2012: Obama/Biden vs. Daniels/Cornyn

[Free Bird]

What if Mitch Daniels was the GOP nominee in 2012?

Variables:

Benghazi still happens

No major gaffes on either end (binders, you didn’t build that, etc.)

First debate a slight Daniels win, second debate a slight Obama win, third debate a draw

Daniels doesn’t push social issues, having a Clinton 92-like focus on jobs/poverty reduction and also debt relief, with a focus on oil tariffs to raise the appropriate revenue to pay for income and business tax reduction. He also only briefly touches entitlement reform, so there’s no Granny off the cliff ads.

Daniels had put away the nomination earlier than OTL Romney did

Discuss with maps

[Free Bird]

The Cornyn pick is a little baffling - I would assume Daniels would pick someone who could fire up the base. My Man Mitch outperforms Romney in the Rust Belt and with a tiny win in Pennsylvania, narrowly defeats Obama in the Electoral College and wins the popular vote by 2-3%.

The Cornyn pick was based on the need for a legislative arm twister. In this timeline, Daniels assumes that anti-Obama fury is enough to drive the base out.