Most electable candidates 1960-2016

[Phony Moderate]

Dems:

1960 - I dunno. LBJ might have struggled to bring out liberals and minorities in the North. He'd have swept the South of course but JFK managed to virtually sweep the South anyway. So I'm inclined to say JFK.

1964 - LBJ, quite clearly.

1968 - RFK due to his charisma.

1972 - Probably HHH.

1976 - This was the year of the outsider and Carter was just that.

1980 - Possibly Brown, actually. Lacks Teddy's baggage and Carter's record in the White House.

1984 - Unfortunately, Gary Hart, followed by John Glenn.

1988 - Al Gore

1992 - Clinton, although Tsongas and Kerrey would almost certainly have won too

2000 - Bradley

2004 - Probably Edwards or Gephardt. Kerry lacked the everyman appeal. Dean would have been buried in an avalanche of attack ads even greater than that suffered by Kerry.

2008 - Obama, then Biden, then Richardson. It's possible that Hillary might have found a way to lose, even under such favorable circumstances.

2016 - Sanders and O'Malley would have won, the others didn't/wouldn't


Reps:

1960 - Nixon
1964 - Rocky had too much baggage to even come close but he'd have done a bit better than Goldwater
1968 - Probably only Nixon had the political skills to capture the anger of the "silent majority" without coming off as an extremist.
1976 - Unfortunately Reagan, though he might still have come up short.
1980 - Reagan
1988 - Dole would have won by a bigger margin, I suspect
1992 - Buchanan might have done scarily well, but Bush
1996 - Maybe Pete Wilson
2000 - McCain
2008 - Given the circumstances, probably Huckabee's populism would have done the GOP some good
2012 - Not Romney or Huntsman. Inclined to say Newt on the basis of him being a leading figure from 'happier times'.
2016 - Even with all the baggage, Christie. Rubio would have gone down badly, as would have Cruz. Kasich would have probably won a very low-energy election on a low turnout.