WI: Dick Cheney runs for President in 2008?

What if Dick Cheney had sought the 2008 Republican nomination for President? How does this affect the general election? How does this affect the Democratic primaries?
 
Sea of blue. Obama wins in landslide, 525 electoral votes to 13.

(Cheney wins Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Nebraska's 3rd district.)
 
Are you kidding? Dick Cheney is the All American Hero - he shot a lawyer in the face with a 12 gauge and made the bastard apologize for getting in the way.

Seriously, though, he would have carried more states than that. There are some, besides just Utah, that would vote for Ghengis Khan over a half-Negro Democrat. But his chances of getting elected were approximately zero, give or taken nothing.
 
I have this mental image of Darth Cheney (complete with black cape) addressing an RNC empty of everyone except Michelle Bachmann, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin.
Yup, total sea of blue, except for Utah.
 
Taking the most likely context for this, Cheney is President Cheney and GW Bush has been murdered, how much difference does this make.

Absent that context would he have won the nomination??
 
forgetting the polls... the guy's health was shit, no doctor would let him run the vigors of a national campaign at that time
 
Taking the most likely context for this, Cheney is President Cheney and GW Bush has been murdered, how much difference does this make.

Absent that context would he have won the nomination??

The difference would be a sea of blue with Utah possibly Texas and other southern states voting for a third party. Dick Cheney was about as popular as smallpox in 2008.
 
closer to OTL than you think

I agree that Cheney -- even incumbent Cheney -- gets destroyed no matter what, but I think the predictions of a Lyndon Johnsonesque landslide are a little off. There's simply an entrenched plurality in this country who aren't voting for Obama under any circumstances in 2008.

Here's the math. Obama/Biden lost the following states by enormous margins in OTL:

Alabama (-21.5), Alaska (-21.5), Arkansas (-20), Idaho (-25), Kansas (-15), Kentucky (-16.5), Louisiana (-18.5), Mississippi (-13), Nebraska-AL (-15), Nebraska-3 (-39), Oklahoma (-31), Tennessee (-15), Texas (-12), Utah (-28), West Virginia (-13), and Wyoming (-32). You might be thinking that the Alaska margin reflects some Sarah Palin effect -- and no doubt it does -- but consider that a) Palin was not particularly popular there by the time Nov. 2008 rolled around, b) VP selections rarely have a huge impact even in their home states, and c) Alaska has been an awfully red state for an awfully long time.


This core of states is likely going for the Republican slate in '08 even if the ticket is Zombie Hitler/George Steinbrenner. So that's a baseline of 119 EVs.

With Cheney as the GOP nominee, Obama probably picks up Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska-1, and South Carolina for an extra 48 EVs, making his margin of victory 413-125.

If you really wanted to push the envelope, you could swing 6 more EVs Obama's way from North and South Dakota (each of which Obama lost by ~9 points in OTL -- but consider that these states probably have more regional appeal for Cheney, too). If you think Alaska is in play without Sarah Palin, go ahead and chalk up 3 more to the Democratic ticket. But I don't see how you get any Democrat in 2008 more than 422 EVs.
 

Pangur

Donor
Red V Blue states

The last post makes me ask a question that I have wondered about for a while what US states are considered to be either blue or red (as per the last comment re Alaska)

And back on topic, I have to ask why on earth would he have even tried to run? Both he and the republicans knew that he zero chance of winning
 
And back on topic, I have to ask why on earth would he [Cheney] have even tried to run? Both he and the republicans knew that he zero chance of winning

Personal ego? I mean, we are talking about the guy who was put in charge of George W. Bush's 2000 vice-presidential selection process, and came up with himself....

I should add that I'm not sure it's ASB -- although it is really, really unlikely -- that Cheney might have won the nomination in '08 had he decided to run; the 2008 Republican field featured no real insider candidate and no candidate with impeccable conservative credentials. *Probably* party insiders would have tried to force a strategic choice, but it's not impossible that they wouldn't have found a consensus alternative.
 
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I do wonder what sort of campaign Cheney would have run. Perhaps he would have been much tougher on Obama than McCain. Slamming him for each and every little thing he could find wrong with his record... what kind of campaign would Cheney have run?
 
I think this is ASB. There is no way Darth Cheney gets anywhere near the nomination.

Actually, Cheney still enjoyed a somewhat strong showing of support in the GOP even in 2008. That, and he probably had strong contacts that would have shoved out all the competition. I think he could have taken the nomination, but definitely not the general election unless he is able to incite the Tea Party stuff and then create false evidence that convinces enough people.
 
Obama/Biden 61%
Cheny / Romney 39%

Republicans lose all states besides Alaska,Utah,Tennessee and South Carolina

Most importantly unlike OTL the democrats gain a 60-40 majority in the senate
 
Like we're all gonna vote for a dude who's heart is about to blow and shot a guy in the face.

Cheney wouldn't make past the primaries.
 
He loses, probably bigger than McCain. States that always vote for anybody with a (R) in front of their name would likely cast their E-votes in his favor. Everybody else...
 
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