WI: Jerry Brown wins the 1982 CA senate race?

What if California Governor Jerry Brown had won the 1982 race for senate against Pete Wilson?


  • Would he have ran for president in 1984 or would he have waited until 1988 or 1992?
  • Is he the front runner in 1988 and if he wins the nomination, does he do any better against Vice-President Bush than Dukakis in OTL?
  • Does this have any effect on Bill Clinton's road to the presidency in 1992?
  • If he does get elected president, when and under what circumstances?
 
Brown would pass on 1984 and run for the open seat in 1988.

There wasn't a clear Democratic front-runner going into the 1988 primaries, and Brown's entry would have muddled things further. Brokered conventions simply don't happen in this day and age, but there would have been an awful lot of speculation about one.

I'm tempted to say that Brown would avoid Dukakis's biggest gaffes: the tank ride and his response to the "if someone murdered Kitty" question in the debates. However, Brown would likely commit his share of gaffes and/or be portrayed as "Governor Moonbeam." He wouldn't have been George H.W. Bush.

In 1992, Brown did well in a number of early caucus states in the Mountain West and New England, but his run came to an end when he finished third behind Clinton and Gore in New York.
 
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