WI: Colin Powell vs. Bill Clinton in 1996

2000 would've been the ideal year for Powell. Americans and even many Republicans were looking for a more moderate conservative after 6 years of Gingrich and Clinton's impeachment. Also, with Clinton out of the way the path to the Presidency is much easier. However as @David T pointed out Powell's social liberalism would seriously hurt him in the primaries even if he is a war hero. Powell is more fit for a pre-Reagan GOP.
Powell-Ridge in 2000 would be interesting. Moderate enough to make the right wing consider staying home, but would be a boon for swing voters. That EV map could look very interesting.
 
I don't think Powell would have won over Clinton.

But personally, as a Democrat I would have switched and voted for Powell.
 
Powell-Ridge in 2000 would be interesting. Moderate enough to make the right wing consider staying home, but would be a boon for swing voters. That EV map could look very interesting.

Gore would have a better chance of winning TN, but Powell would be able to make up the difference in Oregon, Wisconsin, Iowa, Maine, and New Mexico - giving Powell the presidency by 294 votes to 243.
 
All Powell would need is a willing wife, and a staunch social conservative running mate, and the White House would have been his. That's all it would take to win over the social conservatives, thus, perhaps a similar pledge like Trump made concerning Supreme Court appointments.

Who would be a good VP for him? Jack Kemp? George Allen?
 
All Powell would need is a willing wife, and a staunch social conservative running mate, and the White House would have been his. That's all it would take to win over the social conservatives, thus, perhaps a similar pledge like Trump made concerning Supreme Court appointments.

Who would be a good VP for him? Jack Kemp? George Allen?

Powell was a Virginian, so picking a New Yorker like Kemp wouldn't be a bad idea. And legally he wouldn't be able to pick Allen since they're from the same state.
 
Powell was a Virginian, so picking a New Yorker like Kemp wouldn't be a bad idea. And legally he wouldn't be able to pick Allen since they're from the same state.

Was Powell a Virginian? I know he was born in Harlem, and currently lives in New York.

As long as Powell picks a solid social conservative, he should be fine.
 
Was Powell a Virginian? I know he was born in Harlem, and currently lives in New York.

As long as Powell picks a solid social conservative, he should be fine.

I tried looking up his residence and found that he has a permanent residence in McLean, Virginia and another in Washington, DC. He did have a condo in the West Side of NYC, but sold it in 2016. So for legal purposes he probably would register his home state as Virginia, putting Allen out of contention. However as Clinton's example shows that doesn't prevent him from picking a Southerner as a running mate. There's Lamar Alexander of TN, Phil Gramm of TX, and Carroll Campbell of SC. That said Kemp would still be a good choice to appeal to fiscal and social conservatives, and in Powell's mind it could help to make inroads with the Democrats' northern base (that didn't work out for Dole but it might work for Powell).
 
I tried looking up his residence and found that he has a permanent residence in McLean, Virginia and another in Washington, DC. He did have a condo in the West Side of NYC, but sold it in 2016. So for legal purposes he probably would register his home state as Virginia, putting Allen out of contention. However as Clinton's example shows that doesn't prevent him from picking a Southerner as a running mate. There's Lamar Alexander of TN, Phil Gramm of TX, and Carroll Campbell of SC. That said Kemp would still be a good choice to appeal to fiscal and social conservatives, and in Powell's mind it could help to make inroads with the Democrats' northern base (that didn't work out for Dole but it might work for Powell).

In fairness, the reason it didn't work out for Bob Dole was because of Bob Dole.
 
I tried looking up his residence and found that he has a permanent residence in McLean, Virginia and another in Washington, DC. He did have a condo in the West Side of NYC, but sold it in 2016. So for legal purposes he probably would register his home state as Virginia, putting Allen out of contention. However as Clinton's example shows that doesn't prevent him from picking a Southerner as a running mate. There's Lamar Alexander of TN, Phil Gramm of TX, and Carroll Campbell of SC. That said Kemp would still be a good choice to appeal to fiscal and social conservatives, and in Powell's mind it could help to make inroads with the Democrats' northern base (that didn't work out for Dole but it might work for Powell).

A southern running mate would probably work even better for Powell than for Clinton given that while he is a southerner, Powell's views aren't really reflective of the region's Republicans. Though Kemp could still work.
 
A southern running mate would probably work even better for Powell than for Clinton given that while he is a southerner, Powell's views aren't really reflective of the region's Republicans. Though Kemp could still work.

Exit polling conducted on election day 1996 showed that Powell would've beaten Clinton 50-38%, with Perot trailing at 9%. I think this would've certainly changed in the heat of a campaign, and Buchanan is guaranteed to go third party. However Powell could certainly beat Clinton, but by a much smaller margin than the 12% indicated above. With Powell in, Perot most likely wouldn't run as they are similar ideologically. Buchanan takes up the Reform banner as he would in 2000, and gets roughly 8-10% based almost solely on conservative voters who hate Powell. (Of course, 8-10% is not as large as the social conservative voting bloc, but I think that's the most amount of people who would vote for Pat Buchanan of all people over General Powell). Clinton takes the 43% he got in 1992, while Powell narrowly eeks out a popular vote win with 46% and Buchanan gets 7.8%. The electoral college however would be a blowout: if you simply shift 6.5% from Clinton over to the Republicans in 1996, you get around 352 votes for Powell and only 186 for Clinton. Buchanan would do well in the west and South, but not well enough to win a state.
 
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