President Al Gore-Brand Spanin' New Timeline!

[Bo]

Please revive this. This is a great timeline. I want to see who both parties nominate and who wins in 2008. I'm thinking Hillary, but she might not run since she might think McCain is unbeatable (just like Mario Cuomo and Bush Sr. in 1991).

[Bo]

Thank you for updating. I'm really excited to see how the 2008 election would turn out and what kind of President Hillary will turn out to be (I'm assuming she wins in this TL due to the poor economy, but you decide).

[Bo]

BUMP.

[Bo]

BUMP.

hcallega, mind if you please finish updating this timeline for the rest of 2008 & 2009. I really want to see this timeline continue up to the present day and see how Hillary handles her Presidency.

[Bo]

Thank you very much for finishing up this timeline, hcallega. I really appreciate it. I always wanted to see how this timeline would end, on account of this is one of my favorite timelines. It is interesting to see how little the present day changes if Gore won in 2000. The Democrats control the Presidency and both houses of Congress with solid majorities. The Democratic Senate majority is almost as large (1 seat less) than in real life. The only ways in which the present day is different is that Hillary is President and that there is no war in Iraq, which causes the U.S. to be viewed in a slightly more positive light abroad (the financial crisis will still weaken America's image and reputation globally, though). Anyway, I was wondering if I could have your permission to continue this timeline well into the future. I won't change anything you wrote, and I will just improvise based on what already happened in this timeline. I was also wondering if I could continue your timeline year-by-year format, since I feel that it is the most effecient way to write and organize a timeline. Again, great job.

[Bo]

BUMP.

[Bo]

Thank you very much for finishing up this timeline, hcallega. I really appreciate it. I always wanted to see how this timeline would end, on account of this is one of my favorite timelines. It is interesting to see how little the present day changes if Gore won in 2000. The Democrats control the Presidency and both houses of Congress with solid majorities. The Democratic Senate majority is almost as large (1 seat less) than in real life. The only ways in which the present day is different is that Hillary is President and that there is no war in Iraq, which causes the U.S. to be viewed in a slightly more positive light abroad (the financial crisis will still weaken America's image and reputation globally, though). Anyway, I was wondering if I could have your permission to continue this timeline well into the future. I won't change anything you wrote, and I will just improvise based on what already happened in this timeline. I was also wondering if I could continue your timeline year-by-year format, since I feel that it is the most effecient way to write and organize a timeline. Again, great job.

hcallega, could you please respond to this. Do I have your permission to continue this timeline?

[Bo]

2010

Domestic Policy:

Hillary Clinton pushes through a cap-and-trade bill through Congress, which she signs in June 2010. The bill calls for the U.S. to reduce its emissions 83% below 1990 levels by 2050. 5 Republicans (Voinovich, Snowe, Collins, Graham, and Specter) vote for the bill, while 2 Democrats (Nelson and Lincoln) vote against it. Thus the final bill passes by a vote of 62-38. Hillary also signs some financial reform legislation in March 2010, even though many liberals were disappointed that it did not go as far as they wanted (the Glass-Steagall Act was not reinstated and the legislation had some loopholes). The McCain tax cuts were repealed in April 2010, increasing the upper marginal tax rate from 35% to 45%. Hillary also passed a middle-class tax cut in July 2010 as she promised during her campaign. Finally, Hillary gave small businesses some more tax credits in an attempt to stimulate the economy and reduce the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate was 10.6% in January, peaked at 11.1% in June, and was down to 10.3% by November and 10.1% by December. Hillary passed a jobs bill in February 2010 in an attempt to reduce the unemployment rate. Throughout the year, Hillary's average approval rating was 47%.

Foreign Policy:

Hillary aimed to improve relations with the EU, Russia, China, Japan, Latin America, and other large economies, partly in order to make them regain the trust of the U.S. following the financial crisis of 2008-2009, which most countries blamed on the United States. Hillary signed several free-trade argeements and increased U.S. aid to developing nations to combat global warming and AIDS. Hillary also improved the missle defense shield that President McCain put in place in the Persian Gulf. President McCain took care of the Iranian threat in December 2006 and January 2007 when he bombed all of Iran's nuclear facilities and some Iranian army and terrorist training camps. Afterwards Iran allowed U.N. and U.S. inspectors to inspect all the nuclear sites that the FBI and CIA knew about (including the ones that were underground and previously kept secret). Those inspectors were still in Iran as of 2010. Hillary felt that since there was a much more tranquil atmosphere in the Middle East after Iran's nuclear program was taken care of, it would be easier to conclude a final peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians than it was before. However, foreign affairs were mostly on the back burner in 2010 as Hillary mostly worried about domestic affairs and especially the poor economy and high unemployment rate.

Midterm elections:

Senate:

Republican pickups:

AK-Palin defeats Knowles
AR- Gilbert Baker defeats Blanche Lincoln
CT- Rob Simmons defeats Chris Dodd
NC-Pat McCrory defeats Erskine Bowles
OK-Mary Fallin defeats Brad Carson

Democratic pickups:

MO-Robin Carnahan defeats Roy Blunt
PA-Sestak defeats Toomey (who defeats Specter in a primary)

Reps:+3
Dems:-3

The Senate would be 56 D - 44 R following the elections, in contrast to 59 D - 41 R before the elections.

House:

Dems:-23
Reps:+23

The House would be 231 D - 204 R following the elections, from 254 D - 181 R before the elections.

[Bo]

Nice post. One issue with the Cap-and-Trade vote is that McCain can't vote yea because he was already president! Also I'm sorry to see Brad Carson go...I was hoping to see him become President one day! Alas....Still very solid job.

Thank you for your compliments and for your permission to continue this timeline. In addition, thank you for pointing out the McCain vote. I fixed it. Guess it must have slipped my mind. As for Brad Carson, I figured that the Republican base is going to be very energized in 2010 due to having a Clinton in the White House and due to the high unemployment (in addition to being upset over healthcare reform, cap-and-trade, etc.). Thus many Democrats in Republican states (like Oklahoma) would lose that year.

I will continue your timeline on a separate thread though just to avoid making this one too crowded, and I will also utilize the butterfly effect in continuing this timeline.