re: #247 HappyWarrior

Definitely and I think he would have been a frontrunner since Ike I believe considered a Democrat as his running mate. Also worthy of note is that Nixon’s handpicked successor as Republican standard bearer was not Reagan or Ford but John Connally, former Democratic governor of Texas who was in the motorcade when JFK was killed and later his Treasury Secretary and who later did run in 1980 but struggled against Bush and Reagan. TBH it’s remarkable that HW Bush did as well as he did against Reagan given his political career while extensive was mostly low profile stuff like RNC chair, Ambassador to China, CIA Head, and a one term Congressman.

GHW Bush was a remnant of an older Republican Party. The son of a Senator tied into the New England establishment. And at that point, the conservative movement had not yet fused with the Republican Party.