Vice, Virtue, and Independence (A Different Path, Chapter 2)

[Anti-Bothsidesism]

I'll be excited, if somewhat surprised if Humphrey wins 538-0...

I'd be surprised if Goldwater even wins a state.

[NewYorkExpress]

I'll be excited, if somewhat surprised if Humphrey wins 538-0...

I'd be surprised if Goldwater even wins a state.

I still Goldwater just scrapes by in Arizona.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

I'll be excited, if somewhat surprised if Humphrey wins 538-0...

I'd be surprised if Goldwater even wins a state.

I give it 50% odds Barry wins AZ, 50% odds he gets perfect swept.

[Mr. Smith]

I'll be laughing if it's a clone [well besides a D win in ME-02 instead of an R win via native-son effect] of maineiac's 1972 map from "Camelot Anew".

Either way, President Humphrey is going to have quite the mess to clean up.

[Cold War Liberal]

November 8, 1972
1:00 AM

“...as polls close in Alaska, the state easily goes to Humphrey… Humphrey has also won Wyoming… we’re getting word that Oklahoma is now in Humphrey’s column… in a shocker, conservative Utah goes to Humphrey by 8 points, leaving the President-elect with 528 electoral votes and over 62% of the popular vote nationwide… this is shaping up to be the biggest popular vote landslide in American history...”

1:38 AM

“...shockingly, Hubert Humphrey has usurped President Goldwater in his own home state of Arizona by 6 points, 53% to 47%, meaning that the only hope Goldwater has of winning even one state is Idaho, where the candidates are currently virtually tied…”

2:12 AM

“...and we can now call that President-elect Humphrey will win Idaho by less than 5,000 votes. Humphrey’s victory is not only the largest popular vote landslide in American history during a contested election, but he is also the President who won the most electoral votes, and the one to win the highest percentage of electoral votes since President Washington’s reelection in 1792. This has pushed a large number of representatives and Senators over the line… This seems, however, to be a quite low turnout election, as conservatives abandoned Goldwater after the fall of Saigon, and liberals viewed the election of Hubert Humphrey as a sure thing and may have stayed home due to not viewing their individual vote as important.

“In any case, this concludes CBS’s coverage of Election 1972. I’m Walter Cronkite. Goodnight.”

[Joe Biden 2024]

I predict that Goldwater will end up being the last conservative President. After his disaster of a Presidency, the GOP will prefer moderates as their nominees.

[You don't see any blue avatars now]

A proper Blanching if I've ever seen one.

[Anti-Bothsidesism]

[MR DARK BRANDON]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

[Politician]

[Mr. Smith]

Wow, Chapter 3 is going to be amazing.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

While HHH's 50 state sweep is something to behold, this was definitely more of a repudiation of Goldwater than an endorsement of the democrats, who probably could have ran LBJ's dead body and still won. I can't imagine we're anywhere near out of the woods yet, and plus you still have to show us what you have in store for Bobby and Teddy. Speaking of the Kennedys, any chance we can check back in with Jack sometime?

[NewYorkExpress]

Damn...538-0.

Any word on any possible faithless electors?

[GeorgiaModerate]

Damn...538-0.

Any word on any possible faithless electors?

I was thinking one or more might do so to keep it from being unanimous, as happened in 1820.

[Cold War Liberal]

Damn...538-0.

Any word on any possible faithless electors?

I was thinking one or more might do so to keep it from being unanimous, as happened in 1820.

It's not much of a spoiler, so I'll say it: there will be one faithless elector to keep Washington's honor (encouraged by Humphrey, actually).

[MR DARK BRANDON]

Update?

[Cold War Liberal]

1972 United States Elections
Final Results

Senator Hubert Humphrey/Senator Henry M. Jackson: 42,455,856, 62.23%, 537* Electoral Votes
President Barry Goldwater/Fmr. Sen. Hiram Fong: 25,466,432, 37.33%, 1* Electoral Vote
Other: 301,222, 0.44%
Total: 68,223,510
Turnout: 48.36% ( 7.93%)

*One Arizona faithless elector voted for Barry Goldwater and Hiram Fong to keep Washington as the only President to win 100% of the electoral vote; the other 5 Arizona electors voted for Humphrey, to whom they were pledged.

Closest states
Idaho
Hubert Humphrey: 141,876
Barry Goldwater: 136,902

Arizona
Hubert Humphrey: 289,150
Barry Goldwater: 254,842

South Carolina
Hubert Humphrey: 321,046
Barry Goldwater: 282,465

House of Representatives

Democrats: 321 ( 25), 57.46% of the vote
Republicans: 114 ( 25), 41.15% of the vote

House Speaker: Carl Albert
Majority Leader: Phillip Burton
Majority Whip: John J. McFall

Minority Leader: Gerald Ford
Minority Whip: Leslie Arends* Robert Michel

*Lost to Tim Hall (D-IL-15)

Senate

Democrats: 69 ( 13)
Republicans: 31 ( 13)

President of the Senate: Henry M. Jackson
President pro tempore: James Eastland

Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield
Majority Whip: Ted Kennedy

Minority Leader: Hugh Scott
Minority Whip: Paul Laxalt

Individual Race Results
(asterisk = incumbent)

Alabama
John Sparkman*: 65.42%
Winton Blount: 31.82%

Alaska
Ted Stevens*: 69.87%
Gene Guess: 30.23%

Arkansas
John McClellan*: 61.92%
Wayne Babbitt: 38.08%

Colorado
Floyd Haskell: 55.38% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Gordon Allott*: 43.95%

Delaware
Joe Biden: 57.83% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
J. Caleb Boggs*: 42.02%

Georgia
Jimmy Carter*: 60.78%
Fletcher Thompson: 39.22%

Idaho
William Davis: 53.48% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
James McClure: 46.52%

Illinois
Charles Percy*: 56.55%
Roman Pucinski: 43.45%

Iowa
Dick Clark: 58.62% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Jack Miller*: 41.16%

Kansas
James Pearson*: 65.12%
Arch Tetzlaff: 34.19%

Kentucky
Walter Huddleston: 56.72% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Louie Nunn: 42.85%

Louisiana
John McKeithen: 82.33%
Ben Toledano: 12.63%

Maine
William Hathaway: 56.92% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Margaret Smith*: 43.08%

Massachusetts
Edward Brooke*: 58.72%
John Droney: 39.65%

Michigan
Frank Kelley: 51.17% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Robert Griffin*: 48.62%

Minnesota
Orville Freeman: 63.48%
Phil Hansen: 35.16%

Mississippi
James Eastland*: 57.21%
Gil Carmichael: 40.51%

Montana
Lee Metcalf*: 54.62%
Henry Hibbard: 45.19%

Nebraska
Philip Sorensen*: 55.76%
Carl Curtis: 44.09%

New Hampshire
John W. King: 55.82% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Harrison Thyng*: 44.18%

New Jersey
Clifford Case: 54.69%
Paul Krebs: 42.74%

New Mexico
Jack Daniels: 50.47% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Tom Bolack*: 49.53%

North Carolina
Nick Galifianakis: 50.32%
Jesse Helms: 49.68%

Oklahoma
Ed Edmondson: 53.74% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Bud Wilkinson*: 46.26%

Oregon
Robert Duncan: 52.38% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Mark Hatfield*: 47.62%

Rhode Island
Claiborne Pell*: 55.72%
John Chafee: 44.28%

South Carolina
Strom Thurmond*: 65.74%
Eugene Zeigler: 34.26%

South Dakota
James Abourezk: 60.94% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Robert Hirsch: 38.86%

Tennessee
Howard Baker*: 57.81%
Ray Blanton: 42.78%

Texas
Ralph Yarborough: 51.21% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
John Tower*: 47.79%

Vermont (special)
Robert Stafford*: 57.64%
Randolph T. Major: 34.12%
Bernard Sanders: 8.24%

Virginia
William Spong*: 52.39%
William Scott: 45.23%

West Virginia
Jennings Randolph*: 76.42%
Louise Leonard: 23.58%

Wyoming
Clifford Hansen*: 67.58%
Mike Vinich: 32.42%

Governor's Mansions

Individual Race Results
(asterisk = incumbent)

Arkansas
Maurice Britt: 50.37%
Dale Bumpers: 49.63%

Delaware
Sherman Tribbitt: 54.75% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Russell Peterson*: 45.25%

Illinois
Dan Walker: 52.88% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Richard Ogilvie*: 47.22%

Indiana
Birch Bayh: 50.67% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Edgar Whitcomb*: 49.33%

Iowa
Harold Hughes*: 57.15%
Robert Ray: 42.17%

Kansas
Robert Docking*: 63.01%
Morris Kay: 35.56%

Missouri
Thomas Eagleton: 49.97%
Kit Bond: 49.74%

Montana
Thomas Judge: 55.51%
Ed Smith: 44.49%

New Hampshire
Malcolm McLane: 35.12% [INDEPENDENT GAIN]
Meldrim Thomson, Jr.: 34.95%
Roger Crowley: 29.87%

North Carolina
Skipper Bowles: 53.71%
James Holshouser: 45.93%

North Dakota
Arthur Link: 53.95%
Richard Larsen: 46.05%

Rhode Island
Philip Noel: 56.19%
Herbert DeSimone: 43.37%

South Dakota
Richard Kneip*: 62.39%
Carveth Thompson: 37.61%

Texas
Barefoot Sanders*: 51.24%
Henry Grover: 40.10%
Ramsey Muniz: 7.06%

Utah
Calvin Rampton*: 73.59%
Nicholas Strike: 26.41%

Vermont
Thomas Salmon: 54.93% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Luther Hackett: 36.21%
Bernie Sanders: 8.84%

Washington
Albert Rosellini: 50.16% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Daniel Evans*: 42.51%
Vick Gould: 5.87%

West Virginia
Jay Rockefeller: 50.72% [DEMOCRATIC GAIN]
Arch Moore, Jr.: 49.28%

[Cold War Liberal]

Fun fact: with 48.4% of voters turning out, 1972 is the lowest turnout Presidential election in American history (1924 had 48.9% turnout, last I checked).

More food for thought: I wonder what impact the wave of new Democratic governors and, perhaps more importantly, state legislators across the country will mean for the Equal Rights Amendment... Especially now that the woman who took opposition to the ERA mainstream IOTL, Phyllis Schlafly, is sure to be discounted as a hyper-partisan whack job with the albatross of serving in various high-profile positions in the Goldwater Administration (and the PR disaster of not prosecuting LeMay after Hanoi went the way of Hiroshima) around her neck...

[Anti-Bothsidesism]

[NewYorkExpress]

I've got a special request for you...and I hope it doesn't screw with your timeline too much...but PLEASE make Joe Biden win the 1988 Presidential election.

[Continential]

I've got a special request for you...and I hope it doesn't screw with your timeline too much...but PLEASE make Geraldine Ferraro win the 1988 Presidential election.

[MR DARK BRANDON]

Goldwater fans react to the election;

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wDYNVH0U3cs

(Replace Donald J. Trump with Hubert H. Humphrey)

[NewYorkExpress]

I've got a special request for you...and I hope it doesn't screw with your timeline too much...but PLEASE make Geraldine Ferraro win the 1988 Presidential election.

How about a Biden/Ferraro ticket?

[Cold War Liberal]

I've got a special request for you...and I hope it doesn't screw with your timeline too much...but PLEASE make Geraldine Ferraro win the 1988 Presidential election.

How about a Biden/Ferraro ticket?

1988 will be under different circumstances than IRL. Not revealing what the tickets are gonna be but I can tell you I have plans for both Ferraro and Biden.