1980 with several twists and turns.

[connally68]

In the Presidential Election of 1976, Incumbent Pres. Gerald Ford beats Fmr. Gov. Carter by winning Ohio and Wisconsin again for the GOP. In the fall of 1979, war breaks out between troops of the Shah and the troops taking orders from Khomeini. Ford starts again the draft and there are nearly 300,000 troops that are fighting to back up the Shah against the militants. By the summer 40, 000 Americans have been killed and close to 100,000 militants have been killed. Interest rates have risen to 23 percent, there is another oil embargo, OPEC cuts all oil exports to the United States, and unemployment hovers between 9 to 10 percent. At the GOP Convention, Vice-Pres. Dole is nominated and chooses as his v.p. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Fmr. Gov. Carter is nominated again, and this time he runs on a very scorched earth and much, more conservative platform than he did last time. Carter surprises everyone by choosing Conservative Democrat and Congressperson Phil Gramm from Texas as v.p. Gramm did not become a republican until 1983. In the debates Dole pledges to stay the course in Iran, withdraw the draft when the time is right, and wants to cut corporate taxes. Carter and Gramm pledge a swift and honorable conclusion to the bloodbath in Iran, to keep the death penalty intact, cut federal funding that pays for abortion, to stop another depression no matter what the means, and to save social security. By election morning there are 60,000 American casualties in Iran.  Maps please I will post mine. Also Anderson does not run and starts a Republicans for Carter/Gramm group. Those joining include Charlton Heston, Clint Eastwood, Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin.

[connally68]

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

With the conditions mentioned by the OP, I'd say the Dole/Kissinger ticket does substantially worse than this.


Flip Indiana, New Mexico, Montana, and South Dakota at the least.

New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Kansas would all be tossups.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Kissinger can't run for VP.  He wasn't a natural-born citizen.

[connally68]

Replaced Kissinger with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Carter/ Gramm wins Illinois by a closer margin of 53/46%.

[connally68]

Vice-Pres. Bob Dole/ Sec. of Def. Donald Rumsfeld 75 electoral votes.
Fmr. Gov. Jimmy Carter/ Congressperson Phil Gramm 463 electoral votes.

[MATTROSE94]

Vice-Pres. Bob Dole/ Sec. of Def. Donald Rumsfeld 75 electoral votes.
Fmr. Gov. Jimmy Carter/ Congressperson Phil Gramm 463 electoral votes.

Seems about right, though Bob Dole might have narrowly won Oklahoma and Virginia (considering that it was a much more Republican state in 1980 than it is today).

[connally68]

Very good point.  What made me put them in the Carter/Gramm column is that Ford in real life only won Oklahoma by 13,000 points and Virginia by 22,000 points in 76.

[S019]

Carter/Gramm- 502 EV 54.1%
Dole/Rumsfeld:  36 EV  45.4%

[connally68]

Thank you for the map response. Yeah it would have for sure been another 1964. Gramm would have chewed up and spit out Rumsfeld in the v.p. debate for sure. The Carter versus Dole debate would have been somewhat cleaner.