What if, during the 1968 election cycle, Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew's illegal activities became publicized enough to warrant his being dropped from the Republican ticket; and was then replaced by Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke? This is a highly unlikely scenario, admittedly, for a few reasons. First and foremost being, that Brooke was an African-American...which could've been a big gamble as far as electoral politics were concerned. Secondly, Brooke was quite obviously a liberal Republican in a time when the GOP is putting its "southern strategy" into play, which could cause significant conflict for the ticket (especially given that Agnew was seen as playing to the conservative wing in defense of this strategy). And finally, Brooke had only been in the Senate for one year at that point, making him all the more a questionable choice. However, Brooke also had a reputation as a man who fought corruption in government, which might help offset the stench of Agnew's corruption.
But, let's assume that for whatever reason, Nixon settles on Edward Brooke as his replacement VP for 1968. Does this help the ticket, or hurt it? Could it throw the election to Humphrey, or cause a deadlock in the Electoral College?