It can be anyboy from that time period, they didnt have to declare
1948: Robert Taft , Probably lose by a hair
1952: Stevenson , OTL result
1956: LBJ , LBJ does better in New England, and South but loses
1960: Mark Hatfield , Does better in debate wins popular vote and wins in a nailbiter
1964: Nelson Rockerfeller , Does better in North East, West, still loses decisivly
1968: Hubert Humprhey , He did better then any democrat should have done
1972: Edward Muskie , Does better everywhere but doesnt lose in landslide
1976: Ronald Reagan, Dees better in South, worse in NE but wins in a nailbiter
1980: Ted Kennedy , does better in NE but loses decisively
1984: Gary Hart , Does better in Midwest but still loses in landslides
1988: Mario Cuomo , Does better in NE and California but loses in nailbiter
1992: Jack Kemp , Loses like George HW Bush but wins Ohio,Georgia, New Jersey
1996: Colin Powell , Makes it really really close but still loses
2000: Dick Gephardt , Takes our Bush in Missouri and Florida and wins
2004: Joe Liberman , Takes bush out in Ohio, and wins the election
2008: John McCain , Gop should not have won more then 150 electoral votes this year
2012: Chris Christe , Beats Obama by a nailbiter
1948: Dwight Esienhower for the same reasons he was nominated in 1952
1952: Lyndon Johnson
1956: Lyndon Johnson
1960: Richard Nixon probably did better than any other Republican against JFK
1964: Richard Nixon would have been more aggressive against LBJ than Barry Goldwater
1968: Eugene McCarthy was the anti-war candidate and would have been able to run with that.
1972: Ed Muskie
1976: Ronald Reagan, he would not have had to deal with Watergate
1980: Jerry Brown, he could have run as a D.C. outsider
1984: Gary Hart, he first presented the idea of changing the Democratic Party well before Bill Clinton
1988: Al Gore, he was considered a moderate then and he came from a state that had twice voted for President Reagan
1992: Tom Kean, New Jersey's Former Governor, had broad appeal to independents and was loved by the GOP's moderate wing
1996: Colin Powell, he was always well respected and not a career politician
2000: Joe Lieberman, he could run on Bill Clinton's economic record but not his personal scandals
2004: Wesley Clark, he would have had more credibility on Iraq than John Kerry and he's a decorated veteran and military leader
2008: Rudy Giuliani, his fiscally conservative, yet socially moderate views are in line with a majority of voters
2012: Rudy Giuliani, for the same reasons he was strong in 2008 but he'd have been aggressive in a general election