WI: VP Margaret Chase Smith in 1952

Okay, okay, I get it: it would be severely OOC for Eisenhower to pick Chase under the same circumstances as OTL. But is there not a single course of events that could lead to a Republican nominee in that year choosing her as his running mate, even if it's against his better senses? According to at least one source, "Americans coast to coast saw her as a legitimate Republican vice presidential nomination in 1952."

Unless you discount the very idea as ASB (which is pretty short-sighted since all it takes is a single person making as single decision that may not be very wise, something that happens in politics all the time), I'm not only thinking about the circumstances that could lead to VP Chase, but also the effects. Any ideas on that?
 
Well maybe Nixon's scandal is more severe, checker's speech does not work, he withdraws

How could it have been more severe? (in the context of 1952 IOTL, I think you'd have had to have
evidence @ least strongly hinting that Dick was actually a Russian spy)
 
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