1896: William J Bryan
1900: William McKinley although possibly Debs
1904: Theodore Roosevelt very enthusiastically
1908: William H Taft
1912: Theodore Roosevelt even more enthusiastically than in 1904
1916: Woodrow Wilson - he kept us out of war, after all!
1920: Warren G Harding
1924: Robert M La Follette
1928: Al Smith - not sure about this one, mostly based on hindsight
1932: Franklin D Roosevelt
1936: Franklin D Roosevelt
1940: Franklin D Roosevelt
1944: Franklin D Roosevelt
1948: Henry A Wallace very, very enthusiastically
1952: Dwight D Eisenhower
1956: Dwight D Eisenhower
1960: John F Kennedy - another hindsight one, although I'm a big Kennedy fan
1964: Lyndon B Johnson
1968: Primary: Robert F Kennedy, General: Possibly Richard Nixon, possibly abstain.
1972: Primary: Henry M Jackson, General: George McGovern
1976: Primary: Henry M Jackson, General: Jimmy Carter very unenthusiastically or abstain
1980: Primary: Ted Kennedy, General: Jimmy Carter more enthusiastically
1984: Walter Mondale
1988: Michael Dukakis, although I have huge admiration for HW Bush
1992: Primary: close call between Bill Clinton and Paul Tsongas, General: Bill Clinton
1996: Bill Clinton Super enthusiastically
2000: Primary: Bill Bradley General: Honestly no idea. With hindsight, Al Gore, but it would have been very, very unenthusiastic. Possibly abstain.
2004: Primary: I remember I was a huge Wesley Clark fan in 2004, although Howard Dean is probably closer to me politically. General: John Kerry
2008: Primary: Hillary Clinton, General: Barack Obama
2012: Barack Obama
2016: Primary: Hillary Clinton, General: Almost certainly whomever the Democrats nominate.
Going from Wallace to Eisenhower? Supporting Scoop Jackson but not Humphrey in 1968? Enthusiastic admirer of Clinton but refusing to support Gore?
I probably would have been a swing voter in '52 and '56 mostly because Eisenhower kept the New Deal reforms while Stevenson remained wishy-washy on civil rights throughout the '50s to make sure he didn't alienate the South. I would have been generally fine with either as president. Given hindsight, I picked Eisenhower.
I don't like Humphrey flip-flopping on the Vietnam War, despite it being the single biggest issue of the day. Nixon being consistently in favor of "ending" the war (even if he wasn't very clear on what that meant) would have been a more appealing message than Humphrey's. I imagine a Humphrey presidency being roughly what hard-core Republicans think the Carter presidency was like.
I'm kind of obligated to be a Scoop Jackson fan, since I know someone in his family and I study at a department named after him, where his memory is held on par with Lincoln, Churchill, and Mother Theresa.
As for Gore, I personally just really don't like Gore. I think he's arrogant, superficial, and everything Republicans accuse Democrats of being. Every time Gore talks in public, Democrats lose a voter (exaggeration).
