You Know Your Future is Still Ahead of You: A Political Realignment TL

This is my first and very ambitious timeline, so please be gentle guys, and I am very open to suggestions.

Give Em Hell Harry: Truman on Lightning Campaign to Reverse Poll Numbers
Harry Truman stepped down from the roaring Missouri crowd. Despite national numbers, the people of the Show Me State still loved their favored son, and the longer he attacked Dewey, the more he looked like he had a chance. He knew he had at best a long shot to win, but he remained grimly optimistic.

He had one last plan. He would attack the Republicans in Congress one last time, pointing to Taft and the Conservative's obstruction and lack of plan for the nation.

As he stepped into the bus, he smiled. Turnip Day would be the perfect day to put this into motion.

Dewey's Empty Promises- Chinks in the GOP armor?
Truman- Republicans have no Plan for America
"Do you think we should worry about this?"
"He's still down 10 points, the last thing we need is for you to say something controversial"
"I still don't like this. I need to spread a real message for the Party's sake if nothing else"
"They're split 3 ways, between the racists and the reds rebelling we have this election in the bag"
"I don't like looking weak in front of the American People, I'm not about to make a fool of myself after leading this long, the man had the gall to compare me to Taft."
"Don't worry about it Tom, we have this under control, it's just the ramblings of a doomed man."
Despite the reassurances of his advisors, Thomas Dewey had a feeling that something needed to be put out there, he had run without much substance in his speeches and it was beginning to be noticed by the pundits.

The next day, he held a press conference.
Dewey Strong on Civil Rights, Reforms in New Deal, Reaches out to Rural Population
As he returned to his hotel room, he wondered if he had made the right decision. Taft and the conservatives would be out for blood at yet again expanding the New Deal, and any chance he had in the Upper South completely evaporated after his endorsement of faster integration. However, appealing to the struggling farmers across the Midwest and Coal Miners in Appalachia with a new Rural Poverty Relief Administration should give him the edge he needed to regain momentum. Also, he had cut the legs out from under Truman's attacks that he had no platform, and campaigning across the Midwest should put any doubts in the polls to rest.

Dewey Surges in Polls, Draws crowds across the Midwest
Dixiecrats Gain Momentum as States Rights support surges
Strom Thurmond was very pleased with himself. The idiot Dewey had got the southern Party very angry after calling for more integration and radical civil rights reforms, enough to get him on the Democratic Ticket in Georgia and Arkansas as well as Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina. Those fools around Truman will realize they need us more than the South has ever needed them, and get the reds like Wallace out of the party


October 15: Dewey Leads by 10 points
 
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Anyhow, to those wondering, this is a highly ambitious project I've been kicking around for a while: Can you tie social conservatism to the Democratic economic platform, and vice versa for the Republicans? I intend to find out.
 
How's Wallace doing ITTL?

Similar to OTL, maybe a little better, because Dewey is actually coming out with speeches giving his platform instead of platitudes(like the title of the TL) and weakening Truman while he's trying to go on his last hurrah tour.

The Dixiecrats are also performing remarkably better, with the reaction to both major candidates' civil rights stances adding fuel to the flames.
 
November 1, 1948
Dewey lead "insurmountable", Thurmond to win Solid South


Truman's campaign managers gathered in Kansas City, and as the rain fell they couldn't help but feel the melancholy of the day. Dewey's latest speaking tour had actually brought substance to it, and the crowds that had been flocking back towards Truman were thinning back out. Despite consistent rumblings of a revolt in the Senate under Taft, the Republicans in Congress had taken just enough action , passing a handful of important sounding but superficial bills, to undermine attack. Meanwhile, the Southerners seemed to be raising all kinds of hell from Georgia to Arkansas, railing against the "Yankee domination of the Southern Way of Life".
Wallace was even polling slightly better, with the more liberal Democrats jumping from what seemed to be a sinking ship. With the Midwest not providing the support that for Truman that was anticipated, many newspapers were predicting 20 to 30 point leads, with wild claims about the dissolution of the Democratic Party into incessant infighting.

Truman, after giving his last speech to a still-enthusiastic Missouri crowd, had retreated to the Excelsior hotel, telling them that "all we can do now is pray." Despite reassuring the president, they had all privately made calls about new jobs. They know when the jig was up. The day that Thurmond had walked out, the election was over. All they could do was plan for 1952 and how to write and eloquent concession speech.
 
This is my first and very ambitious timeline, so please be gentle guys, and I am very open to suggestions.

This looks interesting.

One thing you should be aware of: the Democrats were almost certain to win back control of the Senate in 1948. There were 33 seats up that year (1 special election). 16 were held by Democrats. 11 of the 16 Democrat seats were in the South, and thus not in play; four were unopposed. The Democrats held their other five seats by at least 14% OTL.

17 were held by Republicans. Nine of the 17 Republican seats fell to Democrats, six by margins of 14% or more.

The Democrats gained a 54-42 majority (there were only 48 states). For Republicans to hold the Senate, seven outcomes have to flip. There were only three "close" races: DE (3%); ID (1%), and KY (3%). If Dewey takes an aggressive civil rights stand, KY isn't flipping; the next best state is IL (10%). The civil rights stand means WV (14%) isn't flipping either. IA (16%) is a remote possibility.

So Republican control is just not in the cards. Even with a Dewey landslide, and Republicans winning in KY and WV ins spite of their civil rights plank, the best the Republicans can hope for is a 48-48 split with the VP breaking ties.
 
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