alternatehistory.com

Election Season 2012

2012 would prove to be a surprisingly pivotal year and a continuing sign of change. Some of the Blue Dog Democrats continued to switch parties, albeit mainly in those that had the remaining neoconservative congressmen and presenting themselves as the moderate alternate to promote a better promise, which the yields working. On the other hand, the homegrown "ecoconservatives" were not yet displaced and have begun even taking into consideration more flexible stances on the economy to get in and push programs. As such, the primaries were becoming an ideological battleground about who would be chosen to try and help push the nation out of the Great Recession and what should be done policy-wise to jumpstart the economy to do so. The nation has made marginal progress with the economy and even that prior statement is considered a generous statement to make given everything that has been going on and moreso. Furthermore, there has been growing talk on who to shift blame to for how this happened along with the fears of such as a situation growing worse or perhaps more convoluted. '
'
2012 would see the Democrats make some modest gains in the house and the Senate being tied due to some defections. However, the primaries were the noteworthy thing. Democrats have been seeing a growing upsurge of a call for newer politicians and more progressive ones to deal with the Great Recession, especially thanks to the primary of Senator Sanders, who has been catching on in terms of popularity for his ideas and for his outsider status. The governor ships though did swing with a couple of Democrat gains due to an increase to see some wage boosts and legalizing same-sex marriage.

As for the general elections, it was a tight race. While Clinton ran a good campaign, she would be hamstrung by the associations to the "political elites." Additionally, she did not recieve any support from former President Gore, in part because of the past bad blood, but also out of concerns Clinton was just not the right candidate. Senator Obama was considered a popular choice though he ended up entering late and some have noted that he may have been drowned a bit by Sanders in his debate, even if Obama overtook Sanders as a candidate in the end. McCain meanwhile ran generally unopposed. There were not enough moderate Republicans considered viable or appealing enough to contine and the McCain Administration was pragmatic enough to continue delivering on working with the past Democrats, especially Senator Feingold, on campaign reforms.

Ultimately, the winner would be John McCain winning reelection. Mitt Romney was his running mate once more and addressed the American public on some concerns regarding President McCain's health. Some people were hoping McCain could get them out while others were concerned the economy would continue to worsen.