particular part of the forum has become less a small community of writers workshopping stuff and more an opportunity to snoop behind the curtain. So there are a variety of potential surprises ahead.
Just for the benefit of all and sundry among the Careful Readers, here's a list of potential GOP presidential candidates for 1976 as of TTL's early 1975, in alphabetical order and grouped by their background (e.g. are they a senator, governor, etc.) Will all of these candidates run? No. But are they potential candidates depending on circumstances closer to the actual election and who else decides to run? Yes.
Governors: John Connally, Daniel J. Evans, Evan Mecham, Robert Ray, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Rockefeller, William Westmoreland
Senators: Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater Sr., Charles Mathias, Charles Percy, John Tower, Lowell Weicker
Representatives: John Anderson, John Ashbrook, Phil Crane
Ex-Nixonians: Melvin Laird, Elliott Richardson
As you'll note that's eighteen names - quite the clown car - and mostly leaves out crank/perennial candidates (with the partial exception of Evan Mecham.) Lot of balls in the air. We'll have to see how that all comes together.
"Moderate" and "Conservative" are a bit tricky here - always remember that the cohesion of what we think of as "Modern Conservatism" was forged in the fires of a specific period of history (e.g. the Cold War); it's been practically all but confirmed that the evolution of The Right has been altered TTL. So we may very well still get a right wing backlash reaction to McGovern-ist Liberalism taking power in the 1980's, but it will look notably different from Reagan's OTL Revolution.
All these are good points. Complex enough that they don't have to be definitive, and also good points.