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The Democratic Party's list of candidates for the 2012 race was surprisingly sparse. The New Covenant had for the most part, flummoxed Democratic strategists who had hoped that Riley would not follow through on his campaign promises and govern as a typical Republican, which would provide a neat rallying cry to the Democratic base. The lack of a clear tack to take against an incumbent president helped many potential candidates, such as Florida Congresswoman Gwen Graham, Kentucky Senator Daniel Mongiardo and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick from declaring, choosing instead to wait until 2016. As such, the momentum quickly went to Andrew Cuomo, the most well-known candidate to throw his hat into the ring, and despite failed attempts at drafting an electable anti-Cuomo ticket, the former HUD Secretary won easily. He selected former Virginia Governor Mark Warner as his running mate over the objections of advisers who recommended he pick a solid liberal to appease growing liberal resentment left over from Cuomo's 2008 run and his antagonistic, scorched-earth primary victories in the recent contest.

Cuomo's conservative stances on taxes and spending, antagonistic relationship with the party's liberals and swirling rumors of corruption surrounding his post-government speaking career were enough to cause the party's liberals and environmentalists to bolt. A contingent of liberals took control of the minor Green Party and succeeded in calling former Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone out of retirement to serve as the Green nominee. Wellstone chose iconoclastic progressive Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson as his running mate, and Anderson, owing to Wellstone's ill health, would end up doing most of the heavy campaigning.

With the Democratic Party split, Riley had a huge advantage and seemed like a lock for re-election. However, questions over lobbyist influence on the Riley administration soon became a troubling issue for the campaign and Riley was forced on the defensive. This worked to Wellstone's advantage- the strident Minnesota liberal was the only candidate who was not targeted by corruption rumors and he was able to rise high enough in the polls by painting both candidates with the brush of corruption to be included in the presidential debates- the first minor-party candidate since Fob James in 1996.

As expected, Wellstone's poll numbers began gradually bleeding away as Election Day approached and the Cuomo campaign began to desperately bring back liberal voters their candidate had spent the primaries and rest of the general election campaign antagonizing.



President Riley won a crushing electoral college victory, sweeping the Midwest outside of the Democratic stronghold of Illinois and only losing one swing state, West Virginia, which returned to the Democratic fold as a result of Cuomo's openness to continuing coal usage. Riley did not, however, win a majority of the popular vote, owing to a plethora of right-wing third-party candidates who were able to siphon off the votes of right-wingers in deep red states who were displeased with the New Covenant and Riley's criticism of Israeli conduct in Operation Righteous.

Cuomo was greatly hurt by Wellstone's run and liberal dissatisfaction in blue states that caused states like Oregon and Minnesota (which had, along with Massachusetts, voted Democratic in every election since 1956) to be won by a Republican for the first time in decades. As for Wellstone, the former senator did not win a single state but later won an electoral vote from a faithless Washington D.C. elector, reportedly as a result of the Wellstone campaign's support for DC statehood, when the Electoral College met in December 2012.

Down ticket, the Republicans would add to their House majority but fall one seat short of taking the Senate, ending with 49 seats when the next Congress began in January 2013...