Iraq didn't become unpopular until after Bush leaves office in this ATL and Kerry would be overseeing the mess it becomes; Bush would escape all blame.

But it was Bush's war, remember? Dubya wasn't able to escape blame when ISIS started running amuck when Obama was President. Why? Because it was Bush's decision to invade Iraq that created the mess. That understanding would still exist under President Kerry, who like Obama could easily blame Bush for creating a poor foreign policy situation.
 
There would still be Katrina and ultimately the huge financial slowdown and collapse of the housing market; he wouldn't be able to withstand either (not to forget the reasonable chance that John Edwards gets himself into some pants problems to embarrass the administration)

This is a scenario potentially where Newt could be the 2008 nominee ( I could see a worse Iraq making McCain toxic due to his hawkishness and the votes for the war and funding) or maybe Huckabee completely picks up Bush's mantle; either one wins comfortably in that environment
 
But it was Bush's war, remember? Dubya wasn't able to escape blame when ISIS started running amuck when Obama was President. Why? Because it was Bush's decision to invade Iraq that created the mess. That understanding would still exist under President Kerry, who like Obama could easily blame Bush for creating a poor foreign policy situation.

It was a war Bush started, but it goes to hell in a handbasket under Kerry. And I'm not sure why you're trying to cite Obama given what happened to Democrats in November of 2014.
 
It was a war Bush started, but it goes to hell in a handbasket under Kerry. And I'm not sure why you're trying to cite Obama given what happened to Democrats in November of 2014.

Obama was able to blame a bad situation on Bush, both in foreign and domestic policy, and this probably helped him win re-election over Romney. That's why I cited him. Kerry could also blame Bush, but while this would help mute some criticism of his administration it wouldn't be enough to re-elect him in 2008 due to the poor economy.
 
Obama got to blame Bush because Bush had to answer for all the shit that went wrong between 2005-2009.

Here, Kerry is stuck holding the bag.
 
George Allen's massive amount of racist baggage would sink him in pretty short order. That said the amount of people on here automatically assuming McCain would be the nominee in all alternate 2000 cycles is ridiculous; he barely even kept his campaign alive in the early stages 2008 OTL.
 
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