The more moderate Kean and economic libertarian Weld would have been unable to match Bush:
Bush’s success was largely based on his appeal to the socially conservative Upper South and Mountain West voters. The former had backed fellow countrymen Clinton and Gore in 1992 and 1996 and in many cases had backed Democrats ever since the Civil War, but they were opposed to the social liberalism and environmentalism espoused by Gore. With a candidate like Kean, it seems likely to me that Gore might have held his home state, Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio, which would have allowed him to retain the Presidency even with some losses elsewhere.
