WI: Willkie 1940 as a Democrat

Let's say that Roosevelt doesn't go for a third term in 1940. Wendell Willkie never becomes a Republican. How would he do? Who would the Republicans nominate?
 
So, FDR tries to compromise with private enterprise over the TVA. Willkie would be acceptable to moderates and progressives. I guess he would take the South, West, parts of Midwest and MA.
 
Problem was the Democrats had a far deeper bench than the GOP, which had been annihilated through the 1930s. The Democrats had Governors, Senators, FDR's cabinet and more. The Republicans had a few Senators, like Vandenberg and Taft, but they had taken unpopular positions, Dewey was too inexperienced, and the others had too little of a national profile. Willkie, as an outsider without baggage, was probably the best choice. He would find it much harder, probably impossible, to be selected in the Democratic Party.
 
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