You're in charge of any campaign you want (post 1980), and you can change one thing. What is it?

[EJ24]

For example, you can choose John Kerry's 2004 campaign, and rather than pick John Edwards for VP, you choose Dick Gephart or Howard Dean.

Or you're Dole in 96 and you do something differently.

What's your campaign and what are you changing?

[darklordoftech]

Biden 1988. Tell him to name Neil Kinnock as the source of his quote.

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

Gore 2000. I'd change two things:

1. Get him to pick Bob Graham (edit: or Jeanne Shaheen) instead of Lieberman

2. Scratch the word 'lockbox' out of his debate prep notes

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

Clinton 2016. Make her spend more time in the midwest, pretending not to hate those cheese-eating yokels in Wisconsin, hoagie hicks in Pennsylvania, and Canadians with somehow a more ridiculous accent (Michiganders).

[Del Tachi]

Trump 2020.  Keep his COVID response largely as-is, but change/tone-down the rhetoric.  No comments about shooting bleach.  Discipline him more to talk about the negative aspects of mass lockdowns (school closures, mental health, etc.) and get him to maybe endorse a more tepid version of mask-wearing*

*by this, I mean Trump coming out and saying (in typical Trump fashion) "Look, the whole mask thing...scientists say it may help in some situations.  I can understand it if you're indoors around sick people or a lot of people.  I'm not so sure it really matters if you're outside or more than six-feet apart...hey, I don't like it, but if that's what we have to do to get our economy back open and kids back in school then I think we can do it for a little while."

[Mr. Smith]

Dukakis '88: "Bernard, that's a loaded question and you know it."

[RINO Tom]

Romney 2012, of course, as his failure to win the election likely had the worst recent consequences, IMO, especially if we consider Trump to be one of those (which I do).  I would have picked a more moderate running mate with a more "blue collar" Midwest appeal (like Kasich?) rather than using Ryan as a "look how conservative I am!" move.  Conservatives were already very energized to vote Obama out, and a GOP primary electorate with very high participation willingly nominated Romney.  I feel he let the echoes of his primary rivals have too much influence.  I also think he really thought (as did many of us) that we would have a reversion back to an electorate a bit more like 2004 with the shine of Obama's 2008 candidacy worn off and didn't adopt a strategy that looked forward.

People can point to specific policy things, but that didn't make a damn difference in that election.  JUST enough swing voters who had no problem voting for John Kasich as governor (OH) in 2010 or Dean Heller for Senator (NV) found Obama to be relatable enough to vote for.

[morgankingsley]

Convince perot to not drop out

[Sumner 1868]

I would have Bernie Sanders go negative toward Hillary in the 2016 primaries. He was late in attacking her hawkishness and went way too soft on her bad ethics.

[darklordoftech]

- I would tell Gary Hart to keep his pants zipped.

- I would tell the Clintons never to listen to anything Dick Morris, Mark Penn, or Rahm Emanuel say. I’d also tell Bill Clinton to “triangulate” on guns.

- I would tell Tipper Gore that for the sake of her husband’s political ambitions, she shouldn’t worry about the influence of music on the youth.

[TML]

For Sanders in 2020, I would tell him to:

-Reach out to black voters more (especially older ones)

-Go after his primary opponents as aggressively as Obama in 2008

-Focus more on the “electability” argument more

[He didn’t have to change his stances on the issues; he just had to frame his arguments in a different manner.]

[Mr.Phips]

Convince Janet Reno and Bill Clinton to allow Elian Gonzales to remain in the United States.

[E-Dawg]

For Sanders in 2020, I would tell him to:

-Reach out to black voters more (especially older ones)

-Go after his primary opponents as aggressively as Obama in 2008

-Focus more on the “electability” argument more

[He didn’t have to change his stances on the issues; he just had to frame his arguments in a different manner.]

Yeah, I never understood why once the race was down to just him vs. Biden, why he didn't attack Biden much harder and make more of an effort to turn the electability argument in his favor (He could have compared Biden's history, policies and campaign to Hillary who had already lost). I don't think that Bernie had any chance of winning the primary once the establishment united around Biden, but I think that Bernie could have at least made it closer post Super Tuesday by better going on the attack.

[darklordoftech]

For Sanders in 2020, I would tell him to:

-Reach out to black voters more (especially older ones)

-Go after his primary opponents as aggressively as Obama in 2008

-Focus more on the “electability” argument more

[He didn’t have to change his stances on the issues; he just had to frame his arguments in a different manner.]

Yeah, I never understoof why once the race was down to just him vs. Biden, why he didn't attack Biden much harder and make more of an effort to turn the electability argument in his favor (He could have compared Biden's history, policies and campaign to Hillary who had already lost). I don't think that Bernie had any chance of winning the primary once the establishment united around Biden, but I think that Bernie could have at least made it closer post Super Tuesday by better going on the attack.

All of Biden’s primary opponents should have attacked him more and each other less, and they should have attacked Biden by saying he’s to the right of Obama. “Obama opposed the Iraq War, you supported it”, “I want to fulfill Obama’s vision and legalize marijuana, you don’t”, etc.

[StateBoiler]

2008. I tell McCain to provide 2 or 3 choices and allow the floor to select the VP from those 2 or 3 choices.

[darklordoftech]

I’d tell Rubio to let the Gang of Eight be the Gang of Seven instead.

[It’s so Joever]

1984: Reagan will now shoot a child on live TV.

[brucejoel99]

Biden 1988. Tell him to name Neil Kinnock as the source of his quote.

Nice choice on-paper, but bad choice if you really start to think about it, because if you do that, then the man dies on the campaign trail from a couple brain aneurysms for which he was too busy campaigning to seek medical attention.

[brucejoel99]

For Sanders in 2020, I would tell him to:

-Reach out to black voters more (especially older ones)

-Go after his primary opponents as aggressively as Obama in 2008

-Focus more on the “electability” argument more

[He didn’t have to change his stances on the issues; he just had to frame his arguments in a different manner.]

Yeah, I never understood why once the race was down to just him vs. Biden, why he didn't attack Biden much harder and make more of an effort to turn the electability argument in his favor (He could have compared Biden's history, policies and campaign to Hillary who had already lost). I don't think that Bernie had any chance of winning the primary once the establishment united around Biden, but I think that Bernie could have at least made it closer post Super Tuesday by better going on the attack.

The reason he didn't attack Biden much harder & make more of an effort to turn the electability argument in his favor is because he understood what you yourself noted: that once the establishment had already united around Biden (in combination with the fact that the default outlook in the remaining post-Super Tuesday states like WI, MI, IL, FL, GA, LA was just really bad for him), he really had no chance of winning the primary. At that point, his campaign - almost by necessity - really had to stop being one which could win so much as one which could amass as many delegates as the circumstances allowed so as to ideologically influence as much of the party platform (& thus Biden) as possible.

[darklordoftech]

If I could go back to 1976, I’d tell Ford to pick John Connally as his running mate, and if I could go back to 1972, I’d throw the Canuck Letter into the fireplace.

[Podgy the Bear]

Gore in 2000 to Bill Clinton:

 "Mr. President, after I select Bob Graham (I'm not listening to my idiot staff who are telling me to pick Lieberman) as my VP, I want you to spend every day on the campaign trail wherever we can make headway".

[Podgy the Bear]

Also Gore in 2000:

Have Ron Klain run the election campaign (or at least have him in complete charge of the recount process--he could have taken on James Baker better than the wimpy Warren Christopher).

"Recount" is a very well done movie and is rather faithful to the actual events.  Ron Klain is excellent and I am happy to see him as Biden's Chief of Staff.

[Crumpets]

I'd tell Howard Dean in 2004 to find some reason to fire and publicly shame Robby Mook to ensure he never worked one more day on a Democrat's campaign.

[Orser67]

Bernie in 2016, and prevent him from going negative on Hillary while otherwise running a similar campaign. In a perfect world, Hillary wins the presidency, Democrats win the Senate, the liberal bloc gains control of the Supreme Court, and Hillary, Bernie, and other Democrats work together to pass some big legislation while Trump fades into obscurity

[darklordoftech]

To Dianne Feinstein: The Assault Weapons Ban isn’t worth the loss of political capital for Democrats.

To Leon Panetta: Don’t hire Monica Lewinsky as an intern.