bush vs. gore, 1988 scenario

[WalterMitty]

in 1988 democrats nominate young, moderate, tennesee senator al gore for the office of the presidency.

gore chooses fellow senator paul simon of illinois as his running mate.  simon is an amiable guy and has the  experience that gore lacks.

as expected, the gop nominates vice president george bush.  bush stretches out his vp search for many weeks.  young senator dan quayle, old pro bob dole, and governors jim thompson and george deukmejian are among the top contenders.

during convention week, bush springs a smll surprise by naming maine moderate senator william cohen as his running mate.  conseravtives, angry at the selection of a moderate, start a mini protest inside the convention hall and place the name of senator jesse helms into nomination for vp.  cohen easily defeats helms and the delagates depart the convention generally united behind the bush/cohen ticket.

what would a gore/simon vs. bush/cohen race have looked like?

[WalterMitty]

polls throughout the race continually indicate a neck and neck contest, with neither ticket gaining more than a 2-3 point lead.  most americans seem to generally like both tickets.

the upper midwest becomes the prime battleground.  typically these states are heavily republican, but the farm crisis has soured many in the great plains on republicans.  the moderate gore and the friendly midwesterner simon gain a following in the formerly republican heartland.

election day dawns with most polls indicating a statistical dead heat.

finally at 3am the gore/simon ticket is declared the winner.



gore/simon: 50.8%, 294 EVs
bush/cohen: 48.8%, 244 EVs

but the bush/cohen team refused to concede defeat.  the state of montana, south dakota, iowa and new mexico (combined 20 EVs) were determined by less than 1,000 votes each, setting up automatic recounts in each state.

in addition, there are reports of massive vote fraud in the state of louisiana (10 EVs).  the state was won by gore by about 2,500 votes.

[WalterMitty]

id be interested to see how you all would finish my story.