Ok...Let's say Perot won in '92 on an incredibly narrow margin...
Ross Perot/James Stockdale: 272 Electoral VotesBill Clinton/Al Gore: 203 Electoral VotesGeorge H.W. Bush/Dan Quayle: 63 Electoral Votes******************
By the time of his reelection, Perot's 1st term can be only summed up as disastorus, as his frequent congressional showdown's, protectionist trade policies and Isolationist views, Make him very vulnerable come the '96 Election. The Reform Party decides to renominate their stubborn leader, who picks former Democratic Govenor Dick Lamm of Colorado as his running mate after VP Stockdale declined to seek renomination.
On the Democratic side, the Party of Jackson '96 election is theirs to loose. After defeating Phil Gramm during the '94 Texas Gubernatorial Election, Ann Richards sets her sights on the '96 election. Her down home Texas Charisma wins over voters in the South and Midwest, as well as her fairly liberal record as Governor makes her palatable to liberal Northeast. In order to weaken Reform/Republican strength in the Farm...Richards, the first female nominee for President by either Party, chose fiscally conservative Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota as her running mate.
On the Republican Side, their dismal defeat during the '92 elections left the GOP in the Political wilderness. The race for the nomination showed a fractured party, as well as the convention as no candidate held the necessary amount of delegates to clinch the nomination. A Dark Horse in former Secretary of State James Baker was offered as a Compromise Candidate. The Fact that he was a Southern Conservative appealed to the Buchanan-backers in the hall while his foriegn policy achievments really spoke for themselves. In order to expand the party's base outside the South, Baker chose 1st term New York Governor George Pataki as his running mate.
So in this All-Texas Shoot Out...How does the electoral map turn out?
