WI: Edmund Muskie in 1972

As Hunter Thompson portrayed it in his least factual, most accurate account, the 1972 Democratic race was a fair bit of a horse race. It was made all the more interesting since the Democrats were likely to lose in 1972, so it was a scramble for a sinking ship. And it involved the older guard who had crashed and burned over the course of the 1960s, the New Left and new forces which were taking over the party, and Nixon exploiting it and picking up whatever was left over to make more Republicans. Going into 1972, many people wanted Humphrey back. Barring him, his former running mate Edmund Muskie was widely viewed as the front runner. However, Muskie's campaign imploded (due partially to Nixon, Hunter Thompson, and assorted other factors). That allowed McGovern to win the nomination, despite the establishment not wanting him. Subsequently, they did not vote for him, and Nixon won one of the biggest landslides in American history.

What if Edmund Muskie had been the Democratic nominee in 1972?
 
I guess Muskie would get a similar amount of electoral votes to Humphrey in 1968 (minus Texas.) No Democrat not even George Wallace (who Nixon legitimately feared would syphon votes from him if he went on a third party run) or Teddy Kennedy could beat Nixon in that year. I suppose Muskie would pick a moderate southerner as his Running Mate (Terry Sanford (D-NC), Jimmy Carter (D-GA) or one of the other 'New South' Democrats.) I suppose the map could look something like this (supposing Wallace still gets shot and decides against running as as third party candidate again.)

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Ugh please people when you post US electoral maps unless it involved a PoD before the party's chose their colors please use the correct colors for them. Red is for Republican's and Blue is for Democrat's so stop changing them!

As for what the OP is asking Nixon still wins if by a bit lesser of a margin then OTL.
 
Ugh please people when you post US electoral maps unless it involved a PoD before the party's chose their colors please use the correct colors for them. Red is for Republican's and Blue is for Democrat's so stop changing them!

When did the parties pick their colors? I was under the impression that the color scheme wasn't set until the 2000 elections, and it was set by the networks, not the parties.
 
It's possible if he runs a less miserable campaign, gives a better answer on Vietnam, and the Canuck letter is either not released/publicly proved to have been engineered by the Republicans.

No the color's have been like that ever since the Republican party was formed IIRC.

Err...no. Election nights before 2000 used the colours interchangeably.
 
Red state/Blue state wasn't even a concept until 2000. I'd link it to the unpleasant hyper-politicizing we've had since 2000 -- which is saying something, since we've had similar fracturing throughout out history, especially coming out of the 1960s. Indeed, prior to 2000, red and blue could be interchangeable. Often times, possibly more times from what I've seen, Democrats were red and Republicans were blue. Red is traditionally for the left, given socialism and radicalism, etc. Blue is traditionally for the right, given it is a color for Conservatism and monarchism.

Don't think it was always either blue or red. Often times it could be any number of colors to represent one party against the other during an election cycle. And it wasn't just one set per election. NBC could color Reagan blue and Carter tan, while CBS could color Reagan purple and Carter green. It was all just arbitrary. People didn't think of parties in terms of color. That's a recent invention in America. Maybe if we didn't focus so much on color categorizing in America, we'd focus more on policy and substance.
 
I guess Muskie would get a similar amount of electoral votes to Humphrey in 1968 (minus Texas.) No Democrat not even George Wallace (who Nixon legitimately feared would syphon votes from him if he went on a third party run) or Teddy Kennedy could beat Nixon in that year.


I don't know. If we butterfly away chappaquidc, and run with a less complacent and more determined Teddy, he might steal it. The Kennedy mystique was still very high, and we're only 4 years removed from Bobby's death and less than a decade from Jack's.
 
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