1976 Election.

[Liberalrocks]

If the 1976 election had just one more week....Would Ford have overtaken Carter for a victory? I believe he would have and as a Liberal Democrat I would have voted for the moderate Ford. Just 25 more electoral votes likely coming from Ohio which he lost by a whisker and Wisconsin which was also close. A number of other states were close as well Mississippi and Texas....

Rest in Peace Betty and Jerry...

[sg0508]

I've started a thread on this in the past.  Ford had all the Momentum at the end and there was a dramatic movement in the polls in the final weeks, which helped to close the final Carter margin.  McCarthy also hurt Carter substantially and stole wins in OR, ME, IA and a few other states. 

The Playboy deal also hurt Carter.  What shocked me is that MS was actually very tight in the south.  Of all southern states, Ford was viable in MS and he only won VA in the upper south.

Amazing that after the DNC, the Democrats led by 33 pts (62-29%).  The Eastern Europe comment in the 2nd debate didn't seem to hurt much in terms of the polls though.

OH, WI, MS, HI and MO was the election.  Dole was also a VERY POOR choice for VP, which he had no choice of really because of the brutal primary against the conservative Reagan.  While people don't vote for VP, Nelson Rockefeller of NY would have been a far, far better choice.  In the end, Dole may have helped Ford to hold a few states like OK, SD, MT and NM, but those states don't mean s..t.  NY and PA were very winnable.

[sg0508]

Don't underestimate the Dole element, which proved nothing short of disastrous for Ford and the McCarthy element, which made the final electoral count closer than what it would have been without him on the ballot.

[Dancing with Myself]

Ford would have won if the election would have been held days later actually. The polls numbers were edging Ford every day.

[Username MechaRFK]

Gerald Ford would have won had it not been for his Soviets comment. Carter had his Playboy comment that hurted him but saying the Solvets didn't have control over Western Europe.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've never understood how Ford could ever say such a silly thing about Eastern Europe. He must have been very confused.

[Mechaman]

As much as I DESPISE Nelson Rockefeller I have to confess that with him on the ticket I could see the Republicans winning states like Wisconsin and maybe even New York (which was and still is worth a hell of a lot of electoral votes) that they lost in real life.
So yeah, I agree with sg on that one.

[Dancing with Myself]

As much as I DESPISE Nelson Rockefeller I have to confess that with him on the ticket I could see the Republicans winning states like Wisconsin and maybe even New York (which was and still is worth a hell of a lot of electoral votes) that they lost in real life.
So yeah, I agree with sg on that one.

I agree, Bob Dole's a good guy but he just should not be a national leader. He was great as a senator

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

As much as I DESPISE Nelson Rockefeller I have to confess that with him on the ticket I could see the Republicans winning states like Wisconsin and maybe even New York (which was and still is worth a hell of a lot of electoral votes) that they lost in real life.
So yeah, I agree with sg on that one.

Not so sure about that one.

Even if that ticket could make it out of the convention, polls showed that as many as 25% of Republicans would not have supported a Ford/Rockefeller ticket. Granted, Rockefeller did step his game up in the 70's and even mended relations with Barry Goldwater, but I'm not certain that he'd be able to make up that deficit and win over enough independents to make up for it.

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