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Since the close of the presidential election season on Tuesday night, I've been pondering how different the outcome might have been, had a few things transpired a little differently. Actually, a variation in any one of them could well have altered the course of history. I've collected my thoughts via the following list of what-ifs that I hope some people might find to be food for thought:
What if Hillary Clinton had taken the caucus states more seriously?
What if the Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries had counted originally?
What if a significant number of the Democratic contests had used a winner-take-all format like many of their GOP counterparts did?
What if Barack Obama's relationships with William Ayers, Tony Rezko, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, et al. had been explored by the mainstream media much earlier?
What if Clinton would have taken her fight for the nomination all the way to the convention?
What if John McCain had thrown in the towel when his campaign began to unravel last year?
What if the Republican Party's nominating process utilized "super delegates" the way the Democrats do?
What if Mitt Romney could have held off Mike Huckabee's late charge to win the Iowa Republican caucuses?
What if Huckabee could have duplicated his Iowa feat in South Carolina?
What if Rudy Giuliani had fought it out in the early nominating contests instead of putting all of his political eggs into the Florida basket?
What if Fred Thompson had gotten into the race earlier?
What if Newt Gingrich had entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination?
What if McCain had not remarked that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong"?
What if the markets had not taken a sharp downturn in September? What if the economy had begun to recover a month or two before the election?
What if the McCain campaign had not kept the wraps on Sarah Palin for so long?
What if McCain had selected a running mate like Romney, who had more experience in economic matters?
What if Obama had kept his word about accepting federal campaign matching funds?
What if a major terrorist attack had occurred and/or some kind of international upheaval had gotten underway a week or two before Election Day?
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