I would have liked Gramm in ‘96. I didn’t know anything about him at the time though, I was 12-13, most of what I recall first hand from that that race is from SNL, where I remember RINO Lamar! Alexander appeared. Norm MacDonald was awesome as Dole. Thank goodness Colin Powell didn’t run, he may have won and become a RINO disaster President.
Gramm didn’t get very far though, it was over for him when Buchanan beat him the Louisiana caucus.
Dole was the best remaining option I guess. I like Forbes but didn’t he run as a social liberal then? Dole may been not have been great but I think he would have been better than either Bush, I wish he had won in ‘88.
And I wish the GOP Governors anointed someone besides W Bush in 2000. Tommy Thompson maybe, he was the senior Governor and had a good record.
One reason Gramm was a non-starter was a superficial one, his looks would’ve lost him the election. The public has an aversion to electing unattractive people as President. That’s why I also thought Hillary might lose based on her rapidly-aging looks.