The Presidency of America's Maverick

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

Great timeline, very much in line with how I've imagined a Gore vs McCain race would have gone.

One small caveat though, the field wouldn't be cleared for Giuliani. He was a highly controversial mayor and polarizing figure and even in the aftermath of 9/11 when his reputation was riding high it's extremely unlikely if not impossible that the Democrats would cross endorse him. He'd probably win by a comfortable margin but he definitely wouldn't be unopposed.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

If the nominee is someone like Graham and McCain still has high approval ratings going into 04 I could see another Nader candidacy and an election sort of similar to 1924.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

When it comes to that early 2004 election preview above, there could be modifications of the ratings for the states, including perhaps New York. As we all know the 2004 Republican National Convention was held in New York City and IOTL, two weeks after the RNC, Kerry's lead in New York was reduced to just 6 percentage points due to Bush's convention bounce nationwide.

https://poll.qu.edu/new-york-state/release-detail?ReleaseID=399

And Osama Bin Laden, the perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks, has been killed and President McCain's maverick stance has strong appeal among more conservative Democrats and independent voters.

But of course it will depend on who's the Democratic nominee.

Yeah, the entire New York metro area swung Republican post 9/11. Bush got 47% in Fairfield County and came within five points in New Jersey which I think definitely goes for McCain ITTL. In some ways McCain is the ideal Republican for the New York area, culturally moderate and has appeal both to the wealthy suburbanites and to WWC Reagan/Trump type Democrats. I see him outperforming Bush in the suburbs and getting the sort of numbers Trump did on Staten Island.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

Excited about the possibility of a McCain vs Feingold race. I was a huge Feingold fan when I was younger and really disappointed when he didn't run in 2008. Feingold-Gephardt or Feingold-Graham would both potentially be strong tickets.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

Has Zell Miller officially announced who to endorse in this election?

He will endorse McCain but not as enthusiastically as he did OTL for George W Bush . There will be another democrat who will enthusiastically endorse McCain at the RNC though

95% sure I know who it is