WI Bill gates had run for president in 2004 as an independent

If Bill Gates had run in 2004 with no party could have he won?

  • No becuase there is no possbile POD that would lead to him running.

    Votes: 7 14.6%
  • No becuase with no party he has no real chance of winning

    Votes: 12 25.0%
  • Yes he could run and win, but I think his odds are less than %25.

    Votes: 8 16.7%
  • He has an okay chance of winning.

    Votes: 4 8.3%
  • He would run over bush and karry

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No becuase Bill Gates just doesn't have the projection of leadership to win over voters.

    Votes: 8 16.7%
  • No Becuase he would be labeled as a person trying to buy the election.

    Votes: 3 6.3%
  • Yes Bill Gates could win if he ran as a Democrat.

    Votes: 6 12.5%

  • Total voters
    48
So if Bill Gates hated the war in Iraq so much and thought that it would be best to help the world from the oval office could he have won?

1) %100 self funded with fronting 2 billion for his campaign.

2) He chooses to enter in January of 2004 due to the Iraq war.

3) He focused on the issues of health care and getting rid of the terrorist threat with smarter technology and better Intel by supporting spending increases on those issues.

Edit: A bit more detail

4) On health care he strongly supported the idea of forcing insurance to take people no matter what there condition is and allowing people to enroll in a Government backed insurance option if they make less than $60,000 a year. Also put's forward a plan to expand medicaid.

5) Other than better funding for technology, he supported more Funding for the CIA to prevent and take down terrorist groups. Also supporting more drone and non-lethal weapons deployment to counter the terrorist threat. He very clearly makes his case against large ground troops deployments to fight this new kind of warfare.

6) Also supports a program to give all vets free health care though private insurance providers to replace the lacking VA program. He names Blue Cross and Blue shield the likely main choice. He claims those who serve should get great care like he can get.

7) Supports a higher personal income tax bracket of %49 for those who make more than $500k but also to raise the standard deduction to $16,000 for single people and $32,000 for married people. Makes the case that the rich need to pay more because they make more and that the working class need a break.

8) Also pushes a 10 year energy plan to move toward a oil independent and cleaner nation.

I added a few things with the goal of cross party appeal. On one hand he is pushing a kind of ACA, on the other he is doing what Bush supporters should love by giving private insurance to vets.
I realize on many of the issues he leans left and there are some issues he is just going to be left on such as the social issues. But there are others I think he might bend a little if he ran.
 
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Towelie

Banned
I can see him peeling off some Kerry voters. Where is he going to find a numerically substantial number of Bush voters to peel off, though? Which part of Bush's 2004 coalition goes to Gates? His position on social issues would make him toxic in most red states, and the spectre of Perot loomed large.

Bush would have him outflanked on Health Care as Medicare Part D was a popular piece of legislation, even if it wasn't particularly conservative. I'm not sure if he would be able to win using an anti-terror strategy focused entirely on prevention through technology. There is a sizable Jacksonian viewpoint on foreign policy in the US, particularly in red and purple states, that Bush did not share but that he could appeal to with anti-terrorism.

Bill Gates would be better off to be honest trying to win the Democratic Primary.
 
I can see him peeling off some Kerry voters. Where is he going to find a numerically substantial number of Bush voters to peel off, though? Which part of Bush's 2004 coalition goes to Gates? His position on social issues would make him toxic in most red states, and the spectre of Perot loomed large.

Bush would have him outflanked on Health Care as Medicare Part D was a popular piece of legislation, even if it wasn't particularly conservative. I'm not sure if he would be able to win using an anti-terror strategy focused entirely on prevention through technology. There is a sizable Jacksonian viewpoint on foreign policy in the US, particularly in red and purple states, that Bush did not share but that he could appeal to with anti-terrorism.

Bill Gates would be better off to be honest trying to win the Democratic Primary.

Likely he would be better off trying to win the Democratic primary, but it's more interesting for him to go on his own and it's a little too easy to stick the rich man label on him that he would surely be fighting against hard in the Primaries.

I think because he is the richest man alive and self made that factor alone would have brought in some of the bush voters. Honestly I feel his background story has a lot of cross party lines appeal. I know there is a whole lot more to an election than that but it is a factor.
 
I feel like Bush would win an even greater victory than OTL because Gates and Kerry would split the liberal vote.

Bill Gates seems like a centralist to me that could if he played his cards right grab bush voters as well. Not all right-leaning people wanted to go into Iraq or even like the GOP.

We have never seen what would happen if a person running as 3rd party with large amounts of money backing there race could win or not. The main issue they normally face is no one knows who they are and the 2nd is no one knows where they are on the issues. Bill Gates running would solve #1 for sure and #2 would be fixed with all the ad space he could buy.
 
We have never seen what would happen if a person running as 3rd party with large amounts of money backing there race could win or not. The main issue they normally face is no one knows who they are and the 2nd is no one knows where they are on the issues. Bill Gates running would solve #1 for sure and #2 would be fixed with all the ad space he could buy.
There was Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996.
 
I kind of see this as a Ross Perot situation only not close to it. Bush wins again, and even if Gates takes enough votes in the EC to send it to the House, Bush/Cheney win there.

If he wanted to throw a wrench into the process, he could have run in 2000 and perhaps won a small red state like New Hampshire. The margin in 2000 was so razor-thin that NH going to Gates would have sent the election to the House. This means President Bush but it also means VP Joe Lieberman and a permanent dissenting voice in the Cabinet. Also, if the Dems have enough of a voice during 9/11, it may mitigate GOP domination during that time. Bush's tax cut may even be blocked.
 
I kind of see this as a Ross Perot situation only not close to it. Bush wins again, and even if Gates takes enough votes in the EC to send it to the House, Bush/Cheney win there.
That's what I think too; it'd be a Perot level campaign, maybe somewhat more competently run, but I see him doing less well due to lacking that gift of gab and him needing a good set of issues to thump on. So... I'd reckon something like 7-11%, no EVs? It'd probably sink Kerry more than Bush honestly.
 
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