Reply #7: In hindsight

[PATRICK]

Yes he would have won the election, separate from the Carter baggage. In different times with different people a similar thing like Bradley instead of Gore would not have been better because he simply did not have the political force Kennedy had.

The problem was always the primary and the party beating itself with the conservative Dems locked in a political stupid power struggle against their liberal party base. In the state based primary system it is hard for a challenger to beat an incumbent and moreso if the conservative base is solid as it would be against a Kennedy or Cuomo. The main destruction in any event would always be against the split conservatives who share a disgruntled base and lose the middle to GOP real RW "change". The liberals would split as well, ensuring the incumbent's future problems in the general election. So was doing something with a tempting challenge worse than doing nothing and trying to unite behind Carter? Cuomo tried doing nothing and nothing happened.

He would have quashed Regan in the debates and removed a lot of the machinations against the current administration. All Chappaquiddick all the time would be sensational but a poor substitute for the advantages they had over Carter, all MSM opposition being equally against Dems but actually less against a Kennedy- at that time.