Republicans (1932-Present)
1932: John J. Blaine (Blaine still would have lost to Roosevelt, but would have been a fresh face when compared to Hoover)
1936: William Borah (Borah would have done slightly better in the western states than Landon)
1940: Wendell Wilkie (Had Thomas Dewey won the 1938 New York Gubernatorial race, he would have been the strongest candidate for the Republicans in 1940 though)
1944: Thomas Dewey
1948: Thomas Dewey
1952: Dwight Eisenhower
1956: Dwight Eisenhower
1960: Richard Nixon
1964: Nelson Rockefeller (Despite that fact that he would have done very poorly in the South, Nelson Rockefeller could have held onto some of the traditionally Republican states in the Northeast and Great Plains)
1968: Nelson Rockefeller
1976: Gerald Ford
1980: Ronald Reagan (John Anderson would have done good as the Republican nominee as well)
1984: Ronald Reagan
1988: George H.W. Bush
1992: George H.W. Bush
1996: Richard Lugar
2000: John McCain
2004: George W. Bush
2008: Mike Huckabee (Huckabee could have possibly held onto Indiana, North Carolina and Florida. In addition, he was a much more likable candidate than John McCain and could not be tied that easily to the Bush Administration as much as McCain was)
2012: Jon Huntsman (I think that Jon Huntsman could have actually beaten Obama, albiet by a slim margin. On the other hand, Rick Santorum could have easily mounted a third-party bid if Huntsman was the nominee as well)
2016: I guess either Jeb Bush or Rand Paul. Pre-Bridgegate Chris Christie could have been a formidable candidate as well.
Democrats (1932-Present)1932: Franklin Roosevelt
1936: Franklin Roosevelt
1940: Franklin Roosevelt
1944: Franklin Roosevelt
1948: Harry Truman
1952: Estes Kefauver
1956: Estes Kefauver
1960: John F. Kennedy (While Lyndon Johnson could have carried Oklahoma, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky against Nixon, he would have likely lost states such as New York, Missouri, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan due to the fact that his record on racial issues prior to the mid-1950s was mixed at best. Hell, Nixon might have actually won the black vote against the 1960 version of Johnson)
1964: Lyndon Johnson
1968: Bobby Kennedy
1972: Ed Muskie
1976: Henry “Scoop” Jackson or Frank Church
1980: Ted Kennedy
1984: John Glenn (Glenn could have kept Reagan at about 55-56% of the popular vote and had much more concrete policy proposals than Gary Hart, who was essentially an “empty suit” in a way)
1988: Al Gore
1992: Bill Clinton
1996: Bill Clinton
2000: Al Gore
2004: John Edwards (Edwards might have been able to pick up North Carolina and Virginia, which would have been enough for him to win even if Bush held onto Ohio, Florida, New Mexico and Iowa)
2008: Hillary Clinton (Clinton could have carried all the Obama states with the possible exception of Indiana and Colorado and potentially picked up Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Missouri and Montana as well)
2012: Barack Obama
2016: Probably Hillary Clinton. If Clinton decides not to run, Andrew Cuomo and Mark Warner would obviously be the strongest choices for the Democrats
