WI: Glen Taylor Not Wallace's Running Mate

When Henry Wallace asked Idaho Senator Glen Taylor to be his running mate, Taylor was a bit unsure. He knew that it would lose him reelection in 1950, but decided to accept. What if Taylor didn't become his running mate? If Claude Pepper (Wallace's first choice) accepts, it would hurt him even more in his primary against Smathers, but it could help the Wallace campaign with someone more high profile. If someone with less experience is his running mate, Wallace's campaign would probably be slightly less successful. However, the focus is more on Taylor's career rather then the 1948 election. Let's say he wins reelection in 1950. How far could he go? He could be a presidential hopeful from the 1950s to the 1970s. With Frank Church probably not running in 1956, what happens to his career?
 
Glen Taylor, the owner of the Timberwolves? I knew he was conservative but not that conservative.
 
Glen Taylor, the owner of the Timberwolves? I knew he was conservative but not that conservative.
No, Glen Taylor was the Senator from Idaho during the 40's. In fact he was so Liberal that only Wayne Morse was more Liberal. Plus the Wallace he ran with was Henry Wallace on their newly created Progressive Party.
 
1950 was definitely a Republican year in Idaho. Len Jordan (R) won the governorship against the former state auditor, Calvin E. Wright (D). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_B._Jordan Republicans won both US House seats (the Democrats had formerly held the 1st congressional district): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_1950 Of more immediate relevance, in the Senate race, the McCarthyite Republican Welker won in a landlslide against ex-senator David Worth Clark:

Herman Welker (Republican) 61.7%
D. Worth Clark (Democratic) 38.3%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_1950

If Taylor had not supported the Progressives in 1948, he might have won renomination in 1950 but he could not have won the general election. Helen Gahagan Douglas didn't support Wallace, but was still tagged as "The Pink Lady"--and Taylor, even before he became Wallace's running mate, was pinker than she was. In fact, even as conservative a Democrat as Millard Tydings in Maryland lost his seat in 1950 in part because of the "soft-on-communism" issue.
 
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