2004: Gore/Lieberman vs McCain/Hunter

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Gore wins in 2000. 9/11 has occured, but no Iraq. McCain runs and picks Duncan Hunter. Who would have won?

[MATTROSE94]

I think that Gore would win by a pretty comfortable margin if he handled 9/11 decently.

Here is what I think the map would look like:

President Al Gore (D-TN)/Vice President Joe Leiberman (D-CT): 344 Electoral Votes
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)/Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA): 194 Electoral Votes

The closest Gore states are Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida while the closest McCain states are Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)/Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA): 345
Pres. Al Gore (D-TN)/Vice Pres. Joe Lieberman (D-CT): 193

Basically plays out the same as 1992.  Fatigue with Democrats, coupled with McCain's foreign policy credentials and centrist campaign, gives the GOP a comfortable victory.

[IceSpear]

It really depends on how Gore handles 9/11.

[Mordecai]

It really depends on how Gore handles 9/11.

And if bin Laden is captured/killed, which would put a damper on McCain's military/foreign policy shtick, which IMO there is a high chance of if President Gore focuses solely on Afghanistan.

[hcallega]

I wrote a timeline dealing with this scenario on AH.com. Basically, I think that Gore wouldn't have gotten as big a popularity boost as Bush post-9/11 for several reasons: 1) Bush wasn't blamed for the intelligence failures that allowed 9/11 to occur because he wasn't on the job very long. Gore was a part of Clinton's team, and wouldn't have received the same honeymoon. 2) Bush's personality was well suited to responding to an event like 9/11. Gore was viewed as more studious, patient, and reserved, traits which would not have had the same positive effect as Bush's. 3) In a somewhat unrelated note, assuming Gore does not invade Iraq, the neoconservatives along with many other members of the GOP will attack him for failing to pursue the War on Terror vigorously enough.

Taken together, along with Democratic fatigue and low turnout among liberals (due to Gore's ideology and a lack of fear of a McCain presidency), I see McCain narrowly defeating Gore. Then again, the election could very easily swing the other way with Gore winning narrowly.