Tsongas vs. Bush Sr.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

The Gennifer Flowers problem blows up in Clinton's face, and Tsongas wins the nomination.  Tsongas chooses Gore as his running mate to win Southern and Moderate votes.

[dunn]

Tsongas/Gore
A serious man. Would have doed 2 days before 2nd inguration if elected and we really had a thread on that

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Tsongas/Gore
A serious man. Would have doed 2 days before 2nd inguration if elected and we really had a thread on that

Ah, yes, I found it in the History forum.  We can always revive the thread here .

I don't think Tsongas stands a chance against Bush, but let's assume he wins.  When his cancer comes back midterm, he resigns and Gore becomes President.

Which would set up Gore/Dole in 1996.

Which would be an excellent poll.

[ShapeShifter]

Who is Tsongas?

[dunn]

Who is Tsongas?

He ran in the primeries in 92' against Clinton and J Brown
an ex senator from MASS

[ShapeShifter]

Who is Tsongas?

He ran in the primeries in 92' against Clinton and J Brown
an ex senator from MASS

I guess, I don't remember the Democratic primaries. Was only 9.

[dunn]

Who is Tsongas?

He ran in the primeries in 92' against Clinton and J Brown
an ex senator from MASS

I guess, I don't remember the Democratic primaries. Was only 9.

no problem

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Who is Tsongas?

He ran in the primeries in 92' against Clinton and J Brown
an ex senator from MASS

Paul Tsongas won the NH Primary, while Bill Clinton was scrambling to "damage-control" the Gennifer Flowers accusations.  It looked very much like Tsongas was going to be the nominee, until Clinton started winning Southern primaries as the "Comeback Kid."  But it could very easily have ended badly for Clinton.

Tsongas was an economic moderate, a self-described "Pro-business liberal."  I think he was the only candidate that admitted that hard choices would have to be made in order to balance the federal budget.  He was fairly liberal on social issues and the environment.  Perot might not have run at all in 1992 if Tsongas was the Democrat nominee.

[FreeThinker]

I think Bush Sr would probably have won re-election.

I wouldn't consider that Tsongas would have had the momentum that Clinton provided -even with Gore as his running mate. The Bush team would have portrayed Tsongas as a "Massachusetts liberal" and would probably have raised questions about his health and his voting record. Even with Perot factored in, I think Bush would have most likely won quite significantly

[Ben.]

Tsongas would not have won… he was moderate but he just didn’t have the southern appeal or the charm of Clinton, not did he really look the part… Gore may have helped and netted Arkansas and Tennessee but in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic, Perot would have done better but with Perot making his rooky mistakes I expect in the end you have a low turnout with Bush winning through the lack of an alternative…

By 1996 things are better but not nearly as good as they had become in reality… Gore runs, Perot endorses him and Gore defeats the Republican ticket of Quayle/ Kemp in a landslide…

On the plus side we never have the “Gingrich revolution”…                

[Michael Z]

Tsongas would have lost on accounts of having a really weird name.

[© tweed]

Tsongas would have won.  Anybody would have won in 1992.

[FreeThinker]

Tsongas would not have won… he was moderate but he just didn’t have the southern appeal or the charm of Clinton, not did he really look the part… Gore may have helped and netted Arkansas and Tennessee but in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic, Perot would have done better but with Perot making his rooky mistakes I expect in the end you have a low turnout with Bush winning through the lack of an alternative…

By 1996 things are better but not nearly as good as they had become in reality… Gore runs, Perot endorses him and Gore defeats the Republican ticket of Quayle/ Kemp in a landslide…

On the plus side we never have the “Gingrich revolution”…                

While I predominantly agree with your excellent assessment here, I doubt that the GOP would have been nominated Quayle as the presidential candidate in 1996 even if he were the Vice President. I'm also not sure whether or not Quayle would have gained the endorsement of the Bush White House -while Bush was supportive of him, most of his strategists were stunned when Bush put forward his name as a vice presidential candidate and probably would not have been enthusiastic about supporting him as a presidential candidate.

It was often rumoured that James Baker was considering a bid for the 1996 US presidential elections in the event that Bush Sr had won a second term in office. I think that Baker, Bob Dole and maybe Lamar Alexander would have been the frontrunners for both the GOP presidential and vice presidential nominations in 1996.

I think there is still the possibility that the GOP would have made gains in the 1994 congressional elections -owing to the fact that quite a few of the retiring Democrats were located in constituencies that would have voted Republican much earlier had it not been for the personality and high profile of the local congressman. But I agree that Gingrich would probably not have in such a strong position had the Bush White House still been in existence -given their antagonism and hostility toward him, I have a feeling that they may have exerted heavily influence over who was elected to the House leadership

[Ben.]

Tsongas would not have won… he was moderate but he just didn’t have the southern appeal or the charm of Clinton, not did he really look the part… Gore may have helped and netted Arkansas and Tennessee but in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic, Perot would have done better but with Perot making his rooky mistakes I expect in the end you have a low turnout with Bush winning through the lack of an alternative…

By 1996 things are better but not nearly as good as they had become in reality… Gore runs, Perot endorses him and Gore defeats the Republican ticket of Quayle/ Kemp in a landslide…

On the plus side we never have the “Gingrich revolution”…                

While I predominantly agree with your excellent assessment here, I doubt that the GOP would have been nominated Quayle as the presidential candidate in 1996 even if he were the Vice President. I'm also not sure whether or not Quayle would have gained the endorsement of the Bush White House -while Bush was supportive of him, most of his strategists were stunned when Bush put forward his name as a vice presidential candidate and probably would not have been enthusiastic about supporting him as a presidential candidate.

It was often rumoured that James Baker was considering a bid for the 1996 US presidential elections in the event that Bush Sr had won a second term in office. I think that Baker, Bob Dole and maybe Lamar Alexander would have been the frontrunners for both the GOP presidential and vice presidential nominations in 1996.

I think there is still the possibility that the GOP would have made gains in the 1994 congressional elections -owing to the fact that quite a few of the retiring Democrats were located in constituencies that would have voted Republican much earlier had it not been for the personality and high profile of the local congressman. But I agree that Gingrich would probably not have in such a strong position had the Bush White House still been in existence -given their antagonism and hostility toward him, I have a feeling that they may have exerted heavily influence over who was elected to the House leadership

I think that there would be few republican eager to run in 1996…

The economy would have improved however the deficit would not have receded and taxes would have remained high while cuts in social security and other federal programs would not have gone down well.

I think that in the absence of the likes of Alexander and Kemp both of whom would opt to keep their “powder dry” in preparation for 2000 or 2004 imho it would be Baker v Quayle v Dole… in the end I think that Dole would probably have gotten the nomination and selected Kemp as his runningmate as he did in reality…

But in the end a “new democrat” ticket of Gore/? (any ideas ?) would soundly defeat Dole/Kemp perhaps more thoroughly than Clinton did in 1996…

But your right about the congressional elections in 1994, I tend to forget about the fact that many conservative democrats where retiring and their seats where falling to the GOP… however I would say that both the House and the Senate would remain with slim but workable Democratic majorities, however the Democratic lock on the House would have been greatly weakened…      

[M]

I don't think that even after 16 years of dominance the GOP would be stupid enough to nominate Quayle. We would lose the election with almost anyone, however. Unless maybe Powell ran...

[Ben.]

I don't think that even after 16 years of dominance the GOP would be stupid enough to nominate Quayle. We would lose the election with almost anyone, however. Unless maybe Powell ran...

Have to agree... things would be terrible, just not good, in fact probably very far from good economically...

Powel would probably be the only candidate with a chance in hell of getting elected on a GOP ticket at this time, but without him in the running Alexander is probably the next best bet imho... however I think that Dole would get the nomination in the end anyway... and then Dole would get defeated by Gore on a moderate DLC ticket by a wide margin, in the best case for Gore something like 431 to 107... but I really doubt that any Republican could have overcome the lacklusta economy, the national malaise and the desire for change that would have characterised the US electorate in 1996 after a second Bush term...