Gore/Feingold vs. Bush/Cheney--2000

[Psychic Octopus]

Alright, This thought just came to me. Instead of choosing Joe Lieberman, the moderate Jewish Senator from Vermont, he chooses the young, progressive Jewish Senator from Wisconsin. Does this help Gore? or does it just lead to the same result?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Lieberman is from Connecticut.

[Psychic Octopus]

Lieberman is from Connecticut.

I meant to put Connecticut, I was thinking about Vermont Governor Douglas and if he would change to a Democrat eventually.

[Lincoln Republican]

NiK, this is an interesting idea of having the progressive Jewish Senator Feingold on the ticket with Gore instead of the moderate Jewish Senator Leiberman.

Most of the Bush states were won by fairly comfortable margins, most, not all, but I do not believe the presence of Feingold instead of Lieberman on the Democratic ticket would have the effect of changing any of these states from Bush to Gore.

Many of the Gore states were won by smaller margins, but I doubt Feingold would have put any of these Gore states in jeopardy, either.

As in the actual 2000, it comes down to Florida.  Actually, Lieberman helped Gore a considerable amount in Florida, making it competitive, with his appeal to the considerable Jewish voters in Florida.  I doubt that Feingold could have improved upon that performance in Florida.

Therefore, I am of the view that, given the Feingold scenario, the electoral map stays the same, with Bush winning the Presidency, possibly even winning the Presidency with an undisputed result for Bush in Florida. 

[Smash255]

NiK, this is an interesting idea of having the progressive Jewish Senator Feingold on the ticket with Gore instead of the moderate Jewish Senator Leiberman.

Most of the Bush states were won by fairly comfortable margins, most, not all, but I do not believe the presence of Feingold instead of Lieberman on the Democratic ticket would have the effect of changing any of these states from Bush to Gore.

Many of the Gore states were won by smaller margins, but I doubt Feingold would have put any of these Gore states in jeopardy, either.

As in the actual 2000, it comes down to Florida.  Actually, Lieberman helped Gore a considerable amount in Florida, making it competitive, with his appeal to the considerable Jewish voters in Florida.  I doubt that Feingold could have improved upon that performance in Florida.

Therefore, I am of the view that, given the Feingold scenario, the electoral map stays the same, with Bush winning the Presidency, possibly even winning the Presidency with an undisputed result for Bush in Florida. 

Feingold may have helped tip Florida to Gore.  The question really becomes   how many of the voters which Lieberman helped bring over to Gore would not have gone that way with Feingold??  And how many Nader voters go for Gore with Feingold on the ticket instead of Lieberman??

[Landslide Lyndon]

Perhaps Feingold's presence on the ticket would energize the liberal base of the party.
They were rather lukewarm back then towards the centrist ticket.

And Feingold's iconoclastic record would bring a freshness that would somehow blunt the familiar criticism against Gore (boring, woooden, wonk, etc.).

[anvi]

Gore was trying to play the populist card during the 2000 race too, and Feingold could have helped him sell it to the liberal base of the party, who were always rather alienated by Clinton's centrism.  Feingold could have also helped Gore sell the government-reformer card, given his campaign finance credentials and the fact that Gore stabbed the spear of lots of government programs during the '90's.  So, instead of picking another charter member of the centrist ("triangulating") DLC, in picking Feingold, Gore would have given the base something to get excited about after a very long time out in what they perceived to be the cold.  Does it bring Gore Florida?  Maybe...maybe not...

Then again, all that would have been required to win the actual election for Gore was an accurate recording (voters' fault) and tally (state's and Supreme Court's fault) of the vote in Florida, so....

[phk]

NiK, this is an interesting idea of having the progressive Jewish Senator Feingold on the ticket with Gore instead of the moderate Jewish Senator Leiberman.

Most of the Bush states were won by fairly comfortable margins, most, not all, but I do not believe the presence of Feingold instead of Lieberman on the Democratic ticket would have the effect of changing any of these states from Bush to Gore.

Many of the Gore states were won by smaller margins, but I doubt Feingold would have put any of these Gore states in jeopardy, either.

As in the actual 2000, it comes down to Florida.  Actually, Lieberman helped Gore a considerable amount in Florida, making it competitive, with his appeal to the considerable Jewish voters in Florida.  I doubt that Feingold could have improved upon that performance in Florida.

Therefore, I am of the view that, given the Feingold scenario, the electoral map stays the same, with Bush winning the Presidency, possibly even winning the Presidency with an undisputed result for Bush in Florida. 

I think there'd be more Nader 2000 voters in RL going to Gore with Feingold than Gore to Bush.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Gore/Feingold would have been a decisive win, in my opinion.

So would have Gore/Wellstone.

[bhouston79]

I doubt that having Feingold on the ticket would have made a difference one way or the other, but given how close the election was it's really hard to know. 

[TeePee4Prez]

I doubt that having Feingold on the ticket would have made a difference one way or the other, but given how close the election was it's really hard to know. 

There's a chance he might have turned out the Jewish vote in Florida even moreso.  Who knows.

[phk]

I doubt that having Feingold on the ticket would have made a difference one way or the other, but given how close the election was it's really hard to know. 

There's a chance he might have turned out the Jewish vote in Florida even moreso.  Who knows.

There'd be less bleeding to Nader as well.