The Four Horsemen: A Tale of 1992 and Beyond

[Bulldoggus]

The 1992 RNC
Given Perot's rapidly improving numbers around centrists, Bush decided to deviate from his plan. He had hoped to win back Pat Buchanan's voters by having a hard-right convention, but given Perot, he decided his convention would be about renewal (helped by the presence of Connie Mack III). Phil Gramm was given the boot as keynote speaker, and the spot was instead given to Massachusetts governor Bill Weld. Buchanan was disinvited, prompting him to run on the US Taxpayers' and Populist Party ticket. He faded in the polls after it was revealed that David Duke had run as a Populist four years before, prompting him to quit electoral politics. The RNC was well received, and Bush had a sizable bounce.

 

[Israel]

Nice!

 

[ElectricSheepNo54]

Enjoying this so far, and I'm excited for more! Bernie Sanders is an interesting running mate for Ross Perot.

 

[Bulldoggus]

Enjoying this so far, and I'm excited for more! Bernie Sanders is an interesting running mate for Ross Perot.

Yep. Good one. Bernie makes leftie reformers think Perot is one of them. Righty reformers think he's the only honest liberal.

 

[H. B. Nuckwahler]

Perot/Sanders '92?

 

[Bulldoggus]

So, I'm running out of gas on this one. I will have a new TL started in a few months, planned in advance. I'll link to it then.

 

[Bookmark1995]

New York Times, 7/2/1992
Yesterday, Sen. Bob Kerrey announced that West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller would be his running mate.
Washington Post, 7/5/1992
Yesterday, President Bush announced that Sen Connie Mack III would be his running mate, replacing the retiring Dan Quayle.
Houston Chronicle, 7/7/1992
H. Ross Perot announced yesterday that his running mate would be Vermont Representative and former Burlington mayor Bernard Sanders. This was a surprise to many, as Sanders is a self-proclaimed socialist, but Perot stated "Bernie was an excellent mayor and he's a good representative, and he's been going against the Democratic and Republican machines his whole life." Said Sanders "I disagree with Ross on a lot of things, and he would tell you that himself, but he is the only candidate who realizes our democracy needs huge changes."

If you intend to build a third party ticket composed of a socialist New Englander and a Texan hothead, the party that they found is not going to be sustainable. The OTL Reform party fell apart because Perot, a not particularly stable man, didn't leave them with a useful platform. The Reform Party 2000 devolved into a battle of quacks over who would get the 20 million dollars of federal campaign subsidies.

ITTL, Sanders and Perot would have enormous disagreements. If Perot tries to build a party, Sanders might try to run on a presidential campaign, but if his policies are too leftist for Perot, than the billionaire won't endorse him, and the party will crumble in an instant.