President Pat Buchanan in a Five-Person Race: An Alternate 1992 Election

Hello, Alternate History! Before starting this thread, I want to gauge interest in the topic; my last thread had no interest. I want to write an alternate 1992 election with the topics outlined in the title. If you are interested in seeing more, please comment and let me know. Thank you!
 
Alright, well, it looks like this one is a keeper!

To start, in OTL, Buchanan challenged President Bush Sr. in the 1992 Republican primary, and did not do particularly well. In preparation for this alternate run, I want to give Buchanan a more serious political resume than just an advisor and White House Communications Director. As such, I'm having him be the Republican nominee for the 1988 Virginia Senate race against former Governor Chuck Robb to succeed Senator Paul Trible. Robb defeated the actual Republican nominee, minister Maurice A. Dawkins, in a landslide, but I see Buchanan being a stronger candidate. Here's how that goes:

The 1988 Virginia Senate race was a nail biter. Democrat former Governor Chuck Robb faced off against Pat Buchanan, a Paleoconservative Republican who had formerly been an advisor to Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, as well as Reagan's Communications Director. Robb's tendency to be more reserved and speak in complex paragraphs made him seem boring next to the passionate and unrepentant Buchanan. Robb hit Buchanan for being on the fringe of American politics on many issues, and Buchanan slammed Robb for his commitment to liberal social causes. The final nail in the coffin for Robb was when Buchanan convinced President Reagan to campaign for him. Robb, feeling threatened by Buchanan's use of Reagan, had former President Jimmy Carter, a fellow centrist Southern Democrat, to campaign for him. Despite the recent Iran-Contra scandal, Reagan was still more popular than Carter, and the presidential endorsements turned out to be an asset for Buchanan but a liability for Robb. The results showed a close victory for Buchanan:

Buchanan: 1,071,075- 51.8%
Robb: 996,636- 48.2%

This has Buchanan as a freshman Senator when he challenges Bush Sr. in the primary.

I'll get to more writing, and if I don't have more up by tomorrow, I will have it soon. In the meantime, Happy Holidays!
 
I like that idea a lot :) honestly a dream of mine is to see a Buchanan/Perot/both run in 1988 as Republicans. Another more likely scenario is a Lee Iacocca run.
 
Alright, well, it looks like this one is a keeper!

To start, in OTL, Buchanan challenged President Bush Sr. in the 1992 Republican primary, and did not do particularly well. In preparation for this alternate run, I want to give Buchanan a more serious political resume than just an advisor and White House Communications Director. As such, I'm having him be the Republican nominee for the 1988 Virginia Senate race against former Governor Chuck Robb to succeed Senator Paul Trible. Robb defeated the actual Republican nominee, minister Maurice A. Dawkins, in a landslide, but I see Buchanan being a stronger candidate. Here's how that goes:

The 1988 Virginia Senate race was a nail biter. Democrat former Governor Chuck Robb faced off against Pat Buchanan, a Paleoconservative Republican who had formerly been an advisor to Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, as well as Reagan's Communications Director. Robb's tendency to be more reserved and speak in complex paragraphs made him seem boring next to the passionate and unrepentant Buchanan. Robb hit Buchanan for being on the fringe of American politics on many issues, and Buchanan slammed Robb for his commitment to liberal social causes. The final nail in the coffin for Robb was when Buchanan convinced President Reagan to campaign for him. Robb, feeling threatened by Buchanan's use of Reagan, had former President Jimmy Carter, a fellow centrist Southern Democrat, to campaign for him. Despite the recent Iran-Contra scandal, Reagan was still more popular than Carter, and the presidential endorsements turned out to be an asset for Buchanan but a liability for Robb. The results showed a close victory for Buchanan:

Buchanan: 1,071,075- 51.8%
Robb: 996,636- 48.2%

This has Buchanan as a freshman Senator when he challenges Bush Sr. in the primary.

I'll get to more writing, and if I don't have more up by tomorrow, I will have it soon. In the meantime, Happy Holidays!

This is extremely unlikely. Robb was *very* popular in Virginia in the 1980's. Normally in that era US senators got re-elected, usually with relative ease. Yet Paul Trible announced his retirement in 1987 because polls showed him losing to Robb. (At least that's what most observers assumed, despite the usual "more time with my family" reasons Trible gave.) And Robb had tremendous leads over all sort of well-known Republicans mentioned as replacements for Trible:

"A poll conducted three weeks ago by the Richmond Times-Disptach showed Robb handily beating any GOP nominee. Former state attorney general J. Marshall Coleman, whom Robb defeated for governor in 1981, fared best, trailing Robb 61.8 percent to 18.3 percent; next came former secretary of state Alexander M. Haig Jr. of McLean, who trailed Robb 65.1 percent to 16.1 percent.

"When matched against former Navy secretary John F. Lehman Jr. of McLean and Republican U.S. Reps. Parris, Frank R. Wolf, Thomas Bliley Jr. and Herbert Bateman, Robb was favored by about 6 to 1. Against television evangelist Marion G. (Pat) Robertson of Virginia Beach, who is sometimes mentioned for the Republican nomination, Robb was leading 77.1 percent to 8.2 percent.." https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...590-9815-a14657859955/?utm_term=.2b8c373d2054

You can't dismiss Robb's 71-29 landslide over Dawkins by saying Dawkins was a weak candidate. He may have been a weak candidate, but the reason he was nominated is that all the "stronger" candidates thought (almost certainly rightly) that Robb would easily defeat them.

If anything IMO Buchanan would be *weaker* than the other Republicans who were crushed in the polls, because he would alienate moderate Republicans in the DC suburbs.
 
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