2016: Wilson vs Roosevelt (Teddy) vs Taft

[PJ]

So in other words 1912 in modern times. Who would win? Who would you want to win? What would an electoral map would like?

[GAworth]

I don't think Americans would vote for a Northeastern Intellectual in Wilson, I think Roosevelt would have a better chance of victory his rhetoric on banks and political reform would be widely receptive. I think a Republican who really was a "fat cat" would certainly not play today, the image would not work in America today.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

These three folks are candidates that would not exist in today's world. With Wilson you get the stereotypical Ivy League, arrogant, East Coast guy that would fit in perfectly with the Democrats combined with some good old fashioned Civil War era Southern racism. If we're having Wilson as a candidate, you really have to choose one or the other. For the purposes of this, let's go with the progressive side. Teddy Roosevelt came from a very wealthy background in New York's aristocracy and yet in this, his main appeal would likely be to Southern and Mid-Western middle and working class voters due to using economic and social populism combined with nationalism. Finally, Taft is a guy that started out as progressive, only to move to the Right thanks to attacks from people like Roosevelt himself. To have two guys crowding the Republican's left field would never happen, and the inclusion of, say, La Follette, makes it all the stranger. So how does this work out in real life then? President Taft, originally associated with the GOP's moderate wing, is nonetheless attacked both by liberal Democrats as well as former President Roosevelt, who is running on an economically moderate-to-populist platform and also on a re-strengthened military. This is in opposition to Taft's more trade-friendly policies, his apparent alliance with "big money", and perceived weakness--associated by some with paleo-conservatism--on foreign policy. Meanwhile, after a tough primary, the candidate of the North, Woodrow Wilson, successfully beat out Speaker Champ Clark for the Democratic nomination. Wilson, the former President of Princeton, ran on a "progressive" platform that includes traditional Democratic stances, a more humanitarian foreign policy, and a number of left-wing (though not necessarily classist) economic policies. Clark, for his part, was running on a more populist platform and lost to the liberal Wilson.

More to come, possibly.

[DKrol]

Governor Woodrow Wilson/Governor Thomas Marshall (D) - 238
President William Taft/Columbia University President Nicholas Butler (R) - 190
Fmr. President Theodore Roosevelt/Governor Hiram Johnson (P) - 110

The race is thrown the Congress. Let's say that the Republicans maintain their majority in the House and the Democrats keep a 50-50 Majority in the Senate after the 2014 midterms. The House elected Taft, but the Senate picks Roosevelt as Vice President.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Wilson 272 NV,CO,IA,WI,NH
Taft 206
Teddy 60 VA, FL, OH

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Roosevelt (P-NY) 240
Wilson (R-NJ) 214
Taft (D-OH) 84

Roosevelt gets the most EV's, but it goes into the House where the Republicans control enough delegations to elect Wilson, but a coalition of Democrats and Progressives, put Roosevelt's running mate ex-Gov. Hiram Johnson of California in as Vice President.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

What we gotta deal with here is the strangeness of the Roosevelt coalition. Let's say he's running a Perotesque campaign that appeals both to disaffected middle class and blue collar voters, as well as to moderates and to liberal Republicans and moderate Democrats. Despite an upper class background, he's able to successfully spin Wilson as a far-left liberal from academia who will attempt revolutionary social experiments and change the American way of life. Meanwhile, Taft is an executive failure who has allied himself with big money and more recently has seeming sold out to some of the strongly social conservative base.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I think a present day prez Wilson would still win against McCain or a Dubya conservative. They would split the anti Wilson states once having Wilson achieved 272.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I think a present day prez Wilson would still win against McCain or a Dubya conservative.

Actually, Wilson against McCain or a Dubya conservative would split the right letting the Democratic candidate getting an easy win.  Wilson fits far more comfortably in the GOP of today than the Democratic party of today.  That's why in my scenario above I had Taft and Wilson switching parties.

[Peter the Lefty]

Can we include Debs in this?