Strange thread, this.
If Ford doesn't pick Dole in 1976, and loses, then I don't think non-tainted Dole is even a possibility in 1980 either. He's just not what the Gipper - or rather, his court, as I think if you read between the lines, then both the Ford boomlet and the Bush decision were advisor steers - was looking for. No need for the farm belt senator in 1980 after the grain embargo, either.
And Dole powering his way to nomination consideration in the primaries? Forget it. That campaign was so dysfunctional and omnishambolic that it would become a joke with the candidate himself in later years.