The year is 1972, in this timeline, Wallace is never shot and goes on to win the Democratic primaries, while Nixon faces the Watergate scandal earlier than in our timeline due to the burglars giving testimony earlier and more leaks from the White House than in our timeline, leading to the Watergate Committee forming during 1972 instead of 1973. Due to the investigation still being in its early phases, Nixon's approval rating is not disastrous and many in Washington still see a path to victory for him. The more liberal wing of the Democratic party, outraged by the top two candidates being in the right wing, see McGovern run a campaign under the Liberal banner. He is still seen as a left wing extremist by Middle America and he only benefits marginally from an earlier Watergate scandal, picking up the states of South Dakota, Minnesota, and Rhode Island. Wallace runs a massive populist campaign, targeting the perceived corruption in the White House and promising to bring the troops home from Vietnam, calling it a failed promise by Nixon who used it in his campaign back in 1968. Wallace, for his controversial platforms, sees major protests at his rallies and even an assassination attempt, one which this time sees him unscathed. The night comes, and Wallace, to the shock of many, manages not only to win states in the deep south as he did back in 1968, but manages to win the extended lines of Dixie and many states in the rust belt. Wallace's win is met with extreme backlash from the political left and the Republican party, which after Nixon's loss moves somewhat further to the center, leading to a period of intense political division much greater than Nixon's term.
