The Grand American Union is infamous for it's overabundance of political parties and general simplification into two major political right and left factions, the
Conservative Bloc and
Democratic-Socialist Front. The Ruling Conservative Bloc had been in power since 1982 at this point, hearkening back to the tough and controversial governance of former military dictator turned Secretary Alexander Haig. There was also the matter of the close to five thousand local rulers and fiefdoms that dotted the nation, making it resemble a larger scale version of the clusterfuck that was the Holy Roman Empire. These were generally left with much autonomy following the bloody 1920's Civil War and subsequent Warlord Period of the 30's and 40's until general stability was organized under the Secretary system in 1946.
The Concept of election was relatively straightforward, a single, nonrenewable nine year term with a country wide popular vote. The closest thing in terms of a national legislature before the abolition of Congress during the Williams-Roosevelt-Debs Triumvirate in 1913 was the antiquated House of Burgesses consisting of retired justices of the peace elected in slates per state and members of local juries appointed by the governor. With the new position of Secretary, much of the political offices of the former Grand Chancellor of the Union were transferred to the humble title. The lordships and overseas governors of the Union's considerable colonial holdings would protest at this system, demanding their small plots of land be counted as territories or in the very least be under the administration of the king. A compromise which has held to this day was signed in 1949, granting more power than admittedly was necessary to southern states.
Secretary J.C Watts, the first African American to hold the position, held a wavering 55 to 60% approval rating among the hundreds of polls conducted. With that strength, he might have proven wise to steer a more moderate choice for another nine years. However, local events were soon to overtake this caution, with a massive earthquake in 2008. The governor there, Sarah Palin, would spearhead the relief efforts, being heralded as a hero for the conservative cause and the dozens of political parties that made up the blob like factions of the major right wing bloc. She would shrug off challengers from thousands of unknown perennial candidates but be caught off guard a surprisingly strong battle against fiery reverends David Koresh and Ted Kaczynski of the Branch Davidian Way , who had threatened to pull the party from the Alliance. Understanding her need to have the support of religious radicals and the votes from Texas proving critical in the upcoming election, she made concessions to the national platform after negotiating with the rules committee. With that, she became the First female candidate for Secretary in the history of the Union.
Meanwhile the Democratic Socialist Front was pouting about how it hadn't gotten a real man of their stripes since first office holder Henry A. Wallace (OK, there was Fritz Hollings in the 60's, but he didn't count owing to his hyper conservatism that made him basically a Conservative pig wearing Democratic Socialist lipstick.) An ancient liberal firebrand soon captivated a younger generation, disillusioned with the administrations of Barry Goldwater and George H.W Bush. That man, a dinosaur and legend among the Kennedy military and political clique, soon rallied his followers into storming the DSF nomination convention, declaring themselves the candidate for Secretary.
The General election fight between the two of them was,
nasty, to put it lightly. Among a storm of allegations that Kennedy had fled the scene of an accident, he would retaliate with a maelstrom of allegations of corruption during Palin's time as governor of Alaska and mismanagement of the subsequent Alaskan Earthquake Relief Fund she was put in charge of by Secretary Watts. Each of the twenty political parties flew at each other in verbal and most often, literal fist fights between protesters and supporters, straining the local baron's and lords who had paid for security. Eventually, eccentric tycoonist and known billionaire Arnold Schwarzenegger would agree to provide security for all events between the twenty political parties and pay for the medical bills or funeral costs of any protesters injured or killed at rallies/riots where his security was present.
Three days before the election, on October 10th, Ted Kennedy complained of chest pains after giving a speech in Arizona, he fainted shortly afterwards while shaking hands with the crowd. Rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on arrival. The death of Kennedy, the former "Tiger of Massachusetts" demoralized both sides, with national mourning being declared by incumbent Secretary Watts over a two day period. This coincided with the newly established ban on political advertising 72 hours ahead of the national election. Somber documentaries about Ted Kennedy flowed over the television and radio waves. In their place, the deadline for a new candidate was impossible to meet, though emergency measures were announced that, in the event of a Democratic Socialist Front Victory, a member of the Kennedy political family would be appointed until a possible special election in 2010 to fill out the full term. The aspect of a special election would be exhausting to both sides, having bled their coffers dry already on the effort to elect a Secretary.
Eventually, October came around, with over three hundred and forty four million votes being cast (ten million votes went to third party candidates with a negative percent chance of winning the election outright). The Conservative Bloc's message of continued navigation under female leadership proved to be successful. Sarah Palin became the first female Secretary of the Grand American Union. In her inauguration and victory speech, she made mention of Kennedy in his honor, memorializing him and attending his funeral with little fan fair.
