PBrunsel
Junior Chimp
Posts: 9,537
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« Reply #126 on: March 14, 2009, 07:47:22 PM » |
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William Weld (R-MA): Weld, a Nixonite, majors in pre-law and social work at Harvard College. Despite his patrician birth, he is inspired by the writings of Nixon to serve the people of Massachusetts, especially those not born into high status like him. In 1967, Weld begins working for social services in Boston, a job he holds until 1970 when he begins studying law at Harvard Law School. Like fellow Nixonite Barack Obama, Weld uses his skill in law to work as a public defender and turns down corporate law offers and an offer to be a federal prosecutor. It is not until 1990 that Weld decides to seek office. That year he runs for Massachusetts Attorney General, winning the Republican nomination but losing to Scott Harshbarger, District Attorney of Middlesex County. Following that defeat Weld is elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in 1992, serving until 1996 when he is defeated in an anti-Republican wave election.
John Connally (D-TX): Lyndon Johnson’s confidant, John Connally serves as Senator Johnson’s Chief of Staff from 1949 to 1967, when he becomes a Congressman. Congressman Connally, a Democrat, is one of the first Southern Democrats to switch aisles to the Republicans following the GOP takeover of Congress in 1973. This move leads him to be branded a “traitor” by his old friend Lyndon Johnson, and the power of LBJ is enough to defeat Congressman Connaly’s bid for Texas Governor in 1978. President Reagan names Connally as Ambassador to Mexico in 1979.
Spiro Agnew (R-MD): Agnew is, as in OTL, elected Governor of Maryland in 1966. However, his corruption as Baltimore County Executive and as governor catch up to him when Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Marvin Mandel introduces three articles of impeachment against Governor Agnew. Facing certain impeachment and removal from office, Agnew resigns his office and Mandel becomes governor in 1970. The great irony is that Governor Mandel will also be removed from office for corruption in 1973. Agnew attempts two political comebacks. In 1978 he makes a failed bid for governor in the Republican Primaries and in 1982 he wins the Republican Primary for United States Senate, but loses to Democratic senator Paul Sarbanes by a 60-38% margin.
Mario Cuomo (D-NY): Governor Cuomo makes a failed bid at the 1992 Democratic nomination for president, losing to the more moderate (and far less colorful) Senator Bill Bradley. Cuomo, who never wanted to run for president but was pressured into it by Democratic leaders, never runs for president again, but is reelected Governor of New York in 1994 by a 53-47% margin over State Senator George Pataki. In 1998, Pataki makes a second bid for governor, defeating Democratic Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine by 5,000-votes.
Joseph Biden (D-DE): After his failed campaign for president in 1996, Senator Biden becomes Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, overseeing the Gore Administration’s actions in stopping the genocide in Darfur. In 2001, Senator Biden is appointed Secretary of State by President Gore. He is most well known for threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will, “Punch your lights out,” if he didn’t withdraw troops from Chechnya. Following this comment President Gore asks Biden if he would like to retire, and Biden gets the hint. In 2008, former Secretary of State Biden made a brief bud for the Democratic nomination for president, withdrawing after a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire Primary.
Mike Huckabee (R-AR): Huckabee, a Nixonite, follows the path of service by becoming a Baptist Minister and social worker in the Little Rock area. In 1990, Huckabee is elected Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas and is reelected in 1994. In 1998, Huckabee upsets incumbent Aransas Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat and former State Senator, by a 234-vote margin. In 2002, Governor Huckabee is reelected over Arkansas Attorney General Hillary Clinton by a 52-48% margin. By 2004, the fiery populist Huckabee makes a strong bid for the Republican nomination for president, but fails to overtake the heavy favorite Senator John McCain. While Huckabee makes the shortlist for Vice-President, Senator McCain selects another 2004 Republican presidential rival, Governor Bill Owens of Colorado, for governor as he is seen as a more mainstream conservative. After leaving the governor’s office in 2007, Huckabee returns to the streets of Arkansas to head the Little Rock Christian Outreach Clinic, a clinic treating drug and alcohol abusers and to care for families in crisis.
Jeb Bush (R-FL): Jeb Bush, as in RL, is defeated in his bid for governor of Florida in 1994. Following this defeat he reads Nixon’s “The War for Peace” and was inspired to become a Christian missionary and travel to the birthplace of his wife Columba, the city of León, Mexico, to work as Christian missionary and outreach leader in the desperate slums of Mexico’s fifth most populous city. Bush and his wife stayed in León for six years, until 2000 when Bush returned to the United States to campaign for his brother George W. Bush in his unsuccessful bid for president in 2000. In 2002, Bush returned to Florida where he was elected Secretary of State of Florida, a job he held until 2007, when he retired to work at a Miami based non-profit for cancer patients.
Harry Reed (D-NV): Senator Reid follows the same path as in our timeline, but he never becomes Senate Majority Leader. In 2006, with a popular President McCain in office, the Republican Party expands their control in the United States senate by picking up Senate seats in Michigan, Florida, Washington and Minnesota. Following this defeat, Senate Minority Leader Reed is thrown out from his leadership post and replaced by Senator Charles Schumer (Democrat of New York).
Ed Rendell (D-PA): “Boss Eddy” is still a powerhouse in Philadelphia politics, but “The Six-Year Curse” on the incumbent party effects Rendell as he is narrowly defeated for the governorship of the Keystone State by Republican Attorney General D. Michael Fisher, who is defeated in 2006 by State Treasurer Robert Casey, Junior. In that same year, Senator Rick Santorum is reelected by a 55,000-vote margin over Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, the Democratic nominee for his Senate seat.
Paul Wellstone (D-MN): Wellstone, a Nixonite, joins the Peace Corp in 1967 and serves in Central America and Indochina. In the 1980s, Wellstone works with Director Nixon in the removal of landmines from Southeast Asia. After decades of public service, Wellstone is elected to the Minnesota State House in 1988 and Secretary of State in 1994. In 1998, Wellstone defeats Republican Norm Coleman and Independent Jesse Venture in the race for governor. Governor Wellstone implements several progressive reforms in his state, including state health care and a controversial “Book a Month” program which sent urban families a book every month. “I have always lived under the idea that those kids who are read to will read better when they get to school,” Governor Wellstone tells the press, “So we need to make sure they have the books to be read.” In 2002, Governor Wellstone was narrowly reelected over State Representative Tim Pawlenty and strongly backed Governor Howard Dean in the 2004 election. In 2008, Governor Wellstone (reelected to a third-term in 2006over Congressman Gil Gutknecht) made a spirited run for president, being endorsed by Governors Dean and Obama, but lost the nomination to the more moderate Senator Evan Bayh (Democrat of Indiana).
Helen Clark (Labour-New Zealand): Prime Minister Clark is a strong support of President Gore. In 2001, she and President Gore work out the Wellington Agreement which set up ambitious world goals for alternative energy.
Tony Blair (Labour-United Kingdom): Tony Blair works closely with President Gore in 1995 to crackdown on labor abuses by big business in Latin America and the Far East. The Boston Accord, signed by twenty-seven nations, sets strict labor laws for, “All the nations of the industrial world.” Despite this success, Blair’s Labour Party is defeated in the 2005 general elections by Michael Howard’s Conservatives. The reason is tied to labor disputes and growing unemployment. “There just was no crisis to keep the party in power,” Blair told the BBC in 2007.
Gordon Brown (Labor-United Kingdom): Gordon Brown took over the Labour Party for the first twelve months after the 2005 defeat of the Labor Party. In 2006, Siobhain McDonagh was elected the new leader of the Labour Party.
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