Ford/Buckley vs. Brown/James (1976)

[Historico]

Ok...Let's say that Govenor Jerry Brown of California decides to run for the Presidency earlier on in the Primaries, and is able to best both Jimmy Carter and Scoop Jackson in a contested race. On the GOP side, President Ford fights off a tough race against Ronald Reagan and indeed succeds to clinch the nomination. However, inorder to shore up the Conservative wing of the party and keep Rockefeller's home state of New York in his potential Electoral map...He picks Conservative Senator James L. Buckley of New York as his running mate.

On the Democrtatic Side, Jerry Brown decides to continue his message of "change" and shore up his lack of foriegn policy expierence by picking the 1st African American 4 star General...Daniel "Chappie" James as his running mate. Ford still makes his major gaffes he did IOTL, and Brown running on his "Era of Limits" Slogan runs a flawless campaign...How might the electoral map turn out?

[Lincoln Republican]

Even with his gaffes, Ford almost defeated a more credible Democratic candidate IRL than Brown.  Besides, Brown had only been serving as Governor of California since 1975, hardly the stuff a credible Presidential nominee is made of.

VP picks are interesting, but Buckley would not help Ford carry New York, and I do not believe that 1976 America was ready for a black Vice President, as commendable and impressive as his military record was. 

This map is the very best case scenario for Brown, given the scenario you have outlined, major gaffes by Ford and a flawless campaign by Brown.  In reality, had Brown been the nominee, he would not have done this well.  He was simply too inexperienced to be taken too seriously by most of the electorate.           

Ford/Buckley                  274
Brown/James                 264

[Historico]

Although I do agree with you that Jerry's inexperience will cause him alot less of a stronger victory against Ford. But I think he would do well enough in the traditional Democratic states and in the West Coast to pull of an incredibly narrow victory. Chappie would be popular enough to bring in, and if the campaign really focused on getting the Black votes out to vote...I think he could pull a couple of Southern States.

Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr/Daniel "Chappie" James Jr.: 282 Electoral Votes
Gerald Ford/James L. Buckley: 256 Electoral Votes

[pogo stick]

Ford edges it out by winning the south.  And Texas