1964: Margaret Chase Smith the Republican nominee

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

The United States probably weren't ready for a female president, but she'd do better than Goldwater outside of the South

[NewYorkExpress]

The United States probably weren't ready for a female president, but she'd do better than Goldwater outside of the South

Ah, no, she probably wouldn't. Not is only is sexism a thing countrywide, but Chase Smith openly stated on at least one occasion that she supported preemptively nuking the Soviet Union.

She'd probably lose all fifty states.

[Don't Tread on Me]

More popular than Goldwater but that's not saying a lot.

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

She wouldn't win the Deep South. It should be George Wallace or Ross Barnett

[TDAS04]

She wouldn't win the Deep South. It should be George Wallace or Ross Barnett

Agreed.  The Deep South would have stomached neither the man who signed the Civil Rights Act into law, nor the Yankee Republican female who voted for it.

[Adjective-Statement]

She wouldn't win the Deep South. It should be George Wallace or Ross Barnett

I see my Ross Barnett maps have been noticed


President Lyndon Johnson (D-TX) / Senator Hubert Humphrey (D-MN) ✓
Senator Margaret Smith (R-ME) / Governor William Scranton (R-PA)
Fmr. Governor Ross Barnett (SR-MS) / Congressman Robert Sikes (SR-FL)

[President Johnson]

I wonder whether Lyndon could have swept the South regardless of his cil rights policies in a binary race against Chase Smith. If so, I think there's a case to make for a 49-state Johnson tsunami, just narrowly losing Maine.

[SpartanburgSam]

I wonder whether Lyndon could have swept the South regardless of his cil rights policies in a binary race against Chase Smith. If so, I think there's a case to make for a 49-state Johnson tsunami, just narrowly losing Maine.

Would not have happened. George Wallace already had a set of unpledged electors to springboard a presidential run if a pro civil rights Republican won at the convention. Of course, with Goldwater he freed the electors from the pledges and endorsed Goldwater.

[WPADEM]

More popular than Goldwater but that's not saying a lot.

Something like this. Unless there's a Southern candidate. Maybe she's what Goldwater was in real life. A candidate who lost badly, but foreshadowed a change in a political party's direction. Not sure if Nixon or Reagan stump for her to the extent they did Goldwater.

[TDAS04]

I wonder whether Lyndon could have swept the South regardless of his cil rights policies in a binary race against Chase Smith. If so, I think there's a case to make for a 49-state Johnson tsunami, just narrowly losing Maine.

Mississippi and Alabama would have started another civl war before deciding between Johnson and Smith.

[Don't Tread on Me]

More popular than Goldwater but that's not saying a lot.

Something like this. Unless there's a Southern candidate. Maybe she's what Goldwater was in real life. A candidate who lost badly, but foreshadowed a change in a political party's direction. Not sure if Nixon or Reagan stump for her to the extent they did Goldwater.

Yes, the Southern candidate would've won MS+AL (maybe GA as well) and would've caused Smith to win most of the South outside of Texas, the Ozarks, and Appalachia by a plurality since the Dem vote would've been split. Louisiana would've been a tossup and would've depended on Johnson's showings in the Southern half of the state (Northern would be solidly for the Southern candidate).

[SpartanburgSam]

George Wallace definitely would have run and won a few states. He already selected the unpledged dem electors to support him. Of course, he dropped those plans after Goldwater won the nomination.

Chase Smith probably only wins Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and maybe a few plains states like Nebraska and Kansas.