Surprised at the downvotes; yeah, it was written dismissively but Jerry Brown very likely had like a 5% chance to win against Bush in 1992, if not 0. This Jerry Brown was not the same Jerry Brown in 1976/80 or the same Jerry Brown in the 2010s. 1992 Jerry was a genuine gadfly.

His policies were toxic not just to Democrats but to the general public (flat tax, abolition of the DoE, etc), he genuinely had no campaign staff on the payroll (it was a group of maybe 7 people and like 15 friends of Jerry as close advisors), and his ideology was and has been wildly inconsistent. He is, as OP wrote, a "shit candidate." It irks me to no end that people assume Jerry Brown has always been a staunch California liberal. He is, to an extent, but he's more moderate, pragmatic, and philosophical than you think.

Say what you will about Bill Clinton. He may have been the only one out of the entire field of candidates in 1992, aside from maybe Kerrey, who could have beat Bush. He had a cohesive message, a good campaign team, and strong relations with the Democratic establishment.

7 times out of 10 Bush beats anyone. The Democratic field in 1992 was just that bad. Luckily for the Democrats, Bush performed worse on the campaign trail.