The 1912 Campaign...Problems in the White House....

[demswin2004]

What happens when a beloved president leaves office to make room for a friend? And comes back 4 years later after the failure of his friends job to take his job, again? A Republican divide. 1912 marked the lowest electoral vote received for a president ever. 8 lousy, disgusting, horrible, laughable votes that destroyed Taft's future career and his friendship with Teddy.

Teddy, as we know, received 88 electoral votes, but in an election that Republicans had a chance of winning, Woodrow Wilson slipped in and won by one of the largest majorities a Democrat has won by. Just four years later, Woodrow Wilson would win by one of the closest elections ever.

This proves a 'divide' between parties can virtually distroy you rather than help you. This is what happened in 1968 and 1980 campaigns for Democrats.

[A18]

Republicans didn't just have a chance of winning that election. They would have won it in a landslide if not for the vote splitting.

[A18]

Oh, and demslost2004.

[demswin2004]

Not exactly sure that was to the point......but, anyways....if Theo was the only runner in the Republican ticket...then Republicans would've won by a landslide. But, if it was a Taft v. Wilson campaign....I'm not exactly sure who would've won.

[Bugs]

This would depend a lot on Roosevelt.  If he simply accepted the results of the Republican nomination of Taft but still was opposed to his presidency, he might still affect the election.  But if Roosevelt would have stayed in Africa, or been mortally gored by a rinoceros, it would have been close. Taft might have won.  He might not have. 
As for Taft's career being destroyed--it wasn't He never was really interested in the presidency.  He wanted a seat on the Supreme Court, and he was made Chief Justice.  His career ended just the way he wanted it to.

[Platypus]

who, I think thats just about the first red Floridian avatar i've seen on this site.

[King]

With just Roosevelt the GOP wins by an ok margin, but if Debs were to also leave the race Wilson might win.

[DanielX]

1980? Nope. Reagan won by a MOE bigger than Anderson's vote. Plus, some Anderson voters were left-leaning Republicans in the Northeast.

1968? The rift between George Wallace and Hubert Humphrey was severe, to say the least. Although both were fiscal leftists, they were essentially radical-right and radical-left on the social spectrum, respectively. And Southern Dems just didn't like Humphrey... his speech at the 1948 Dem convention was one of the main factors in prompting the Strom Thurmond campaign and the Dixiecrats.

Incidentally, 1948 had Truman winning despite a 3-way Democrat split, along with Henry Wallace (Do not confuse with George!)  and Strom Thurmond. Actually, the split may have helped him with the heartland voters, allowing him to be perceived as a 'moderate' amidst the 'extremists'.