1968: Rockefeller/Reagan vs. Humphrey/Muskie vs. Wallace/Benson

[Historia Crux]

Okay lets say that Rockefeller and Reagan do better in the primaries and are able to team up and take down Nixon at the Convention and Nelson Rockefeller becomes the nominee and chooses Reagan as his VP. Democrats go the same and Curtis LeMay instead runs for against California Senator Thomas Kuchel(R-CA) under the Democratic Party and so Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson becomes Walllace's VP.

Democrats:
Senator Hubert Humphrey (Minnesota)
Governor Edmund Muskie (Maine)

Republican:
Governor Nelson Rockefeller (New York)
Governor Ronald Reagan (California)

Amerian Independent:
Governor George Wallace (Alabama)
Agriculture Secretary Ezra Benson (Utah)

Please Make Some Maps!

[Albus Dumbledore]

Wallace wins more historically republican states due to Rockefeller being seen as an effete northern liberal.

[Lincoln Republican]

Rockefeller loses some southern states but makes up for it by picking up the big northeastern states of New York, his home state, and Pennsylvania.  With Reagan, Rockefeller holds onto the traditionally Republican states in the plains, mountain, and southwest areas.  Reagan brings in California for Rockefeller, thereby proving his worth as the Vice Presidential pick.

Personally, I doubt very much that Benson would have accepted to run on a ticket with Wallace, however, with these three tickets, this is how I see the election turning out. 

Rockefeller/Reagan                          281
Humphrey/Muskie                            169
Wallace/Benson                                 88     

[True Democrat]

Rockefeller loses some southern states but makes up for it by picking up the big northeastern states of New York, his home state, and Pennsylvania.  With Reagan, Rockefeller holds onto the traditionally Republican states in the plains, mountain, and southwest areas.  Reagan brings in California for Rockefeller, thereby proving his worth as the Vice Presidential pick.

Personally, I doubt very much that Benson would have accepted to run on a ticket with Wallace, however, with these three tickets, this is how I see the election turning out. 

Rockefeller/Reagan                          281
Humphrey/Muskie                            169
Wallace/Benson                                 88     

No.  Wallace does not win Mormons or Idaho.

I would expect something like this:

288-186-64

[Lincoln Republican]

Besides being an excellent Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Benson was a prominent Mormon leader, and he was born in Idaho.

That is why I gave the ticket Utah and Idaho.  Benson likely would have had considerable influence in those states.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Nelson A. Rockefeller/Ronald W. Reagan (R): 275 EV
Hubert H. Humphrey/Edmund S. Muskie (D): 186 EV
George C. Wallace/Ezra Benson (AI): 77 EV

In this 1968 Presidential scenario I can forsee the Republican ticket of Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan defeating the Democratic ticket of Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie. Although the Republican ticket led by Rockefeller loses a vast majority of the South, which Richard Nixon won in RL 1968, Rockefeller offsets those losses by carrying New York and thus the Presidency of the United States.

Benson likely would have had considerable influence in those states.

Whilst I do not deny that with Ezra Benson on George Wallace's ticket in 1968 that he would have had influence in Idaho and Utah, I doubt that with the addition of Benson on the ticket that George Wallace would have been able to carry them both.