President Al Gore-Brand Spanin' New Timeline!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'm not sure but I've read somewhere that Arizona law mandates that, like in Wyoming, appointed Senator must came from the same party as predecessor.

[hcallega]

I'm not sure but I've read somewhere that Arizona law mandates that, like in Wyoming, appointed Senator must came from the same party as predecessor.

Huh, well if so than it would prolly be a really moderate GOPer or someone easily beatable.

[hcallega]

2005

John McCain's inauguration was a cool day, even by Washington standards. The GOP was out in full effect, as the Republican party was just glad to be inaugurating any body and sending them on their way to the White House. The theme of the inauguration was "The 50 States" with the two most prominent being Arizona and Colorado. The day also had a western theme, as Vice-President Owens appeared in a cowboy hat. McCain's speech itself was nothing special, and while he came off as quite bipartisan there was still a good degree of concern over whether or not he could get the votes to take on some of the biggest issues of the day. As far as cabinet, McCain would promote Powell to secretary of state while making Phill Gramm secretary of commerce, Meg Whitman labor, and (reaching across the aisle) John Breaux Agriculture, just to name a few.

McCain's "First 100 Days" plans were not radically conservative by any means. He proposed malpractice reform, cuts to domestic spending, increased ethics reform, middle-class and small business tax cuts, a new energy bill, and a Central American Free Trade Agreement. McCain also ordered more troops to Afghanistan and demanded free elections to be held. However McCain's domestic plans were not entirely successful. Malpractice reform fell through when several key Republicans challenged whether or not the bill was really worth while (the most prominent being Dick Shelby of Alabama who called the bill "pointless.") While the ethics reform, tax cut, and energy bill all passed, the spending cuts were far smaller than McCain hoped for. However it would be CAFTA that would be the toughest fight of the year. The agreement had been negotiated initially under Al Gore, but during the first few months of his administration McCain would negotiate a more buisness friendly version which would be debated before congress in the fall.

In the Finance Committee, Chairman Max Baucus was unable to muster the votes to oppose the bill which would pass 13-7 in great part due to support from several Democrats (Bingaman, Lincoln, Wyden, Cantwell, Nelson) which offset opposition from several Republicans (Snowe, Thomas). The bill would then head to the Senate floor where it would be a bitter fight as both sides attempted to keep their members in line. While Republicans were able to reach 60 votes for cloture, they were unable to keep those votes in line for the floor vote which failed 51-49. Later in the year McCain would return with a slightly different package negotiated with leaders of the countries with more exemptions which would pass the senate but fail in the house.

On foreign policy the troop surge in Afganistan would lead to positive results, but the issue of Al-Quaeda and Taliban leaders operating out of Pakistan lead to McCain calling on the leaders of the nation to take up stronger action against America's enemies. 2005 would also see free elections in Afganistan leading to a coalition government between the Party of Islamic Freedom (Center-Right, Northern Alliance) and several moderate Democratic parties. The Socialists would form the principal opposition, though the Taliban would also do well in some areas. McCain would also send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the UN to push for chemical weapons inspectors. The UN would support the move and Saddam Hussein would agree, though the inspectors would find little. This would end most discussion of invading Iraq.

Also on the home front McCain would face several controversial issues. Following the death William Rehnquist and the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor, McCain would appoint two new justices. McCain would appoint Edith Jones as the new chief justice while appointing Dennis Jacobs as Associate. Both would be confirmed with opposition from liberals but fairly strong support from everyone else. McCain would also have to deal with the Terri Schiavo situation. Despite strong pressure to intervene from conservatives, McCain opposed any federal action as infringing on states rights. When Schiavo did pass away, McCain was chided by many in the christian right. The last major issue for McCain was Hurricane Katrina. The Hurricane would devastate New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. McCain responded rapidly, but also gave the states the role of first responders. This worked well in Mississippi, where Governor Haley Barbour responded quickly with federal aid arriving rapidly to help rebuild. However in Louisiana both the state and local governments failed to respond adequately, leading to a massive disaster. McCain would personally lead federal aid to the city and lead the cleanup, but the damage was already done. While McCain would get mixed reviews for his handling of the crisis, both Governor Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin were trashed in the polls.

(While this did not occur in 2005 I feel that this is as good a time as any to note the politics of Louisiana post-Katrina. In the 2006 Mayoral Election, Mitch Landrieu would defeat Ray Nagin in a runoff. In the 2007 gubernatorial elections, Blanco was challenged by Bobby Jindal and John Breaux who resigned from the cabinet. Despite legal challenges and a friendship with Blanco, Breaux still persued his campaign and finished in second to Jindal. In the runoff Breaux would surprisingly win McCain's endorsement and narrowly defeat Jindal.)

All in all, 2005 was a good year for McCain. Ending the year with 59% approval, McCain was quite popular. While Katrina had bumped him from 62% to 59%, most Americans believed the country was on the right track. However conservatives were disappointed that McCain had stayed to the middle and failed when pushing to the right (CAFTA, malpractice, spending cuts). However McCain had become a "Moderate Hero" and was even alright with liberals. He seemed well on his way to becoming America's next Dwight Eisenhower.

[jbm4pres]

GREAT UPDATE!!!

[hcallega]

2006

2006 promised to be another good one for President McCain, at least at the start. In January the Sago Mine disaster prompted McCain to go to congress to ask for higher standards for mining safety. In the wake of the disaster there was little opposition and the bill (co-sponsored by Jay Rockefeller and Orrin Hatch) passed the Senate and House easily. However this was to be a rare sign of cooperation between the two parties in a key election year.

In February President McCain would propose a sweeping energy bill to congress. The Bill would modify President Gore's attempts at energy by increasing alternative energy subsidies while decreasing fossil fuel subsidies on a sliding scale based on technological research and developments. The bill would also open up more land to domestic oil drilling, but not the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. The bill would pass the Senate 58-42 and pass the House by a similar margin. Nonetheless the fight over the bill was bitter and took far more time than McCain had wanted it to.

McCain's next major initiative was passing comprehensive immigration reform. The bill would create a pathway to citizenship which would require all illegals to enroll in the Pathway Program, learn English (pass a literacy test), find and retain a job (only once enrolled in the Pathway), pay a 500 dollar fine, pay taxes on any income made from job, and enroll any children they may have in school. The bill would also provide for a Guest-Worker program which would allow migrant workers to work for some of the year in America. The bill was the most controversial of McCain's second term and drew some very strong opposition from both sides. Conservatives chided the bill as amnesty and rewarding people for breaking the rules, while labor liberals attacked the guest-worker program. Nonetheless, the Kennedy-Graham bill was strongly supported by President McCain and would not go away without a fight. After a long showdown the Bill would narrowly fail 48-52. However the House did adopt the bill.

In May, the Enron trial would finally begin. While McCain would denounce the former companies heads as "crooks and scoundrels of the highest order", he would refuse pressures to create new Wall Street regulations. On foreign policy, McCain would support Israel's invasion of Lebanon as "a necessary step to prevent the deaths of many, many more Israelis".  Another key fight for McCain was in foreign policy, where both North Korea and Iran would aggressively posture in an attempt to acquire nuclear weapons. In both cases McCain would call on "these rogue states to put down the plutonium and focus on fixing the ills of their nations." Nonetheless little would come out of all of this. McCain would also appoint General David Petraeus the commander of US forces in Afghanistan with the goal to squash the growing Taliban insurgency and take the necessary steps to end the Guerrilla war with anti-US forces in the south of the country.

Going into the midterm elections, President McCain's popularity had begun to slip. While the economy was doing better, fears over the size of the housing bubble were beginning to grow. The war in Afghanistan was still a stalemate and the President's unpopular push for immigration reform had dropped his popularity even more among conservatives and moderates. While his approval rating was still 55%, fears of expanded Democratic control of congress were certainly based in reality.....

[hcallega]

2006 Midterm Elections

With President McCain's popularity beginning to drop, and with many conservatives frustrated at the direction of the party, the Democrats saw 2006 as an opportunity to retake the House and expand their slim majority in the Senate.

Safe Races
Democratic Holds
Diane Feinstein-CA
Tom Carper-DE
Bill Nelson-FL
Daniel Akaka-HI
Ted Kennedy-MA
Debbie Stabenow-MI
Jean Carnahan-MO
Ben Nelson-NE
Jeff Bingaman-NM
Hillary Clinton-NY
Kent Conrad-ND
Maria Cantwell-WA
Robert Byrd-WV
Herb Kohl-WI
Republican Holds
Richard Lugar-IN
Olympia Snowe-ME
Trent Lott-MS
John Ensign-NV
Kay Bailey Hutchinson-TX
Orrin Hatch-UT
George Allen-VA
Craig Thomas-WY

GOP Gains
Connecticut-Joe Lieberman
New Jersey-Tom Kean Jr.
The GOP would pick up two northeastern seats in 2006 do in large part to strong support from President McCain. In Connecticut Joe Lieberman would switch parties and challenge incumbent John Larson for his old seat. Lieberman would beat him soundly, 58-42%. In New Jersey Tom Kean Jr. would focus on hitting incumbent Bob Menendez on the issue of corruption. Kean would also receive strong support from President McCain, leading to a 49-49 win. 
Dem Gains
Pennsylvania-Bob Casey Jr.
Ohio-Sherrod Brown
Tennessee-Harold Ford Jr.
Vermont-Bernie Sanders
The Democrats would pick up three GOP seats. In Pennsylvania, Bob Casey ran on a socially consevative, economically liberal platform against the far-right Santorum. This was a race many Republicans wrote off, and Casey won 58-42. In Ohio Sherrod Brown would focus on the economy and DeWine's support for free trade. He would also benefit from the NRAs lack of strong support leading to weak turnout in the rural parts of the state. In Tennessee, Harold Ford would beat Bob Corker in a close race. After a bloody primary where a recount had to take place between Corker and Ed Bryant, and the third place candidate was only 3%, Corker was financially drained and thus weak enough to be defeated by the moderate Ford. In Vermont, Independent Bernie Sanders would easily pick up the seat of the retiring Republican Jim Jeffords and choose to caucus with the Democrats. This left the Senate at 52-47-1 and a Democratic Majority. In the House the Democrats would capture control just narrowly, and make Congressman Dick Gephardt Speaker of the House.

[hcallega]

2007

After the legislative difficulties of 2006, President McCain would be faced with an entirely different series of issues in 2007. With a Democratic Congress, McCain's focus shifted from domestic and economic issues to foreign policy. He would emphasis this in his State of the Union address: "Today we face a new challenge. The surge in Afghanistan is working, and we are winning. But that is not the only hurdle that America faces in ensuring a world of peace. The forces of evil are still out there, and are becoming stronger by the day. We all know of the nuclear threat posed by North Korea and Iran, but perhaps the greater threat is not their ability to eliminate their opponents, but their ability to supply terrorist organizations with these weapons. But we must also hold the nations of Syria and Pakistan accountable. Neither has shown the necessary support for freedom in the world, and in some cases elements of their governments have gone as far as to provide weapons and funding for them. This is not acceptable, and the necessary action WILL be taken."

To follow up on these aggressive threats, McCain would propose a bill that would ban any government trade, aid, or formal relations with nations "convicted" by a nonpartisan committee of supporting terrorist activity. The bill would fail to pass congress despite support from many Democrats and the leadership as liberals and some internationalists would oppose it: "This bill, if enacted, would effectively recreate the Cold War. The nations that support terror against those that oppose it. While we cannot support rogue states we cannot give them any added reason to use their weapons against us. If we put the world into two camps, then we inevitable loose in the long run." (Senator Ted Kennedy). However a bill breaking off any aid or trade (proposed by Democrats) would pass both houses and be signed by the President.

On smaller matters McCain would push for increased stem cell funding, support for the protesters in Burma, and pushing for a quick investigation of the Virginia Tech shooting. But the biggest issue on the horizon was the housing bubble bursting. In August the Stock Market dropped hard after reports coming out that the Housing Market and therefore Credit Markets were beginning to crumble. McCain would oppose any government intervention: "This is a terrible turn of events, but at this stage any government intervention could make the problem even worse. We need to wait and see what happens, and even then let's not simply assume that government will make things right.".........

[Historico]

Hillary in '08!!!

[HappyWarrior]

Gephardt 2008!

[jbm4pres]

Time for an update

[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).

[hcallega]

I'll do a brief update to satisfy those still interested

2008 Democratic Primaries

The frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic nomination was New York's Senator Hillary Clinton. Supported by women's groups, black groups, and organized labor, Clinton looked like a shoe-in for the nomination. As such, most in the Democratic establishment got out of her way as she went for the White House.

That's not to say that she didn't run into any opposition. 2004 VP Nominee John Edwards jumped into the race early, as did Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Both positioned themselves to Clinton's left. Edwards attacked her for not coming out strongly against NAFTA and other free trade agreements. Feingold attacked Clinton's hawkish views, aswell as her close ties to lobbyists and other organizations. Reverend Al Sharpton and Rep. Dennis Kucinich also jumped into the race, attacking Clinton from the far-left.

Clinton was attacked from the right by Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, a Clinton ally who ran a campaign focused on bringing in middle class voters and independents. Also running were Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, and General Wesley Clark of Arkansas.

The final Democratic field is shown below, listed in order of perceived strength:

• Senator Hillary Clinton of New York
• Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
• Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana
• Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
• General Wesley Clark of Arkansas
• Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
• Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
• Reverend Al Sharpton of New York

The first contest was in Iowa, a state that the Clinton campaign would ignore. Instead the battle came down to Edwards vs. the field. In the end, Edwards would defeat Bayh by just 2 points, not enough to compete with Clinton for the title of frontrunner. In New Hampshire, the Clinton campaign would win a resounding victory, and from then on she was the frontrunner for the race. All candidates but Edwards, Clark, and Feingold would withdraw soon after.

Red-Clinton
Blue-Edwards
Light Green-Clark
Dark Green-Feingold

At the Democratic Convention, Clinton would choose former rival Evan Bayh as her Vice-Presidential nominee.

[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.

[hcallega]

2008 General Election and Epilogue

The 2008 race pitted Hillary vs. McCain in what was commonly known as the "Race of the Century", as both candidates were incredibly influential throughout the decade and leading up to the race. Entering the summer, McCain led Clinton by 2-3 points in most polls, with the Electoral College to close to call. Hillary attacked McCain for various issues, but for the most part there was little movement. But with the economic meltdown of September, things changed in a hurry. Clinton attacked McCain's lackluster response and his failure to "recognize when things have gone wrong." Clinton harkened back to the prosperity of the '90s and proposed a large "Jobs Bill" and Wall Street Reform, and Universal Health Care. McCain emphasized bringing spending under control and not overreacting. However he appeared like Hoover and Clinton Roosevelt. The end results were not surprising:

Clinton’s victory also aided the Democrats in congress, as they made large gains. In the Senate, Democrats captured Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Alaska, and Minnesota to expand their majority in the Senate. In the House they would also make large gains as Pelosi (majority leader) and Clinton formed the “Femme Fatales”.

Clinton’s first year in office would be slightly more rocky than expected. Her stimulus bill would help stifle unemployment, but the recession would continue longer than many expected. She would change little in foreign policy, angering many on the left. However her biggest victory was health care. Clinton crafted a plan focused on industry reform, as well as a mandate and public option. Facing strong opposition, Clinton would “go to war”, touring the nation and making clear that this was her biggest goal of her presidency. She would even go so far as to put in required benchmarks for any bill to pass. However she would compromise by giving up an instantaneous public option for a trigger that would take into account both health care costs and the yearly findings of a bipartisan panel. The bill would successfully pass, as only one Democrat (Ben Nelson) voted against it with two Republicans (Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) supporting it. Her approval ratings stood at 52% at the end of Novemeber.

[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.

[hcallega]

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.

[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.