Imagine for a moment that if the 20,000 or so Ohioians who decided the state in favor of then President George W Bush were feverishly opposed to the Iraq war. In that moment, collectively, they decided to support then Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts for President of the United States. What would that have looked like today?
For starters President Obama would likely be Senator Obama and at this point probably would have had to make some tough decisions vote wise that would have made any Presidential ambitions a steep upward climb.
I think most importantly in all of this Kerry would likely end up a one term president. Having to stand for re-election only weeks after the failure of Lehman Brothers and presiding over the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression it would be next to impossible for Kerry to survive that type of financial hardship, wide spread job loss, and general anxiety that close to Election Day.
That brings us to President McCain and Vice President Mitt Romney. President McCain having selected then former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney would be in a position to present to the American people a ticket with decades of governing and foreign policy experience in their presidential candidate John McCain and decades of experience in fixing Wall Street and the American economy in their Vice Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Undoubtedly the McCain administration would seek to implement Romneycare on a national level delivering national healthcare to the American people. Although I suspect the Heritage Foundation would support this plan under a President McCain, unlike they do in reality under a President Obama.
Of course that is not what happened and we do not have a President McCain and Vice President Romney, but it just goes to show you in American politics elections do really matter. They matter not only in the immediate for consequences on policy issues, but on long term political structure they matter. They matter very much.