Nelson Rockefeller does not get re married

On May 4th, 1963 Governor Nelson Rockfeller of New York married Happy Murphy. Rockfeller was 54 and Murphy was 36. They both had children from a previous marriage. Rockfeller had been divorced for around a year and Murphy roughly one month. At that time Rockfeller was the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for President. The Gallop poll before the remarriage showed Rockfeller at 43% Goldwalter at 26% After the marriage it showed Goldwater at 40% and Rockfeller at 29%. Duing the time period before the remarriage Goldwater was was serioulsy thinking about not running for President and supporting Rockfeller. Yes they were opposite in many things even so they were in the same party. But Goldwalter had no great desire to be President. The conservative -liberal split that was in the GOp that went back to 1912 was doormat at this time. So my question, what happens if Rockfeller does not get remarried. Does he get the nomination? Can he give LBJ a race? I just can't see America having 3 Presidents in roughly one year. But does this hurt or help the conservative movement that got it's start in 64? Other consquences, how about Reagan running for Governor? Nixon moving to New York? Thoughts?
 
If Rocky does not remarry he clinches California and the nomination. Johnson will be forced to ask Bobby to be his running mate, and there is a a very slim (~15%) chance of acceptance. Not just pro forma as per OTL but with a sense of urgency. Johnson needs to shore up Catholics, urban voters and the youth vote, and only RFK can do that. Rocky still gets trounced by LBJ, Nixon still moves to New York. Alternatively he runs for Senate against Pierre Salinger in 1964 and trounces him easily, which would be portrayed as a proxy fight between Nixon and the Kennedys, since Salinger was after all JFK's former press secretary. If Rockefeller is the nominee, Reagan never makes that famous speech that started his political career, and might never become a politician.

LBJ will also face the problem of having both his "Leaders of the Opposition" in the Senate and in the news constantly, which will drive him bonkers even more than OTL. :D
 
This is a scenario similar to what happened in my President Barry Goldwater TL (see my signature). ;) He'd stand a decent shot at winning the GOP nod, especially if he wins California's primary. I think however, that in the general, Rocky would go down in flames. Nobody was going to defeat LBJ in 1964: the economy was decent and LBJ had the sympathy vote behind him 100%. I see the election map looking like this:

genusmap.php

I agree with RogueBeaver that Reagan may never become a politician. I also agree with RogueBeaver that this is the opportunity for an LBJ-RFK ticket. It'd be hilarious to see the dynamics of a LBJ-RFK White House. :D If Barry Goldwater wants to, he'd have a good shot at the GOP nomination in 1968, and he'd stand a good shot at the general as well.
 
Not against Nixon he wouldn't. Nixon, RFK and Barry all in the Senate together... now that's what I call a combustible mixture. Unless some bipartisan work is done on immigration and civil rights, where they are in complete agreement. :D
 
On libertarian grounds, yes. Nixon, sensing that it might be unhelpful in the future, might back away from working on it. Bobby would be furious, since the thing he despised most was moral cowardice. That might fritter away any chances of working on urban development or immigration legislation, since they had the same ideas on the subject. To be somewhat blunter, Nixon plagiarized on urban dev without the press noticing. Otherwise things would've gotten very problematic in the South for Tricky Dick.

Han: I believe the term is "locked in the Naval Observatory with the keys thrown into the Potomac", like Nixon did to Agnew and LBJ to HHH. ;)
 
Han: I believe the term is "locked in the Naval Observatory with the keys thrown into the Potomac", like Nixon did to Agnew and LBJ to HHH. ;)

LOL. :D Can you imagine how pissed RFK would be at being associated with LBJ in 1968? ;) He'd have a harder time winning if he was VEEP, but he could still probably pull it off if he tried.
 
That's why, even if things had gone a little differently on the personal level (far from ASB given a 1963 POD, and I'll prove it in ALMH) it would never have happened. LBJ wanted a supine robot as vice president. Or as he put it, "I want their pecker in my pocket." HHH fits that bill, RFK most certainly does not.
 
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