U.S. with UK candidates

[Phony Moderate]

Something a little different here. In each U.S. presidential election, replace the candidates with a British politician that most closely matches them.

1968-onwards:

1968 - Reginald Maudling (R) vs. James Callaghan (D) vs. Enoch Powell (AIP)

1972 - Reginald Maudling (R) vs. Michael Foot (D)

1976 - Edward Heath (R) vs. Eric Varley (D)

1980 - Margaret Thatcher (R) vs. Eric Varley (D) vs. James Prior (I)

1984 - Margaret Thatcher (R) vs. Tony Benn (D)

1988 - Geoffrey Howe (R) vs. Bryan Gould (D)

1992 - Geoffrey Howe (R) vs. Tony Blair (D) vs. Richard Branson (I)

1996 - Douglas Hurd (R) vs. Tony Blair (D) vs. Richard Branson (I)

2000 - William Hague (R) vs. Gordon Brown (D) vs. Peter Tatchell (G)

2004 - William Hague (R) vs. Jack Straw (D)

2008 - Kenneth Clarke (R) vs. David Lammy (D)

2012 - David Cameron (R) vs. David Lammy (D)

[Phony Moderate]

PV estimates:

1968 - Maudling - 48%, Callaghan - 34%, Powell - 18%
1972 - Maudling - 64%, Foot - 36%
1976 - Heath - 52%, Varley - 48%
1980 - Prior - 38%, Thatcher - 35%, Varley - 27%
1984 - Thatcher - 60%, Benn - 40%
1988 - Howe - 57%, Gould - 43%
1992 - Blair - 45%, Howe - 36%, Branson - 19%
1996 - Blair - 50%, Hurd - 35%, Branson - 15%
2000 - Brown - 49%, Hague - 48%, Tatchell - 3%
2004 - Hague - 51%, Straw - 49%
2008 - Clarke - 55%, Lammy - 45%
2012 - Cameron - 54%, Lammy - 46%

[Phony Moderate]

Why Eric Varley?

To be honest, I couldn't think of any Labour politician from the 70s who even slightly resembled Carter....so I chose Varley because I find him to be one of the more interesting figures of that era.

[Phony Moderate]

Ah, well for whatever reason I kept Welsh politicians out of my mind almost entirely. Shore does seem like a decent fit actually.

Yeah, I thought 1968 was my most accurate too. Some of the later ones were pretty tricky, especially 2000.

[Phony Moderate]

I would've gone with Chuka as Obama, since the media will never put that comparison down.

Chuka was only 30 in 2008 though. Lammy is a few years older.

[Phony Moderate]

Thanks for those Anton. I haven't viewed this thread in a while so I only just noticed that.

Might do a vice-versa version of this soon.

[Phony Moderate]

Tony Benn = Walter Mondale?

Yeah, should have thought that one through more. It has to be someone on the soft Labour left I suppose. Stanley Orme perhaps?