Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy
Banned
WI Ed Muskie had won the Democratic nomination and went on to defeat Nixon?
I have to agree with RogueBeaver on this one, as much as I hate to say it. Nixon was almost unbeatable in 1972.
The supers would push either Carter or Kennedy over the top, but it would not be a pleasant scene on the floor of Madison Square Garden. Muskie, as Secretary of State, would not have a wide base of support. In addition, he's only three years younger than Reagan, so there goes the age argument against Reagan. Muskie is a New Deal Democrat in the Humphrey mold, associated with a failed administration and whose record in national politics has hardly been a wild success. His dethronement in 1972 is comparable to Rudy's in 2008- from frontrunner to nowhere. In 1968 he lost as VP. Reagan is, along with FDR, the most charismatic president of the 20th century, with a solid hold on WWC voters- Reagan Democrats. New Dealers might be sentimental about WWC, but their ideology doesn't get WWC votes. Muskie's colourless and would not appeal to enough voters. If anything, he might do worse than Carter- lose Georgia to Reagan.
I debunked this as ASB a few days ago.