WI Gary Hart is the Democratic nominee in '88?

Let's say that the Donna Rice affair is never discovered because Hart doesn't tell the media to follow him. Could he be nominated? I doubt he'd beat Bush, because Atwater/Rove would chew him up and spit him out. Though it would probably be a squeaker instead of the OTL landslide.
 
Hart was the strongest Democrat, sans Cuomo or Kennedy, that could have taken the nomination in 1988. I don't think Bush is unbeatable--remember, Dukakis was ahead by ~18 points in the poll in the summer of '88. Hart will likely run a better campaign than Dukakis did and might be able to put himself over the top.
 
Cuomo and Kennedy: uber-liberal Catholics on the Democratic left. Cue Church nuking, and Atwater/Rove thermonuking. I don't think they're the strongest candidates. Do you really want Atwater/Rove to be working with Chappaquiddick? ;)
 
Cuomo and Kennedy: uber-liberal Catholics on the Democratic left. Cue Church nuking, and Atwater/Rove thermonuking. I don't think they're the strongest candidates. Do you really want Atwater/Rove to be working with Chappaquiddick? ;)

Strongest candidates in the sense that they can clear the primary field early on, saving funding and campaigning for the general election.
 
All for nought. Hart's a DLC Dem, and if the Democratic nominee is not one of them, Bush will win. I have a potential Bush v. Hart '88 map in Camelot or Camenot- Bush by a squeaker. Of course, Kennedys never have fundraising issues.
 
If Hart is elected, nobody can interfere with Lawrence Walsh...Expect more carriers along the lines of the Wasp class.
 
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