Who would have made an interesting president, but never got the shot?

[Bucky]

The first two I think of were Mario Cuomo and Bruce Babbitt. Cuomo was tough, compassionate, FDRish (with a little dash of Adlai), and an amazingly subtle thinker. 1988 was his year and I think he could've womped the hell out of Poppy in the general election. So much would've been different (including, possibly, no Speaker New Gingrich!).

Babbitt was kind of an odd duck. He talked like Jimmy Stewart and had no physical control over the erratic gyrations of his own eyebrows when he was talking. But he was a truly committed, passionate environmentalist of the sort that Teddy Roosevelt could only pretend to be. Whenever I heard him speak, I heard a man with a deep connection to the land and legacy--environmental and political, too--we leave to the next generation. In that sense, I tend to think we'd have a much smaller debt problem today if America had had him at the helm for 8 years.

Who else might've blown our minds via the White House?

[arcane1]

1. I'm going with Eugene Debs

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

5. Debs would have been interesting

But he didn't have a prayer of getting elected.

[bodem1955_om]

15. me too

[cdogzilla]

22. First I thought of as well.

Now to check down the list and see if anyone has already mentioned Bob LaFollette, Bill Bradley, Jerry Brown ...

[ZombieHorde]

2. Noam Chomsky. nt

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

6. God, no

Do you (1) think he would be a good administrator or (b) would be able to get anything through Congress or (iii) have any sort of good foreign relationships?

[ZombieHorde]

8. About as good or well as anyone else.

There are other qualities that I consider, such as tone and personal world view.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

9. Chomsky's tone is "my way or nothing"

[ZombieHorde]

10. That may be what you hear, but that is not what I hear. nt

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

11. Do you seriously see Chomsky compromising on anything?

If you want to get things done politically, you need to be able to. I do not see Chomsky being able to.

[ZombieHorde]

28. Chomsky has said that compromises are necessary.

So yes, I could seriously see him compromising on some issues.

[Ptah]

3. Mike Mansfield

Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American
politician and diplomat. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a
U.S. Representative (1943–1953) and a U.S. Senator (1953–1977) from Montana.
He was the longest-serving Senate Majority Leader, serving from 1961 to 1977.
During his tenure, he shepherded Great Society programs through the Senate,
but strongly opposed the Vietnam War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Mansfield

[jaysunb]

4. Gary Hart...

It would have been an interesting ride.

[bemildred]

7. Eugene McCarthy, John Anderson, to name a couple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_McCarthy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Anderson

[no_hypocrisy]

46. +1 for both of them

I voted for Anderson in the republican primaries and later when he was an Independent. It should have been him, not Reagan.

[charlie and algernon]

12. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He could have been a fantastic President.

[DavidL]

13. That's the first name that came to my mind, too!

He was well ahead of a time when he could have carried 270 electoral votes, I fear. I was around as a voting adult in 1968. I lived in the Boston area, where schools were still largely segregated by areas of the city. I can only imagine what it was like in the deep South.

People actually talked about him getting into politics, my liberal relatives, at least. But, of course, it was too early for him, and he tragically was shot before a majority of American voters were ready for his wonderful message of unity.

My two cents on the issue.

[Ken Burch]

45. Before he was shot, there was significant support for the idea

of Dr. King being nominated by the Peace and Freedom Party, with Benjamin Spock(their eventual nominee)as his running mate.

If LBJ had still insisted on making the Dems nominate Humphrey and adopt a "keep the war going" plank on Vietnam, a King-Spock ticket would have stood a real chance(and, I would argue, have been assured of victory if LBJ had been re-nominated, which was apparently still a possibility during the Chicago convention).

[JDPriestly]

36. Yes.

He had the strength of character. In addition, he inspired people when he spoke.

He is the missing president of the 20th century.

He was well educated too. His mastery of the English language and speech were exquisite, just beautiful.

Definitely the missed president.

[Rowdyboy]

14. Mo Udall was my first serious political hero...he ran in 1976 and finished second to

Jimmy Carter most everywhere by about 1%. Such is the cruelty of history. He was a class act, a western (Arizona) congressman, a liberal Mormon and brother of JFK's Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. His son Mark is a current senator from Colorado and his nephew Tom is a senator from New Mexico.

He was a Democrat way back when that really meant something. And he's probably one of the greatest presidents America never had, at least in my opinion...

Here's to you, Mo, and what might have been.....

?w=500

[JDPriestly]

37. Another good choice.

[jonpaulprime]

16. William Jennings Bryan

Populist. Would've been interesting.

[left-of-center2012]

17. Nelson Rockefeller

Governor of New York and Vice President under Gerald Ford.

"Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was an American businessman, philanthropist, public servant, and politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States (1974–1977), serving under President Gerald Ford, and as the 49th Governor of New York (1959–1973). He also served in the administrations of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower in a variety of positions. A member of the Rockefeller family, he was also a noted art collector."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Rockefeller

[danbenbow]

18. What should have been

Al Gore is the most obvious answer to this question..

[YOHABLO]

19. I HAVE TO SAY ROBERT KENNEDY .. JUST IMAGINE

[SCALA13]

20. Ross Perot,just saying.

[StevieM]

21. At the top of my list of Morris Udall. I don't know whether he would have won the GE if he had

gotten the Democratic nomination in 1976. By the time Election Day rolled around, Carter's margin had crumbled and he had to rely on a coalition of liberal and conservative, southern states--a coalition only available to him. Ford might very well had pulled off the long-coveted Truman-style shocking upset.

But I think Udall was the president we needed back then and would have done a good job.

I also liked Gary Hart and Mario Cuomo a lot and would have been interested in seeing either one of them elected to the White House in 1988.

It's very interesting to think of what would have happened if Al Gore was in the White House after 9/11.

All the examples I gave are ones that realistically could have happened with a couple of minor differences in the way that history played out. Gore could have won in 2000--and many would argue that he actually did. Udall could have won the nomination in 1976, and probably would have if not for Carter's shocking emergence. And he could have beaten Ford in the GE. Hart and Cuomo were both electable in 1988 vs. George HW Bush.

On the other hand, William Jennings Bryan and Adlai Stevenson were never realistically going to win their elections.

I think the most interesting what if is Henry Wallace. What if FDR hadn't dumped him from the ticket and he had become president after Roosevelt died?

[47of74]

29. I think 9/11 would have just been another Tuesday.

Gore wouldn't have sat on his ass when the reports started to come in about terrorists wanting to use airliners as weapons long beforehand. 9/11 would have just had been another late summer Tuesday.

Even if something had happened on 9/11 with Gore in charge you would not have had the Iraq war, Gore would have gone after the responsible parties and brought them to justice.

[JDPriestly]

38. I was never a 9/11 conspiracy theory, but I am rethinking my attitude in light of additional

information about Saudi Arabia's links to the event.

But I agree that Gore would have handled it far more wisely.

[cdogzilla]

23. Bob LaFollette (nt)

[cdogzilla]

24. Bill Bradley

Bradley was an incredibly compelling candidate. He was for universal health care, increased gun control, and campaign finance reform ... and the thing I probably would take greatest issue with him on as a lefty would have made him more palatable to centrists and tax-hating crowd. (I'm not a fan of the TRA of '86.)

I guess it says something that his personality didn't outshine Al Gore's But, W. had a good ol' boy personality and look where that got us.

Back in the day, I used to visit this page quite a bit: http://www.kevincmurphy.com/billbradley0.html

[Southern Belle Blue]

25. Henry Wallace

We'd be living in a much more peaceful world if he'd replaced FDR instead of Cold Warrior Truman.

[JDPriestly]

39. Good one.

[thucythucy]

61. I agree. The saddest thing is he came so close,

but conservatives hated him so much they forced FDR to drop him from the ticket in 1944.

[thucythucy]

62. Abraham Lincoln serving out his full second term.

I think Lincoln belongs on this list because he never had the chance to serve the remaining three years, eleven months of his second term.

His idea of Reconstruction would have radically changed the south. He's often portrayed as "soft" on Reconstruction, but he was in favor of seizing the holdings of wealthy slave owners, dividing them up among poor whites and freed slaves. "Forty Acres and a mule." What today we'd call land reform. Andrew Johnson's first act as president was to sign an executive order removing jurisdiction of seized land from the Freedman's Bureau.

Lincoln's assassination was a racist act. Booth was an outspoken white supremacist.

Our nation still hasn't recovered from that single incident of racist gun violence.

On edit: meant to post this in reply to the OP. Need. More. Coffee.

[boatsnhose]

26. Al Gore

I am very curious as to how the country would be today if Gore had actually made it to the white house.

[47of74]

30. Paul Tsongas

I remember prior to Clinton the name Paul Tsongas seemed to come up the most in the year before the 92 election.

If Clinton hadn't pulled off his comeback I wonder if Paul Tsongas would have gone on to win the nomination or if it would have gone to Jerry Brown? Would his policies (which were criticized for being closer to Republican policies than Democratic ones) have brought about the same levels of economic activity that Clinton did?

Also Tsongas had non-Hodgkins lymphoma in the mid 90s that he died from in 1997, so I wonder if that would have come in to play during his Presidency and if he would have died in office? Would that have been an issue in a 1996 Tsongas campaign? Would he have run for political office then?

[MADem]

47. Paul was in it--but then he ran out of money. He won 7 states.

Clinton cleaned up in the south, though and had more cash.

He (his Senate staff, really--he had excellent constituent services even as a brand new Senator) helped me out in a very specific way after the fall of Iran--I'll always be grateful to him.

His wife Niki is in the House now--she does a good job.

[paul ofnoclique]

32. Joe Biden

'nuff said!

[lastlib]

33. Think how different our recent history would have been....

...if Hubert Humphrey had beaten Nixon in 1968.

[Bucky]

34. A Humphrey-Kennedy ticket (if Bobby hadn't been murdered) would've been stronger

Not sure Bobby would've taken the #2 spot. I'm pretty sure Humphrey would have beaten Kennedy for the nomination. Not enough delegates were going to Chicago based on primary votes and the caucuses in the 60s were still very much controlled by party bosses. Speaking of Chicago... that would have been a VERY difference convention without Robert Kennedy's murder. The tone of desperation that that assassination brought on had a huge impact on the zeitgeist.

[aswanson]

35. Interesting Almost President

Al Gore

[SheriffBob]

40. Robert Kennedy

But he was shot. Sickening.

[Rhiannon12866]

43. I absolutely agree with you on that one, he had so much to offer, and the temperament, too.

I believe he would have gone down as one of our greatest in history. Such a waste.

Welcome to DU, SheriffBob! It's great to have you with us!

[RedHornet44]

41. Who would have made an interesting president, but never got the shot?

Ralph Nader. He would have kept corporate power in check and would have enacted or supported legislation for businesses at the state and municipal levels and community institutions.

[MADem]

48. UGH. Horrible pick. nt

[RedHornet44]

42. Henry A. Wallace

There would have been no cold war. No race riots and prosperity for the working man. He was also a very practical politician.

[RealityChik]

44. Paul Wellstone and maybe...

JFK Jr?

Howard Dean - the OLD Howard Dean, of "the scream" fame, not medical industry lobbyist Howard Dean.

[mrmpa]

49. Adlai Stevenson....eom

[Basic LA]

56. There you go.

Adlai had Eleanor Roosevelt's support - good enough for me. But he was considered intellectual, so no dice, not here.

[mrmpa]

57. The word they used in the 1950's was "egghead"...eom

[ParanoidFactoid]

50. Ross Perot

I would have liked Ross Perot. I know it won't be a popular response. But his 'giant sucking sound' argument against NAFTA turned out to be prescient. Also: charts.

[JustAnotherGen]

51. HRC

[stephensolomita]

58. Hear, Hear

Hillary was the candidate most prepared to be President in all of American History, with extensive experience in two branches of government.

[Binders Keepers]

52. Mo Udall

Ran in '76. Finished second to Carter, if I remember correctly.

[hibbing]

53. Cuomo my first throught

His speech at the convention was magnificent.

Peace

[stephensolomita]

59. Get To Know The Real Cuomo

As a resident of NYS, I can say with some accuracy, that most progressives do not trust Cuomo, what with his tax-free business zones and his vendetta with De Blasio. Without doubt, he's an extremely calculating politician.

[hibbing]

60. I meant his father n/t

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

54. Jay Rockefeller.

Mo Udall, as others have mentioned, is also on my list.

[gopiscrap]

55. Henry Wallace

[Doc_Technical]

63. Elliot Richardson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Richardson