1976: Pres. Gerald Ford/Gov. Kit Bond v. Gov. James Carter/Rep. Thomas Morgan

[Kingpoleon]

Kit Bond, the former attorney and Governor of Missouri, is nominated as Ford's running-mate. Governor Bond hits the morning news with a shining convention speech at which he defended legal attacks against Ford, and made a strong case for moderate and conservative Republicans to turn out for Ford. Ford himself straddled the line, making sure he appeared honest if a bit lacking in brains, and making sure all Republicans rallied to him. Keynote Speaker and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller ensured high moderate and liberal Republicans were appealed to, with a high energy speech defending Ford's policies and calling the Democrats "obsessed with the past under Richard Nixon rather than hopeful of the future under Gerald Ford brought about by a strong economy". The Democrats scramble to find Carter's running-mate, Thomas Morgan, who has strong appeal to the union wing and is Chairman of the House Committee of Foreign Relations. Unfortunately, keynote speaker Jerry Brown outshined the other two men's defense of a labor-driven economy and strong attacks on "Four More Years For Tricky Dick".