Who was the most "electable" candidate for both parties, by year?

[Mechaman]

I'm not sure if I buy this whole "electable" candidate argument.  Really, we can only know how "electable" somebody really is once they are in the general election.  For all we know Paul Laxalt might've done better than Reagan in 1980, Dick Gephardt was a sleeping landslide in 1988, Lamar Alexander could've been the Agent of Upset in 1996, Orrin Hatch could've decimated Al Gore in 2000, Bill Bradley could've made a few butterfly ballots in Florida meaningless, the media might've greatly underestimated Howard Dean in 2004, Biden could've been a 400 EV landslide in the making, Huckabee could've kept the margin down in a few swing states, and Tim Pawlenty could've given Obama a real scare.

We can never really know, can we?

[tpfkaw]

Substitute Lamar Dole and Bush for Buchanan in 92 and 96 in the OP, I was drinking the Buchanan kool-aid a little too hard at that point in my life. 96 was probably winnable for a non-controversial GOPher if the Lewinsky scandal had broken during the election.

Edit: Realized Lamar breaks my rule in the OP.

[Mechaman]

Substitute Lamar Dole and Bush for Buchanan in 92 and 96 in the OP, I was drinking the Buchanan kool-aid a little too hard at that point in my life. 96 was probably winnable for a non-controversial GOPher if the Lewinsky scandal had broken during the election.

Edit: Realized Lamar breaks my rule in the OP.

On really?  I could never tell.