WI: Jesse Ventura 2004 presidential run

What if in 2004, Jesse Ventura had ran for president against Bush and Kerry as an Independent? Could he have gotten into the debates? How well would he have done nationally? Who would have been his running mate?
 
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"Well you see here Mr. Debator me and all my Hulkamaniacs are all 110% behind our President Jesse 'The Body' Venture, brother. Brother I gotta tell you me and Jesse were surfing the waves the other days when we saw Bush and Kerry try to gain supporters. Now you see brother, me and all my Hulkamaniacs didn't like that, that didn't sit well with the Hulkster or The Body. So Jesse called me up brother, and said, 'Hulkster I need you to help me win this election and help us run our country into the next decades.'

I accepted with whole honor brother, that I'd be Jesse's running mate. We got the red, white, and blue running through our veins brother. And let me tell my opposition Cheney and Edwards what's gonna happen brother. WATCHA GONNA DO!? WHEN HULK HOGAN WRAPS HIS 24 INCH PYTHONS AROUND YOU! WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THE BODY AND HULKSTER AND ALL MY HULKAMNIACS WIN THIS ELECTION AND RUN THIS GREAT COUNTRY FOR THE BETTER!?"

cue Hogan ripping his shirt off at the Vice-President debates and grand stand and hot dogs for the entire time his song is play.
 
What if in 2004, Jesse Ventura had ran for president against Bush and Kerry as an Independent? Could he have gotten into the debates? How well would he have done nationally? Who would have been his running mate?

If his opinions are anything like the ones with which he is now associated(ie. anti-war, anti-torture, openly sympathetic to Muslims), he'd likely take votes away from Kerry, thus giving us an even bigger GOP victory.

Mind you, his populist image and tendency toward conspiracy-theories(see his TV show a few years back) might give him some traction with whatever Ron Paul-type movement there was in the Republican Party in 2004.

Overall, though, I think he bleeds support away from the Dems. But I think he'd do worse that Nader in 2000, because traditional left-wing voters just wouldn't be drawn to a guy like him, even if on some level they recognized he agredd with them on a lot of things.
 
If his opinions are anything like the ones with which he is now associated(ie. anti-war, anti-torture, openly sympathetic to Muslims), he'd likely take votes away from Kerry, thus giving us an even bigger GOP victory.

Mind you, his populist image and tendency toward conspiracy-theories(see his TV show a few years back) might give him some traction with whatever Ron Paul-type movement there was in the Republican Party in 2004.

Overall, though, I think he bleeds support away from the Dems. But I think he'd do worse that Nader in 2000, because traditional left-wing voters just wouldn't be drawn to a guy like him, even if on some level they recognized he agredd with them on a lot of things.

Ventura was not into conspiracy theories back then as he is today, but other than that he is mostly the same today.
 
Let's look at the small butterflies that could result:

-Bush wins by a bigger margin, and Ventura draws away enough anti-war votes to flip Kerry's very small OTL victories in Wisconsin and New Hampshire. Minnesota voted Democratic by a surprisingly small margin in OTL, so Ventura's "strength" there flips it in the timeline. See map

genusmap.php


310 to 228.

-Ventura is treated as the main cause of the loss, and instead of "OHIO!" you have "Oh, we'd have won if not for that stupid wrestler".
-Don't know about any down-ticket races. The GOP lucked into a lot of Southern open seats that were theirs for the taking in that cycle, so even if Daschle's loss is butterflied, then they still gain (Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana are obvious pickups).
 
Let's look at the small butterflies that could result:

-Bush wins by a bigger margin, and Ventura draws away enough anti-war votes to flip Kerry's very small OTL victories in Wisconsin and New Hampshire. Minnesota voted Democratic by a surprisingly small margin in OTL, so Ventura's "strength" there flips it in the timeline. See map

genusmap.php


310 to 228.

-Ventura is treated as the main cause of the loss, and instead of "OHIO!" you have "Oh, we'd have won if not for that stupid wrestler".
-Don't know about any down-ticket races. The GOP lucked into a lot of Southern open seats that were theirs for the taking in that cycle, so even if Daschle's loss is butterflied, then they still gain (Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana are obvious pickups).

Do you think that Ventura could have won his home state?
 
I agree with the general idea that Ventura would hurt Kerry more than Bush, thus giving Bush a bigger margin of victory.
 
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