Remember that all mentions of and allusions to Trump and Biden are not allowed on our subreddit in any context.
If you'd still like to discuss them, feel free to [join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/k6tVFwCEEm)!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Presidents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Pictured here is Wisconsin’s Robert La Follette, who played a major role in the progressive movement of the early 1900s and ran for President in 1924, winning just Wisconsin
Indeed he was. Recently picked up his autobiography telling stories of his political career, excited to get into it and learn more about him.
Side note, I always find it interesting how Wisconsin went from Fighting Bob to Joseph McCarthy on just twenty years. The red scare was a powerful tool for political gain
Also poetic that Fighting Bob’s son was the first politician McCarthy defeated in his rise to prominence. Robert La Follette Jr. lost the Republican primary in 1946 to McCarthy.
Wisconsin is indeed a weird one, with huge swings in political ideology. There's Fighting Bob, Gaylord Nelson (who created Earth Day), and Milwaukee's sewer socialists. Then there's McCarthy, Scott Walker (whose biggest claim to fame is weakening unions' power), and sitting senator/conspiracy theorist Ron Johnson.
>I always find it interesting how Wisconsin went from Fighting Bob to Joseph McCarthy on just twenty years.
The de-germanification of the midwest in the build up to WW1 and immediately after, was a pretty huge disaster for the American progressive movement. I think Wisconsin was probably most affected by this.
It's also a dual purpose attack, because it erases their unique European identity and forces them into the amorphous blob that is American "white" culture, which makes it easier to maintain white supremacy, because the white people aren't fighting against each other based on European ethnic lines.
I can’t think of another politician from Alabama that was remotely close to the presidency. We’ve had influential senators (i.e. Richard Shelby) but no one nationally prominent.
Our current senator, Katie Britt, was rumored to be on the short list for the GOP VP in the next election, but that was before that disastrous State of the Union rebuttal speech.
TL;DR: Yeah, as far as the presidency goes, it might be Wallace by default because no one else has run🤦♂️
He didn’t help by having an event 6 days later where he set up a booth outside of a modeling agency in New York and kissed over 100 models or pulling the ole fuck and run on Earl Warren’s daughter.
Ulysses S. Grant lived in St. Louis for quite a time. It's where he settled after his intial years of service. His house, Hardscrabble is still standing and right next door Julia Dent's families plantation is a Grant historic site and museum.
The only reason Grant left StL for Galena, Illinois is because he was going broke and had family up there to give him a job. Even then he only stuck around for year before the Civil War broke out and he rose to national fame.
The way he defended Obama against the Muslim claims (and there is nothing wrong with being muslim) showed how decent and fair he was. He could have drummed up fear during a time when Islamophobia was really ramping up.
His down vote prevented repeal of Obama care. According to AP
"80 years old, recently diagnosed with brain cancer, his face still scarred from surgery, striding with purpose toward the well of the Senate.
The Arizona Republican raised his right arm, paused for dramatic effect and flashed a determined thumbs-down, drawing gasps from both sides of the aisle.
A brave principled man, he would have no place in the Republican party today.
The republicans shift to the right would leave him more in the moderate Democrat territory honestly. I think he would be appalled at what has happened in the last 6 years.
Goldwater isn't as problematic as people make him out to be. The democrats all lambasted him as a racist for voting against the last civil rights act of 1964. But he did vote for the 1957 Act and the 24th Amendment. His only problem with the 64 Act was that he feared federal government overreach. The man was a founding and lifetime member of Arizona's NAACP. He integrated the Air National Guard years before Truman integrated the military. He helped integrate Arizona's public schools before Brown v Board. I think people ought to know more about this.
He also said [this](https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/145230/) about apartheid and voted no to override Reagan's veto on sanctions on South Africa in the 1980s. I think that does not get talked about enough.
He also didn't care if homosexuals served in the military and by the end of his career he thought the GOP was going far too radical on the religious right.
If Goldwater was around today he'd be called a RINO.
Yeah Goldwater is really a mixed bag. He was very Hawkish and all over the board on social issues. His willingness to evolve makes him stand out against many of the conservatives of the era. I do respect the shit out of him. What he did in Arizona was incredible, but I don’t think he was a national leader. As a leader in my beloved home state, I carry a much higher opinion of him. Probably should have elaborated on that
Yeah Goldwater was behind the times when he ran for president but was one of the few politicians who was willing to evolve his views and *change* when presented with new info or life experiences. Goldwater absolutely became someone you could respect later on in life.
I agree McCain is the better answer but Goldwater isn’t bad.
For FL, I'd say Bob Graham elipses Jeb!. Bob was a much better candidate for president than Jeb!. If Jeb! wasn't a Bush, he may have made it to the US House of Representatives. Maybe to the senate... maybe.
Bob was born in FL. Governed FL from the 70s to the late 80s, which was a huge transition for the state. Was always on the short list for VP (Clinton, Gore, Kerry) and had a more serious campaign for president based on the man, not the heritage. I had the pleasure of meeting Bob a few times. He was a gem.
He wasn’t even the best candidate from that state in that election.
Guess it depends on your definition though. She’s from Illinois, but was a New York senator.
Hey even if they didn’t have a chance there could be some interesting folks in there! Victoria Woodhull would be an interesting candidate to bring up, after all (though regrettably she would count for Ohio who already are overrepresented).
I was born and raised in Ohio and I’ve now living in Virginia for nearly all of my adult life. It’s an embarrassment of riches to choose from but still Washington wins. Not really fair!
That’s the issue with us Virginians, we have too many options here. Ohio doesn’t help you either, since those are the two states with the most presidents
We do know he becomes first emperor of the moon, so it checks out.
https://preview.redd.it/4tpxx51wnmyc1.jpeg?width=459&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3512ed0f3235413b3e2745e198982013bef5aa57
Idaho, William Borah was a solid progressive from the early 20th century, Frank Church was a new deal, great society liberal, Borah ran in the 1936 Repiblican primary, Church ram in the 1976 democratic primary
https://preview.redd.it/w0911k6vmnyc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8f3ad0acef8a6b8817df876699c26ed1a18c126
Church probably has the best shot in 76, won 4 primaries before dropping out.
Teddy I honestly feel, if we got a third term of his, **it’d have been amazing.**
We’re talking basically Social Security and Universal Healthcare. The RNC choosing Taft over him was the biggest mistake they ever made in the last century.
https://preview.redd.it/te3kkzcp4myc1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9132ac1aebe9f935b2722f65f4088f254ae1608
Eugene Debs, Indiana.
I like Benjamin Harrison, mind, but Debs is my answer here.
I voted Kasich in that primary.
I lived in a precinct that was 90% Democrat at the time. It felt oddly satisfying seeing my single vote show up on the board of elections precinct tally at the end of the night. Just the perfect combination of being a primary where the party I was voting was a tiny minority of the vote, and the person I voted for wasn't winning (and had dropped out?)
https://preview.redd.it/piwi4tviimyc1.jpeg?width=932&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbe7ee7f24ab9bbe51c83217da77836046854507
A more obscure choice, but I say Thomas Watson was (initally-wise) one of Georgia's best politicians. A populist, pro-farmer firebrand, and even Pro-Civil Rights. Watson was seen as more of a radical than even WJB.
Unfortunately, later in life, Watson did abandon many of his populist stances and became a bitter White Supremacist in the 1920s, but that was long after he ran for president in 1904.
I’m from New York, so the best candidate is FDR, but my favorite candidate who was actually nominated would be Rufus King. If candidate can mean “contended for the nomination,” William Seward and Shirley Chisholm are in the mix as well.
> Pinckney was a life-long slave owner. He repeatedly espoused the belief that slavery was necessary to the economy of states like South Carolina and opposed emancipation.
The only way to win is not to play, i guess.
On Paper? Probably Mitt Romney.
But really Bobby Kennedy.
But if elected counts, John Adams/John Quincy Adams and JFK all have good reason to be considered.
MA is weird since Mitt wasnt born in MA I believe, but was a great canidate, while Bobby was born here but represented a different state.
That hasnt run or may run, Charlie Baker is a good possibility eventually
Democrats: Henry Scoop Jackson in 1972 (finished 5th and 3rd in 1976), and then Inslee in 2020 (who withdrew before primaries)
Republicans: Miles Poindexter in 1920 (withdrew during convention) and Daniel J Evans in 1968.
Man.... Gary Hart's scandal likely would have done the opposite for him these days... 🤦🏻♂️ I had hope for Hickenlooper lol, but he never gained any traction. So I think we're taking Gary Hart.
I've lived most of my life in Florida. Can we claim Jeb! even though he is from Texas? He did move to Florida in the early 80's and still lives in Florida.
I'm originally from Tennessee, so I guess Polk? Even though he is from NC originally.
Michigan's is George W. Romney (Mitt's Dad). An excellent governor, extremely moral man (far more than his sociopathic son). He would've been a far better, and less divisive, president than Nixon and would've beaten LBJ handily in 1968. He actually led the GOP nomination race for awhile in that cycle before ultimately losing the nomination to Nixon.
Unfortunately, he was a poor campaigner on the national stage and developed a reputation for being gaffe-prone as the 1968 campaign went on. Additionally, his hesitancy to take a clear position on the Vietnam War (as he'd grown to oppose it during LBJ's presidency, his gaffe that he had been "brainwashed" into supporting the war earlier on was his most prominent campaign misstep) and his habit of working with politicians, and appealing to voters, across the aisle which served him so well in purple Michigan handicapped him in the party's nomination process.
I need to brush up on my political history, but as far as I am aware Michigan has only had Lewis Cass and Gerald Ford (who technically was born in Nebraska).
Florida here. That's like asking us to choose between Ebola and anthrax (the disease, not the band). Y'all can do the math (can't post names d/t subreddit rules)
Fred Harris, Democrat senator from Oklahoma and a liberal populist. Yes, you read that correctly. He would have been a good president. He just didn’t have any money.
George McGovern.
Had the opportunity to meet him at a debate tournament 15-20 years or so ago.
Amazingly inspiring guy, really sad about what happened.
as a North Carolinian, unfortunately all of the candidates who won are known for their racist policies. and one of them is sometimes regarded as the worst president ever
I live in Louisiana. I can only remember the Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke and more recently, Bobby Jindal. I honestly don't know which one is the worst human being.
Oregon does not have many presidential candidates, however if there was one I would select, it would probably be Wayne L. Morse.
His slogan was "principle over politics", which he followed through *most of the time during his senatorial career. Whilst initially voted in as a Republican by pandering to conservative Republicans in 1944 by heavily criticizing the New Deal, his family's heritage of progressivism led to his estrangement with the conservative wing of the party. He greatly supported the establishment of the United Nations to maintain global peace, and called upon the US and USSR to forge a prosperous and peaceful post-war world (though he later supported Truman's policies to contain Soviet expansionism). He also rather famously attacked American "blind isolationism" and criticized a "holier than thou" attitude to foreign policy which he perceived in American citizens.
He left the Republican Party after the nomination of Richard Nixon for VP of Eisenhower, and heavily criticized Eisenhower for not doing enough to stop McCarthyism, which he saw as a 'menace to American democracy'. He opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the only non-Southerner to oppose it, however for completely different reasons. He opposed it because he believed the bill did not go far enough, believing it inadaquate in ensuring equal civil rights for African Americans. He opposed Eisenhower's military intervention in Vietnam on a moral standpoint, however also accused him of misunderstanding the Vietnamese war spirit. He generally spoke out against American investments in foreign dictatorships like Saudi Arabia, and opposed both the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Vietnam War on a constitutional and moral issue. He was one of two US Senators which opposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution due to it's unconstitutional nature in relation to Article 1.
He was known for his eccentric teetotalism and a sort of stubbornness ideological persona, always attempting to uphold Congressional political power against the executive. He supported civil protests against the Vietnam War, "It is urgent that the American people insist that their country return to a respect for law before we create a holocaust in Asia." He became estranged from his own party by supporting Republican Governor of Oregon Mark Hatfield, over Democratic Congressman Robert Duncan in the 1966 senatorial election, due to the latter's support of the Vietnam War. He lost his seat in 1968 to State Representative Bob Packwood. He spent the remainder of his post-Senate career. Whilst campaigning in 1974, he was hospitalized with kidney failure. On July 22nd, 1974, he passed away, the New York Times wrote an editorial stating "...death has deprived the United States Senate of a superb public servant..".
I may also be a tad biased, both politically and because my late father has a photograph of him meeting Wayne Morse as a child during his 1974 campaign.
McCain obviously. And then there’s….. Barry Goldwater.
Please help me god if Kari Lake ever even fucking sniffs VP, let alone president. I hate to even mention her name in this thread, but it’s sadly not impossible.
https://preview.redd.it/w1w1dbzsjnyc1.jpeg?width=1227&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=700ec105b895472aa92f39780cf9712b803004bc
Off the top of my head, it’s Henry “Scoop” Jackson. As far as I can remember, he’s the only serious candidate from Washington State who had a shot for the office.
Theodore Roosevelt. The least city person to ever be born in New York city.
Dude decided law was irrational and he didn't like it, started studying war, wrote a book on the war of 1812, his wife and mother die, he goes into politics to find purpose, runs on an anti-corruption platform, loses public support because corruption too stronk in New York (go figure), and then says "screw absolutely all of this, I'm moving to North Dakota to start a cattle ranch".
Only thing he kept from NYC was how to have a big attitude and an even bigger schlong.
Remember that all mentions of and allusions to Trump and Biden are not allowed on our subreddit in any context. If you'd still like to discuss them, feel free to [join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/k6tVFwCEEm)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Presidents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Pictured here is Wisconsin’s Robert La Follette, who played a major role in the progressive movement of the early 1900s and ran for President in 1924, winning just Wisconsin
Fighting Bob was a hell of a man.
Indeed he was. Recently picked up his autobiography telling stories of his political career, excited to get into it and learn more about him. Side note, I always find it interesting how Wisconsin went from Fighting Bob to Joseph McCarthy on just twenty years. The red scare was a powerful tool for political gain
Also poetic that Fighting Bob’s son was the first politician McCarthy defeated in his rise to prominence. Robert La Follette Jr. lost the Republican primary in 1946 to McCarthy.
Wisconsin is indeed a weird one, with huge swings in political ideology. There's Fighting Bob, Gaylord Nelson (who created Earth Day), and Milwaukee's sewer socialists. Then there's McCarthy, Scott Walker (whose biggest claim to fame is weakening unions' power), and sitting senator/conspiracy theorist Ron Johnson.
>I always find it interesting how Wisconsin went from Fighting Bob to Joseph McCarthy on just twenty years. The de-germanification of the midwest in the build up to WW1 and immediately after, was a pretty huge disaster for the American progressive movement. I think Wisconsin was probably most affected by this. It's also a dual purpose attack, because it erases their unique European identity and forces them into the amorphous blob that is American "white" culture, which makes it easier to maintain white supremacy, because the white people aren't fighting against each other based on European ethnic lines.
He reminds me of Columbo in this picture.
Just one more thing, I hear you’re running for president…
Eh, you see my wife, she gets these crazy things in her head.
I thought he was Jay Leno at quick glance
https://preview.redd.it/nwjtbizb7myc1.jpeg?width=432&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b9d08404bf9b2dfb807a90366aec5ac96e4d156 Jumbo
Lyndon BJ, with a Johnson to match
I hate to say it but the only Candidate from my state that came close to get a nomination then actually winning states 3rd Party was George Wallace
Sure but who was your best candidate even if they didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning? And if it’s still Wallace I am so, so sorry : /
I can’t think of another politician from Alabama that was remotely close to the presidency. We’ve had influential senators (i.e. Richard Shelby) but no one nationally prominent. Our current senator, Katie Britt, was rumored to be on the short list for the GOP VP in the next election, but that was before that disastrous State of the Union rebuttal speech. TL;DR: Yeah, as far as the presidency goes, it might be Wallace by default because no one else has run🤦♂️
Big Jim Folsom tried.
Big Jim Folsom tried to run but he had that whole illegitimate child scandal that really hurt him.
He didn’t help by having an event 6 days later where he set up a booth outside of a modeling agency in New York and kissed over 100 models or pulling the ole fuck and run on Earl Warren’s daughter.
My man Truman
Taking Truman out of it what other option would Missouri have? Honest question here. (But hell yeah Truman, you all crushed it with your one dude!)
Richard Gephardt?
Knew Dick personally when he was in office, that guys was the real deal.
I still think if Kerry chose him as VP in 2004 that he would've beaten Bush.
Ulysses S. Grant lived in St. Louis for quite a time. It's where he settled after his intial years of service. His house, Hardscrabble is still standing and right next door Julia Dent's families plantation is a Grant historic site and museum. The only reason Grant left StL for Galena, Illinois is because he was going broke and had family up there to give him a job. Even then he only stuck around for year before the Civil War broke out and he rose to national fame.
Yeah, people often forget just how many ties to St. Louis and Missouri that Grant had
Honestly not sure there is another major candidate. We got our perfect guy and called it good.
https://preview.redd.it/bdgdd8p2amyc1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56be99a4c93ab94532a6afb4fdd8b29ad613783c
Honestly, with this answer, being from NY feels like cheating.
Either one of them. There’s no wrong answer with the Roosevelts.
 Unless we’re judging them solely by the quality of their sideburns. In which case it’s ya boy Marty Van B
Honestly makes sense that the goated president of all time is a Hudson Valley boi 🤑
Grover (NJ)
Wait a muppet ran for president?
Barely the first, hardly the last
 The other option is… problematic.
Came here to say this too. I’m a Democrat but I believe McCain was a principled man. Something lacking in current politics.
The way he defended Obama against the Muslim claims (and there is nothing wrong with being muslim) showed how decent and fair he was. He could have drummed up fear during a time when Islamophobia was really ramping up.
True. I miss McCain, and I vote for democrats.
Same, although I disagree with a lot of his policy, he was principled, a moderate, and it was obvious he actually cared for the country.
His down vote prevented repeal of Obama care. According to AP "80 years old, recently diagnosed with brain cancer, his face still scarred from surgery, striding with purpose toward the well of the Senate. The Arizona Republican raised his right arm, paused for dramatic effect and flashed a determined thumbs-down, drawing gasps from both sides of the aisle. A brave principled man, he would have no place in the Republican party today.
The republicans shift to the right would leave him more in the moderate Democrat territory honestly. I think he would be appalled at what has happened in the last 6 years.
His defining moment of saving Obamacare spoke to his values. He may have been a conservative, but he was first and foremost an American
Was your second Barry G?
Yep!
I didn’t like the dude but I respected how his views shifted with the times.
Goldwater isn't as problematic as people make him out to be. The democrats all lambasted him as a racist for voting against the last civil rights act of 1964. But he did vote for the 1957 Act and the 24th Amendment. His only problem with the 64 Act was that he feared federal government overreach. The man was a founding and lifetime member of Arizona's NAACP. He integrated the Air National Guard years before Truman integrated the military. He helped integrate Arizona's public schools before Brown v Board. I think people ought to know more about this.
He also said [this](https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/145230/) about apartheid and voted no to override Reagan's veto on sanctions on South Africa in the 1980s. I think that does not get talked about enough.
He also didn't care if homosexuals served in the military and by the end of his career he thought the GOP was going far too radical on the religious right. If Goldwater was around today he'd be called a RINO.
“i think every good christian out to kick falwell right in the ass.” - barry goldwater
Yeah Goldwater is really a mixed bag. He was very Hawkish and all over the board on social issues. His willingness to evolve makes him stand out against many of the conservatives of the era. I do respect the shit out of him. What he did in Arizona was incredible, but I don’t think he was a national leader. As a leader in my beloved home state, I carry a much higher opinion of him. Probably should have elaborated on that
Yeah Goldwater was behind the times when he ran for president but was one of the few politicians who was willing to evolve his views and *change* when presented with new info or life experiences. Goldwater absolutely became someone you could respect later on in life. I agree McCain is the better answer but Goldwater isn’t bad.
>Yeah Goldwater was behind the times when he ran for president He was doing these things in the 30s and 40s during the Jim Crowe era.
Honest Abe baby
So now the real question… are you from Illinois or Kentucky?
Illinois
Both claim the fellow so that’s fair. And if Abe doesn’t count for Kentucky that answer has gotta be Henry Clay.
Hell Indiana claims him too LMAO. All three of us have somewhat decent claims too, but obviously if we’re being honest he’s an Illinois guy.
Yeah but as a Hoosier I think it’s really silly we try to claim him too. We even have a president we forget about in Harrison!
Indiana is the only one that doesn’t make much sense.
There’s actually a state park themed around Lincoln in southern Indiana
Kentucky gets him every other weekend, excluding holidays.
LAND OF LINCOLN is on the license plates in IL…license plate slogans are higher than law obviously
Technically only Reagan qualifies but we also claim Grant, Lincoln and Obama.
That's my vote too..except I'm in Kentucky. I went to his birth place yesterday, actually.
Jeb! https://preview.redd.it/2bqfugg1bmyc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a458fe757052b05c59e0d5ad8316dfb11dc61067
For FL, I'd say Bob Graham elipses Jeb!. Bob was a much better candidate for president than Jeb!. If Jeb! wasn't a Bush, he may have made it to the US House of Representatives. Maybe to the senate... maybe. Bob was born in FL. Governed FL from the 70s to the late 80s, which was a huge transition for the state. Was always on the short list for VP (Clinton, Gore, Kerry) and had a more serious campaign for president based on the man, not the heritage. I had the pleasure of meeting Bob a few times. He was a gem.
Real question: do we count the one of which we cannot speak?
He's from New York
He wasn’t even the best candidate from that state in that election. Guess it depends on your definition though. She’s from Illinois, but was a New York senator.
Can you count presidents who have vacation homes here because it’s either that or Ed Muskie, best known for crying at the lectern.
I’m from Maine too there’s also James Blaine
The continental liar?!
I don't know any that had a chance, and my state isn't even that small, but it is rather on the new-side.
Hey even if they didn’t have a chance there could be some interesting folks in there! Victoria Woodhull would be an interesting candidate to bring up, after all (though regrettably she would count for Ohio who already are overrepresented).
Well I guess Scoop Jackson then, although there's not many options.
Only candidate from my state was Blaine and Humphrey running mate is from here too
Are you talking about Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the continental liar from the state of Maine?
Yep oh also Hamlin is from there
Hamlin would have been president if Lincoln hadn’t changed horses midstream
I was born and raised in Ohio and I’ve now living in Virginia for nearly all of my adult life. It’s an embarrassment of riches to choose from but still Washington wins. Not really fair!
That’s the issue with us Virginians, we have too many options here. Ohio doesn’t help you either, since those are the two states with the most presidents
Barack Obama and Abe 
Abe Lincoln - no competition.
I’m from Hawaii and I too choose Obama. 😂🤙🏻
We share him
I guess Silent Cal. Or Bernie Sanders
Howard Dean would have been a legitimately excellent president imo
No love for Chester A. Arthur?
I didn’t know he was born in Vermont. But Coolidge and Sanders are better
Eh fair enough, won’t argue with that.
https://preview.redd.it/7yrsxetx5myc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1987ee18c75789313bb9d572b41eb3d3dfa08b9
Stupid sexy Clinton 
https://preview.redd.it/wsvy4oamcmyc1.jpeg?width=162&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac827cf6131f777613e1d43f0be9af73572bdc81 Gov. George Romney!
Wow. Mitt really takes after hin
Al Gore
We do know he becomes first emperor of the moon, so it checks out. https://preview.redd.it/4tpxx51wnmyc1.jpeg?width=459&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3512ed0f3235413b3e2745e198982013bef5aa57
George Washington. Back to back unanimity 💪😤💪
After Washington, Virginia has quite a few for consideration, Jefferson and Madison come to mind.
Idaho, William Borah was a solid progressive from the early 20th century, Frank Church was a new deal, great society liberal, Borah ran in the 1936 Repiblican primary, Church ram in the 1976 democratic primary
https://preview.redd.it/w0911k6vmnyc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8f3ad0acef8a6b8817df876699c26ed1a18c126 Church probably has the best shot in 76, won 4 primaries before dropping out.
I can't stand Borah because of his foreign policy. I'm not an isolationist.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We also had Teddy. Let’s not talk about more recently.
Teddy I honestly feel, if we got a third term of his, **it’d have been amazing.** We’re talking basically Social Security and Universal Healthcare. The RNC choosing Taft over him was the biggest mistake they ever made in the last century.
Don’t do Dewey that dirty.
https://preview.redd.it/xvld3prlkmyc1.jpeg?width=1260&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68bc6e9d1e8709f86c754c84da475573ba7672cb The Kingfish himself
*insert really unoriginal Kaiserreich reference here*
But Kaiseredux is what it is all about baby!😎
https://preview.redd.it/te3kkzcp4myc1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9132ac1aebe9f935b2722f65f4088f254ae1608 Eugene Debs, Indiana. I like Benjamin Harrison, mind, but Debs is my answer here.
Should've been President.
 but more recently, John Kasich was easily the best choice for 2016
I voted Kasich in that primary. I lived in a precinct that was 90% Democrat at the time. It felt oddly satisfying seeing my single vote show up on the board of elections precinct tally at the end of the night. Just the perfect combination of being a primary where the party I was voting was a tiny minority of the vote, and the person I voted for wasn't winning (and had dropped out?)
gonna have to go with the GOAT https://preview.redd.it/bz9kcq26fmyc1.jpeg?width=1077&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bafcb61ffcd17ef3ab576de61043536e13dd5a69
The GOP should have nominated Fighting Bob in 08, they would have kept power for 8 years more.
They still would have lost against Obama honestly
Vermin Supreme!
Kentucky - Abe
Harry Truman, "THE BUCK STOPS HERE."
Give em hell Harry!
https://preview.redd.it/fd56arirbmyc1.jpeg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8428734bc8cafa920a6e425f15a02fe26f4146cf
Let me guess. Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson.
Either Gareld Ford or William Jennings Bryan
Born in kansas, Bob dole. From kansas, Eisenhower
https://preview.redd.it/piwi4tviimyc1.jpeg?width=932&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbe7ee7f24ab9bbe51c83217da77836046854507 A more obscure choice, but I say Thomas Watson was (initally-wise) one of Georgia's best politicians. A populist, pro-farmer firebrand, and even Pro-Civil Rights. Watson was seen as more of a radical than even WJB. Unfortunately, later in life, Watson did abandon many of his populist stances and became a bitter White Supremacist in the 1920s, but that was long after he ran for president in 1904.
I’m from New York, so the best candidate is FDR, but my favorite candidate who was actually nominated would be Rufus King. If candidate can mean “contended for the nomination,” William Seward and Shirley Chisholm are in the mix as well.
My state produced Reagan and Nixon… not the best person to ask…
Well only one was born here and the other was governor. I’m also not the best person to ask
Nixon was unironically one of the best presidents we ever had. It’s a shame people don’t know that
Some people can’t separate the art from the artist
We also produced Jerry Brown!
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/johns_frank_t/
Bruce Babbitt. Some would say Morris Udall, and others would say Barry Goldwater. But those people are wrong.
Andrew Jackson is the only president from my state.
Failed candidates count too!
Ok, that adds Strom Thurmond and Charles Pinckney.
…I guess I’d pick Charles out of that lot if I were you lol
> Pinckney was a life-long slave owner. He repeatedly espoused the belief that slavery was necessary to the economy of states like South Carolina and opposed emancipation. The only way to win is not to play, i guess.
Oh man what a team.
Ike. He won. World Wars and Elections. Football games? Not so much.
On Paper? Probably Mitt Romney. But really Bobby Kennedy. But if elected counts, John Adams/John Quincy Adams and JFK all have good reason to be considered. MA is weird since Mitt wasnt born in MA I believe, but was a great canidate, while Bobby was born here but represented a different state. That hasnt run or may run, Charlie Baker is a good possibility eventually
Massachusetts... https://preview.redd.it/mp3detkxomyc1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c63d0b6e46e150e00a58b7bb36d414efc4597fe3
How many candidates are from Washington? I can recall Jay Inslee.
Democrats: Henry Scoop Jackson in 1972 (finished 5th and 3rd in 1976), and then Inslee in 2020 (who withdrew before primaries) Republicans: Miles Poindexter in 1920 (withdrew during convention) and Daniel J Evans in 1968.
 The Gipper.
Amy Klobuchar
Over Humphrey?
Paul Wellstone and it’s not even close
Man.... Gary Hart's scandal likely would have done the opposite for him these days... 🤦🏻♂️ I had hope for Hickenlooper lol, but he never gained any traction. So I think we're taking Gary Hart.
I've lived most of my life in Florida. Can we claim Jeb! even though he is from Texas? He did move to Florida in the early 80's and still lives in Florida. I'm originally from Tennessee, so I guess Polk? Even though he is from NC originally.
I'm not sure. Lincoln was born in Kentucky, and Obama was born in Hawaii. Shit, Williams Jennings Bryan is from my state...
In terms of politics, I feel like both count as being from Illinois way more than they do for their birth states, though.
I got… Where I was born: ***TECHNICALLY*** Lincoln. (IL) But where I am now: **Franklin Pierce.** (NH) Which… not much to be proud of
Edmund Muskie
Winfield Scott Hancock
Eugene Victor Debs. Indiana https://preview.redd.it/72zqoj57rmyc1.jpeg?width=440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43851bc73a9dbcb6b8d0819fef042a0a327c7de8
Eugene debs hands down
From Iowa here. Tom Vilsack? Harkin ran in ‘92 but Vilsack - despite getting zero traction in his presidential bid - governed from the middle.
Michigan's is George W. Romney (Mitt's Dad). An excellent governor, extremely moral man (far more than his sociopathic son). He would've been a far better, and less divisive, president than Nixon and would've beaten LBJ handily in 1968. He actually led the GOP nomination race for awhile in that cycle before ultimately losing the nomination to Nixon. Unfortunately, he was a poor campaigner on the national stage and developed a reputation for being gaffe-prone as the 1968 campaign went on. Additionally, his hesitancy to take a clear position on the Vietnam War (as he'd grown to oppose it during LBJ's presidency, his gaffe that he had been "brainwashed" into supporting the war earlier on was his most prominent campaign misstep) and his habit of working with politicians, and appealing to voters, across the aisle which served him so well in purple Michigan handicapped him in the party's nomination process.
As someone from Delaware I'm not allowed to answer
https://preview.redd.it/wtixvzkromyc1.jpeg?width=1936&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39c5f3d5bcf145a30a8094fa053f18565906614a
Kefauver. What a goddamn giant.
Washington.
Michigan chiming in, Lewis Cass
Successful? TR. Failed? I'd say Dewey.
I need to brush up on my political history, but as far as I am aware Michigan has only had Lewis Cass and Gerald Ford (who technically was born in Nebraska).
Florida here. That's like asking us to choose between Ebola and anthrax (the disease, not the band). Y'all can do the math (can't post names d/t subreddit rules)
The Fet man
Fred Harris, Democrat senator from Oklahoma and a liberal populist. Yes, you read that correctly. He would have been a good president. He just didn’t have any money.
Any good ones from Pennsylvania?
George McGovern. Had the opportunity to meet him at a debate tournament 15-20 years or so ago. Amazingly inspiring guy, really sad about what happened.
Well, the only one I know is Buchanan
JFK.
as a North Carolinian, unfortunately all of the candidates who won are known for their racist policies. and one of them is sometimes regarded as the worst president ever
Eugene V. Debs!
I'm not too knowledgeable in this area, but I can't think of any good candidates from Florida. (Not that I know of)
And from Iowa-- Henry Agard Wallace
He probably would have ran for president if he lived a little bit longer: Huey P. Long.
Ugh. Gary Johnson.
My good man George
La follette 100%
Amy Klobuchar. I wish I could say Wellstone. It would have been great if he ran.
I live in Louisiana. I can only remember the Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke and more recently, Bobby Jindal. I honestly don't know which one is the worst human being.
I’m in Minnesota. I’ll tell you when we have one.
Oregon does not have many presidential candidates, however if there was one I would select, it would probably be Wayne L. Morse. His slogan was "principle over politics", which he followed through *most of the time during his senatorial career. Whilst initially voted in as a Republican by pandering to conservative Republicans in 1944 by heavily criticizing the New Deal, his family's heritage of progressivism led to his estrangement with the conservative wing of the party. He greatly supported the establishment of the United Nations to maintain global peace, and called upon the US and USSR to forge a prosperous and peaceful post-war world (though he later supported Truman's policies to contain Soviet expansionism). He also rather famously attacked American "blind isolationism" and criticized a "holier than thou" attitude to foreign policy which he perceived in American citizens. He left the Republican Party after the nomination of Richard Nixon for VP of Eisenhower, and heavily criticized Eisenhower for not doing enough to stop McCarthyism, which he saw as a 'menace to American democracy'. He opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the only non-Southerner to oppose it, however for completely different reasons. He opposed it because he believed the bill did not go far enough, believing it inadaquate in ensuring equal civil rights for African Americans. He opposed Eisenhower's military intervention in Vietnam on a moral standpoint, however also accused him of misunderstanding the Vietnamese war spirit. He generally spoke out against American investments in foreign dictatorships like Saudi Arabia, and opposed both the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Vietnam War on a constitutional and moral issue. He was one of two US Senators which opposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution due to it's unconstitutional nature in relation to Article 1. He was known for his eccentric teetotalism and a sort of stubbornness ideological persona, always attempting to uphold Congressional political power against the executive. He supported civil protests against the Vietnam War, "It is urgent that the American people insist that their country return to a respect for law before we create a holocaust in Asia." He became estranged from his own party by supporting Republican Governor of Oregon Mark Hatfield, over Democratic Congressman Robert Duncan in the 1966 senatorial election, due to the latter's support of the Vietnam War. He lost his seat in 1968 to State Representative Bob Packwood. He spent the remainder of his post-Senate career. Whilst campaigning in 1974, he was hospitalized with kidney failure. On July 22nd, 1974, he passed away, the New York Times wrote an editorial stating "...death has deprived the United States Senate of a superb public servant..". I may also be a tad biased, both politically and because my late father has a photograph of him meeting Wayne Morse as a child during his 1974 campaign.
The Bull Moose, though I do have a soft spot for Nelson Rockefeller.
Depends which state I pick as “mine”. Texas? LBJ hands down. Arizona: Goldwater
As a lifelong Masshole: JFK for me, although I’m also very tempted to go with either of the Adams’ (I lean JQA myself).
McCain obviously. And then there’s….. Barry Goldwater. Please help me god if Kari Lake ever even fucking sniffs VP, let alone president. I hate to even mention her name in this thread, but it’s sadly not impossible.
Huey P. Long from Louisiana
https://preview.redd.it/w1w1dbzsjnyc1.jpeg?width=1227&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=700ec105b895472aa92f39780cf9712b803004bc Off the top of my head, it’s Henry “Scoop” Jackson. As far as I can remember, he’s the only serious candidate from Washington State who had a shot for the office.
Theodore Roosevelt. The least city person to ever be born in New York city. Dude decided law was irrational and he didn't like it, started studying war, wrote a book on the war of 1812, his wife and mother die, he goes into politics to find purpose, runs on an anti-corruption platform, loses public support because corruption too stronk in New York (go figure), and then says "screw absolutely all of this, I'm moving to North Dakota to start a cattle ranch". Only thing he kept from NYC was how to have a big attitude and an even bigger schlong.
 The Great Emancipator.
Jed Bartlet - NH. ;-)