How would 1972 have fared with George Wallace as the VP nominee?

[Podgy the Bear]

What do you think?

Following a thread with Wallace as the potential presidential nominee in 1972--apparently, there was talk around the time of the convention for a Hubert Humphrey-George Wallace ticket to stop George McGovern.  Wallace discussed this in later interviews, and some Humphrey operatives talked about it as well.

For many reasons, it was likely never to work, and even so, it's highly doubtful that they would have won in November.  However, it may have been the strongest ticket coming out of Miami that year.  Wallace had been shot and there was a considerable amount of sympathy (I remember this in my 3rd grade parochial school in Nashville where prayers were said for him).  There would have been a chance to pick up some of the states in the South.  Plus, the strong union vote would make states like Ohio, Illinois, Michigan highly competitive for the Democrats.   

They couldn't have done worse than the eventual result. 

[Podgy the Bear]

There was never any consideration for a McGovern-Wallace ticket, but as the story goes, the Humphrey-Wallace pairing came up to stop McGovern at the convention.  McGovern came into the convention with a near majority of the votes (he had won a winner-take-all primary in California), but the anti-McGovern forces came up with a resolution to invalidate the winner-take-all (which was defeated).

You would have to look at this situation from the eyes of 1972.  Wallace is seen today viewed in the light of his first term activities as governor and his 1968 campaign (though his mea culpas and later years as governor should also be considered--and in the 1982 governor election, he received all of the black vote).  But in 1972, the busing issue truly catapulted him as a serious candidate--not only in the South (he won Florida by a big margin) but running very strongly in primary states like Wisconsin and Massachusetts (!).   

We'll never know how many additional states a Humphrey-Wallace pairing would have picked up, but there would have been a significant increase in the popular vote (after all, the Humphrey-Wallace combination vote in 1968 was 57%).