2000 Election with Independent McCain

[Senator Libertas]

It's the year 2000, things have gone as they did historically, with John McCain winning the New Hampshire primary and taking the momentum until Bush and Rove manage to put a stop to that with some unsavory tactics in South Carolina.

However this time McCain accepts the offer put forth by Governor Jesse Ventura of Minnesota to mount an independent candidacy with Ventura as his running mate.

George W. Bush of Texas/ Dick Cheney of Wyoming (R)
Al Gore of Tennessee/ Joe Lieberman of Connecticut (D)
John McCain of Arizona/ Jesse Ventura of Minnesota (I)

Does the McCain/Ventura ticket take back the momentum, become credible challengers, and actually win some states, or do they fizzle out in the single digits as so many third-party candidates have done before?

Does McCain/Ventura take votes primarily away from George W. Bush, throwing the election by a larger margin to Al Gore? Or does the ticket primarily win over independent-minded liberals and moderate Republicans who would have otherwise voted for Gore by default despite his unappealing Southern DLC history? Or could they actually stand a slim chance of winning, making inroads into the Northeast, Midwest, and West...?

[Bo]

Gore would win, as McCain and Bush would split the conservative vote (while McCain and Gore would split the moderate vote). However, Gore solidly wins the liberal vote and thus wins the election by a large margin.

[Derek]

http://

McCain would hurt both Bush and Gore, but Bush would be hurt 10x worse.
I'd rather have seen McCain vs. Gore anyways that year.

[shua]

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