Bentsen v Bush '88

[Michael Z]

The "If Clinton ran in 88"-thread got me thinking. Assuming Lloyd Bentsen got the Democratic nomination in 1988, who do you think would have won between Bentsen and Bush?

Also, who do you think Bentsen would've chosen as his running mate?

[Michael Z]

I think it may have looked something like this...



Lloyd Bentsen/Richard Gephardt (D) 274
George H. W. Bush/Dan Quayle (R) 261

But I agree, it would have been VERY close and a lot of states could have gone either way.

[Michael Z]

Bentsen would have won some southern states, Bush (41) did not have the southern appeal that his son does and Bentsen was a quintessentially southern breed of Democrat.

You've got a point there, I didn't really think about it that way... I guess I'm too used to the idea of the South being a Republican stronghold...

I wonder how a Bentsen victory in '88 would affect the '92 race. Dan Quayle might win the Republican nomination, since he was still regarded as a political heavyweight before being Bush's running mate, and would not have carried the stigma of being, well, thick, had he not had his spell in office. And how would a Bentsen v Quayle race pan out? I can sense another poll approaching...