Bush the Unifier?

[Beet]

He would not have faced Howard Dean. Dean was an unknown and only became the leading contender after he strongly opposed the Iraq war and the DLC (which was discredited after 2002 and by the GOP's aggressive tactics).

What would have happened is more like what happened to some of the European incumbent parties, particularly in the UK and Germany. Politics are less polarizing and the Democrats would have put up a generic DLC style candidate in 2004, possibly Kerry, possibly someone else; but they would have had a lot less energy behind them. The wind out be out of the sails of any Obama DNC speech denouncing polarization. The Democrats would try to run on economic issues but wouldn't get much traction, and they lose by a significantly larger margin, possibly 6 or 7 points instead of 2. Overall less upswing in interest in politics, more emphasis on economic issues, and less trend toward the Democratic party among younger voters. The Democrats become seen as the party of old people and there would be new voices in the party calling for reforms by moving closer to the center. Hotelling's thesis becomes even more entrenched in conventional wisdom that both parties must move to the center to win.

The Democrats make gains in 2006 but fall short of capturing the House or Senate. Overall Bush would have a much stronger legacy with only the economic crisis in 2008 as a sad last chapter to his Presidency.