Who is the conservative who would have made a plausible nominee for the Republicans in 1996, instead of Dole, and been able to beat Clinton?
I think that was the year that Phil Gramm ran. He wasn't the best visually, but his policies were great. Buchanan ran; he wasn't yet a wacko, and would have been great in battling Clinton. Hell, if I remember correctly, Steve Forbes was running, and had a flat tax idea. But no, Dole was the presumptive nominee. The RNC, after it was remade by Bush in his image, sold everyone on the notion that it was Dole's turn, and he was able to lock it up pretty easily, as well as keep others from entering in the first place. It was never Dole's turn; he was the jackass who screwed over Reagan in the Senate many times, and who stabbed Gingrich in the back during the budget battles of 1995.
Sounds like you think Republicans had no choice but to nominate Dole, and had no way to beat Clinton. Bull. Even Milquetoast Dole kept Clinton from getting 50 percent, even though the economy was great. Clinton was eminently beatable, but it took a fighter who took it to him, and exposed him, and who stood for something different.