1976 George Wallace vs Ronald Reagan

[Fuzzy Bear]

If this happened, it would have inevitably spawned a liberal 3rd party candidacy that would have caused the GOP to carry many states with a minority of the votes.

George Wallace/Ed Edmondson (D) 79 EV
Ronald Reagan/Robert Griffin (R)  360 EV
Birch Bayh/Morris Udall (I)  99 EV

[Fuzzy Bear]

I am of the impression that a third party candidacy would not have come from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party but from the "liberal" wing of the Republican Party.

I kind of think that the perfect third party candidate in this scenario is Jacob Javits.

Nelson Rockefeller, the sitting VP, may have run a 3rd party bid if it became clear early that Ford was going to be dumped by Reagan.

HHH knew he had cancer in 1976.  Javits may well have know he had ALS by then.  There was Lowell Weicker and Edward Brooke. 

[Fuzzy Bear]

I am of the impression that a third party candidacy would not have come from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party but from the "liberal" wing of the Republican Party.

I kind of think that the perfect third party candidate in this scenario is Jacob Javits.

He was the youngest liberal Republican at the time, but he was running for re-election to the Senate that year.

Weicker, however, was a big star at the time.  He was one of the members of Congress that gained the greatest measure of fame from serving on a Watergate-related committee.  He was 46 years old in 1976, a good age for a Presidential candidate.  The main obstacle he had was that he was running for re-election that year.  I don't know if he would have given up his Senate seat, and I don't know if he could have run simultaneously, but I suspect the answer to both would be "No". 

Ted Kennedy was 44 that year, but I doubt he would have left the Democratic Party to run for President.  Kennedy had appeared in public with George Wallace in 1973 in an attempt to fully bring Wallace back into the Democratic fold.  It would have been interesting if Ted Kennedy had been the "Real Democrat" running for President, but that wouldn't have happened.

Nelson Rockefeller, the sitting VP, may have run a 3rd party bid if it became clear early that Ford was going to be dumped by Reagan.

HHH knew he had cancer in 1976.  Javits may well have know he had ALS by then.  There was Lowell Weicker and Edward Brooke. 

Lowell Weicker is another good name, I think so.