Gore could conceivably win. People forget, Dukakis led Bush by 17 points at one point in 1988 and Atwater won't be able to dig up dirt on and attack Gore the way he did Dukakis, plus Gore had a center right voting record at that point (environmental issues aside), so you can't smear him as liberal or smear liberalism itself to the extent that it was smeared with Dukakis.
Granted, you could argue 1988 was destined to be a Republican year regardless given the economy and the stability abroad, but low unemployment and stability didn't help Gore in 2000, so it alone might not be enough to carry Bush over the finish line. In either case, a HW Bush vs. Gore election in '88 would be a close one.
Crime would certainly be less of an issue if Gore was nominated while the environment may have been more of an issue. I wonder if Gore would have attacked Bush over his oil past and Reagan's environmental record.
