Uncle Kalwejt presents: Nominees who faced weak opponents in primaries

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

1980 (Republican)


Nominee Ronald Reagan:

A former two-term Governor of a large state, known nationally and very strong among party base, hands down.

Opponents:

George H. W. Bush: A quintessential political appointee, never elected to anything above congressional district as well as two-time statewide loser.

John Anderson: Kind of Ron Paul. Unelectable candidate with devoted, yet too small base to make a real difference.

Howard Baker: Normally would be a great candidate, but displayed little commitment in the race.

Bob Dole: Ah, remember that hatched man from 1976?

John Connally: A turncoat tainted by multiple scandals. Money can't buy you everything.

Phil Crane: Kind of Jon Huntsman, appealing to the same party segment as frontrunner (Reagan conservatives), but lacking all his advantages

Harold Stassen: Old meme is old

Ben Fernandez: Who?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

1968 (Republican)

Nominee: Richard Nixon

Kind of an inevitable candidate: experienced, well-known, popular with party machine, money...

Opponents:

Nelson Rockefeller: One of the most overhyped candidates in modern history.

Ronald Reagan: Still too extreme to get elected nationwide in 1960s and with just two years in office. Not this time.

George Romney: I was brainwashed, nuff said.

Harold Stassen: This is getting old...

[Fuzzybigfoot]

This is fun. 

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is fun. 

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

This is fun. 

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Do you have any others planned? 1996 GOP would  be good. 2004 is the only Dem one I can think of right now.

[Hash]

2012 GOP seems like a perfect description of this:

Romney: full of problems and issues, most have reservations, ready to sell his mother to win but is most electable; so wins.

Bachmann: insane nutjob who needs real mental help, married to closeted self-hating homo; makes Palin look sane and intelligent
Cain: crazy black man who speaks like a gangster, has no actual experience, is kind of crackpot
Gingrich: angry old white male who cheats on his cancer-stricken spouse, seems perpetually angry, acts like some smart ass when he's actually quite clueless
Huntsman: Intelligent guy, but out of whack with the party's ideology and served as ambassador under an incumbent president whom half the party wants to burn at the stake
Paul: kind of senile old man with crazy ideas, despised by half the party, cultish following but no chance to win
Perry: total moron who makes Dubya look like a Rhodes scholar; is overall a retarded hick/redneck hillbilly
Santorum: former senator who lost in a landslide, running a campaign originally seemingly focused entirely on hating gays

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

1992 (Democratic)

Nominee: Bill Clinton

Relatively unknown, but with several advantages like energy, youth and considerable experience in governing. Also, very able in getting the people to like him as well as in avoiding mines that could kill most of his colleagues (see Gary Hart).

Opponents:

Paul Tsongas: Former one-term Senator with serious health issues. Absent from active politics for number of years. No appeal to the liberal base due to an outspoken fiscal conservatism. Charisma? We're not discussing something that didn't exist in first place.

Jerry Brown: A man with two already lost national campaigns who could never, despite serious record as two-term California Governor, escape his erratic image.

Bob Kerrey: Great candidate on paper: war hero and a popular liberal Democrat in a Republican, conservative state. But, he totally lacked a sense of self-discipline to compete on national level.

Tom Harkin: No appeal outside of an old guard.

Douglas Wilder: He won less than 300 votes nationwide, right?

Eugene McCarthy: OLD MEME IS REALLY OLD!

Charles Woods: Alabama's Harold Stassen with a scary face.

Larry Agran: Who?

Tom Laughin: I don't know any damn Tom Laughin. I only know Billy Jack.

[Username MechaRFK]

Still waiting for something about the Democratic fields of 1984 and 1988.

[morgieb]

Still waiting for something about the Democratic fields of 1984 and 1988.

I'll give it a bash, but it might be inaccurate.

1988:

Dukakis - a generic liberal governor from Massachusetts. Not exactly a strong candidate?

but...

Jackson - too radical for the nomination.
Gore - too inexperienced at 1988, unable to win much outside of the South.
Gephardt - ditto, also struggled outside of the Midwest.
Simon - only had one term in the Senate, plus was only really known for the bowtie.
Hart - strong on paper, but he got caught cheating.
Babbitt - unclear, probably just wasn't strong enough.
Biden - got caught plagiarising parts of his speech.

1984 actually looks strong.

[The Mikado]

The Biden thing was more embarrassing than it seems: he stole biographical stuff.  Stuff like "I am the first person in my family to go to college" that was true for Neil Kinnock but not true for Biden.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Gore - too inexperienced at 1988, unable to win much outside of the South.

Gore '88 was not even a "southern candidate"; he was southern whites candidate. His startegy was based on dominating the South with others splitting the rest, but this plan quickly collapsed with Jesse Jackson.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Biden thing was more embarrassing than it seems: he stole biographical stuff.  Stuff like "I am the first person in my family to go to college" that was true for Neil Kinnock but not true for Biden.

I love that the Kinnocks got tickets to Obama's inauguration because of that.