WI: Bill Clinton in 1988?

I was recently flipping through "First in His Class" (a great book on Bill Clinton) when I came upon an interesting tidbit. Apparently Clinton came very close to running for President in 1988. Despite rumors of infidelity, Clinton was only dissuaded by his young daughter. Chelsea asked her father whether they were going on vacation that summer. Clinton responded that he wasn't sure (or something like that). Chelsea replied that it would just have to be her and Hillary then. That was the tipping point for Clinton. He didn't want to miss much of his daughter's early childhood.

But what if that exchange never happened? What if Bill Clinton decided that 1988 was his year? Would he have a chance at the Democratic Nomination? If he won it, could he beat George Bush in the general election? If elected, what actions would he take, especially in regards to the invasion of Kuwait?
 
I was recently flipping through "First in His Class" (a great book on Bill Clinton) when I came upon an interesting tidbit. Apparently Clinton came very close to running for President in 1988. Despite rumors of infidelity, Clinton was only dissuaded by his young daughter. Chelsea asked her father whether they were going on vacation that summer. Clinton responded that he wasn't sure (or something like that). Chelsea replied that it would just have to be her and Hillary then. That was the tipping point for Clinton. He didn't want to miss much of his daughter's early childhood.

But what if that exchange never happened? What if Bill Clinton decided that 1988 was his year? Would he have a chance at the Democratic Nomination? If he won it, could he beat George Bush in the general election? If elected, what actions would he take, especially in regards to the invasion of Kuwait?

He would have done better than Dukakis, that's for sure.
 
It would have been interesting if he had run against Bush the first time in 1988. I still think that Bush would have won, especially with Reagan backing him.

What would be even more interesting is what goes on in 1992, which we all know was Bill's year OTL. Who wins the nomination at that point? I suspect that Jerry Brown would probably be it, considering how close he came in OTL 1992.
 
What would be even more interesting is what goes on in 1992, which we all know was Bill's year OTL. Who wins the nomination at that point? I suspect that Jerry Brown would probably be it, considering how close he came in OTL 1992.

Jerry Brown did not come that close—it was more about the Anybody But Clinton thing—and if he had the Democratic Establishment would have killed him (as they did in '88 to Jackson).

It depends on how the '88 field shakes out. If Dukakis doesn't enter Joe Biden might take it, for instance. If butterflies from Clinton effect Hart's problems, Hart takes it. If Hart is killed by a bimbo eruption what happens to Clinton if that pops for him?
 
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