Thoughts about a Mario Cuomo TL.

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So I've always wondered why Mario Cuomo never ran for president; he had an excellent record, was a fantastic orator, and it doesn't look like he had any major scandals. So why didn't he run?

My opinion is that two factors caused him to refuse to run in 1992. First, his fellow liberal Northeasterner Michael Dukakis losing badly in 1988, and second, the perception that George HW Bush was unstoppable, so waiting for 1996 (when Bush wouldn't be able to run again) would be better politically.

To get Cuomo to run, you'd have to have a non-Northeastern Democrat take Dukakis's place and lose to HW Bush, yet at the same time have Bush appear vulnerable in 1992.

My question now is, what PoDs would make this possible?
 
From what I know, Bush would be rather more vulnerable with no "rally 'round the flag" effect from the Gulf War. On the former, apparently Bill Clinton was on the cusp of announcing a Presidential run in 1988, but called it off the day before. Have him not change his mind and win the nomination in 1988, then go on the lose to Bush.

EDIT: And, a bit of a minor quibble given how important perception is, Dukakis was I believe something of a fiscally moderate technocrat and DLC Democrat, where as Cuomo was a New Dealer populist, so ideologically they aren't really both "liberal Northeasterners". Of course, this point didn't really get through especially as Bush focused heavily on Dukakis' liberal social views.
 
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The rumor circulating at the time (1991) was that Cuomo had ties to organized crime; I believe it was Lesley Stahl in a 60 Minutes interview who asked Cuomo about "skeletons in his closet" (which he refused to answer).

Obviously, those are rumors. I think it's plausible, even likely, that they're just rumors, particularly when you're talking about a New York Italian? (Although a contrarian might point out that there were never any such rumors about another Italian, Rudy Giuliani.) But I think any Mario Cuomo TL needs to at least address the issue.
 
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