Hillary vs. Mitt: A "What if..."

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So let's say it was today in a parallel universe, and Hilary had had a bit more luck than Barack and won the nomination, and Romney decided not to bail early and stuck with it, successfully tearing down McCain and clinching it. Today, we'd be a day away from casting our vote for them for President.

Where would the state of the race be at this point? Would Hilary be up by double digits in Gallup's final composite tally as Barack is now, or not? Who would they have chosen as their running mates? Who would SNL be lampooning, or would they even have anything interesting to lampoon? How differently would the narratives of the race have looked? Etc. , pose your own questions. Have fun.

(If a majority of you think Huckabee would be more likely in this scenario, I can certainly change it...)

 

Hill by a landslide. Didn't matter who the other candidate was (if not McCain).

IMO McCain was the only Republican candidate that stood a chance in the anti-Bush sentiment rocking the nation. Any other Republican would have been blown out of the water immediately.

 

Why do you think so? Despite the lack of a "maverick" reputation, Romney isn't that easy to tie to Bush imo as he never voted for any of his proposals in House and Senate. With the GOPs full resources and the other candidates' support, I think he could pull it off. Of course, there is that little problem about his religion, and maybe his appeal to independents, but still - imo nothing Bush Jr. wasn't able to make it through with. I rank Romney higher than Bush, so he does have a chance

I think the current economical crisis would be one heck of a wild card for the Clinton campaign. On one hand, she can claim to have at hand an economic team that can cope with a crisis due to her ties to Bill Clinton. On the other, a bad enough spin of Clinton's deregulation policies can bite her, and unlike Obama it is hard to even claim the media like her that much. Perhaps she would do as well as Obama, but only if he lent her his full support and his ground network.

 

Really? Wow. I couldn't disagree more.

I've always found it interesting that conservatives over-estimate Hillary's support beyond the left. Her negatives with independents and conservatives only got worse once she started running, and they weren't much to shout about before she entered the race, either. I don't think there's much reason to think Hilary's campaign would have been much more competent in the big game as they were in the primaries, so there were bound to be more mistakes, leaks, infighting, etc. Then all Mitt (or whomever) would have had to do was harp on the scandals of the 90's and say "do you really want to go through that again, America?" If the country is anti-Bush, it's in very large part because of their scandals and controversy. Giving another scandal- and controversy-prone administration a shot at power, in a "change" year, in an exhausted America, doesn't strike me as the cakewalk you seem to think it is. But that's my take.

I think it would have been an absolute squeaker.

 

Hill might have won but I think a lot of people overestimate her support among the left. She is a very centrist democrat just like Bill and if the Republican running against managed to distance himself enough from Bush I think many people in the left wings would hesitate to vote for her. I know I can't vote in the US elections but she would need to run against someone as crazy or crazier than Bush for to ever vote for her.

 

I think Mitt would likely have lost because he's a Mormon. Sad but true. I'd like to hope that Hillary (or any opponent) wouldn't stoop to slinging mud on my religion (as in "I wonder if Mitt has a few extra wives stashed somewhere", a comment that is patent fearmongering and nonsense) but I have little faith in that hope. Even without mudslinging, there are far too many groups spreading misinformation about the church that although many people of good conscience might have voted for Mitt, he would have lost by 10 - 15 percent.

Which is a shame, because Mitt seemed like an old school conservative in terms of responsible oversight of public spending, and AFAIK he hasn't had any huge scandals during his term as Governor (I'm sure someone will inform me toute suite if he did!) Some of me thinks he might have been a better choice than McCain, but the albatross of his faith makes me believe he stood less chance of winning.

 

Are you talking about the East Coast elitist, who made criticizing East Coast elitists the centerpiece of his big speech? I wonder what it's like to parody yourself before a national audience. Hill would have cleaned the floor with the guy.

How about one which may actually happen? Hill Versus Sarah. Now that would be something to see, IMO.

 

Now this would have been a sight to see if Obama had picked Clinton as his VP, and it would definitely have been more interesting than Biden-Palin. However, I'm not sure if McCain would have made the same VP choice knowing who would be on the other side of the ticket - I think one of the major reasons he picked Palin was to appeal to the women voters who were supporting Hillary in the primaries.

 

I completely agree. And if he had selected the right woman this election would be a lot closer than it appears to be atm.

 

Mitt vs Clinton would be Mitt most probably, just because there's so much to criticize Clinton on and everone seems to have so much fun doing it. Unless Mitt has some serious skeletons in his closet, he'd probably win. Clinton vs. Huckabee all depends on how they could tie him to Bush. There's the whole 'Christian radical running the US' approach, but I don't think that would have stuck to Huckabee for long. Again, everyone loves slamming poor Hillary, and again we don't know what would have turned up about Huckabee, but I think the Clintons' support network and history would end up costing her much more than it gave her.

 

I'm a conservative who actually doesn't mind Hill so much. Sure, she's phoney, but she's a lot more qualified than the Teflon Donkey who's on the ballot today.

I'd probably still vote for Romney, but it'd be a hard decision for me. I don't really like him very much.

I think if Americans knew Huckabee before he ran, he would have stood a very good chance. He's got a TV show on FOXNews, and he's very likable. My mom is very liberal and even she likes him.

 

That's very true. He is a Christian who walks the talk. And he's not a "hater."

 

Mitt Romney could run a campaign much like what Obama did. Stick to the issues, relate to the people and get his message out there. I just don't think Hillary would make a good President. Romeny would have that centerist appeal that Hillary would need to win...

 

It's hard to say.

I know for a fact that Romney would have won Utah and Massachusetts by a landslide. I personally think that a McCain-Romney GOP ticket would have been a stronger contender against Obama or Hillary than Palin was.

 

So what about the electoral college? If we start with the 2004 results, with some modifications: if Romney took Massachusetts, and Clinton took Ohio that would be 278 to 260. Where else could Clinton challenge? Florida, and where else? I doubt she could have seriously contested some of the states Obama won, like Indiana, New Mexico and Colorado. Maybe Virginia?

 

The question in my mind is will Mitt go for the Rep nomination in 2012?

 

There's already a website for that.

 

@Vukodlak - there is only one state I can think of that Hillary would win that Obama did not. She likely would have won her home state of Arkansas, just like Bill Clinton did both time he ran for president. I definitely think Hillary would have done just as well in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It is unlikely that Hillary would have won Virginia or North Carolina.

 

I don't think she would have taken Arkansas -- when she chose to become a New Yorker she became a carpetbagger and abandoned the people of Arkansas. That's not something people tend to forget.