So What If Edward M. Kennedy followed the playbook of then President Reagan, following a tought primary/convention floor fight against a sitting President decides to run again in following presidential election? His concession speech at the Democratic Convention in 1980 is now considered to have be one of,if not the best speech of his career but what if he decided to follow up on the promises made within it.
Now let's say he spends the years following the '80 election much like Reagan did following the '76 election consolidating his base and sowing up the wounds of his divisive campaign. After declaring his candidacy in early in 1983, which convinces Mondale not to run in an increasingly crowded playing field battles it out with Gary Hart and Rev Jesse Jackson for the nomination to clinch the nomination.
Getting him the nomination is the easy part, having him win the General is the really hard part

...So does the Liberal Lion follow a path simmiliar to OTL Mondale and choose a Woman/Minority to be his running mate(Dianne Feinstein, Martha Layne Collins,Tom Bradley, Henry Ciseneros and Andrew Young are all sound choices IMO) or would he try to balace the ticket by selecting someone like Lloyd Bentsen, John Glenn, Dale Bumpers, Bob Grahm or even Gary Hart?
After we could find him a solid Running Mate, what kind of General Campaign would Teddy run? Could he outperform Reagan in the debates? Will the Morning Again in America win out against a return to Camelot? Plus the youth and inexpierence line really wouldn't stick to the 52 year old, 5 term Senator lol. But Reagan would undoubtdly bring up Chappaquidick, the women and the booze. Finally what might the electoral picture differ from OTL? And what would be some potential longer lasting effects with Kennedy as the Democratic Nominee in 1984? Please discuss