The Democratic Nomination:
With the low standing in polls for the incumbent President Harry Truman a "Dump Truman" campaign would start up to find a strong candidate. After talks General Dwight D. Eisenhower would declare his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. The issue of that Eisenhower hadn't held elected office and that he wasn't a "Read Democrat" in the sense and this would be used by Truman against Eisenhower but with many key endorsements and many party bosses backing Eisenhower, these blows would bounce off.
Harry Truman would be beaten in the New Hampshire primary and would be beaten in several other key primaries would lead to Truman dropping out of the race, soon after Eisenhower would have little resistance for the nomination.
At the convention in Philadelphia would have a civil rights plank added to the Democratic parties base, Hubert Humphrey would say that "the time has come for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!". The presumptive nominee Dwight Eisenhower would also support civil rights and this would anger many Southern Democrats and after many said that Eisenhower wasn't a real Democrat would be the last straw and numerous southern delegates would walk out of the convention, only a portion of delegates from the south would stay along with a large portion of the Texas delegation would stay. Eisenhower would choose former Senator Albert "Happy" Chandler as his vice president after he supported Eisenhower through the primaries and the nomination.
States Rights Democratic Nomination:
A rump convention would occur in Birmingham, Alabama and would easily nominate South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond for President and Mississippi Governor Fielding Wright for Vice President. Many southern "Dixiecrats" would attend the convention and would implace Richard Russell as acting Chairsmen.
Republican Nomination:
Governor Thomas Dewey of New York would be the major contender for the nomination for the Republican Party. Dewey who was the nominee in 1944 would fend off Robert Taft and a "Draft MacArthur" campaign only to run into a short snag because of Harold Stassen would win Wisconsin and Nebraska and would be called the frontrunner.
Dewey would begin the road to his nomination after his debate with Stassen in Oregon and investing much campaigning in Oregon would easily win the primary and send him off on a winning streak. Dewey would come to the Convention in Philadelphia would have Taft in second and Stassen in third. There was some talk of uniting behind one candidate to stop Dewey but it fell apart and Dewey won on the third ballot and would choose popular California Governor Earl Warren.
1948 Campaign:
The polls would show that Eisenhower led throughout the campaign time as Dewey would pull out some attacks on Eisenhower but would quickly be retaliated but Thurmond would tear into Eisenhower, calling him a "Not Democrat" and with the the larger base of the southerners would give a plus in the south. Eisenhower would call that he would lead America to peace and balance as Dewey would speak of platitudes in some of his speeches and would be attacked by Eisenhower for this. Eisenhower would paint Dewey as cold and out of touch with regular Americans and this would be used throughout the campaign and it would hurt Dewey but with a late push would keep some states in his corner.
Election night would have some suprises but with many Americans "In Love" with Dwight Eisenhower, they would be soon to elect him to the Presidency. The major moments would be with now President-Elect Eisenhower holding up the Chicago Tribune paper declaring in bold EISENHOWER DEFEATS DEWEY!, Eisenhower would say "The Tribune is right, America is right, now in January we'll get to work".
Democratic: Dwight Eisenhower/Happy Chandler: 469 EV 53% PVRepublican: Thomas Dewey/Earl Warren: 12 EV 41% PVStates Rights: Strom Thurmond/Fielding Wright: 50 EV 3% PVOther (Progressive, Socialist, etc): 0 EV 3% PV