Would a Bush/Cheney ticket have beaten a Kerry/McCain ticket?

[GPORTER]

Discuss

[Bo]

I doubt it. McCain would have helped Kerry a lot and would have probably been enough to defeat Bush and Cheney in 2004.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

http://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=123439.0

Bush still wins. McCain joining the Democratic ticket would anger the liberals, and Al Gore would make the left seem united.

I seriously doubt that McCain would have been able to unite the Democratic Party to the degree that Kerry/Edwards did. Can you imagine how the activist left would have reacted? The fact of the matter was that the left was not as motivated as the right was that year. Bush won in a close election, but he still won (by 3 points).

I think Kerry did the best he was going to do, as flawed a candidate as he was. McCain would not have helped with Republicans or conservative-leaning independents (the Massachussetts liberal was NOT going to win that vote, no matter what).

[CathKhan]

I can see this being like a "McCain chooses Liberman in 2008" scenario, with a large number of the Wingnuts (including me) in the given party staying home or voting third party. In this case, I can see Ralph Nader getting a significant bump from this, just as a Libertarian or Constitution candidate might have if McCain chose Lieberman (I honestly don't know if I would vote for McCain or a third party in that scenario despite my Conservative leanings) Ralph Nader would probably be able to expand on his two percent from 2000 and seem like a credible candidate by 2008.

[Senator Napoleon]

McCain was different back then, though, and we held quite a bit of respect for him. Of course, he's a vile creature nowadays. With the war being a big issue, Kerry probably never had a chance.

[State Comptroller Atkins]

McCain was more genuinely moderate back then. He may have driven away some voters to Nader or Cobb, but not enough to prevent Kerry from winning.

[Californian Tony]

Probably, yeah. There really wouldn't have needed a lot to push Kerry over the top.

[phk]

Kerry would have picked up Iowa, New Mexico, Arizona, Ohio at least.

[NCeriale]

Kerry would have forced Bush's hand and Bush would have dumped Cheney for Condoleeza Rice or Rudy Giuliani. Both give him sizable advantage. Would have loved to see McCain go after Cheney though

[Governor Scott]

Kerry would've lost by more, because of low liberal turnout.  Sure, maybe he would've took Arizona and even Arkansas, but he would have lost Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.

I never have, and still can't, see how McCain was in any way, a "moderate" other than his support for campaign finance reform.  Does cooperating with the other party on one issue make you a "moderate", now?

[Akno21]

No, because McCain would've removed himself from the ticket once he returned to his senses and realized Kerry's one of the most liberal senators in the country and McCain, whatever liberals may have fooled themselves into thinking, is a pretty conservative guy. Was this ever close to actually happening?

[phk]

McCain was seen differently back than.

/end