WI: Martin Van Buren in 1844?

I finished reading Storm over Texas, and have been flipping back thru it a bit the past few days. And I've had this idea in my head for a while.

Assuming Van Buren can get the nomination in 1844, can he win that year? The Southern Democrats and the Hunkers didn't like him, so would they run their own candidate (Like Calhoun)? Also, Polk intended to be a VP choice that year, (and in 1840) so he probably would appear there on the ticket as a gesture to the South, and if Van Buren does win, will this set a precedent for President's running non consecutive years? What will happen to Texas, and the 54'40 boundary with Oregan?
 
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He never would've won if he was nominated and my boy Clay would've killed him. The Panic of 1837 just screwed Old Kinderhook over.

The only chance Van Buren could've won in 1844 was if Tyler was the Whig nominee. But Tyler was so unpopular, there's no chance in hell that would've happened. Van Buren beating Clay in my mind is just ASB.
 
He never would've won if he was nominated and my boy Clay would've killed him. The Panic of 1837 just screwed Old Kinderhook over.

The only chance Van Buren could've won in 1844 was if Tyler was the Whig nominee. But Tyler was so unpopular, there's no chance in hell that would've happened. Van Buren beating Clay in my mind is just ASB.

Clay's like the opposite of WJB, the more Clay ran, the more votes he got.

1844 was probably his last chance at becoming President, and he lost by such a close race too.

I was also thinking if Van Buren ran then would Tyler and Calhoun run their own Independent runs. They'd make as big of an impact as the Liberty Party did, that is to say small but arguably spoiling the election.
 
Clay's like the opposite of WJB, the more Clay ran, the more votes he got.

1844 was probably his last chance at becoming President, and he lost by such a close race too.

Clay would've won in 1844 if Polk wasn't the nominee. Polk ran a great campaign of expansion (54/40 or fight) that was unfortunately no match against Clay's experience.

Also, I notice that Clay has a similar vote trend to Nixon. Just think about it, Nixon received more votes in '68 than in '60 and more votes in '72 than in '68.
 
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