Rockefeller/Romney Republican nominees 1968

The problem with such a ticket is that it consists of two men from the liberal wing of the GOP at a time when the party was moving more and more in a conservative direction. If either Rockefeller or Romney got the nomination they would likely have to take one of the members of the party's conservative wing as VP in order to satisfy disgruntled right-wingers, who would likely be turned off by a ticket comprising two candidates from the moderate Eastern establishment.
 
It'd be too lopsided and alienate the Conservatives. Such was a problem in the OTL 1968 as it was: without Nixon, you had Rockefeller or Reagan, and the party threatened to tear itself apart with civil war because neither faction could stand one another and the house was divided. Thankfully for the GOP, they had Nixon, which everyone could compromise on. So by making Rockefeller the nominee as it is, you've burst that problem. But this also has Romney as vice president, which I cannot see. It could happen, perhaps, but it'd be political suicide because Rocky and Romney are the Eastern Establishment. Romney may be more moderate, but nonetheless.

I have trouble seeing this happening. I think Rockefeller would be better to choose a Conservative running mate, or one that could appeal well enough to Conservatives. Such could stabilize the party and give him a chance. Otherwise, he's lost support of one arm of the party, and it's all lopsided.

On a personal note, I'd prefer Romney for the nomination than Rockefeller. I think Rockefeller is very much more a polarizing figure that the Conservatives would have an hell of a time trying to like and vote for, and he embodied the establishment. I think Rockefeller blew it for Romney, because Rockefeller got greedy as, after saying he wouldn't run and giving Romney his support, the reason Romney ran and managed to get traction, he decided he did want to run. That cut the legs out from under Romney's campaign. I think Romney had a fighting chance if Rockefeller stayed out and kept supporting him.
He would have been a gaffer and seen as somewhat dumb perhaps (as was the dyslexic Rockefeller), but that didn't stop Bush and were he to win or lose, it would have saved us from Nixon and the abuses of power.
 
It'd be too lopsided and alienate the Conservatives. Such was a problem in the OTL 1968 as it was: without Nixon, you had Rockefeller or Reagan, and the party threatened to tear itself apart with civil war because neither faction could stand one another and the house was divided.
You're exaggerating. Without Nixon, Reagan certainly takes the nomination. Nixon won a narrower victory at the convention than Goldwater.

It is rather difficult to give the nomination to Rockefeller absence the death of Nixon and Reagan, but polls at the time had Rockefeller by far the most popular choice of the American people (and LBJ too, come to that).
 
You're exaggerating. Without Nixon, Reagan certainly takes the nomination. Nixon won a narrower victory at the convention than Goldwater.

It is rather difficult to give the nomination to Rockefeller absence the death of Nixon and Reagan, but polls at the time had Rockefeller by far the most popular choice of the American people (and LBJ too, come to that).

Yes, except that Goldwater's nomination wasn't really all that close (hence the chaos at the convention, as the Moderates tried to do everything they could to stop him). On the first ballot, before switches, Nion had 692 votes, and his next closest rival, Rockefeller, had 277. Reagan had less than 200, and only won a single primary, his native California.

I really find it hard to believe that, in the absense of Nixon, that Reagan gets the nomination. The party had been down that road before, just four years earlier, and I doubt they had much stomach for another Goldwater-sized whalloping, especially in what was seen as a very winnable election. Minus Nixon, it goes to Rockefeller, maybe with Reagan as VP; or, if Rockeller just isn't palatable to the delegates, then some moderate candidate is selected.
 
Lets settle on Romney. As his majesty said Rockefeller was more polarizing. I think Wallace does much better but Romney still wins. Wait a second, Romney does not sabotage the peace talks, so maybe there is breakthrough and Humphrey wins. Whatever happens in November, I think there would be an interest event in August. My high school teacher said that if George Romney won the Republican nomination, someone would have filed a lawsuit challenging his qualifications to be president. I think he was right. While politics was more polite in those days, there would have been a zealot. I think the Supreme Court takes the case right away and rules in late August that any child of a US Citizen is a natural born citizen and can serve as president. If the candidacy of Barack Obama is not butterflied away then birthers have a tough question to answer.
 
My high school teacher said that if George Romney won the Republican nomination, someone would have filed a lawsuit challenging his qualifications to be president. I think he was right. While politics was more polite in those days, there would have been a zealot. I think the Supreme Court takes the case right away and rules in late August that any child of a US Citizen is a natural born citizen and can serve as president. If the candidacy of Barack Obama is not butterflied away then birthers have a tough question to answer.

I couldn't disagree more.

First, in the pre-Watergate era, I don't think anyone would think you could overturn a democratic election by filing a lawsuit. So there's likely no suit in the first place, "zealot" or no. (And why exactly would George Romney, whose picture appears in the dictionary under "milquetoast," inspire a "zealot" anyway?)

Second, even if you find a "zealot" to bring a lawsuit, you can't just submit a piece of paper to the Supreme Court that says "hey, I don't think this dude can be President!" You'd have to have a state or federal cause of action, and I'm not really sure what that would be. There's a reason Orly Taitz gets laughed out of court, you know.

Third, even if a you could somehow bring a valid lawsuit, I would expect the courts -- including the Supreme Court, if you ever got there -- to decline to hear the case on "political question" grounds.

Fourth and finally, even if there was a valid lawsuit, and even if the Supreme Court ruled on the merits, why on earth would you think that would have any bearing whatsoever on racist birther morons three decades later, given that they've demonstrated that they're completely impervious to facts and logic?
 
Hate to burst your guy's bubble, but George Romney cannot be Vice-President. He was born in Mexico in a Mormon colony, and therefore ineligible to be Vice President, much less President should something happen to Rockefeller. Even though Wikipedia does say the matter could have been decided in favor of Romney, the fact is he was still born in Mexico, which could sour some folks to be elected.

But lets say that Romney was born in the US. I think the election of '68 would be tighter, as Humphrey wasn't exactly a great choice for the Democrats. The candidate that most likely would have won the nomination, Robert Kennedy, was gunned down in California, So Humphrey became candidate by proclamation to a degree. As VP to Johnson, it would be really hard to shake LBJ's stances, so he would have to go with the punches of supporting the Vietnam War. Does that mean he will loose? I don't know, but it will be a tight election, and dependent on the person who makes the fewer mistakes. The deck is stacked against both opponents, it depends on who's is slightly less worse.
 
Hate to burst your guy's bubble, but George Romney cannot be Vice-President. He was born in Mexico in a Mormon colony, and therefore ineligible to be Vice President, much less President should something happen to Rockefeller. Even though Wikipedia does say the matter could have been decided in favor of Romney, the fact is he was still born in Mexico, which could sour some folks to be elected.

But lets say that Romney was born in the US. I think the election of '68 would be tighter, as Humphrey wasn't exactly a great choice for the Democrats. The candidate that most likely would have won the nomination, Robert Kennedy, was gunned down in California, So Humphrey became candidate by proclamation to a degree. As VP to Johnson, it would be really hard to shake LBJ's stances, so he would have to go with the punches of supporting the Vietnam War. Does that mean he will loose? I don't know, but it will be a tight election, and dependent on the person who makes the fewer mistakes. The deck is stacked against both opponents, it depends on who's is slightly less worse.
Romney was born to American parents. He was considered eligible in 1968, just like McCain was forty years later.


Rockefeller or Romney at the top of the ticket gives Wallace a massive boost in the South, but they might do better in the Northeast as compensation. If they can't make up for the South, however, the election could end up going to the House.
 
Romney was born to American parents. He was considered eligible in 1968, just like McCain was forty years later.


Rockefeller or Romney at the top of the ticket gives Wallace a massive boost in the South, but they might do better in the Northeast as compensation. If they can't make up for the South, however, the election could end up going to the House.

Ahhh... I will admit that I'm not well versed in the American Constitution, but I thought "natural-born U.S. citizen" meant someone born in the US only. My bad.
 
Ahhh... I will admit that I'm not well versed in the American Constitution, but I thought "natural-born U.S. citizen" meant someone born in the US only. My bad.

It is natural born not native born. I think a child born to a US citizen is natural born wherever that birth takes place.
 
They may have had the stomach for a conservative candidate. Nixon certainly thought so.

Yes. Nixon had just 25 more delegates than he needed to get the first ballot victory, and the majority of his delegates would've abandoned him if he didn't win on the first ballot and gone over to Reagan. Strom Thurmond effectively whipped the South in line, and gave Nixon the nomination.
 
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