John Edwards didn't have his extramarital affair until AFTER he was nominated for Vice President and lost. He was not a serial philanderer with a long history of affairs (and worse) like Bill Clinton.
WI: Gore Runs in 1992
- Thread starter Amadeus
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John Edwards didn't have his extramarital affair until AFTER he was nominated for Vice President and lost. He was not a serial philanderer with a long history of affairs (and worse) like Bill Clinton.
Naming an Jewish and probably gay New Yorker to a national ticket would just be handing the election over to the Republican spin doctors in 1992!
In terms of running mates, Clinton's final shortlist was Gore, Jay Rockefeller, Bob Kerrey, Lee Hamilton, Tom Harkin, and Bob Graham. I don't think Graham or Hamilton are as likely for Gore, given his own experience in Congress. But I think Kerrey, Rockefeller, Harkin, and Bill Bradley would all be plausible picks.
(That these are all senators isn't an accident; virtually every Democratic running mate since 1944 has been a U.S. senator, the only exceptions being Sargent Shriver (a replacement candidate) and Geraldine Ferraro (who was still in Congress).)
(That these are all senators isn't an accident; virtually every Democratic running mate since 1944 has been a U.S. senator, the only exceptions being Sargent Shriver (a replacement candidate) and Geraldine Ferraro (who was still in Congress).)
Minor point, Hamilton was a Congressman, not a Senator. As former Governors, Graham and Rockefeller would have been good balancing choices for Gore, whose entire political career was legislative. Its something of an alternative history mystery why Graham was never on a Democratic presidential ticket.
Picking Graham would've won Gore the 2000 election. Which speaks to the fact that Gore's 2000 campaign was generally inept (distanced himself from a popular incumbent, provided no real vision of leadership, came off as arrogant and irritating in the debates, and of course during the Bush v Gore imbroglio he decided to recount heavily Democratic counties in Florida instead of the entire state). And it makes one wonder how (or if) Gore would've done things differently in 1992.
Quite. And basic vetting is probably too strong a requirement, since Clinton's "little problem with the ladies" as a local Republican at the time phrased it, was something of an open secret in Arkansas. Anyone with half an ear to the ground wouldn't even bother vetting him as a running mate.
Running mates nowadays are generally selected based on what they bring nationally, what they will bring in government etc. Thinking about it, probably the two nominees in recent decades who have put most stress on home state electoral votes might be Hillary and Dukakis...
My sources say Gore, Graham, Kerrey, Hamilton, and Harris Wofford. I agree about Graham and Hamilton, particularly as Florida wasn't seen as one of the big 'in play' states in 1992. Given 2000 I think Gore would pick very functionally - ironically not as well as Clinton did IOTL in picking him. My feeling is it would rather predictably be a northern Liberal - Harkin or Kerry maybe.
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I meant, "Any Democratic ticket that didn't have Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton on it would have won."
It's a shame this' for a hypothetical 1992, because if it was 1996 and we're looking for a northern liberal, I'd suggest Paul Wellstone.