Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes III

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Penelope

Banned
The people over at In Our Own Hands suggested I post this here. It's a write-up for an alternate New York City mayoral race in which Dewey won 1948. William O'Dwyer's police grafting scandal (which came to a head in 1950 OTL) breaks out earlier due to butterflies.

The New York City mayoral election of 1953 occurred on Tuesday, November 3, 1953, and saw Democratic candidate Ferdinand Pecora winning by an unexpectedly lopsided margin in what was thought to be a competitive 4-way race.

Pecora began his campaign in the aftermath of of a police grafting scandal which saw incumbent mayor William O'Dwyer's establishment support quickly deteriorate. As the famed lawyer and judge who helped investigate the causes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Pecora was able to secure both establishment and grassroots support quickly among both Democrats and independents in the city. Once the powerful Tammany Hall political machine backed Pecora for the nomination over O'Dwyer, leading O'Dwyer to run longshot independent bid for re-election.

The Republicans chose Newbold Morris, the former President of the New York City Council under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Morris had previously ran unsuccessfully for mayor the previous year. However, with the help of a public endorsement from President Thomas Dewey, Morris was able to secure an alliance with the Liberal Party of New York. With this alliance, the Morris campaign believed that they would be able recapture the coalition that had backed Mayor La Guardia.

However, the American Labor Party ran their own candidate, Congressman Vito Marcantonio, which plunged the race into a competitive 4-way contest.

Morris, backed by Republicans from both national, state, and local levels, ran a traditional campaign promising to end the corruption of O'Dwyer's administration while continuing successes of the post-war era. He remained silent on liberal issues that were being debated nationally, which made many liberals in the city uncomfortable with his campaign. By contrast, Ferdinand Pecora, the 67 lawyer, ran a campaign to rival O'Dwyer's in terms of fiery rhetoric, promising new jobs, liberal policies, and an expansion of the New Deal projects which had taken root in the city under Mayor La Guardia.

In the final days of the campaign, grassroots support began to increasingly turn away from Morris and Marcantonio, and towards Pecora. President Dewey, in New York City at the time to discuss policy with Governor Joe Hanley and Senator Irving Ives, held a campaign rally in support of Morris which had disappointingly poor turnout. A photograph (from a pro-Democratic newspaper) of President Dewey speaking on Morris' behalf to a seemingly near-empty crowd circulated throughout the nation's media, much to the chagrin of the Dewey administration.

By the end of the campaign, Newbold Morris allegedly remarked to a Liberal's Weekly reporter that he “had lost the campaign.” On election night, the Republican Party was embarrassed by a stunning landslide victory for Pecora.
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New York City mayoral election, 1949 wikibox:

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Steve Brinson

Steve Brinson

Back to Divided Against Itself.

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The Oak Ridge Reactor protests occurred from April 3, 2004 to November 11, 2010. On March 31, 2004, the U.S. Department of Energy published its annual Report on Energy in America, in which it stated that construction on three new nuclear reactors would begin - one outside Athens, Georgia, one near Belleville, Illinois, and a third in Oak Ridge, California (OTL Oceanside, approximately). Of the three sites, only the last had any organized opposition against its construction, for two reasons. One, it was near a major fault-line. Two, it was in California, one of the major sites of American environmentalism.
The protests dragged on for six years, with one incident - the physical occupation of ORR and USDOE offices - leading to multiple arrests. The state government was initially unable to convince the government to move the site, as the existing energy supply to southern California was insufficient and would only shrink as existing fossil-fuel plants were phased out under the MESE and EERIE Acts. In addition, while it was likely to be severe, the overall effects of a nuclear reactor incident were still unknown. However, the protests sufficiently stymied and hassled construction that the department announced on November 7, 2010, that the plans for a reactor at Oak Ridge would be shelved indefinitely. As of 2016, demand is set to be handled by existing and expanded reactors at Needles, California and Pittsburgh Point, Arizona, as well as various solar plants.

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United States presidential election, 2012
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H. Ross Perot Speedway
 
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packmanwiscy

packmanwiscy

The 2016 American Tour was a three week Grand Tour Cycling Race. The 70th edition of the American Tour took place among 10 US States, including Hawaii for the first time ever in the American Tour. It also served as the 22nd event in the UCI World Tour, as well as the last of four Grand Tours (three week races). Due to the first stage taking place in Hawaii, the Tour began on a Friday and experienced an extra rest day between the first and second day to accomidate for oversees travel. Also deviating from normal, the final stage ended in New York (rather than Los Angeles) to commemorate the 9/11 attacks, as has been tradition since 2005. The race did not attract some of the bigger names in cycling due to many deciding to focus on the Tour de France or the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, such as 2014 winner Nairo Quintana and 2015 winner Alejandro Valverde. French cyclist Thibaut Pinot ended the three weeks as the victor, finishing one minute and 58 second behind American Tejay van Garderen, with Portuguese cyclist Rui Costa rounding out the podium. Costa wound up winning the King of the Mountains while British Cyclist Mark Cavendish won three stages and won the points classification.

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The race started off with a time trial on the southern beach of Oahu, before heading out to Raleigh into the Smokey Mountains, winding through lower Virginia, western North Carolina, and Eastern Tennessee. Two flat stages into Georgia preceded another rest day. The cyclists headed up to northwest Virginia and West Virginia in the middle Appalachians and a quick jaunt to Pittsburg and Philadelphia before another rest day. The last part of the Tour was a grueling series of Mountain Stages through the Green Mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont and the Adirondacks in New York State for a couple days. The Tour ended with a hilly stage out of the mountains and the ceremonial parade into New York City around Manhattan. The race layout was criticized for it's lengthy mountain stages, such as the 133 mile mountain stage between Harrisonburg and Morgantown, a path longer than most flat stages. The race designers claimed that the course was intended to push racers to their peak and be the most challenging race yet, and pointed out it was necessary considering the third rest day, and pointed out the race was in similar length to other Grand Tours.

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Hawaii proved to be generous towards Olympic silver medal winning time trialist Tom Dumoulin, who won the first stage and seized the blue jersey for the overall lead. The second stage was won by sprinter Mark Cavendish gave him the silver jersey for the points classication, a title he would hold for the rest of the tour. In the first mountain stage, Eritrean rider David Teklehaimanot broke away from an attacking group of ten to win the blue jersey and the gold jersey for the mountain classification. Stage five saw Teklehaimanot relinquish his lead to Colombian rider Jarlinson Pantano, who attacked the main field on the ascent of Mount Mitchell and seized the blue jersey. The lead would continue through the Smokey Mountains for another two stages before a series of climbs on the seventh stage damaged the field apart from a select group of riders, Pantano not included. Thibaut Pinot the field with just one and a half miles to go on the ascent of Big Frog Mountain at the end of the stage to take the leadoff the overall race; Pantano would finish more than twenty minutes behind Pinot on the stage. The seventh stage also saw the team classification switch hands to BMC Racing and the red and white jersey for best American go to Tejay van Garderen , both of which would hold onto it for the remainder of the race. Two flat stages through the heart of Georgia helped increase Cavendish's lead on the points classification. The next couple stages were largely uneventful, the mountain stages proved only to increase the leaders' margins on the rest of the field as the group passed through the Virginias. Out of Pittsburgh, Rui Costa separated from the main field and could not be caught before he scaled Mount Davis to end stage 13, taking second overall and the mountain classification. Van Garderen made a move in the first day in the Northeast and was able to prevent being caught by the main field and grab the blue jersey for the first time, but Pinot took it right back in Vermont. The Frenchman held the blue jersey for the remainder of the race, adding another minute on the main competitors on the mountain time trial. Italian rider Fabian Aru challenged for a podium spot in the penultimate stage, but a dramatic push by a group of 15 riders, including van Garderen and Costa, caught him in the ride into Watertown. While Pinot lost some of his margin in the chase, Thibaut was too far ahead and rode into Manhattan for his first Grand Tour victory

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KingCrawa

KingCrawa

shiftygiant said:
This one will have a write up, and I'll also go back and give the previous one a write up. Right now though, Tim Collins, a Prime Minister that never was. The PoD is that Major isn't promoted to becoming Chancellor, and remains Foreign Secretary.

Image was taken from Tim Collins profile at Bell Pottinger, the only recent decent portrait of him I could find.

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Timothy William George Collins, CBE, (born 7 May 1964) is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2016, and as the Leader of the Conservative Party from 2008 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament to Westmorland and Lonsdale since 1996. Collins is a self-described One-Nationite Conservative, as well as associating himself with Compassionate Conservatism and economic liberalism.

Born in Epping, Essex, Collins went to Chigwell School, and was educated at London School of Economics and King's College London. During the late 1980's and early 1990's, Collins was a member of the 10 Downing Street Policy Unit, and Speechwriter to various Cabinet Ministers. He would also serve as Special Assistant to then Prime Minister Michael Heseltine, for which he would eventually receive his CBE. Entering Parliament in 1996, Collins served in the Whips office before he was made Shadow Cabinet Office Minsiter in the Michael Howard Shadow Cabinet, advising Howard during the disastrous 2001 General Election. Following Howard's resignation, Collins would be promoted to Shadow Education Secretary under Malcolm Rifkind, and then Shadow Home Secretary under Chris Patten, whom he succeed in 2008. Seeking to modernize the Conservative Party, Collins shifted focus to supporting Socially Liberal policies, believing that the Party would have to regain voters lost by the Parties failure to keep up in order to win the next election, as well as providing a stronger centre-right alternative to Labour, as well as providing a strong flare of euroskepticism to counter Labour's Europhilic approach to the Continent. Despite initial criticism, Collins was able to vindicate himself with high polling and a string of by-election and assembly election victories. In 2012, Collins would be elected on a narrow majority, and forced to deal with the ongoing recovery of the Great Recession, enacting austerity measures in hopes of cutting the Government's large deficit. Collins premiership would see sweeping privatization, as well as reform in tax, immigration, education, and the NHS. Collins would be consistently criticized on all fronts for what seen by many attempt to privatize the latter two.

On the international stage, under his Goverment Britain would conclude her withdrawal from the Gulf region, and continued nation building efforts in the region. Collins would also see British Military Deployment in Baltic's during the 14 Day Crisis, and peacekeeping operations in post-War Libya. His Goverment would also see a more frigid relationship with Europe, one of Collins' Manifesto pledges having been a referendum on the United Kingdom's statues in the EU. Domestically, his Goverment oversaw the Scottish Independence Referendum- following the triumph of the Yes campaign, Collins announced his resignation, succeeded by John Major following the subsequent Leadership election.

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For Want of a Promotion
John Major
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This was great until the Scots referendum result.
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
Penelope said:
The people over at In Our Own Hands suggested I post this here. It's a write-up for an alternate New York City mayoral race in which Dewey won 1948. William O'Dwyer's police grafting scandal (which came to a head in 1950 OTL) breaks out earlier due to butterflies.



New York City mayoral election, 1949 wikibox:

View attachment 283505
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An American election that isn't a presidential one? What madness is this? Would like to see more of these.

KingCrawa said:
This was great until the Scots referendum result.
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It might be a reference to EdT's vignette where Collins is PM at the time of a Yes vote due to an SNP led by someone unexpected.
 

Politibrit

shiftygiant said:
As for the second half, if Foot resigns, then the Parties issues with only grow. Whilst having a Leader like Benn who believed fully in the Manifesto and had enough Charisma to make it seem rational would be a plus, the problems ultimetly come down to the contents itself, which, to be frank, was too far out there for the public. The problem both Benn and Shore would face is a Party that is largely divided and somewhat chaotic in the wake of a hypothetical resignation. With the message divided and the mess that would be the Leadership contest, you have fertile grounds for the SDP/Liberals to make massive headway, building off the issue of confidence in Labour, and in tandem with a botched Falklands, a rejection of Conservative ideals. The economy would be the only sticking point- if it did improve like IoTL, you'll possibly see Thatcher be reelected on a much smaller majority, so having the Treasury cock up in some regards would be a good place to start.
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The manifesto was far too out there, but if it remained more or less the same, but Labour had a more charismatic figure selling it to the public, it would stand to reason that they at least wouldnt do any worse than OTL? I take the point though that more turmoil within Labour might see them fall even further behind, given that they managed to put a relatively united front up in the year or so before the election.

As for the economy, I think that could be overlooked if things get bad enough in other areas. If the Falklands turned out to be a humiliation for the government, there would at least be attempts to remove Thatcher, and if those somehow failed,defections and by election defeats to the Alliance (eating into Thatcher's majority and making it harder to get stuff past Parliament) would give the Tories some extremely negative press. You could throw in a few scandals too, perhaps cabinet resignations lead to Parkinson being promoted to Foreign Secretary early, as Thatcher eventually planned, and the scandal involving his love life will hurt the government more than in OTL. It would be a similar situation to 1997, where not even a strong economy could save the government from there own unpopularity. And Major didnt have the problem of record unemployment that Thatcher did then.
 
shiftygiant

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
JDrakeify said:
The manifesto was far too out there, but if it remained more or less the same, but Labour had a more charismatic figure selling it to the public, it would stand to reason that they at least wouldnt do any worse than OTL? I take the point though that more turmoil within Labour might see them fall even further behind, given that they managed to put a relatively united front up in the year or so before the election.

As for the economy, I think that could be overlooked if things get bad enough in other areas. If the Falklands turned out to be a humiliation for the government, there would at least be attempts to remove Thatcher, and if those somehow failed,defections and by election defeats to the Alliance (eating into Thatcher's majority and making it harder to get stuff past Parliament) would give the Tories some extremely negative press. You could throw in a few scandals too, perhaps cabinet resignations lead to Parkinson being promoted to Foreign Secretary early, as Thatcher eventually planned, and the scandal involving his love life will hurt the government more than in OTL. It would be a similar situation to 1997, where not even a strong economy could save the government from there own unpopularity. And Major didnt have the problem of record unemployment that Thatcher did then.
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You would see the loss of seats reduced, certainty; obviously if this is done in tandem with the Tories quagmire, you would have an election where the results are Miliband-esque, or potentially a net gain in the vein of Hague. I'd say though that for Labour to really hold its own, you'd need Shore to win in 1979. However as this is a scenario in which we need Labour to be significantly weakened, Benn taking the reins in late 1982 or early 1983 would have a more unstable Labour entering an election. He might have been charismatic, but that plays into the favour the Conservatives and Alliance, who will have a much easier time picking at the party during the campaign.

I agree on the second half, though a closer analogy might be more along the lines of 1923; even with Labour struggling under its own weight and the Tories suffering from a slower recovery and humiliation on the Falklands, a hung Parliament would be more likely than an outright majority. As long as neither the SDP nor Liberals fight over the possibility of a Coalition Goverment, you could end up with 'stable' minority, like those seen in Canada, with a supply and confidence deal with Labour.

Obviously making the Falklands a humiliation can be accomplished with Britain still winning. If the war goes longer and bloodier, with it being a slog to kick Argentine forces out instead of the relatively swift kick it was IoTL, accusations of mishandling the war would certainly damage the Tories in the next election.
 
Mav12

Mav12

Ok Im confused (I dont know how bike races work) how is the distance between Yonkers and Manhattan 72 miles? was there a tour de Bronx?
 

Aaaaasima

Here's the 1983 British Election with the percentages of the Liberal-SDP alliance and Labour switched

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If I knew British politics, I would expand on this, but I don't. So if anyone wants to expand on this, you can
 
Tom Colton

Tom Colton

The Fall of the Commodian Empire (index)

Gaius Livius Metellus


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This guy from Fall of the Roman Empire (1964).

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Gaius Livius Metellus Caecilianus (149-early 193) was a general and consul of the Roman Empire during its peak of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty, and was a leading force in the events leading to the assassination of the Emperor Commodus. His life is generally attested to in the notoriously unreliable Historia Augusta, specifically the chapters concerning Marcus Aurelius and Commodus; the "authors" Antonius Mannus and Caledonius contradict each other on a number of points, specifically concerning Commodus' death; Antonius Mannus credits Gaius Livius with the kill whilst Caledonius presents it as the climax of the life of another leading Roman general, Decimus Aelius Meridius Maximus (link to post).

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Early life

Based on genealogical evidence, Gaius was born in 149 as Gaius Caecilius Metellus to Lucius Caecilius Metellus, a Roman noble resident in Judea and his wife, named Livia Messalina or some variant thereof; Lucius must have died some time thereafter as Gaius was subsequently adopted by his uncle, presumably named Livius Messala or some variant thereof [1]. The precise relationship between Lucius and the prominent Caecilii Meteli of the late Republic is unclear; he may have been a descendant of the branch of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos. Similarly, it is difficult to trace Livius Messala and Livia Messalina's heritage, although there may be some link with the Judean tax-collector Marcus Valerius Messala [2], who would have been close to the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and by extension the Livii.

Thus, it was as Gaius Livius Metellus that he entered the cursus honorum, starting with a short period of service under the Emperor Lucius Verus in Parthia, which is how he may have first encountered Lucilla, Marcus Aurelius' daughter and Lucius' wife, and allegedly begun an affair with the Empress. [3] However, after Lucius' death, Lucilla was betrothed by her father to the senior statesman Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, forestalling any plans of consummating their relationship with a wedding. Gaius Livius was a mere quaestor and military tribune, whilst Pompeianus was a ex-suffect consul and one of Rome's greatest generals; the match was much more suitable in rank, even if Pompeianus was almost twice Lucilla's age and was of lower nobilis than Gaius Livius, if his ancestry is to be trusted.

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The Marcomannic War and Marcus Aurelius' death

Gaius Livius nonetheless followed Pompeianus and Lucilla, along with Decimus Aelius Meridius Maximus, his new superior in the Legio IV Flavia Felix to Vindobona (modern Vienna) as the Marcomannic War against migratory Germanic tribes entered a new phase. There, Gaius Livius conducted himself with honour on the battlefield and considerably less in-camp; the affair between him and the Empress apparently became an open secret over time. Why Marcus Aurelius did not punish Gaius Livius is unclear; a judgment would probably have also indicted Lucilla and he may have wished to avoid the tyranny of Augustus' treatment of his daughter Julia, or he may simply have had more important matters on his mind.

Certainly, the affair did not disincline Marcus' judgment, as he allegedly saw Livius as a potential successor after Pompeianus' refusal of a bold offer to split the powers of the Principate after Marcus' death. In the year 180, Marcus had summoned a great many of his family members and associates, including his sole surviving son Commodus and his other daughters Annia Aurelia Fadilla, Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor and Vibia Aurelia Sabina. It may be here that Livius first met Annia Cornificia, who was accompanied by her husband Marcus Petronius Sura Mamertinus. The purpose of this meeting may have been to announce this plan to restore elements of the Republic.

According to Antonius Mannus and Caledonius, Marcus Aurelius had grown concerned about the excesses of his 18 year-old son and the indications of his rejection of his father's moderation and stoicism, and intended to continue the virtues of his rule through a council of selected ministers. While Commodus would inherit the title of Augustus, the imperial estates and the rights of the princeps senatus to open sessions of the Senate, call for bills to be debated upon and primacy of priority in such discussions, the other roles of the Emperor, including the tribunician power and the role of pontifex maximus would be divested to Maximus and Gaius Livius respectively, with elections to these roles restored. [4]

Pompeianus may have been offered the co-consulship with Commodus or the pontificate; at any rate, he refused to participate in this scheme, excusing himself on the grounds of old age, and thus Gaius Livius was approached instead. Marcus may have also similarly sensed that Pompeianus was getting on in age, and figured Gaius Livius to be an acceptable third husband to Lucilla if he held a position of state. At any rate, the scheme was never announced due to Marcus' death, allegedly of the Antonine Plague (although Caledonius claims Commodus killed his father in a fit of rage upon learning of this scheme, and Antoninus Mannus pins the blame on a cabal led by influential friends of Commodus.)

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Reign of Commodus

Commodus concluded the wars quickly, returning from Pannonia in triumph along with his sisters and their husbands; Gaius Livius followed the victorious troop home, being promoted to the head of the Legio IV whilst Maximus remained in Pannonia Inferior to hold the frontier.

There, he continued to see Lucilla, and attempted to convince Pompeianus to speak out against the increasing influence of a cabal comprising at least Tiberius Claudius Gordianus , Pescennius Niger and Didius Julianus, who were influencing the new emperor through his favourite eunuch Saoterus (it is this cabal which Antonius Mannus indicts for the death of Marcus Aurelius, with Saoterus as the assassin.)

However, either due to a sense of self-preservation or resentment at being talked down to by the man who was regularly cuckolding him, Pompeianus refused to commit himself to any public statement, and Gaius Livius eventually asked permission from Commodus to retire into public life on the estates of Lucilla's cousin Ummidia Cornificia Faustina (Maximus' wife; link to post), which the emperor granted. However, this state of affairs would not last for long.

[1] This is some fan-wanking to figure out how the name "Gaius Metellus Livius" would be derived.
[2] This is a reference to Stephen Boyd's other famous sword-and-sandal role.

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Ergo, this guy from Ben-Hur.​

[3] Much of Fall of the Roman Empire centers on the love story between Livius and Lucilla, which is problematic for two reasons: Lucilla was married at the time, and she died early in Commodus' reign. Here's my attempt at a workaround (the other being Annia Cornificia, her "backup" sister, whom I'll get into more detail later.)
[4] See here (footnote 3) for an explanation: both Fall of the Roman Empire and Gladiator focus on an abortive effort of Marcus Aurelius to restore the Republic, while we know in OTL Marcus had no other heirs in mind besides Commodus. Here's my workaround.
[5] See here (footnote 4) for my explanation as to why I reject FotRE's "Claudius" as being Clodius Albinus, even if that was the filmmakers' intent.

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TO BE CONTINUED...
 
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Turquoise Blue

Turquoise Blue

The 1968 election (constant)
The 1972 elections in Gauntlet and SUFA, the 1976 election in Gauntlet.
The 1976 elections in Liberty and SUFA.
The 1980 elections in Gauntlet, Liberty and SUFA.
The 1984 elections in Gauntlet, Liberty, World and SUFA.
The 1988 elections in Gauntlet, Liberty, World and SUFA.
The 1992 elections in Gauntlet, Liberty, World and SUFA.
The 1996 elections in Gauntlet, Liberty, World and SUFA. (THIS POST)

First of all, sorry for missing yesterday, @Komodo posted a new update (which you can see here!) and he previously requested me to not post infoboxes on those days so they won't distract from the updates.

I'll try to make 2000 as well today to make up for it, but I can't promise anything.

Anyway, on to the infoboxes! :)

In To Toss the Gauntlet Before the Feet of Tyranny, President Rummy, that blinkered liberal-ish technocrat, wins re-election.
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And here's Kom's write-up.
Whilst Paul certainly put up a better fight than Buchanan had in 1992, it was not enough to dislodge President Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld, though weak, was far from the sitting duck that the AIP's campaign managers had believed him to be, and besides that, he had a secret weapon up his sleeve: a cunning political operative by the name of Karl Rove. Although Rumsfeld lost the crucial battleground states of California and Texas (the loss of the former being blamed on the Democratic nominee's unusually strong showing there leeching away GOP votes), it was not enough to cost him the election.
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Meanwhile in With Liberty and Justice for All, an OTL-obscure politician succeeds Handsome Joe...
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(Credit for the aged picture of Larry McDonald goes to my brother.)

Kom's write-up below. It's short, sorry.
Terry Kohler was elected to carry President Biden's legacy into the 21st century. It was not to be.
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Meanwhile in The Whole World is Watching, it's Rummy-time yet again as he defeats a Georgian by a bigger margin than Kohler did!
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Write-up.
Paul Wellstone and his running-mate ultimately made a good run at it, but their successes in their home states ultimately failed to translate to national-level pick-ups, and the exclusion from the "top-tier" Presidential debates hurt the Democrats.
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I've done the Stand Up For America one, but I've decided to "redo" it so that it's more like the others, and removed the link to the old one.
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The write-up.
0.2%. That was the difference in the popular vote totals between Roemer and Jackson. The election of 1996 turned out to be one of the closest in recent memory, the end-result of two unified and well-oiled political machines clashing head to head.

The Democrats, though initially both shaken by McCarthy's announcement that he would not be seeking a second full term due to health reasons, and somewhat divided on the issue of trade, managed to regain their composure during the General Election and come together. Roemer and Ferraro proved to be an effective team, with Roemer campaigning on his experience in the relatively-popular McCarthy administration and his populist economic message, while Ferraro campaigned heavily in urban areas and the rust belt, stressing her connections to blue-collar labor and own brand of populism. While many free traders were a bit put-off by Roemer's protectionist stances, they were assuaged by Ferraro's own status a swing-vote on trade issues, and the fact that Roemer had effectively balanced the budget and cut both spending and taxes during his tenure as Governor of Louisiana mollified the more centrist and conservative members of the Democratic Coalition. And while some social liberals may have been unhappy with Roemer's relative conservatism on issues such as abortion and the environment (hence 1.2% for Ralph Nader), pundits later attributed Roemer's more centrist attributes as contributing to keeping the South competitive, and Ferraro's own pro-choice stance helped to ensure that the social liberals did not defect (or simply stay home) in greater numbers.

For its part, the Jackson campaign did not drop the ball. Though he had initially been damaged when it was leaked that Senator Jackson might accept "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as an alternative to barring LGBT from the armed forces, Jackson's selection of prominent Buchanan ally and other overtures to the social conservative "culture warriors" in the paleoconservative camp effectively unified the party just in time for the July convention in Wichita. While Buchanan had used some less-than-clean tricks in his primary campaign against Jackson, his timely endorsement ensured that his wing of the party would for the most part fall in line behind Jackson in the fall. Jackson himself campaigned as the foreign policy heavyweight, outmaneuvering his Democratic rival - a former Governor - on issues pertaining to defense policy. Jackson, himself a social moderate by the standards of the American Independent Party, left his running-mate to handle much of that aspect of the campaign. Running on a message of protecting American lives and jobs, the protectionist ticket of Jackson and O'Hara managed to regain ground lost by the quixotic Keyes '92 campaign.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party found itself between a rock and a hard place. The only unabashedly pro-free trade ticket in the running - the Democratic VP nominee notwithstanding - managed to secure itself a floor, but expanding that core base proved less than fruitful. The classical liberal ticket attracted fiscal conservatives turned off by the AIP's social conservatism or more radical economic ideas, as well as some social liberals turned off by the Democratic ticket's "old left" approach to social issues, but Democratic and American Independent core constituencies remained rather stubbornly attached to their main parties. The unique coalition of antiwar college students, fiscally responsible socially liberal white-collar professionals, and "traditional" conservatives simply failed to connect to the electorate outside of its niche groups. This was not helped by the fact that Groh and Kasich, though among the GOP's more experienced legislators, came off as "wonky" and wooden compared to the more colorful Democratic and American Independent tickets.

Speaking of the libertarian youth wing, the Libertarian Party managed to hold its ground at 0.2% of the vote, but the party finds itself divided. With the Republican Party having assimilated classical liberal ideology into its core platform, some in the party are questioning whether they should consider to support the die-hard "pure" libertarians or simply work within the GOP, which actually has ballot access and political machinery in almost every state.

Such issues do not plague the small "alliance of Green parties," which nominated Ralph Nader this year. The successor to several now-defunct left-wing parties such as the Citizens' Party and New Alliance, the "Greens" (as they are called) refuse the accept the Democratic, Republican, or American Independent parties, demanding a switch to 100% sustainable energy, an end to American interventions abroad, an end to "corrupt establishment politics," and sweeping reforms to the American social welfare system. However, it remains to be seen if there is any desire among more than 1-2% of the American electorate for such a platform.

Ultimately, the Democratic Party was returned to power. While not by the sweeping margins by which McCarthy was reelected in 1992, they managed to edge out a victory - attributed to many by general contentment with the status quo and by the AIP's strong commitment to foreign policy in a decade marked by a deescalation of global tensions. It was close, however - a change of a few thousand votes in Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Iowa would have easily handed Jackson the presidency. And Jackson's charismatic and energetic campaign did have some coattails downballot, allowing the AIP to cost the Democrats their majority in the House - though they remain the largest party. But nevertheless, Buddy Roemer managed to break "Van Buren's curse" and become the first Vice President elected straight to the Presidency since the titular Martin van Buren, while Geraldine Ferraro became the nation's first female Vice President.
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