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Truman's nationwide popular vote margin over Dewey was something like 4.7%, and California, Ohio, and Illinois were very close, so getting a Dewey win off of some trivial PODs is very doable.

Dewey being President instead of Truman doesn't seem like a big deal at first, but the butterflies are actually considerable. They include the Eisenhower administration and Ear Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Dewey also probably taken a stronger line against McCarthyism than Truman did.

If the election is close, as it probably would have been, is there a Dewey -Truman rematch in 1952?

I just looked it up, and Dewey's Lieutenant Governor, who would have become Governor of New York in January 1949, was Joe Hanley. He in fact tried to run for Governor in 1950, then switched to the federal Senate race and lost. Dewey's Democratic opponent in 1950 was a congressman from Queens, Walter Lynch. I have no other information about either pol.

The Lieutenant Governor of California in 1948 was Goodwin Knight, who IOTL became Governor in 1953 and who was elected to a term in his own right in 1954.
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