I’m not sure that Rockefeller would have granted Ford NY… however it is plausible… had Ford been re-elected I doubt much would have changed, the same problems would have appeared as they did under Carter, Ford might have made a better effort to deal with some of the issues than Carter was able to (largely thanks to him being a stranger to his own congressional party), however ultimately Ford would have been just as damaged in late 1979 as Carter was… Reagan would have made a second challenge and probably defeated Ford, that said a rally round the president mentality could have lead to Reagan being defeated for a second time but I doubt it… Reagan would have been a much stronger TV performer and more savvy campaigner than Ford however he could easily have been cast as out of the mainstream by democrats and added to that he would be leading a party discredited by its past two presidents Nixon and Ford… ultimately a Democratic moderate such as Senator John Glenn, Senator Lloyd Bentsen or Governor Hugh Carey… or perhaps a more charismatic liberal such as Ted Kennedy… ultimately the Democrats would have had the advantage no matter who they nominated so long as that candidate was not a radical in the tradition of McGovern or McCarthy (Which Kennedy was not)… so in the end Reagan fights a good campaign however he is unable to overcome his republican predecessors’ failures and his own image as slightly too far out of the mainstream… so a solid but not landslide win for the Democrats with the Republicans also probably suffering a third party run by a moderate such as John Anderson as originally happened in 1980…
Wow! You should team up with Tom Clancy. You've got a winner there! Great story!! (I am NOT being sarcastic, BTW.)
Tom Clancy?... I know the name but who is the guy?... I do love thinking about these what ifs though... and Glenn, Bentsen, Carey or even Kennedy would have been great presidents...
he was a spy, writes espionage books and is an advisor for games - Rogue Spear, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell etc
