So, how well would John McCain have done in 2000?

Which helped so much for George H. W. Bush in '92, Bob Dole in '96, John Kerry in '04, and of course McCain himself in '08.

Being a war hero is vastly over rated in Presidential politics. It matters when you were the commander over an army in a big war and won some important battles like Ike, Grant, Washington, Zachary Taylor and Andrew Jackson it can be a decisive winning card. But, lets just say I don't believe it was ever a decisive winning card for any war heroes who weren't generals.
 

Kaptin Kurk

Banned
I'd guess McCain wins in 2000. He probably wins again in 2004. However, a McCain Republican Party, acendant with the 2000 McCain winning nips the tea party in the bud, is probably more moderate on social issues, and while still pretty conservative, probbaly isn't the kryptonite to minorities that it is today. Mainly because I doubt a McCain dominated republican party is as generous to fear, and thus probbaly says something to fearmongers.
 
I'd guess McCain wins in 2000. He probably wins again in 2004. However, a McCain Republican Party, acendant with the 2000 McCain winning nips the tea party in the bud, is probably more moderate on social issues, and while still pretty conservative, probbaly isn't the kryptonite to minorities that it is today. Mainly because I doubt a McCain dominated republican party is as generous to fear, and thus probbaly says something to fearmongers.

Eh...Eisenhower's Republican party was far more moderate than what it became just two to four years after he left office. I'm not sure that if McCain gets eight years of his own he'll be anywhere near as popular with the Party as Ike was upon leaving office, and he's not going to have a lot of truck with the more conservative elements within the party once he's gone from office. I imagine there would be just as much grassroots conservative populism as there is today. Maybe the religious aspects and the fear mongering would be toned down some, but only very slightly. I imagine the GOP, in spite of McCain, would manage to continue driving away minority voters.
 
In my TL, the Religious Right would have partly broken off and gone for Alan Keyes or Bob Smith and the Constitution Party. There would be a few who might seek other parties (While she wouldn't be in politics in 2000, Sarah Palin would be in the AIP, and be a thorn in the side of the Republican Governor, Lyda Green). I could even see some Religious Rightists trying to seek secession (Palin, Perry and some others. (I'm picking Mike Fair for SC Governor ITTL.))
 
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