William Wiley taking questions during his Congressional election campaign in 1972, which he won, he entered the Senate ten years later.
2010 US Presidential Election
- Thread starter Marky Bunny
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George C Scott as Democratic Presidential Candidate Peter Hamlinn, the Governor of Florida who ran in 1986 and 1990 and almost defeated President Newman for the nomination he turned down the Vice-Presidential spot in 1994. He died in April 1996 aged 67.
(Note I have included George C Scott for 2 reasons, one he was on the orginial short-list in 1999 to play President Bartlet, and two I love the film "Patton")
Jason Robards as Mike Schafford, Governor of Pennsylvania who was the favourite for the Democratic nomination in 1986, but he lost out to DW Newman. He served as Secretary of State from January 1987 to August 1989.
(I have included Robards because one, like George C Scott he was on the short-list to play President Bartlet in 1999, and two he was great in "All the Presidents Men" and the "Day After")
(Note I have included George C Scott for 2 reasons, one he was on the orginial short-list in 1999 to play President Bartlet, and two I love the film "Patton")
Jason Robards as Mike Schafford, Governor of Pennsylvania who was the favourite for the Democratic nomination in 1986, but he lost out to DW Newman. He served as Secretary of State from January 1987 to August 1989.
(I have included Robards because one, like George C Scott he was on the short-list to play President Bartlet in 1999, and two he was great in "All the Presidents Men" and the "Day After")
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Calls Increasing for Creation of Department of Homeland Security; Thorn, Blakemore Join Growing Group
Two prominent names joined the growing chorus calling for the foundation of a "Department of Homeland Security" today, as Senator Andrew Thorn and former Governor Marcus Blakemore both said they would support the creation of a Department.
Thorn, in a campaign speech for his colleague(And sponsor of a bill that would create the DHS) Michael Daschowitz said, "It is past time for the creation of a Department of Homeland Security. It is time for intelligence to be centralized, so that agencies will not miss things simply because they aren't legally allowed to talk with other agencies about it, so that there will be fewer turf wars between the FBI, CIA and NSA. It is time for a cohesive center for planning on how to defend our borders from illegal immigration and terrorism, to conduct emergency response in the event, God forbid, that some terrorist would manage to detonate a nuclear bomb or set off a chemical weapon or release a biological agent. It is time to ensure that our great nation is truly secure! My colleague, Senator Daschowitz, has a bill like this, but it has been ignored! There is bipartisan support for the creation of a Department of Homeland Security, but these voices have been ignored! It is time for the ignorance to end, and time for serious consideration to be given to this bill!"
While Thorn's words help advocate for the creation of a Homeland Security Deparment, they are in support of his friend and colleague, so they could be dismissed as merely political positioning. But Thorn was given credence and cover, when former Michigan Governor Marcus Blakemore-One of former President Walken's closest advisors, and an acknowledged expert on national security-also spoke about the need for a centralized security focus.
Blakemore was answering questions on an town hall in Ohio, when he received this question:
"Governor Blakemore, what is your opinion on creating a Department of Homeland Security, to help protect us from terror attacks?"
Blakemore's response:
"First, that is an excellent question, and I thank you for it.
In my time at the FBI and CIA, there were times that we were fighting more than talking, and times when we weren't talking more than anything-Intelligence agencies are jealous, and they guard their turf like it's holy ground.. And then there are times when agencies are legally bound from speaking to each other. So yes, I do support the idea of a place where agencies can exchange information freely, without turf concerns or legal problems.
My problem with the Department of Homeland Security is that I'm afraid it will become just another government agency, with all the bureaucracy and petty politics that comes with that. That's not something you want with an organization that would be charged with defending our country's security. But if there could be a way to deal with that, I'd have no problem supporting a Department of Homeland Security-In fact, I'd be pushing for the need to have it."
So all those for the creation of the Department of Homeland Security:
I'm really interested in the origin of the term "Homeland Security." It seems to be the name of a Congressional Committee, and was referenced in the show (abstractly) as early as Season 5. I wonder if the Homeland Security Committee was formed in the wake of the Zoey Bartlet Crisis?
Along with Alan Alda (who later played Arnie Vinick) and Sidney Poitier (who I cast as Pope Victor IV). I knew of George Scott (who invented the comedic television series President), but didn't realize Robards was on the short list.
I'm really interested in the origin of the term "Homeland Security." It seems to be the name of a Congressional Committee, and was referenced in the show (abstractly) as early as Season 5. I wonder if the Homeland Security Committee was formed in the wake of the Zoey Bartlet Crisis?
Along with Alan Alda (who later played Arnie Vinick) and Sidney Poitier (who I cast as Pope Victor IV). I knew of George Scott (who invented the comedic television series President), but didn't realize Robards was on the short list.
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politico.com, Tuesday August 24th
Presidential Candidates Unite In Opposition To New Department of Homeland Security
Both Presidential candidates have today come out in opposition to the idea of creating a department of Homeland Security. An idea initially proposed by former Republican House Speaker Jeff Haffley.
The White House addressed the issue at a Press Briefing this morning where Press Secretary Maria Lopez was joined by Defense Secretary Mike Franco.
Secretary Franco clearly stated the administration’s position “We do not believe there is a need to create another department to focus solely on what is being termed as Homeland Security. We strongly believe that the capability already exists within the FBI, CIA and NSA to deal with all current threats. This is a view held by both myself and the President.”
For one of the first times in this electoral cycle the President found support from his Republican rival. Glen Walken’s campaign manager Anne Stark questioned the idea “Our position is that we are not in favor of another large government department. We feel that we should be looking at reviewing the capabilities and organizations we already have in place in the intelligence community not creating even more bureaucracy.”
Some momentum appears to have built behind the idea in recent days, with the unlikely combination of Haffley and New York Senator Andrew Thorn seemingly leading the push.
Presidential Candidates Unite In Opposition To New Department of Homeland Security
Both Presidential candidates have today come out in opposition to the idea of creating a department of Homeland Security. An idea initially proposed by former Republican House Speaker Jeff Haffley.
The White House addressed the issue at a Press Briefing this morning where Press Secretary Maria Lopez was joined by Defense Secretary Mike Franco.
Secretary Franco clearly stated the administration’s position “We do not believe there is a need to create another department to focus solely on what is being termed as Homeland Security. We strongly believe that the capability already exists within the FBI, CIA and NSA to deal with all current threats. This is a view held by both myself and the President.”
For one of the first times in this electoral cycle the President found support from his Republican rival. Glen Walken’s campaign manager Anne Stark questioned the idea “Our position is that we are not in favor of another large government department. We feel that we should be looking at reviewing the capabilities and organizations we already have in place in the intelligence community not creating even more bureaucracy.”
Some momentum appears to have built behind the idea in recent days, with the unlikely combination of Haffley and New York Senator Andrew Thorn seemingly leading the push.
These articles where first posted back in late February and early March, I have made some slight changes and re-posted them in one post because of several requests in regards to this world election history.
The United States presidential election of 1986 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of Alabama Governor D.Wire Newman and Massachusetts Senator Roland Pierce and the Republican national ticket of Texas Senator Joseph Furman and Illinois Governor Jim Hohner.
On Tuesday November 4th 1986, Newman won a narrow victory in both the electoral and popular vote.
Background
Following the stroke of President Reagan in August 1985, it was clear that he would never be able to return to full duties, and under the 25th Amendment the Vice- President became the nations first Acting President. Many from both Parties began to support a grassroots campaign for a “special election” to be held in November 1986. Senate Majority Leader Joe Furman backed the election and following a ruling by the Supreme Court on Monday November 18th 1985 and then a vote of Congress two days later it was agreed for a “special election” to be held on November 4th 1986.Agreement by both the Republican and Democratic parties, and under the strict guidelines proposed by the Supreme Court and Congress.
Republican Nomination
On Thursday December 12th Senate Majority Leader Joseph Furman declared his candidacy, after standing down as the Head of RNC election committee. The only other challenger was the Governor of Illinois Jim Hohner. Two men had looked at running where Georgia Senator Max Lobell, Pennsylvanian Congressman Arthur Brooks but both decided against it. Brooks said later it was a decisison he regretted.
Furman looked on course for an easy victory on the way to the nomination. On Monday February 10th 1986 he won the Iowa Caucus beating 68.3% to Hohner’s 31.7%. Eight Days later Hohner gave a better performance gaining 47.9% to Furman’s 52.1% in New Hampshire.
Furman won further victories in South Carolina, and Michigan, although Hohner won Nevada, and his native Illinois to keep the race alive.
Then on Saturday March 15th California Governor Owen Lassiter announced he was entering the race. His campaign caught fire and won and impressive string on victories in North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio. Hohner dropped out of the race but refused to endorse either Furman or Lassiter.
Furman bounced back to win his home state of Texas, and from there the two candidates engaged in an increasingly bitter nip-and-tuck contest for delegates. By the time the Republican Convention opened in July 1986 the race for the nomination was still too close to call.
Furman defeated Lassiter by a narrow margin on the first ballot at the 1986 Republican National Convention in New Orleans, and chose Governor Jim Hohner of Illinois as his running mate.
Democratic Nomination
The surprise winner of the 1986 Democratic presidential nomination was DW Newman, the Governor of Alabama. When the primaries began Newman was relatively unknown at a national level, and many political pundits regarded Governor Peter Hamlinn of Florida, Mike Schafford, Governor of Pennsylvania and a former Senator,and Martin Dale, Senator from New Jersey as the clear favorites for the nomination. However, in the wake of the Reagan affair, Newman believed that his status as a Washington "outsider", and his record as a moderate reformer of a southern state could give him an advantage over his better-known "establishment" rivals. Newman built a formidable grassroots organization in the early states primaries and to eliminate his better-known rivals one-by-one. By early June 1986 he had captured more than enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination. At the 1986 Democratic National Convention Newman easily won the nomination on the first ballot; he then chose Massachusetts Senator Roland Pierce as his running mate.
General Election
Fall campaign
Coming out of the conventions Newman held an average eight point lead in most of the polls, but going into September Furman had started to reduce it, before the campaign was hit by a string of disasters.
The first was when campaign Manager Jimmy Holbuck resigned over the direction of the Furman campaign, and the fact that Furman was trying to micro-manage the entire campaign himself.
On Sunday September 21st the two candidates meet in a highly moderated TV debate, the result was a lacklustre draw. But the main event of the campaign came two days later when Furman was caught on a microphone as he left an event in Louisville, Kentucky describing his opponent as a “tall freak” in reference to his height of 6’7. Newman hit back by listing his freakish behaviour including “his wife, Children and house” which brought up questions in regards to Furmans bachelorhood and his modest house in Texas.
The race started to become a bitter and negative one, with questions regarding Furmans age, and that after the Reagan affair could the country risk another aged Commander-in-chief, whilst Furman saying in the dangerous world with the changes in the Soviet Union, America couldn't’t risk a President who “needed training wheels”.
After these bitter attacks, Furman refused to appear in the two scheduled TV debates for October, although the vice-presidential candidates of Hohner and Pierce did debate on Sunday October 12th at the Munro Hotel in Washington DC. Again like main debate three weeks before, the result was conceded a draw.
Following these exchanges, and despite the mood from Furman that he had no chance of winning, he left much of the campaign to Hohner and new Campaign Manager Colt Merchant. Many where turned off by Newman’s attacks on Furman, and despite the many errors and mistakes, the gap in the polls started to close, and by Election Day on November 4th the race was judged a dead heat
Results
The election turned out to be one of the closest in American history in both terms of the Electoral College and the popular vote. With the exceptions of Florida, Georgia and Alabama, Furman carried the rest of the Southern states and also secured wins in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Newman balanced Furman by sweeping the Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California, and carried Hawaii, as well. He also won Iowa and the bellwether sate of Missouri. Furman won three north-eastern states, Maine, New Hampshire and by just 1,329 votes Vermont.
By early morning Wednesday November 5th , Newman had won a total of 249 electoral votes, while Furman was just nine behind on 240. Just two states remained in play, Illinois with 24 electoral votes and Pennsylvania with 25 electoral votes, Newman needed to carry only one of the two states, but Furman needed both.
At 3.25 am EST, NBC called Illinois for Furman by a margin of 1.36%, some 62,758 votes. Furman now lead in the Electoral College by 264 to 240, with just one state left Pennsylvania. The joy in the Furman camp did not last long, when at 3.53 NBC , followed two minutes later by CBS called Pennsylvania for Newman,Newman carried the state by 1.42%, 63,923 votes and was declared the winner and President elect of the United States.
In a surprise move, Furman flew to Alabama from Texas to concede the race in person, and helped to reconcile the two men after the bitter election campaign.
Election Stats
· The electoral vote was the closest since 1916; Newman took 20 states along with DC 274 electoral votes, while Furman won 30 states and 264 electoral votes.
· Newman won the popular vote by just 315,170 votes, a mere 0.34% making it the closest election in terms of the popular vote since Kennedy’s win over Nixon in 1960, when the margin was 0. 01%.
· The 30 states Furman won are and remain the most states ever carried by a losing candidate. Ford in 1976, Eisenhower in 1998 and Vinick in 2006 all carried 27 states.
· Furman also became the first candidate since Nixon in 1960 to win the state of Ohio and lose the election. Eisenhower and Vinick would also achieve the same feat in 1998 and 2006.
·Also, this was the first time since 1964 that the following states voted Democratic, California, Connecticut,Iowa, New Jersey, and Oregon.
·This was also the first time a Democrat won the White House without winning the states of Texas and South Carolina. Josiah Bartlet would go onto win twice without Texas in 1998 and 2002.
·Newman is one of only six Democrats to gain a majority of the popular vote since the Civil War, with the others being Samuel Tilden, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Josiah Bartlet.
Results and Map
DW Newman Roland Piearce Dem 46,053,991 50.17% 274
Joseph Furman Jim HohnerRep 45,738,821 49.83% 264
Note that this site uses the original 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
Joseph Furman watching the results coming in on Television at his home in Texas on Election night.
DW Newman at a eve of election rally in Birmingham Alabama.
Republican vice-presidential candidate Jim Hohner being interviewed by NBC at the RNC in New Orleans after his nomination.
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Roland Pierce lands in Missouri on Saturday November 1st 1986, the last Saturday before election day
The United States presidential election of 1990 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President D.Wire Newman and Vice- President Roland Pierce and the Republican national ticket of Former California Governor Owen Lassiter and Ohio Congressman Lewis David Eisenhower.
Lack of party unity, and foreign affairs weakness, and a poor economy ultimately cost Newman the election of 1990, where he lost to Owen Lassiter and Lewis David Eisenhower.
On Tuesday November 6th 1990, Lassiter won a large victory in both the electoral and popular vote.
Background
Newman had alienated much of his liberal base by moving to the middle ground whilst in office, the economy was in a recession, with high inflation and although he had helped to end the Cold War, which saw the fall of the Berlin wall a year before the election. At the time of the election, the United Sates along with other nations was in Saudi Arabia ready to take part in what would become the Gulf War. His approach to the Middle East was considered by many even in his own party to be naive. President Newman maintained close ties with Saudi Arabia and its royal family, something he would regret years later. He had many meetings and "lunches" with the Saudi prince promising a variety of military arms to maintain a stable region. The Newman administration spent an estimated $200 billion on foreign oil imports and $100 billion on protecting Middle Eastern states but it failed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 for which Newman was blamed by many including many in his own party.
Democratic Nomination
By the summer of 1989, President Newman’s approval ratings were just 28%. In August Newman reshuffled his cabinet and give a televised address to the nation widely dubbed the "Darkness before dawn" speech. While the speech caused a brief upswing in the president's approval rating, the decision to dismiss several cabinet members including Secetary of State Mike Schafford was widely seen as a rash act of desperation, and was dubbed as “The Night of the Long Knives”. Some Democrats felt it worth the risk to mount a challenge to Newman in the primaries. The sacked , Mike Schafford decided after much decision not to challenge Newman, but Senator Howard Stackhouse who had made a token run in 1986 did decide to challenge for the nomination. On Wednesday October 4th Stackhouse announced his run. He was joined a two weeks later by Peter Hamlinn, by now the Former Governor of Florida.
Those around Newman came up with the idea of a regional primary based mostly in the southern states in an effort to give him a strong chance of winning. Stackhouse and Hamlinn opposed the plan, but failed to change it. By this point, Newman had manged to win the Iowa Caucus, with Hamlinn a close second, Stackhouse then won the New Hampshire primary in a massive upset. Before "Super-Tuesday" Hamlinn carried South Carolina, although Newman won in Maine, and North Dakota. On Tuesday March 6th twelve states went to the polls and “Super Tuesday” was born. As planned Newman carried eight of the states, but Stackhouse won California and New York, whilst Hamlinn beat Newman in Florida and Virginia, and only narrowly lost in Georgia and Kentucky.
By the time of the later primaries, Hamlinn who had started to run out of money,dropped out of the race in late May but refused to endorse either man, and Stackhouse won narrow wins in New Jersey and Connecticut to take the race to the convention.
Stackhouse attempted to get delegates released from their voting commitments and called for an “open convention”, but he failed. Newman and Pierce where re-nominated on the first ballot, but it was unruly affair which did not go over well on Television.
Republican Nomination
During 1989, Former California Governor Owen Lassiter was the odds-on favorite to win the nomination after nearly beating Joseph Furman just four years earlier. Many in the party where unhappy with Lassiter who they believed caused Furman’s defeat in 1986. Lassiter entered the race later than many others not formally announcing his candidacy until Tuesday November 6th, one year from Election Day. He had a lot of catching up to do, as Congressman Lewis David Eisenhower, had made a lot of early running, along with Florida Senator Rafe Framhagen both of whom had built up formidable state campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire. The other candidates where given little hope, of beating the big three, they where John Slydell, Congressman from Nebraska, Mackland MacAllum, Senator from Virginia, and Congressman Ben Phillips, from North Dakota.
Eisenhower won the Iowa caucus on Monday February12th, with Lassiter second and Framhagen close behind in third. In New Hampshire eight days later, Lassiter won with Eisenhower second and Framhagen again in third. A day after this result Joseph Furman endorsed his rival from four years before at a rally in Dallas, Texas. This gave the Lassiter campaign the boost it needed, and won big victories in the South. Framhagen managed to win his own state of Florida and New Mexico, before dropping and endorsing Lassiter on Tuesday March 27th. Eisenhower battled on winning six more states including his own of Ohio before conceding the nomination on Saturday May 19th.
Going into the convention, in July, Lassiter had yet to choose a running-mate. Lassiter had a five man short-list, Georgia Governor Caleb Burgess, Alabama Senator Robert Bennett, Kentucky Senator George Fuller, John Slydell Congressman from Nebraska, and Lewis David Eisenhower. It has come to light recently that Burgess was offered the job but he had issues over some of Lassiter’s economic policies and turned it down. A day later Eisenhower was offered it and he accepted it. Burgess agreed to keep his refusal private for the sake of party unity.
General Election
Fall campaign
After Lassiter secured the Republican nomination in the early summer, polls showed him narrowly ahead of Newman by an average of two points. After the conventions Lassiter had extended that lead to around seven points. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in early August, and Newman’s calm and impressive handling of the situation impressed many and helped to rally support for the president. Lassiter supported “Operation Desert Shield” although he did attack the amount of money the administration had paid to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the name of regional security. The Newman campaign emphasized its foreign policy successes such as “Desert Shield” and the building of a multi-national collation, and the ending of the Cold War. However, as the economy was the main issue, Newman’s campaign floundered across the nation, even in strongly Democratic areas, and Lassiter was again ahead by an average of four to five points.Newman got criticism by many from his own party by flying to Berlin in mid-September to tour the now unified City where he received a hero’s reception but as one Democratic insider said “Berliners don’t vote for the President of the United States”.Two debates where held between Newman and Lassiter and one between Pierce and Eisenhower. The first took place on Sunday September 23rd, and Newman did well and most people saw him as the narrow winner. The vice-presidential debate two weeks later saw Eisenhower give a barnstorming performance and he himself later said “I surprised even myself”. The second debate between Newman and Lassiter on Thursday October 18th saw a much improved performance from Lassiter, although it was later discovered Newman had been suffering from a heavy cold, and many of his advisers had wanted him to cancel, but he refused.
The turning point came when Forrest Sawyer asked Newman to name a Domestic policy success in his first term, he stumbled the question and changed the answer to Foreign policy to which Lassiter interrupted “Mr. President you can’t answer the question, because you haven’t had any success”.Tom Brokaw of NBC reported a day later "The consensus is that Governor Owen Lassiter clearly won last night's debate and made it all the harder for the President to catch and pass him in the 18 days remaining."The final days of the campaign saw Newman throwing everything he could at Lassiter, but Lassiter remained clearly ahead.
Results
The election on November 6th saw Owen Lassiter elected the 42nd President of the United States.
NBC News projected Lassiter as the winner at 9:15 pm EST, before voting was finished in the West, based on exit polls. Newman conceded defeat live on TV at 11:50 pm EST.
Lassiter won a majority in the popular vote of 5.84% and a lopsided majority of 36 states in the Electoral College and a total of 401 votes to Newman’s 13 states and DC a total of 137 votes. He carried the entire south apart from Newman’s home state of Alabama and the mid-west. Newman held onto two of three Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon he had carried four years before, and only lost California by a margin of 4.3%.
Election Stats
· Vermont was the only state that Newman won in this election that he had lost four years before. This was the first time Vermont had voted for a Democrat since 1964.
· Newman became with this defeat a second successive one term Democratic President.
· This was the last time a Democrat won Alabama in the General election.
Results and Map
Owen Lassiter Lewis Eisenhower Rep48,495,79852.92%401
DW Newman Roland Piearce Dem 43,086,58747.08%137
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
President Newman on stage during the first debate.
President Newman on the way to Air Force One during the campaign with his Chief Staff of Staff Aiden Robinson.
Owen Lassiter during the making of a campaign advert filmed in Florida.
Owen Lassiter arriving at a fundraiser shortly after winning the nomination.
The United States presidential election of 1994 was a contest between the Republican ticket of President Owen Lassiter and Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower and the Democratic national ticket of Former Vice- President Roland Pierce and Former Maryland Governor and Congressman Barry Goodwin.
Lassiter was helped by victory in the Gulf War, and a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1991–1992.
On Tuesday November 8th he carried 49 of the 50 states, becoming only the third presidential candidate to do so.
Background
Lassiter had been unpopular during his first two years in office until the improving economy, considerably raised his standings in the polls.
Republican Nomination
Owen Lassiter had no challenger for the nomination. He and Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower where nominated on the first ballot at the RNC in Richmond in July 1994.
Democratic Nomination
Four candidates contested the nomination, Former Vice- President Roland Pierce, Mark Hanson Senator from Wisconsin, Howard Stackhouse again and Michael Casey Senator from New York.
Pierce was the clear favourite, but the almost unknown Hanson won had won a second term in the mid-terms in 1992, announced in March 1993 he would run for the Nomination. Pierce and Stackhouse both declared in May 1993, and Casey joined the race in July.
Pierce won the Iowa caucus in on Tuesday January 25th 1994, but Hanson polled a respectable 16% ahead of Stackhouse and Casey. A week later, in the New Hampshire primary, he shocked much of the party establishment and the media by defeating Pierce by ten percentage points. Hanson instantly became the main challenger to Pierce for the nomination.
Stackhouse stayed in the race until Super Tuesday, but withdrew endorsing Hanson. Casey withdrew a week later and endorsed Pierce. The two candidates traded each other win for win until Pierce managed to gain a narrow wins in New York, and Maryland in early June. It was enough to give him the nomination. Hanson refused to withdraw, although Pierce had enough delegates. Pierce won the nomination of the first ballot.
Pierce was under pressure to offer the VP slot to Hanson, but they was clearly no love lost between the two men. Former President Newman told Pierce to offer it to Hanson, but when the two men met they argued badly ending with Hanson telling Pierce “where he could shove his offer”. Un-like when Caleb Burgess rejected the Republican number two slot four years before, the rejection wasn’t kept quite and was leaked within minutes to the press.
Pierce then approached his other former opponent Casey, who also rejected it. Peter Hamlinn, the Former Governor of Florida who had run twice in the last eight years, also turned it down citing his health; indeed he would be dead within just eighteen months due to cancer. In a panic Hanson was again offered the job, but it was then withdrawn after allegations that he had an affair with a campaign official, although this later was proved false. Hanson was finished and retired from the Senate at the end of his second term in 1998.
In the early hours of the final day of the Convention, Barry Goodwin’s name was suggested. Goodwin a former one term Governor of Maryland, and two term Congressman was offered the job. He had built up support across the party; he accepted the nomination on the grounds that he would be supported for DNC Chairman if they lost. It was agreed, and Goodwin was dully nominated. After such a mess of a convention Pierce actually gave a decent speech calling for a “re-birth of Liberal America” and to “fight the greed within the Lassiter administration”.
General Election
Fall campaign
Coming out of the convention Lassiter held an average 22% lead in the polls. Lassiter portrayed Pierce as a "Massachusetts liberal" who was unreasonably left-wing. Pierce was attacked for such positions as opposing mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, calling for America to look to reduce its Nuclear weapons in the light of the end of the cold war and universal health care.
Many within the Democratic Party where un-happy with the campaign. It was described as a “car crash” by many insiders, with little or cooperation between the campaign and the DNC.
Lassiter kept above the fray, running a “Rose Garden” campaign, although some said this made him look distant.
Again two debates where held. The first held on Sunday September 25th saw Pierce give a better than expected performance, although most observers saw Lassiter as the winner. The second debate on Thursday October 13th was a disaster for Pierce. He mumbled most of his answers, and failed to give coherent reply about Tax raises instead answering about “fairness and wealth”. It was suggested by some that Pierce was even drunk.
In the final weeks of the campaign Pierce kept a low profile as Barry Goodwin took over the running of the campaign, he was to say later “We had no chance of winning; I was just fire fighting and trying to prevent a fifty state landslide”.
Results
Lassiter was re-elected on November 8th in an electoral and popular vote landslide, winning 49 states. Pierce could only carry his own state of Massachusetts and DC.
The result was declared by the networks at around 8.15 EST, and Pierce conceded defeat just under two hours later.
Election Stats
2. Delaware
3. Hawaii
4. Illinois
5. Maryland
6. Minnesota
7. Missouri
8. New Hampshire
9. New York
10. New Jersey
11. Nevada
12. Oregon
13. Pennsylvania
14. Rhode Island
15. Wisconsin
Results and Map
Owen LassiterLewis EisenhowerRep64,834,235 62.03 523
Roland Piearce Barry GoodwinDem39,669,831 37.97 15
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
Pierce being told of the lastest defeat on election night by an aide.
President Owen Lassiter on the phone from his private study in the White House during the campaign.
Mark Hanson Senator from Wisconsin
New York Senator Michael Casey makes a point on the campaign trail
The United States presidential election of 1998 was a contest between the Republican ticket of Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower and Alabama Senator Robert Bennett and the Democratic ticket of New Hampshire Governor and former Congressman Josiah Bartlet and Texas Senator and Senate Majority Leader John Hoynes. Former Mayor of Milwaukee Jim Buckner also ran as an Independent with California Attorney Wendy La Marr, as his running mate.
On Tuesday November 3rd Josiah Bartlet was elected the 43rd President of the United States after a narrow win in the Electoral College.
Background
Owen Lassiter, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment.
Republican Nomination
Georgia Governor Caleb Burgess, contested the nomination with Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower, and Burgess surprisingly beat him in the Iowa Caucus, Eisenhower came back to win in New Hampshire and Burgess dropped out for poor showing on Super Tuesday. After clinching the nomination, Eisenhower chose Alabama Senator Robert Bennett, to be his running mate from a shortlist that included Caleb Burgess, Kentucky Senator George Fuller, Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach, Florida Senator Ralf Framhagen, and Oklahoma Governor Peggy Wade.
Democratic Nomination
In the fall of 1997, it appeared almost certain that Senate Majority Leader John Hoynes of Texas would easily become the Democratic nominee. In fact, a poll taken in October showed him leading by 48 points over any of his other challengers. William Wiley, Senator of Washington, Sidney Gregg, Senator of Wisconsin, and Harris Norman, Governor of Nebraska and Ron Avery, Mayor of Ithaca, New York. At the end of October New Hampshire Governor Josiah Bartlet entered the race, although he was conceded a no-hoper.
However, after Hoynes won in the Iowa Caucus as expected, with Wiley finishing in second and Bartlet finishing a surprising third, Bartlet won an easy victory in New Hampshire. The race then turned to South Carolina where Bartlet astonished many people when he finished in second place behind Hoynes and ahead of Wiley. Wiley then dropped out and endorsed Bartlet. Leading up toSuper Tuesday, Bartlet split remaining contests in South Dakota, Vermont and Maine with Hoynes. On Super Tuesday March 3rd, Hoynes swept the South as expected and Bartlet took the Northern tier states as well as the Pacific Northwest. The next week March 10th, Bartlet won a pivotal victory in the Illinois primary, giving him momentum to wrap up the nomination in the following weeks with large wins in California and New York.
Bartlet’s short-list for a running mate was Jack Buckland, the Governor of Indiana, Senator William Wiley of Washington, Senator Sam McKenna of Pennsylvania , Governor Harris Norman of Nebraska and Senator John Hoynes.
72 Hours before accepting the nomination at the convention in New York, Bartlet asked Hoynes to be his running-mate, and they where nominated on the first ballot.
The Jim Buckner candidacy
In March 1998, Milwaukee Mayor Buckner resigned his position and decided to run for President as an Independent. His volunteers succeeded in collecting enough signatures to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. He advocated full public health care but a state level, increased minimum wage, greater whistle blowing and consumer rights but to attract Republican’s he called for cutting property taxes and ending sales taxes, reducing the Federal Government across all the states, and giving more powers to local communities in such areas as Education and policing. He also called for the withdrawal of the US from NATO, and to only use military force when attacked directly.
In July 1998, he announced California Attorney Wendy LaMarr, as his running mate.
General Election
Fall campaign
Coming out of the conventions Eisenhower lead Bartlet 49- 46%, with Buckner on 5%.
Although the campaign focused mainly on domestic issues, such as the budget surplus, proposed reforms of Social Security, health care, tax relief and the 1997 merger of Bell Atlantic Communications and GTE into Verizon, foreign policy was often an issue. Bartlet criticized Lassiter administration policies in Somalia, where 18 Americans died in 1993 trying to sort out warring factions, and in the Bosnia, where United States peacekeeping troops performed a variety of functions . Eisenhower questioned Bartlet's fitness for the job, suggesting the New Hampshire Governor lacked the necessary experience to be president. He claimed that Bartlet's "Liberal Policies" would ruin the economy.
Bartlet’s gaffes on the campaign trail didn’t help, including making jokes about the state of Texas, and laughing at a racist joke at a fundraiser made by black comedian Cornelius "Corey" Sykes.
Jim Buckner’s campaign was marked by large rallies. After initially ignoring Buckner, the Bartlet campaign made a big pitch to (potential) Buckner supporters in the final weeks of the campaign, downplaying Bartlet’s differences with Buckner on the large majority of the issues and claiming that Bartlet's ideas were more similar to Buckner’s than Eisenhower's were, noting that Bartlet had a better chance of winning than Buckner. On the other side, the Republicans ran pro-Buckner ads in a few states in an effort to split the "liberal" vote although not all of Buckner’s policy ideas could be described as “liberal”.
Buckner attempted a law suite to get into the three debates and the one vice- presidential debate, but this failed.
For the first and only time so far, three debates where held along with one Vice- Presidential debate.
The first was held in Detroit, Michigan on Sunday September 27th, and regarded as a draw. The second on Thursday October 8th, in Kansas City saw Eisenhower get the edge. The Vice-Presidential debate between Bennett and Hoynes took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was a clear victory for Hoynes.
The third and final debate took place in St Louis, Missouri, eight days from election day, with the polls at both a national level, and in the key swing states, showing the race “too close to call”. Bartlet was the un-doubted winner of the debate, and there was no doubt that the performance planned a major part in the result of the election.
Results
The election on November 3rd saw Josiah Bartlet elected the 43rd President of the United States.
The result was close both in terms of the electoral and popular vote, although not as close as some had been predicting.
With the exceptions of Florida and Georgia, Eisenhower carried the Southern states by comfortable margins and also secured wins in Ohio, and Michigan. Michigan was the only state in the upper Mid-West he carried. Bartlet even won, Indiana, which had been a strong Republican state since 1964.
Bartlet won the north-east with sole exception of Maine, where Eisenhower was helped by the 10.05% gained by Buckner. It was the same story in Washington where Buckner achieved 13.79%.
Bartlet was declared the winner by CNN, at 2.23 EST, followed by NBC, three minutes later. This came after his projected wins in Illinois and Missouri. The Illinois win was a suprise as Bartlet had trailed in all the polls leading to election day, but in the end he carried it by 8%.
Bartlet carried 23 states + DC with 303 elecoral votes with Eisenhower taking 27 States and 235 electoral votes. In the popular vote Bartlet won 48,203,483 votes to Eisenhower’s 45,633,501, with Buckner taking 6,527,555. Buckner certainly denied Bartlet a majority of the vote.In polls directed at Buckner voters as to who would be a second choice, Bartlet consistently held substantial leads.
Election Stats
· This was the last time Arizona, Michigan and Washington voted Republican.
· This was the last time Florida and Georgia voted Democratic.
· This was the first time Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire and Nevada had voted Democrat since 1964.
· This was the first time since 1968 that a candidate won the election with under fifty % of the vote.
· Robert Bennett was the first Republican from the south to be selected as Vice- President.
· This was the only time so far, that both Vice- Presidential candidates came from the south.
Results and Map
Josiah BartletJohn HoynesDem48,203,48348.3 303
Lewis EisenhowerRobert BennettRep45,633,50145.2 235
Jim BucknerWendy LaMarrInd6,527,5556.50
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
Josiah Bartlet on the stump during the campaign.
The famous picture of Bartlet relaxing back stage after his win in the Third debate.
John Hoynes during the Vice- Presidential debate.
Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower during the second debate which was regraded as a win for him.
Robert Bennett being interviewed after being selected as the Vice-Presidential nominee.
Washington Senator William Wiley watching the results on TV of the South Carolina Primary when he finished in 3rd place behind Hoynes and Bartlet
The United States presidential election of 2002 was a contest between the Democratic ticket of President Josiah Bartlet and Vice- President John Hoynes of Texas, and the Republican ticket of Robert Ritchie, Governor of Florida and Jeff Heston, Governor of Utah.
On November 5th, Bartlet won re-election with a 394-144 Electoral College victory and by over ten million votes in the popular vote.
Background
When Bartlet disclosed to the nation that he hid his multiple sclerosis during the 1998 Presidential Election, it was believed he would not seek re-election as a result of the ensuing scandal. However, during a live press conference on the night of his disclosure in some 18 months before the election, he announced in no uncertain terms his intention to seek a second term, saying "Yeah, and I'm gonna win."
Democratic Nomination
Incumbent President Josiah Bartlet of New Hampshire was the unanimous nominee .
Indiana GovernorJack Buckland appeared to be considering challenging the President in primary elections, which worried the White House since Buckland was considered more conservative than Bartlet. He was eventually talked out of it by Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in exchange for being named Secretary of Labor in the second Bartlet Administration.
Incumbent Vice President John Hoynes of Texas was renominated as President Bartlet's running mate. Before the election there had been talk of replacing Hoynes on the ticket, due to opinion polls that reflected that Governor Ritchie's candidacy would deny the Bartlet/Hoynes ticket the South, particularly Texas, Georgia and Florida, two of three states which Bartlet had won four years before, and delivered him victory. Campaign staff briefly considered choosing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Percy Fitzwallace as a replacement VP candidate, due to his reputation as a Vietnam veteran and a defense hawkand due to the calculation that a black running mate would increase black turnout and deliver Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina to a Bartlet/Fitzwallace ticket. But there was a concern that Hoynes being rejected from the ticket might lead to him declaring a third-party candidacy, thereby throwing the election to Ritchie, although Hoynes himself was supportive of the decision to reconsider his position on the ticket. Ultimately, Bartlet himself vetoed the moves.
Bartlet and Hoynes where re-nominated on the first ballot at the Democratic national convention in August.
Republican Nomination
After the disclosure of President Bartlet's MS, many Republicans thought to challenge the incumbent President successfully.
Ten Candidates contested the nomination, South Dakota Senator Jim Simon, Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach, New York Governor Jack Stephens, Senate Majority Leader Robert Moseley of Colorado, California Congressman Pete Ross, Evangelical Minister John W. Wesley, Nebraska Governor Bill Daniel, Indiania Senator Rob O'Rourke, Nevada Senator Howard Westen, and Florida Governor Robert Ritchie.
South Dakota Senator Jim Simon was considered the early favorite having raised over 60 million dollars and having a stronger name I.D. than most of the other presidential candidates. Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach raised over 20 million dollars and was considered a front-runner, along with Senate Majority Leader Jack Moseley, although his campaign never recovered from a gaffe when he failed to answer the question why he wanted to be President. The three term Governor of New York Jack Stephens looked to be a good choice, highly popular in a Democratic State, but after a good start he failed to make any impact with the base of the party.
In the end the two-front runners where candidates considered long shots at the start, Florida Governor Robert Ritchie and Nevada Senator Howard Westen.
Ritchie won the Iowa Caucuses by being “plain spoken” and went onto win in New Hampshire. After these early wins, Ritchie was the likely Republican candidate and used the period to release his book, "A Promise to Lead."
After losing the Iowa caucus to Ritchie, Simon's campaign began to fade, and although he won some mid western primaries, he was unable to regain his momentum and was forced to withdraw from the race. Western was the other candidate to do well in early primaries and won several western states.
Jack Stephens won four primaries, his home state of New York, his birth state of Connecticut, the neighboring state of New Jersey and Rhode Island
Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach was unable to win a single primary including his home state and was forced out of the race before Super Tuesday and endorsed Robert Ritchie.
Ritchie did well enough to have the race won a week after Super Tuesday.
Although it was widely believed in the media, that Ritchie would pick one of his former opponents as his running-mate namely, Kalmbach, Stephens or Westen, he surprised most people in choosing Utah Governor Jeff Heston.
The Howard Stackhouse candidacy
Minnesota Senator Howard Stackhouse ran as a third-party candidate, in his fourth and final bid for the Presidency. He choose Rhode Island Governor Billie Atkins as his running-mate In a poll of likely voters, Stackhouse polled at about 4% in New York and California, and was only on the ballot in 25 other states. In October he dropped out and endorsed President Bartlet.
General Election
The campaign was dogged by criticism of President Bartlet's decision to keep his multiple sclerosis hidden from the public. The President also had to fend off criticism concerning the size of the federal government. Governor Ritchie campaigned on the theme that Bartlet and the Democrats were soft on crime and were too involved in the government.
Just after Ritchie had won the nomination, President Bartlet made a remark possibly denigrating Ritchie's intelligence , talking about a .22 caliber mind in a .357 magnum world, Ritchie asked for a public apology.
The Bartlet campaign received an attack ad against the President, citing him for not signing their Clean Campaign Pledge, and alluding to the MS Scandal. The Ritchie campaign released the advert to the press, and officially stated that they had no part in releasing the political ad. They gained free media time from this release and vengeance for the President's remark.
During the campaign White House staffers repeatedly expressed concerns that Bartlet appeared aloof and out of touch with ordinary Americans. Ritchie was known for a folksy, down-to-earth style and a simplistic manner of speaking with which he was able to communicate with people, in contrast to the intellectualism of President Bartlet. Bartlet for a time attempted to emulate this behaviour before Toby Ziegler convinced him to stop, a strategy that ultimately contributed to the result.
Ritchie was known for his statements of "I'm no..." He stated he was not a mind reader, doctor, or "Chinese." Speaking in front of the Philadelphia Financial Commission, Ritchie stated "I'm no scientist, but I know a thing or two about physics."
He also made several other gaffes saying that Mexico was a member of NATO, and that Neville Chamberlain was British Prime-Minister for the whole of World War Two, although he was partially correct in that Chamberlain was Prime-Minister from the outbreak of the war in September 1939 to May 1940.
Ritchie had a tendency to cite his advisors by name, most likely to state that he would like to be President, and would use the right people for the right job.
Polls on September 23, 2002, had Ritchie trailing Bartlet by one to seven points.
The Ritchie campaign agreed to only two debates, while the Bartlet camp wanted five. A decision was handed down that there would be two debates using rules that President Bartlet felt did not allow for true debate. Bartlet wanted real discussion in the debate, so he traded down to a single debate in exchange for effective debate rules that allowed him to engage Ritchie. The debate, held at University of California, San Diego on Wednesday, October 23, 2002, resulted in an overwhelming victory for the President. When Governor Ritchie criticized the federal government superseding the states, President Bartlet replied by saying Florida had taken $12.6 billion from the federal government, and cheekily asked "Can we have it back?"
Results
On Tuesday, November 5, 2002, Bartlet was successfully re-elected, winning a majority of the popular vote (which he failed to do four years earlier) by a margin of 11.2% and a 394-144 victory in the electoral college.
In the South, Bartlet carried Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina; and made a clean sweep of the Midwest and most of the Plains States, including South Dakota. The networks where later to claim the Bartlet had also won in North Dakota but it later emerged that Ritchie managed to hold onto win by a mere 231 votes.
Bartlet had been confirmed as the winner just after 11. EST by CNN, and NBC.
Election Stats
· Bartlet became the first Democrat to be re-elected to a second term since FDR in 1940.
· It was the first time that Arizona had voted Democrat since 1948.
· It was the first time the following states had voted Democrat since 1964, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota.
· New Mexico was won by President Bartlet by 6,000 votes.
· It was the first time the following states had voted Democrat since 1968, Maine and Michigan.
· Maine was won by Bartlet with 67% of the vote.
· Bartlet lost two states he had won in 1998, Georgia and Florida.
Results and Map
Josiah Bartlet John Hoynes Dem 53,766,221 394 Electoral Votes
Robert Ritchie Jeff Heston Rep 42,992,342 144 Electoral Votes
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
President Josiah Bartlet campaigning in Indiania in September
Minnesota Senator Howard Stackhouse ran as a third-party candidate, in his fourth and final bid for the Presidency before withdrawing in early October.
President Josiah Bartlet and Governor Robert Ritchie during there only debate.
Governor Robert Ritchie during a Primary debate with the other Republican candidates.
President President Josiah Bartlet makes his victory speech on Tuesday November 5th 2002.
The United States presidential election of 2006 was a contest between the Democratic ticket of Texas Congressman Matthew Santos and Former Secretary of Labor and White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry of Illinois and the Republican ticket of California Senator Arnold Vinci and West Virginia Governor Ray Sullivan.
On Tuesday November 7th Santos won a narrow 272-266 Electoral College victory over Vinick whilst Vinick won the popular vote by over a million votes.
It was the closest election since 1876 and only the fourth election in which the electoral vote did not reflect the popular vote.
Background
Josiah Bartlet, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment.
Democratic Nomination
Two months before the nomination battle began, the three clear frontrunners for the Democrat's presidential nomination were Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, Vice- President Bob Russell of Colorado, and Former Vice- President John Hoynes, with Baker leading in the polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Baker took himself out of the race in what was supposed to be his announcement speech in November 2005, saying that his reasons involved his family.
By the start of the Primary season, there where five other candidates in the race. Texas Congressman Matthew Santos, Senate Minority Leader Wendell Tripplehorn of South Dakota, Delaware Governor William Clarkson, Former Arkansas Governor Jack Griffth, and Rhode Island Governor Billie Atkins, the only Women and Afro-American in the race.
The Iowa Caucus was won by Russell, with Hoynes in Second, and Clarkson in third. In New Hampshire the following week, Russell again won, Hoynes again in second, but Santos was able to pull off a moral victory when he broadcast a live one minute ad in which he promised not to use negative campaigningagainst his opponents and to always speak for himself in his commercials, instead of trying to distance himself from them as the other candidates had. These promises apparently struck a chord with voters, as Santos managed to take third-place, with 19% of the vote.
His celebration, however, was short-lived, as Oregon Senator Ricky Rafferty, a late newly-declared candidate, managed to steal both media attention and the "insurgency candidate" image from Santos. Foremost in Rafferty's left-wing campaign was a plan for single-payer universal health care. Senator Rafferty stayed in the race until the South Carolina primary before dropping out along with Clarkson, Tripplehorn, Griffth and Atkins. Hoynes won the South Carolina primary, with Santos beating Russell into third. Between the New Hampshire primary and Super Tuesday, Santos had managed to win primaries in Arizona and New Mexico, but he had come in third in the majority of the others.
In the lead up to Super Tuesday, a former staffer for Hoynes revealed that the then-Senator had made improper sexual advances towards her. Hoynes had been leading the polls in California, and had received the endorsement of Governor Gabriel Tillman. After Hoynes "suspended" his presidential campaign due to the reports of his sexual impropriety, Santos was able to manoeuvre into receiving the implicit endorsement of Governor Tillman, allowing him to win the California primaryin an upset victory.
With the California victory came new-found momentum, allowing Santos to win primaries in many more states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey. Once all the primaries were called, the primary map was split largely along geographical lines. Russell had large parts of the West, Midwest and Northeast. Santos had primarily taken most of the delegate-rich "big states" and a scattering of smaller states. And Hoynes had taken most of the southern states and a handful of others. By the time of the Democratic National Convention, he had won enough delegates to leave Hoynes in the dust and virtually tie with Russell, deadlocking the convention on the first ballot.
The 2006 Democratic National Convention was held in San Diego, California. Prior to the convention, Santos turned down the offer of the Vice Presidential slot from Russell and decided to take his chances for the top job. Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, who had decided against running in the primaries, turned down Russell's offer of the Vice Presidential nomination and offered himself as a compromise candidate from the floor. Baker stole delegates from all of the other candidates and stretched the balloting to a third day. Baker seemed poised to receive the nomination when members of the Russell campaign revealed to the press that Baker had covered up his wife's history of depression. This made delegates question his integrity, causing him to lose his momentum and substantial support on the convention floor.
With the momentum of Baker's insurgency stalled, the convention remained deadlocked. In order to break the stalemate, Santos was ordered by the convention organizer, former White House Chief of StaffLeo McGarry, to step aside in favour of either Baker or Russell. Santos was given a chance to address the convention again and announce his support for one of the two remaining candidates. Instead of withdrawing, however, Santos gave a rousing speech, defending Baker and urging the delegates to choose the candidate who represented their hopes and dreams. This swung the momentum in the balloting back to him.
Santos clinched the nomination, eventually receiving 2,751 votes. Santos immediately ruled out choosing Russell as his running mate and Baker declined to perform the role, to spare his wife further press attention. Santos decided to choose Leo McGarry as his Vice Presidential running mate.
Republican Nomination
Eight Republicans contested the nomination. Former Acting President and Speaker of the House Glen Allen Walken of Missouri, California Senator Arnold Vinick, three-term Michigan Congressman Darren Gibson, OhioGovernor Mike Reed , televangelist and minister Rev Don Butler of Virginia, George Allard, Governor of Kansas, Former Oregon Congressman and Governor Howard Johnson, and the 1998 Vice Presidential nominee Senator Robert Bennett of Alabama .
Walken won the Iowa caucus, with Allard in second, Butler third with Vinick in last due to his opposition to ethanol subsidies.
The press lauded Vinick for his stand against ethanol in Iowa, and this helped him to a surprise win New Hampshire by over 12% with Walken in Second and Allard in third again.
This was followed with wins in Michigan and Nevada, although South Carolina was won by Butler. Butler and Vinick clashed over abortion and Vinick’s pro-choice stance.
By Super Tuesday, Vinick was sweeping the board, and after Vinicks win in Florida, Walken withdrew. Leaving it as a straight fight between Vinick and Reverend Butler. With victory in the final primary, New Jersey, Vinick had won enough delegates to secure the nomination.
Vinick knew that his political centrism, especially on the issue of abortion, had the potential of alienating the base and threatening his chances of winning a general election. In order to balance the ticket with a staunchly pro-life Republican as his Vice Presidential nominee, Vinick was ready to select Rev. Butler as his running mate, but Butler turned him down before he could make the offer, citing their differences on the abortion issue. Vinick chose the staunchly pro-lifeWestVirginiaGovernorRay Sullivan as his running mate. Vinick and Sullivan were nominated on the first ballot at the 2006 Republican National Convention at in Philadelphia. Governor Sullivan drew controversy when he made comments that seemingly mocked President Bartlets multiple sclerosis. Vinick's acceptance speech, on the other hand, praised President Bartlet, saying that despite their ideological differences, Bartlet had honoured the office of President in his two terms, and that he hoped he could do the same if elected.
General Election
The Presidential campaign began with Arnold Vinick holding a substantial lead of nine points over Matt Santos.
Image was an important factor throughout the campaign. Leo McGarry had been known for working behind the scenes and had no history in elected office. Questions about his health and public relations gaffes were a thorn in the side of the Santos campaign in the days just after the Democratic National Convention. Yet, many pundits argued that having McGarry on the ticket, as a former White House Chief of Staff and Senior Counsellor to the President, was necessary in order to balance Matt Santos' foreign policy inexperience.
Early on in the campaign, Santos was forced to confront his so-called "Mommy Problem", the belief that while he was seen as likable and polled well on social and domestic issues, Vinick dominated the important area of foreign policy. He attempted to diffuse this perception by fulfilling his obligations as a member of the Marine Reserves, allowing the press to constantly run footage of the candidate piloting a fighter jet, and improving Santos' polling on foreign policy issues.
On the other hand, Vinick faced numerous image problems as well. He was seen as too liberal by conservatives, and was much older and less photogenic than the younger Santos. Religion was also a large factor in the election through a variety of issues including abortion, intelligent design, and the general piety of the candidates. Vinick was a rarity as a pro-choice Republican and his campaign staff attempted to repair his image among pro-life voters by having his pro-life Vice Presidential candidate, Ray Sullivan, speak on family values issues, including abortion. Vinick also suffered a setback when, after having privately promised the American Christian Assembly that he would appoint only pro-life judges, he stated on Hardball that he would apply no litmus test in appointing judges to the bench, angering religious conservatives.
Santos was a devout Catholic but retained a pro-choice stance, opposing the practice of abortion while also opposing further legislative means against it and supporting a woman's right to choose At one point a 527 group aired an attack ad against Santos, editing a clip of him to make it seem like he was for abortion on demand, as opposed to Vinick's pro-choice but anti-partial birth and pro-parental consent position. At the same time, a prominent women's rights group threatened to endorse Vinick because the Senator was pro-choice and his likely victory would effectively end the pro-life plank of the Republican platform, while Santos' position on abortion still called his credibility on the issue into question. Santos was thus being hit from both sides, attacked as another pro-choice Democrat by pro-life interest groups while enduring doubt from liberals about his pro-choice credentials. During the campaign, a Catholic priest also claimed he would deny Santos communion because of his views on abortion However Santos was able to do the same to Vinick, attacking him for claiming to be pro-choice, despite his promise to appoint pro-life judges and his refusal to confront his party's pro-life platform.
At the outset of the first Santos-Vinick debate, Vinick proposed that the candidates ignore the rules their campaigns agreed to and have "a real debate" without time limits on speaking. Santos, having shown a prior disdain for heavily structured political debates, readily agreed.
Santos reiterated his commitment to greater federal involvement in public education, opposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supported a moratorium on the federal death penalty, and pledged never to go to war for oil. He also responded to criticism as a "flip-flopper" on such issues as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on the Ways and Means Committe(an example he chose because he was known to both support and vote against CAFTA) by explaining that although he initially supported the agreement, he voted against it when special interest amendments were attached. Santos predictably criticized Senator Vinick for relying too heavily on tax cuts to grow the economy - a standard Democratic criticism of Republicans - but surprised audiences when he said that he "wasn't crazy" about his own health care plan, since it would not provide universal coverage. His follow-up explanation, that his health care plan was not ideal but still the best he thought he could get through Congress, depicted Santos as honest and a realist.
During the debate, Vinick tried to paint Santos as a typical liberal Democrat who would raise taxes to pay for intrusive big-government programs while still leaving the federal budget unbalanced. The Senator laid out a libertarian agenda, proposed tax-deductibility for health insurance costs, explained why he had voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, opposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty or any new gun control legislation, promised to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, and declared his strong support for nuclear power, perhaps his most surprising comment and show of blunt honesty was his remark that he would not create any new jobs, saying that in a free society entrepreneurs, not the government, created jobs. Because Santos had just criticized Republican economic policy for relying too heavily on tax cuts, Vinick's continued insistence that tax cuts would improve the economy initially drew hostile laughter from the audience. However, Vinick's explanation behind the theory proved eloquent and logical.
The outcome of the debate was generally seen as either a tie or a slim Santos victory. Public opinion polls favoured the latter interpretation; while both candidates received boosts in public support, Santos received a bigger increase than Vinick.
The most crucial incident of the campaign was the near nuclear meltdown at the San Andreo power plant in Vinick's home state of California just four weeks from Election Day. President Bartlet was forced to vent radioactive gases from the plant into the atmosphere and issue a large scale evacuation order for the surrounding area.
Although meltdown was avoided, the event still had a severe effect on the campaign. Vinick was a long-time supporter of nuclear power, a position that was summed up repeatedly on news broadcasts in a clip from the presidential debate where he repeatedly defended nuclear power as being "completely safe."
President Bartlet wanted to visit San Andreo, and standard protocol dictated that the President invite the state's congressional delegation to accompany him. Much to the chagrin of the Santos campaign, this meant that Vinick, as the senior Senator from California, would be able to stand by the President at the accident site. Some believed that this would allow Vinick to be "absolved" by Bartlet and provide him with an opportunity to appear presidential. However, before leaving for California, Senator Vinick publicly blamed the Bartlet Administration for maintaining lax federal regulations. In addition, any positive publicity Vinick may have gained from the trip soon vanished when The Washington Post reported that while in the Senate, Vinick played a key role in furnishing quick federal authorization for the San Andreo nuclear power plant decades earlier. This revelation caused a dramatic turn of public opinion against Vinick, who until then had a rather substantial lock on the Electoral College. He managed to regain some ground in a press conference following the near nuclear meltdown in which he provided compelling rationale that nuclear energy was still safe.
The accident however proved to be the turning point of the campaign. States with nuclear plants saw a sudden shift in polling away from Vinick, increasing the number of undecided voters and Santos supporters, bringing several states into contention (including Ohio, Florida, South Carolina, and California. In polls done at the national level, both men were locked in a statistical tie of 44 percent.
Results
On November 7, 2006 Matthew Santos was elected the 44th President of the United States .
The election started off with a pair of surprises: South Carolina, traditionally a Republican state, was called for Santos within minutes of polls closing on the East Coast while West Virginia, a traditionally Democratic state (but one which had recently become strongly Republican and was the home state of Vinick's running mate, Ray Sullivan), was called for Vinick. The election was thrown into potential chaos when Leo McGarry, Santos' running mate, died from a sudden heart attack. The polls on the west coast were open for another ninety minutes, creating a difficult situation for both campaigns.
As the night went on, the election became a tit-for-tat, see-saw battle. Vinick captured the lower Midwest and Great Plains, including both Iowa and Ohio by 51% to 49%, although Santos took the reliable presidential bellwether state of Missouri. With the exception of South Carolina and Texas, Vinick captured most of the South, including Florida, and Vinick also won the non-contiguous conservative state of Alaska. The Mountain West all went to Vinick, although Santos took three of the four South-western swing states due to Latino support, with only Nevada left in play. Washington and Hawaii also went to Santos. Most of the Northeast also went to Santos, including the libertarian-leaning swing state and Bartlet home state of New Hampshire. Although Vinick won in Maine and Vermont, both by 52% to 48%.
When Texas was called for Santos, by 52% to 48%, it looked as if the Democrats were headed towards a surprise runaway victory. That notion was dispelled when California went for native son Vinick by a mere 80,000 votes, giving him 266 electoral votes to Santos' 260 and putting Vinick just four electoral votes short of victory, with only Oregon(7 electoral votes) and Nevada (5 electoral votes) left in play. While only one of these two states would give Vinick the presidency, Santos would need to win both. Oregon was first, going into the Santos column by just 2,000 votes and making the Electoral College count 267 for Santos and 266 for Vinick. That left Nevada as a "winner-take-all" for either side, a strange situation since Santos had conceded Nevada to Vinick early on in the race, while Vinick's campaign had gutted their Nevada operations to focus on California.
Finally at 5:45 AM EST on Wednesday November 8, 2006, Nevada was called for Santos, handing him both the election and the presidency. Vinick chose to concede the election rather than contest the slim margin of defeat in the Silver State (just 30,000 votes) and called Santos to congratulate him on his victory.
Vinick won the popular vote by just over a million votes, winning 69,754,328 votes to Santos 68,746,542.
Election Stats
· Though Vinick lost the Electoral Vote he won 1,007,786 more individual votes than Santos.
· Matthew Santos became the first Congressman to win the presidency since James A.Garfield in 1880.
· It was the first time since 1976 a Democrat won Texas and South Carolina.
· It was the first time since 1976 Iowa voted for the losing candidate.
· Owing to the nation's growing population and large turnout, both Vinick and Santos received more votes than any previous presidential candidate in American history. The previous record was held by Republican Owen Lassiter, who in 1994 received 64,834,235 votes.
· 41,742,307 more votes where cast than 2002.
Results and Map
Matthew Santos Leo McGarry Dem 68,746,542 272 Electoral Votes
Arnold Vinick Ray Sullivan Rep 69,754,328 266 Electoral Votes
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
Arnold Vinick launches his bid for the Republican nomination outside City Hall in Santa Paula, California in November 2005.
United States presidential election, 1986
The United States presidential election of 1986 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of Alabama Governor D.Wire Newman and Massachusetts Senator Roland Pierce and the Republican national ticket of Texas Senator Joseph Furman and Illinois Governor Jim Hohner.
On Tuesday November 4th 1986, Newman won a narrow victory in both the electoral and popular vote.
Background
Following the stroke of President Reagan in August 1985, it was clear that he would never be able to return to full duties, and under the 25th Amendment the Vice- President became the nations first Acting President. Many from both Parties began to support a grassroots campaign for a “special election” to be held in November 1986. Senate Majority Leader Joe Furman backed the election and following a ruling by the Supreme Court on Monday November 18th 1985 and then a vote of Congress two days later it was agreed for a “special election” to be held on November 4th 1986.Agreement by both the Republican and Democratic parties, and under the strict guidelines proposed by the Supreme Court and Congress.
Republican Nomination
On Thursday December 12th Senate Majority Leader Joseph Furman declared his candidacy, after standing down as the Head of RNC election committee. The only other challenger was the Governor of Illinois Jim Hohner. Two men had looked at running where Georgia Senator Max Lobell, Pennsylvanian Congressman Arthur Brooks but both decided against it. Brooks said later it was a decisison he regretted.
Furman looked on course for an easy victory on the way to the nomination. On Monday February 10th 1986 he won the Iowa Caucus beating 68.3% to Hohner’s 31.7%. Eight Days later Hohner gave a better performance gaining 47.9% to Furman’s 52.1% in New Hampshire.
Furman won further victories in South Carolina, and Michigan, although Hohner won Nevada, and his native Illinois to keep the race alive.
Then on Saturday March 15th California Governor Owen Lassiter announced he was entering the race. His campaign caught fire and won and impressive string on victories in North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio. Hohner dropped out of the race but refused to endorse either Furman or Lassiter.
Furman bounced back to win his home state of Texas, and from there the two candidates engaged in an increasingly bitter nip-and-tuck contest for delegates. By the time the Republican Convention opened in July 1986 the race for the nomination was still too close to call.
Furman defeated Lassiter by a narrow margin on the first ballot at the 1986 Republican National Convention in New Orleans, and chose Governor Jim Hohner of Illinois as his running mate.
Democratic Nomination
The surprise winner of the 1986 Democratic presidential nomination was DW Newman, the Governor of Alabama. When the primaries began Newman was relatively unknown at a national level, and many political pundits regarded Governor Peter Hamlinn of Florida, Mike Schafford, Governor of Pennsylvania and a former Senator,and Martin Dale, Senator from New Jersey as the clear favorites for the nomination. However, in the wake of the Reagan affair, Newman believed that his status as a Washington "outsider", and his record as a moderate reformer of a southern state could give him an advantage over his better-known "establishment" rivals. Newman built a formidable grassroots organization in the early states primaries and to eliminate his better-known rivals one-by-one. By early June 1986 he had captured more than enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination. At the 1986 Democratic National Convention Newman easily won the nomination on the first ballot; he then chose Massachusetts Senator Roland Pierce as his running mate.
General Election
Fall campaign
Coming out of the conventions Newman held an average eight point lead in most of the polls, but going into September Furman had started to reduce it, before the campaign was hit by a string of disasters.
The first was when campaign Manager Jimmy Holbuck resigned over the direction of the Furman campaign, and the fact that Furman was trying to micro-manage the entire campaign himself.
On Sunday September 21st the two candidates meet in a highly moderated TV debate, the result was a lacklustre draw. But the main event of the campaign came two days later when Furman was caught on a microphone as he left an event in Louisville, Kentucky describing his opponent as a “tall freak” in reference to his height of 6’7. Newman hit back by listing his freakish behaviour including “his wife, Children and house” which brought up questions in regards to Furmans bachelorhood and his modest house in Texas.
The race started to become a bitter and negative one, with questions regarding Furmans age, and that after the Reagan affair could the country risk another aged Commander-in-chief, whilst Furman saying in the dangerous world with the changes in the Soviet Union, America couldn't’t risk a President who “needed training wheels”.
After these bitter attacks, Furman refused to appear in the two scheduled TV debates for October, although the vice-presidential candidates of Hohner and Pierce did debate on Sunday October 12th at the Munro Hotel in Washington DC. Again like main debate three weeks before, the result was conceded a draw.
Following these exchanges, and despite the mood from Furman that he had no chance of winning, he left much of the campaign to Hohner and new Campaign Manager Colt Merchant. Many where turned off by Newman’s attacks on Furman, and despite the many errors and mistakes, the gap in the polls started to close, and by Election Day on November 4th the race was judged a dead heat
Results
The election turned out to be one of the closest in American history in both terms of the Electoral College and the popular vote. With the exceptions of Florida, Georgia and Alabama, Furman carried the rest of the Southern states and also secured wins in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Newman balanced Furman by sweeping the Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California, and carried Hawaii, as well. He also won Iowa and the bellwether sate of Missouri. Furman won three north-eastern states, Maine, New Hampshire and by just 1,329 votes Vermont.
By early morning Wednesday November 5th , Newman had won a total of 249 electoral votes, while Furman was just nine behind on 240. Just two states remained in play, Illinois with 24 electoral votes and Pennsylvania with 25 electoral votes, Newman needed to carry only one of the two states, but Furman needed both.
At 3.25 am EST, NBC called Illinois for Furman by a margin of 1.36%, some 62,758 votes. Furman now lead in the Electoral College by 264 to 240, with just one state left Pennsylvania. The joy in the Furman camp did not last long, when at 3.53 NBC , followed two minutes later by CBS called Pennsylvania for Newman,Newman carried the state by 1.42%, 63,923 votes and was declared the winner and President elect of the United States.
In a surprise move, Furman flew to Alabama from Texas to concede the race in person, and helped to reconcile the two men after the bitter election campaign.
Election Stats
· The electoral vote was the closest since 1916; Newman took 20 states along with DC 274 electoral votes, while Furman won 30 states and 264 electoral votes.
· Newman won the popular vote by just 315,170 votes, a mere 0.34% making it the closest election in terms of the popular vote since Kennedy’s win over Nixon in 1960, when the margin was 0. 01%.
· The 30 states Furman won are and remain the most states ever carried by a losing candidate. Ford in 1976, Eisenhower in 1998 and Vinick in 2006 all carried 27 states.
· Furman also became the first candidate since Nixon in 1960 to win the state of Ohio and lose the election. Eisenhower and Vinick would also achieve the same feat in 1998 and 2006.
·Also, this was the first time since 1964 that the following states voted Democratic, California, Connecticut,Iowa, New Jersey, and Oregon.
·This was also the first time a Democrat won the White House without winning the states of Texas and South Carolina. Josiah Bartlet would go onto win twice without Texas in 1998 and 2002.
·Newman is one of only six Democrats to gain a majority of the popular vote since the Civil War, with the others being Samuel Tilden, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Josiah Bartlet.
Results and Map
DW Newman Roland Piearce Dem 46,053,991 50.17% 274
Joseph Furman Jim HohnerRep 45,738,821 49.83% 264
Note that this site uses the original 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
Joseph Furman watching the results coming in on Television at his home in Texas on Election night.
DW Newman at a eve of election rally in Birmingham Alabama.
Republican vice-presidential candidate Jim Hohner being interviewed by NBC at the RNC in New Orleans after his nomination.
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Roland Pierce lands in Missouri on Saturday November 1st 1986, the last Saturday before election day
United States presidential election, 1990
The United States presidential election of 1990 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President D.Wire Newman and Vice- President Roland Pierce and the Republican national ticket of Former California Governor Owen Lassiter and Ohio Congressman Lewis David Eisenhower.
Lack of party unity, and foreign affairs weakness, and a poor economy ultimately cost Newman the election of 1990, where he lost to Owen Lassiter and Lewis David Eisenhower.
On Tuesday November 6th 1990, Lassiter won a large victory in both the electoral and popular vote.
Background
Newman had alienated much of his liberal base by moving to the middle ground whilst in office, the economy was in a recession, with high inflation and although he had helped to end the Cold War, which saw the fall of the Berlin wall a year before the election. At the time of the election, the United Sates along with other nations was in Saudi Arabia ready to take part in what would become the Gulf War. His approach to the Middle East was considered by many even in his own party to be naive. President Newman maintained close ties with Saudi Arabia and its royal family, something he would regret years later. He had many meetings and "lunches" with the Saudi prince promising a variety of military arms to maintain a stable region. The Newman administration spent an estimated $200 billion on foreign oil imports and $100 billion on protecting Middle Eastern states but it failed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 for which Newman was blamed by many including many in his own party.
Democratic Nomination
By the summer of 1989, President Newman’s approval ratings were just 28%. In August Newman reshuffled his cabinet and give a televised address to the nation widely dubbed the "Darkness before dawn" speech. While the speech caused a brief upswing in the president's approval rating, the decision to dismiss several cabinet members including Secetary of State Mike Schafford was widely seen as a rash act of desperation, and was dubbed as “The Night of the Long Knives”. Some Democrats felt it worth the risk to mount a challenge to Newman in the primaries. The sacked , Mike Schafford decided after much decision not to challenge Newman, but Senator Howard Stackhouse who had made a token run in 1986 did decide to challenge for the nomination. On Wednesday October 4th Stackhouse announced his run. He was joined a two weeks later by Peter Hamlinn, by now the Former Governor of Florida.
Those around Newman came up with the idea of a regional primary based mostly in the southern states in an effort to give him a strong chance of winning. Stackhouse and Hamlinn opposed the plan, but failed to change it. By this point, Newman had manged to win the Iowa Caucus, with Hamlinn a close second, Stackhouse then won the New Hampshire primary in a massive upset. Before "Super-Tuesday" Hamlinn carried South Carolina, although Newman won in Maine, and North Dakota. On Tuesday March 6th twelve states went to the polls and “Super Tuesday” was born. As planned Newman carried eight of the states, but Stackhouse won California and New York, whilst Hamlinn beat Newman in Florida and Virginia, and only narrowly lost in Georgia and Kentucky.
By the time of the later primaries, Hamlinn who had started to run out of money,dropped out of the race in late May but refused to endorse either man, and Stackhouse won narrow wins in New Jersey and Connecticut to take the race to the convention.
Stackhouse attempted to get delegates released from their voting commitments and called for an “open convention”, but he failed. Newman and Pierce where re-nominated on the first ballot, but it was unruly affair which did not go over well on Television.
Republican Nomination
During 1989, Former California Governor Owen Lassiter was the odds-on favorite to win the nomination after nearly beating Joseph Furman just four years earlier. Many in the party where unhappy with Lassiter who they believed caused Furman’s defeat in 1986. Lassiter entered the race later than many others not formally announcing his candidacy until Tuesday November 6th, one year from Election Day. He had a lot of catching up to do, as Congressman Lewis David Eisenhower, had made a lot of early running, along with Florida Senator Rafe Framhagen both of whom had built up formidable state campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire. The other candidates where given little hope, of beating the big three, they where John Slydell, Congressman from Nebraska, Mackland MacAllum, Senator from Virginia, and Congressman Ben Phillips, from North Dakota.
Eisenhower won the Iowa caucus on Monday February12th, with Lassiter second and Framhagen close behind in third. In New Hampshire eight days later, Lassiter won with Eisenhower second and Framhagen again in third. A day after this result Joseph Furman endorsed his rival from four years before at a rally in Dallas, Texas. This gave the Lassiter campaign the boost it needed, and won big victories in the South. Framhagen managed to win his own state of Florida and New Mexico, before dropping and endorsing Lassiter on Tuesday March 27th. Eisenhower battled on winning six more states including his own of Ohio before conceding the nomination on Saturday May 19th.
Going into the convention, in July, Lassiter had yet to choose a running-mate. Lassiter had a five man short-list, Georgia Governor Caleb Burgess, Alabama Senator Robert Bennett, Kentucky Senator George Fuller, John Slydell Congressman from Nebraska, and Lewis David Eisenhower. It has come to light recently that Burgess was offered the job but he had issues over some of Lassiter’s economic policies and turned it down. A day later Eisenhower was offered it and he accepted it. Burgess agreed to keep his refusal private for the sake of party unity.
General Election
Fall campaign
After Lassiter secured the Republican nomination in the early summer, polls showed him narrowly ahead of Newman by an average of two points. After the conventions Lassiter had extended that lead to around seven points. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in early August, and Newman’s calm and impressive handling of the situation impressed many and helped to rally support for the president. Lassiter supported “Operation Desert Shield” although he did attack the amount of money the administration had paid to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the name of regional security. The Newman campaign emphasized its foreign policy successes such as “Desert Shield” and the building of a multi-national collation, and the ending of the Cold War. However, as the economy was the main issue, Newman’s campaign floundered across the nation, even in strongly Democratic areas, and Lassiter was again ahead by an average of four to five points.Newman got criticism by many from his own party by flying to Berlin in mid-September to tour the now unified City where he received a hero’s reception but as one Democratic insider said “Berliners don’t vote for the President of the United States”.Two debates where held between Newman and Lassiter and one between Pierce and Eisenhower. The first took place on Sunday September 23rd, and Newman did well and most people saw him as the narrow winner. The vice-presidential debate two weeks later saw Eisenhower give a barnstorming performance and he himself later said “I surprised even myself”. The second debate between Newman and Lassiter on Thursday October 18th saw a much improved performance from Lassiter, although it was later discovered Newman had been suffering from a heavy cold, and many of his advisers had wanted him to cancel, but he refused.
The turning point came when Forrest Sawyer asked Newman to name a Domestic policy success in his first term, he stumbled the question and changed the answer to Foreign policy to which Lassiter interrupted “Mr. President you can’t answer the question, because you haven’t had any success”.Tom Brokaw of NBC reported a day later "The consensus is that Governor Owen Lassiter clearly won last night's debate and made it all the harder for the President to catch and pass him in the 18 days remaining."The final days of the campaign saw Newman throwing everything he could at Lassiter, but Lassiter remained clearly ahead.
Results
The election on November 6th saw Owen Lassiter elected the 42nd President of the United States.
NBC News projected Lassiter as the winner at 9:15 pm EST, before voting was finished in the West, based on exit polls. Newman conceded defeat live on TV at 11:50 pm EST.
Lassiter won a majority in the popular vote of 5.84% and a lopsided majority of 36 states in the Electoral College and a total of 401 votes to Newman’s 13 states and DC a total of 137 votes. He carried the entire south apart from Newman’s home state of Alabama and the mid-west. Newman held onto two of three Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon he had carried four years before, and only lost California by a margin of 4.3%.
Election Stats
· Vermont was the only state that Newman won in this election that he had lost four years before. This was the first time Vermont had voted for a Democrat since 1964.
· Newman became with this defeat a second successive one term Democratic President.
· This was the last time a Democrat won Alabama in the General election.
Results and Map
Owen Lassiter Lewis Eisenhower Rep48,495,79852.92%401
DW Newman Roland Piearce Dem 43,086,58747.08%137
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
President Newman on stage during the first debate.
President Newman on the way to Air Force One during the campaign with his Chief Staff of Staff Aiden Robinson.
Owen Lassiter during the making of a campaign advert filmed in Florida.
Owen Lassiter arriving at a fundraiser shortly after winning the nomination.
United States presidential election, 1994
The United States presidential election of 1994 was a contest between the Republican ticket of President Owen Lassiter and Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower and the Democratic national ticket of Former Vice- President Roland Pierce and Former Maryland Governor and Congressman Barry Goodwin.
Lassiter was helped by victory in the Gulf War, and a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1991–1992.
On Tuesday November 8th he carried 49 of the 50 states, becoming only the third presidential candidate to do so.
Background
Lassiter had been unpopular during his first two years in office until the improving economy, considerably raised his standings in the polls.
Republican Nomination
Owen Lassiter had no challenger for the nomination. He and Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower where nominated on the first ballot at the RNC in Richmond in July 1994.
Democratic Nomination
Four candidates contested the nomination, Former Vice- President Roland Pierce, Mark Hanson Senator from Wisconsin, Howard Stackhouse again and Michael Casey Senator from New York.
Pierce was the clear favourite, but the almost unknown Hanson won had won a second term in the mid-terms in 1992, announced in March 1993 he would run for the Nomination. Pierce and Stackhouse both declared in May 1993, and Casey joined the race in July.
Pierce won the Iowa caucus in on Tuesday January 25th 1994, but Hanson polled a respectable 16% ahead of Stackhouse and Casey. A week later, in the New Hampshire primary, he shocked much of the party establishment and the media by defeating Pierce by ten percentage points. Hanson instantly became the main challenger to Pierce for the nomination.
Stackhouse stayed in the race until Super Tuesday, but withdrew endorsing Hanson. Casey withdrew a week later and endorsed Pierce. The two candidates traded each other win for win until Pierce managed to gain a narrow wins in New York, and Maryland in early June. It was enough to give him the nomination. Hanson refused to withdraw, although Pierce had enough delegates. Pierce won the nomination of the first ballot.
Pierce was under pressure to offer the VP slot to Hanson, but they was clearly no love lost between the two men. Former President Newman told Pierce to offer it to Hanson, but when the two men met they argued badly ending with Hanson telling Pierce “where he could shove his offer”. Un-like when Caleb Burgess rejected the Republican number two slot four years before, the rejection wasn’t kept quite and was leaked within minutes to the press.
Pierce then approached his other former opponent Casey, who also rejected it. Peter Hamlinn, the Former Governor of Florida who had run twice in the last eight years, also turned it down citing his health; indeed he would be dead within just eighteen months due to cancer. In a panic Hanson was again offered the job, but it was then withdrawn after allegations that he had an affair with a campaign official, although this later was proved false. Hanson was finished and retired from the Senate at the end of his second term in 1998.
In the early hours of the final day of the Convention, Barry Goodwin’s name was suggested. Goodwin a former one term Governor of Maryland, and two term Congressman was offered the job. He had built up support across the party; he accepted the nomination on the grounds that he would be supported for DNC Chairman if they lost. It was agreed, and Goodwin was dully nominated. After such a mess of a convention Pierce actually gave a decent speech calling for a “re-birth of Liberal America” and to “fight the greed within the Lassiter administration”.
General Election
Fall campaign
Coming out of the convention Lassiter held an average 22% lead in the polls. Lassiter portrayed Pierce as a "Massachusetts liberal" who was unreasonably left-wing. Pierce was attacked for such positions as opposing mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, calling for America to look to reduce its Nuclear weapons in the light of the end of the cold war and universal health care.
Many within the Democratic Party where un-happy with the campaign. It was described as a “car crash” by many insiders, with little or cooperation between the campaign and the DNC.
Lassiter kept above the fray, running a “Rose Garden” campaign, although some said this made him look distant.
Again two debates where held. The first held on Sunday September 25th saw Pierce give a better than expected performance, although most observers saw Lassiter as the winner. The second debate on Thursday October 13th was a disaster for Pierce. He mumbled most of his answers, and failed to give coherent reply about Tax raises instead answering about “fairness and wealth”. It was suggested by some that Pierce was even drunk.
In the final weeks of the campaign Pierce kept a low profile as Barry Goodwin took over the running of the campaign, he was to say later “We had no chance of winning; I was just fire fighting and trying to prevent a fifty state landslide”.
Results
Lassiter was re-elected on November 8th in an electoral and popular vote landslide, winning 49 states. Pierce could only carry his own state of Massachusetts and DC.
The result was declared by the networks at around 8.15 EST, and Pierce conceded defeat just under two hours later.
Election Stats
- Lassiter’s 523 electoral votes (out of 538) is the second highest total ever received by a presidential candidate.
- Pierce s 15 electoral votes is also the third-fewest ever received by a second-place candidate.
- This election was the last time that a Republican presidential candidate won the following states –
2. Delaware
3. Hawaii
4. Illinois
5. Maryland
6. Minnesota
7. Missouri
8. New Hampshire
9. New York
10. New Jersey
11. Nevada
12. Oregon
13. Pennsylvania
14. Rhode Island
15. Wisconsin
Results and Map
Owen LassiterLewis EisenhowerRep64,834,235 62.03 523
Roland Piearce Barry GoodwinDem39,669,831 37.97 15
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
Pierce being told of the lastest defeat on election night by an aide.
President Owen Lassiter on the phone from his private study in the White House during the campaign.
Mark Hanson Senator from Wisconsin
New York Senator Michael Casey makes a point on the campaign trail
United States presidential election, 1998
The United States presidential election of 1998 was a contest between the Republican ticket of Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower and Alabama Senator Robert Bennett and the Democratic ticket of New Hampshire Governor and former Congressman Josiah Bartlet and Texas Senator and Senate Majority Leader John Hoynes. Former Mayor of Milwaukee Jim Buckner also ran as an Independent with California Attorney Wendy La Marr, as his running mate.
On Tuesday November 3rd Josiah Bartlet was elected the 43rd President of the United States after a narrow win in the Electoral College.
Background
Owen Lassiter, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment.
Republican Nomination
Georgia Governor Caleb Burgess, contested the nomination with Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower, and Burgess surprisingly beat him in the Iowa Caucus, Eisenhower came back to win in New Hampshire and Burgess dropped out for poor showing on Super Tuesday. After clinching the nomination, Eisenhower chose Alabama Senator Robert Bennett, to be his running mate from a shortlist that included Caleb Burgess, Kentucky Senator George Fuller, Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach, Florida Senator Ralf Framhagen, and Oklahoma Governor Peggy Wade.
Democratic Nomination
In the fall of 1997, it appeared almost certain that Senate Majority Leader John Hoynes of Texas would easily become the Democratic nominee. In fact, a poll taken in October showed him leading by 48 points over any of his other challengers. William Wiley, Senator of Washington, Sidney Gregg, Senator of Wisconsin, and Harris Norman, Governor of Nebraska and Ron Avery, Mayor of Ithaca, New York. At the end of October New Hampshire Governor Josiah Bartlet entered the race, although he was conceded a no-hoper.
However, after Hoynes won in the Iowa Caucus as expected, with Wiley finishing in second and Bartlet finishing a surprising third, Bartlet won an easy victory in New Hampshire. The race then turned to South Carolina where Bartlet astonished many people when he finished in second place behind Hoynes and ahead of Wiley. Wiley then dropped out and endorsed Bartlet. Leading up toSuper Tuesday, Bartlet split remaining contests in South Dakota, Vermont and Maine with Hoynes. On Super Tuesday March 3rd, Hoynes swept the South as expected and Bartlet took the Northern tier states as well as the Pacific Northwest. The next week March 10th, Bartlet won a pivotal victory in the Illinois primary, giving him momentum to wrap up the nomination in the following weeks with large wins in California and New York.
Bartlet’s short-list for a running mate was Jack Buckland, the Governor of Indiana, Senator William Wiley of Washington, Senator Sam McKenna of Pennsylvania , Governor Harris Norman of Nebraska and Senator John Hoynes.
72 Hours before accepting the nomination at the convention in New York, Bartlet asked Hoynes to be his running-mate, and they where nominated on the first ballot.
The Jim Buckner candidacy
In March 1998, Milwaukee Mayor Buckner resigned his position and decided to run for President as an Independent. His volunteers succeeded in collecting enough signatures to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. He advocated full public health care but a state level, increased minimum wage, greater whistle blowing and consumer rights but to attract Republican’s he called for cutting property taxes and ending sales taxes, reducing the Federal Government across all the states, and giving more powers to local communities in such areas as Education and policing. He also called for the withdrawal of the US from NATO, and to only use military force when attacked directly.
In July 1998, he announced California Attorney Wendy LaMarr, as his running mate.
General Election
Fall campaign
Coming out of the conventions Eisenhower lead Bartlet 49- 46%, with Buckner on 5%.
Although the campaign focused mainly on domestic issues, such as the budget surplus, proposed reforms of Social Security, health care, tax relief and the 1997 merger of Bell Atlantic Communications and GTE into Verizon, foreign policy was often an issue. Bartlet criticized Lassiter administration policies in Somalia, where 18 Americans died in 1993 trying to sort out warring factions, and in the Bosnia, where United States peacekeeping troops performed a variety of functions . Eisenhower questioned Bartlet's fitness for the job, suggesting the New Hampshire Governor lacked the necessary experience to be president. He claimed that Bartlet's "Liberal Policies" would ruin the economy.
Bartlet’s gaffes on the campaign trail didn’t help, including making jokes about the state of Texas, and laughing at a racist joke at a fundraiser made by black comedian Cornelius "Corey" Sykes.
Jim Buckner’s campaign was marked by large rallies. After initially ignoring Buckner, the Bartlet campaign made a big pitch to (potential) Buckner supporters in the final weeks of the campaign, downplaying Bartlet’s differences with Buckner on the large majority of the issues and claiming that Bartlet's ideas were more similar to Buckner’s than Eisenhower's were, noting that Bartlet had a better chance of winning than Buckner. On the other side, the Republicans ran pro-Buckner ads in a few states in an effort to split the "liberal" vote although not all of Buckner’s policy ideas could be described as “liberal”.
Buckner attempted a law suite to get into the three debates and the one vice- presidential debate, but this failed.
For the first and only time so far, three debates where held along with one Vice- Presidential debate.
The first was held in Detroit, Michigan on Sunday September 27th, and regarded as a draw. The second on Thursday October 8th, in Kansas City saw Eisenhower get the edge. The Vice-Presidential debate between Bennett and Hoynes took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was a clear victory for Hoynes.
The third and final debate took place in St Louis, Missouri, eight days from election day, with the polls at both a national level, and in the key swing states, showing the race “too close to call”. Bartlet was the un-doubted winner of the debate, and there was no doubt that the performance planned a major part in the result of the election.
Results
The election on November 3rd saw Josiah Bartlet elected the 43rd President of the United States.
The result was close both in terms of the electoral and popular vote, although not as close as some had been predicting.
With the exceptions of Florida and Georgia, Eisenhower carried the Southern states by comfortable margins and also secured wins in Ohio, and Michigan. Michigan was the only state in the upper Mid-West he carried. Bartlet even won, Indiana, which had been a strong Republican state since 1964.
Bartlet won the north-east with sole exception of Maine, where Eisenhower was helped by the 10.05% gained by Buckner. It was the same story in Washington where Buckner achieved 13.79%.
Bartlet was declared the winner by CNN, at 2.23 EST, followed by NBC, three minutes later. This came after his projected wins in Illinois and Missouri. The Illinois win was a suprise as Bartlet had trailed in all the polls leading to election day, but in the end he carried it by 8%.
Bartlet carried 23 states + DC with 303 elecoral votes with Eisenhower taking 27 States and 235 electoral votes. In the popular vote Bartlet won 48,203,483 votes to Eisenhower’s 45,633,501, with Buckner taking 6,527,555. Buckner certainly denied Bartlet a majority of the vote.In polls directed at Buckner voters as to who would be a second choice, Bartlet consistently held substantial leads.
Election Stats
· This was the last time Arizona, Michigan and Washington voted Republican.
· This was the last time Florida and Georgia voted Democratic.
· This was the first time Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire and Nevada had voted Democrat since 1964.
· This was the first time since 1968 that a candidate won the election with under fifty % of the vote.
· Robert Bennett was the first Republican from the south to be selected as Vice- President.
· This was the only time so far, that both Vice- Presidential candidates came from the south.
Results and Map
Josiah BartletJohn HoynesDem48,203,48348.3 303
Lewis EisenhowerRobert BennettRep45,633,50145.2 235
Jim BucknerWendy LaMarrInd6,527,5556.50
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
The famous picture of Bartlet relaxing back stage after his win in the Third debate.
John Hoynes during the Vice- Presidential debate.
Vice- President Lewis David Eisenhower during the second debate which was regraded as a win for him.
Robert Bennett being interviewed after being selected as the Vice-Presidential nominee.
Washington Senator William Wiley watching the results on TV of the South Carolina Primary when he finished in 3rd place behind Hoynes and Bartlet
United States presidential election, 2002
The United States presidential election of 2002 was a contest between the Democratic ticket of President Josiah Bartlet and Vice- President John Hoynes of Texas, and the Republican ticket of Robert Ritchie, Governor of Florida and Jeff Heston, Governor of Utah.
On November 5th, Bartlet won re-election with a 394-144 Electoral College victory and by over ten million votes in the popular vote.
Background
When Bartlet disclosed to the nation that he hid his multiple sclerosis during the 1998 Presidential Election, it was believed he would not seek re-election as a result of the ensuing scandal. However, during a live press conference on the night of his disclosure in some 18 months before the election, he announced in no uncertain terms his intention to seek a second term, saying "Yeah, and I'm gonna win."
Democratic Nomination
Incumbent President Josiah Bartlet of New Hampshire was the unanimous nominee .
Indiana GovernorJack Buckland appeared to be considering challenging the President in primary elections, which worried the White House since Buckland was considered more conservative than Bartlet. He was eventually talked out of it by Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in exchange for being named Secretary of Labor in the second Bartlet Administration.
Incumbent Vice President John Hoynes of Texas was renominated as President Bartlet's running mate. Before the election there had been talk of replacing Hoynes on the ticket, due to opinion polls that reflected that Governor Ritchie's candidacy would deny the Bartlet/Hoynes ticket the South, particularly Texas, Georgia and Florida, two of three states which Bartlet had won four years before, and delivered him victory. Campaign staff briefly considered choosing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Percy Fitzwallace as a replacement VP candidate, due to his reputation as a Vietnam veteran and a defense hawkand due to the calculation that a black running mate would increase black turnout and deliver Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina to a Bartlet/Fitzwallace ticket. But there was a concern that Hoynes being rejected from the ticket might lead to him declaring a third-party candidacy, thereby throwing the election to Ritchie, although Hoynes himself was supportive of the decision to reconsider his position on the ticket. Ultimately, Bartlet himself vetoed the moves.
Bartlet and Hoynes where re-nominated on the first ballot at the Democratic national convention in August.
Republican Nomination
After the disclosure of President Bartlet's MS, many Republicans thought to challenge the incumbent President successfully.
Ten Candidates contested the nomination, South Dakota Senator Jim Simon, Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach, New York Governor Jack Stephens, Senate Majority Leader Robert Moseley of Colorado, California Congressman Pete Ross, Evangelical Minister John W. Wesley, Nebraska Governor Bill Daniel, Indiania Senator Rob O'Rourke, Nevada Senator Howard Westen, and Florida Governor Robert Ritchie.
South Dakota Senator Jim Simon was considered the early favorite having raised over 60 million dollars and having a stronger name I.D. than most of the other presidential candidates. Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach raised over 20 million dollars and was considered a front-runner, along with Senate Majority Leader Jack Moseley, although his campaign never recovered from a gaffe when he failed to answer the question why he wanted to be President. The three term Governor of New York Jack Stephens looked to be a good choice, highly popular in a Democratic State, but after a good start he failed to make any impact with the base of the party.
In the end the two-front runners where candidates considered long shots at the start, Florida Governor Robert Ritchie and Nevada Senator Howard Westen.
Ritchie won the Iowa Caucuses by being “plain spoken” and went onto win in New Hampshire. After these early wins, Ritchie was the likely Republican candidate and used the period to release his book, "A Promise to Lead."
After losing the Iowa caucus to Ritchie, Simon's campaign began to fade, and although he won some mid western primaries, he was unable to regain his momentum and was forced to withdraw from the race. Western was the other candidate to do well in early primaries and won several western states.
Jack Stephens won four primaries, his home state of New York, his birth state of Connecticut, the neighboring state of New Jersey and Rhode Island
Maryland Senator Dan Kalmbach was unable to win a single primary including his home state and was forced out of the race before Super Tuesday and endorsed Robert Ritchie.
Ritchie did well enough to have the race won a week after Super Tuesday.
Although it was widely believed in the media, that Ritchie would pick one of his former opponents as his running-mate namely, Kalmbach, Stephens or Westen, he surprised most people in choosing Utah Governor Jeff Heston.
The Howard Stackhouse candidacy
Minnesota Senator Howard Stackhouse ran as a third-party candidate, in his fourth and final bid for the Presidency. He choose Rhode Island Governor Billie Atkins as his running-mate In a poll of likely voters, Stackhouse polled at about 4% in New York and California, and was only on the ballot in 25 other states. In October he dropped out and endorsed President Bartlet.
General Election
The campaign was dogged by criticism of President Bartlet's decision to keep his multiple sclerosis hidden from the public. The President also had to fend off criticism concerning the size of the federal government. Governor Ritchie campaigned on the theme that Bartlet and the Democrats were soft on crime and were too involved in the government.
Just after Ritchie had won the nomination, President Bartlet made a remark possibly denigrating Ritchie's intelligence , talking about a .22 caliber mind in a .357 magnum world, Ritchie asked for a public apology.
The Bartlet campaign received an attack ad against the President, citing him for not signing their Clean Campaign Pledge, and alluding to the MS Scandal. The Ritchie campaign released the advert to the press, and officially stated that they had no part in releasing the political ad. They gained free media time from this release and vengeance for the President's remark.
During the campaign White House staffers repeatedly expressed concerns that Bartlet appeared aloof and out of touch with ordinary Americans. Ritchie was known for a folksy, down-to-earth style and a simplistic manner of speaking with which he was able to communicate with people, in contrast to the intellectualism of President Bartlet. Bartlet for a time attempted to emulate this behaviour before Toby Ziegler convinced him to stop, a strategy that ultimately contributed to the result.
Ritchie was known for his statements of "I'm no..." He stated he was not a mind reader, doctor, or "Chinese." Speaking in front of the Philadelphia Financial Commission, Ritchie stated "I'm no scientist, but I know a thing or two about physics."
He also made several other gaffes saying that Mexico was a member of NATO, and that Neville Chamberlain was British Prime-Minister for the whole of World War Two, although he was partially correct in that Chamberlain was Prime-Minister from the outbreak of the war in September 1939 to May 1940.
Ritchie had a tendency to cite his advisors by name, most likely to state that he would like to be President, and would use the right people for the right job.
Polls on September 23, 2002, had Ritchie trailing Bartlet by one to seven points.
The Ritchie campaign agreed to only two debates, while the Bartlet camp wanted five. A decision was handed down that there would be two debates using rules that President Bartlet felt did not allow for true debate. Bartlet wanted real discussion in the debate, so he traded down to a single debate in exchange for effective debate rules that allowed him to engage Ritchie. The debate, held at University of California, San Diego on Wednesday, October 23, 2002, resulted in an overwhelming victory for the President. When Governor Ritchie criticized the federal government superseding the states, President Bartlet replied by saying Florida had taken $12.6 billion from the federal government, and cheekily asked "Can we have it back?"
Results
On Tuesday, November 5, 2002, Bartlet was successfully re-elected, winning a majority of the popular vote (which he failed to do four years earlier) by a margin of 11.2% and a 394-144 victory in the electoral college.
In the South, Bartlet carried Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina; and made a clean sweep of the Midwest and most of the Plains States, including South Dakota. The networks where later to claim the Bartlet had also won in North Dakota but it later emerged that Ritchie managed to hold onto win by a mere 231 votes.
Bartlet had been confirmed as the winner just after 11. EST by CNN, and NBC.
Election Stats
· Bartlet became the first Democrat to be re-elected to a second term since FDR in 1940.
· It was the first time that Arizona had voted Democrat since 1948.
· It was the first time the following states had voted Democrat since 1964, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota.
· New Mexico was won by President Bartlet by 6,000 votes.
· It was the first time the following states had voted Democrat since 1968, Maine and Michigan.
· Maine was won by Bartlet with 67% of the vote.
· Bartlet lost two states he had won in 1998, Georgia and Florida.
Results and Map
Josiah Bartlet John Hoynes Dem 53,766,221 394 Electoral Votes
Robert Ritchie Jeff Heston Rep 42,992,342 144 Electoral Votes
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
President Josiah Bartlet campaigning in Indiania in September
Minnesota Senator Howard Stackhouse ran as a third-party candidate, in his fourth and final bid for the Presidency before withdrawing in early October.
President Josiah Bartlet and Governor Robert Ritchie during there only debate.
Governor Robert Ritchie during a Primary debate with the other Republican candidates.
President President Josiah Bartlet makes his victory speech on Tuesday November 5th 2002.
United States presidential election, 2006
The United States presidential election of 2006 was a contest between the Democratic ticket of Texas Congressman Matthew Santos and Former Secretary of Labor and White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry of Illinois and the Republican ticket of California Senator Arnold Vinci and West Virginia Governor Ray Sullivan.
On Tuesday November 7th Santos won a narrow 272-266 Electoral College victory over Vinick whilst Vinick won the popular vote by over a million votes.
It was the closest election since 1876 and only the fourth election in which the electoral vote did not reflect the popular vote.
Background
Josiah Bartlet, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment.
Democratic Nomination
Two months before the nomination battle began, the three clear frontrunners for the Democrat's presidential nomination were Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, Vice- President Bob Russell of Colorado, and Former Vice- President John Hoynes, with Baker leading in the polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Baker took himself out of the race in what was supposed to be his announcement speech in November 2005, saying that his reasons involved his family.
By the start of the Primary season, there where five other candidates in the race. Texas Congressman Matthew Santos, Senate Minority Leader Wendell Tripplehorn of South Dakota, Delaware Governor William Clarkson, Former Arkansas Governor Jack Griffth, and Rhode Island Governor Billie Atkins, the only Women and Afro-American in the race.
The Iowa Caucus was won by Russell, with Hoynes in Second, and Clarkson in third. In New Hampshire the following week, Russell again won, Hoynes again in second, but Santos was able to pull off a moral victory when he broadcast a live one minute ad in which he promised not to use negative campaigningagainst his opponents and to always speak for himself in his commercials, instead of trying to distance himself from them as the other candidates had. These promises apparently struck a chord with voters, as Santos managed to take third-place, with 19% of the vote.
His celebration, however, was short-lived, as Oregon Senator Ricky Rafferty, a late newly-declared candidate, managed to steal both media attention and the "insurgency candidate" image from Santos. Foremost in Rafferty's left-wing campaign was a plan for single-payer universal health care. Senator Rafferty stayed in the race until the South Carolina primary before dropping out along with Clarkson, Tripplehorn, Griffth and Atkins. Hoynes won the South Carolina primary, with Santos beating Russell into third. Between the New Hampshire primary and Super Tuesday, Santos had managed to win primaries in Arizona and New Mexico, but he had come in third in the majority of the others.
In the lead up to Super Tuesday, a former staffer for Hoynes revealed that the then-Senator had made improper sexual advances towards her. Hoynes had been leading the polls in California, and had received the endorsement of Governor Gabriel Tillman. After Hoynes "suspended" his presidential campaign due to the reports of his sexual impropriety, Santos was able to manoeuvre into receiving the implicit endorsement of Governor Tillman, allowing him to win the California primaryin an upset victory.
With the California victory came new-found momentum, allowing Santos to win primaries in many more states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey. Once all the primaries were called, the primary map was split largely along geographical lines. Russell had large parts of the West, Midwest and Northeast. Santos had primarily taken most of the delegate-rich "big states" and a scattering of smaller states. And Hoynes had taken most of the southern states and a handful of others. By the time of the Democratic National Convention, he had won enough delegates to leave Hoynes in the dust and virtually tie with Russell, deadlocking the convention on the first ballot.
The 2006 Democratic National Convention was held in San Diego, California. Prior to the convention, Santos turned down the offer of the Vice Presidential slot from Russell and decided to take his chances for the top job. Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, who had decided against running in the primaries, turned down Russell's offer of the Vice Presidential nomination and offered himself as a compromise candidate from the floor. Baker stole delegates from all of the other candidates and stretched the balloting to a third day. Baker seemed poised to receive the nomination when members of the Russell campaign revealed to the press that Baker had covered up his wife's history of depression. This made delegates question his integrity, causing him to lose his momentum and substantial support on the convention floor.
With the momentum of Baker's insurgency stalled, the convention remained deadlocked. In order to break the stalemate, Santos was ordered by the convention organizer, former White House Chief of StaffLeo McGarry, to step aside in favour of either Baker or Russell. Santos was given a chance to address the convention again and announce his support for one of the two remaining candidates. Instead of withdrawing, however, Santos gave a rousing speech, defending Baker and urging the delegates to choose the candidate who represented their hopes and dreams. This swung the momentum in the balloting back to him.
Santos clinched the nomination, eventually receiving 2,751 votes. Santos immediately ruled out choosing Russell as his running mate and Baker declined to perform the role, to spare his wife further press attention. Santos decided to choose Leo McGarry as his Vice Presidential running mate.
Republican Nomination
Eight Republicans contested the nomination. Former Acting President and Speaker of the House Glen Allen Walken of Missouri, California Senator Arnold Vinick, three-term Michigan Congressman Darren Gibson, OhioGovernor Mike Reed , televangelist and minister Rev Don Butler of Virginia, George Allard, Governor of Kansas, Former Oregon Congressman and Governor Howard Johnson, and the 1998 Vice Presidential nominee Senator Robert Bennett of Alabama .
Walken won the Iowa caucus, with Allard in second, Butler third with Vinick in last due to his opposition to ethanol subsidies.
The press lauded Vinick for his stand against ethanol in Iowa, and this helped him to a surprise win New Hampshire by over 12% with Walken in Second and Allard in third again.
This was followed with wins in Michigan and Nevada, although South Carolina was won by Butler. Butler and Vinick clashed over abortion and Vinick’s pro-choice stance.
By Super Tuesday, Vinick was sweeping the board, and after Vinicks win in Florida, Walken withdrew. Leaving it as a straight fight between Vinick and Reverend Butler. With victory in the final primary, New Jersey, Vinick had won enough delegates to secure the nomination.
Vinick knew that his political centrism, especially on the issue of abortion, had the potential of alienating the base and threatening his chances of winning a general election. In order to balance the ticket with a staunchly pro-life Republican as his Vice Presidential nominee, Vinick was ready to select Rev. Butler as his running mate, but Butler turned him down before he could make the offer, citing their differences on the abortion issue. Vinick chose the staunchly pro-lifeWestVirginiaGovernorRay Sullivan as his running mate. Vinick and Sullivan were nominated on the first ballot at the 2006 Republican National Convention at in Philadelphia. Governor Sullivan drew controversy when he made comments that seemingly mocked President Bartlets multiple sclerosis. Vinick's acceptance speech, on the other hand, praised President Bartlet, saying that despite their ideological differences, Bartlet had honoured the office of President in his two terms, and that he hoped he could do the same if elected.
General Election
The Presidential campaign began with Arnold Vinick holding a substantial lead of nine points over Matt Santos.
Image was an important factor throughout the campaign. Leo McGarry had been known for working behind the scenes and had no history in elected office. Questions about his health and public relations gaffes were a thorn in the side of the Santos campaign in the days just after the Democratic National Convention. Yet, many pundits argued that having McGarry on the ticket, as a former White House Chief of Staff and Senior Counsellor to the President, was necessary in order to balance Matt Santos' foreign policy inexperience.
Early on in the campaign, Santos was forced to confront his so-called "Mommy Problem", the belief that while he was seen as likable and polled well on social and domestic issues, Vinick dominated the important area of foreign policy. He attempted to diffuse this perception by fulfilling his obligations as a member of the Marine Reserves, allowing the press to constantly run footage of the candidate piloting a fighter jet, and improving Santos' polling on foreign policy issues.
On the other hand, Vinick faced numerous image problems as well. He was seen as too liberal by conservatives, and was much older and less photogenic than the younger Santos. Religion was also a large factor in the election through a variety of issues including abortion, intelligent design, and the general piety of the candidates. Vinick was a rarity as a pro-choice Republican and his campaign staff attempted to repair his image among pro-life voters by having his pro-life Vice Presidential candidate, Ray Sullivan, speak on family values issues, including abortion. Vinick also suffered a setback when, after having privately promised the American Christian Assembly that he would appoint only pro-life judges, he stated on Hardball that he would apply no litmus test in appointing judges to the bench, angering religious conservatives.
Santos was a devout Catholic but retained a pro-choice stance, opposing the practice of abortion while also opposing further legislative means against it and supporting a woman's right to choose At one point a 527 group aired an attack ad against Santos, editing a clip of him to make it seem like he was for abortion on demand, as opposed to Vinick's pro-choice but anti-partial birth and pro-parental consent position. At the same time, a prominent women's rights group threatened to endorse Vinick because the Senator was pro-choice and his likely victory would effectively end the pro-life plank of the Republican platform, while Santos' position on abortion still called his credibility on the issue into question. Santos was thus being hit from both sides, attacked as another pro-choice Democrat by pro-life interest groups while enduring doubt from liberals about his pro-choice credentials. During the campaign, a Catholic priest also claimed he would deny Santos communion because of his views on abortion However Santos was able to do the same to Vinick, attacking him for claiming to be pro-choice, despite his promise to appoint pro-life judges and his refusal to confront his party's pro-life platform.
At the outset of the first Santos-Vinick debate, Vinick proposed that the candidates ignore the rules their campaigns agreed to and have "a real debate" without time limits on speaking. Santos, having shown a prior disdain for heavily structured political debates, readily agreed.
Santos reiterated his commitment to greater federal involvement in public education, opposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supported a moratorium on the federal death penalty, and pledged never to go to war for oil. He also responded to criticism as a "flip-flopper" on such issues as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on the Ways and Means Committe(an example he chose because he was known to both support and vote against CAFTA) by explaining that although he initially supported the agreement, he voted against it when special interest amendments were attached. Santos predictably criticized Senator Vinick for relying too heavily on tax cuts to grow the economy - a standard Democratic criticism of Republicans - but surprised audiences when he said that he "wasn't crazy" about his own health care plan, since it would not provide universal coverage. His follow-up explanation, that his health care plan was not ideal but still the best he thought he could get through Congress, depicted Santos as honest and a realist.
During the debate, Vinick tried to paint Santos as a typical liberal Democrat who would raise taxes to pay for intrusive big-government programs while still leaving the federal budget unbalanced. The Senator laid out a libertarian agenda, proposed tax-deductibility for health insurance costs, explained why he had voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, opposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty or any new gun control legislation, promised to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, and declared his strong support for nuclear power, perhaps his most surprising comment and show of blunt honesty was his remark that he would not create any new jobs, saying that in a free society entrepreneurs, not the government, created jobs. Because Santos had just criticized Republican economic policy for relying too heavily on tax cuts, Vinick's continued insistence that tax cuts would improve the economy initially drew hostile laughter from the audience. However, Vinick's explanation behind the theory proved eloquent and logical.
The outcome of the debate was generally seen as either a tie or a slim Santos victory. Public opinion polls favoured the latter interpretation; while both candidates received boosts in public support, Santos received a bigger increase than Vinick.
The most crucial incident of the campaign was the near nuclear meltdown at the San Andreo power plant in Vinick's home state of California just four weeks from Election Day. President Bartlet was forced to vent radioactive gases from the plant into the atmosphere and issue a large scale evacuation order for the surrounding area.
Although meltdown was avoided, the event still had a severe effect on the campaign. Vinick was a long-time supporter of nuclear power, a position that was summed up repeatedly on news broadcasts in a clip from the presidential debate where he repeatedly defended nuclear power as being "completely safe."
President Bartlet wanted to visit San Andreo, and standard protocol dictated that the President invite the state's congressional delegation to accompany him. Much to the chagrin of the Santos campaign, this meant that Vinick, as the senior Senator from California, would be able to stand by the President at the accident site. Some believed that this would allow Vinick to be "absolved" by Bartlet and provide him with an opportunity to appear presidential. However, before leaving for California, Senator Vinick publicly blamed the Bartlet Administration for maintaining lax federal regulations. In addition, any positive publicity Vinick may have gained from the trip soon vanished when The Washington Post reported that while in the Senate, Vinick played a key role in furnishing quick federal authorization for the San Andreo nuclear power plant decades earlier. This revelation caused a dramatic turn of public opinion against Vinick, who until then had a rather substantial lock on the Electoral College. He managed to regain some ground in a press conference following the near nuclear meltdown in which he provided compelling rationale that nuclear energy was still safe.
The accident however proved to be the turning point of the campaign. States with nuclear plants saw a sudden shift in polling away from Vinick, increasing the number of undecided voters and Santos supporters, bringing several states into contention (including Ohio, Florida, South Carolina, and California. In polls done at the national level, both men were locked in a statistical tie of 44 percent.
Results
On November 7, 2006 Matthew Santos was elected the 44th President of the United States .
The election started off with a pair of surprises: South Carolina, traditionally a Republican state, was called for Santos within minutes of polls closing on the East Coast while West Virginia, a traditionally Democratic state (but one which had recently become strongly Republican and was the home state of Vinick's running mate, Ray Sullivan), was called for Vinick. The election was thrown into potential chaos when Leo McGarry, Santos' running mate, died from a sudden heart attack. The polls on the west coast were open for another ninety minutes, creating a difficult situation for both campaigns.
As the night went on, the election became a tit-for-tat, see-saw battle. Vinick captured the lower Midwest and Great Plains, including both Iowa and Ohio by 51% to 49%, although Santos took the reliable presidential bellwether state of Missouri. With the exception of South Carolina and Texas, Vinick captured most of the South, including Florida, and Vinick also won the non-contiguous conservative state of Alaska. The Mountain West all went to Vinick, although Santos took three of the four South-western swing states due to Latino support, with only Nevada left in play. Washington and Hawaii also went to Santos. Most of the Northeast also went to Santos, including the libertarian-leaning swing state and Bartlet home state of New Hampshire. Although Vinick won in Maine and Vermont, both by 52% to 48%.
When Texas was called for Santos, by 52% to 48%, it looked as if the Democrats were headed towards a surprise runaway victory. That notion was dispelled when California went for native son Vinick by a mere 80,000 votes, giving him 266 electoral votes to Santos' 260 and putting Vinick just four electoral votes short of victory, with only Oregon(7 electoral votes) and Nevada (5 electoral votes) left in play. While only one of these two states would give Vinick the presidency, Santos would need to win both. Oregon was first, going into the Santos column by just 2,000 votes and making the Electoral College count 267 for Santos and 266 for Vinick. That left Nevada as a "winner-take-all" for either side, a strange situation since Santos had conceded Nevada to Vinick early on in the race, while Vinick's campaign had gutted their Nevada operations to focus on California.
Finally at 5:45 AM EST on Wednesday November 8, 2006, Nevada was called for Santos, handing him both the election and the presidency. Vinick chose to concede the election rather than contest the slim margin of defeat in the Silver State (just 30,000 votes) and called Santos to congratulate him on his victory.
Vinick won the popular vote by just over a million votes, winning 69,754,328 votes to Santos 68,746,542.
Election Stats
· Though Vinick lost the Electoral Vote he won 1,007,786 more individual votes than Santos.
· Matthew Santos became the first Congressman to win the presidency since James A.Garfield in 1880.
· It was the first time since 1976 a Democrat won Texas and South Carolina.
· It was the first time since 1976 Iowa voted for the losing candidate.
· Owing to the nation's growing population and large turnout, both Vinick and Santos received more votes than any previous presidential candidate in American history. The previous record was held by Republican Owen Lassiter, who in 1994 received 64,834,235 votes.
· 41,742,307 more votes where cast than 2002.
Results and Map
Matthew Santos Leo McGarry Dem 68,746,542 272 Electoral Votes
Arnold Vinick Ray Sullivan Rep 69,754,328 266 Electoral Votes
Note that this site uses the orginial 1976 NBC Colour scheme of Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Images from the campaign
Arnold Vinick launches his bid for the Republican nomination outside City Hall in Santa Paula, California in November 2005.
Congressman Matthew Santos launches his bid for the Democratic nomination at his local school in Houston, Texas in December 2005.
The seven candidates at the Democratic debate in New Hampshire.
Left to Right- Wendell Tripplehorn Senator Minority Leader South Dakota, Billie Atkins Governor Rhode Island, John Hoynes Former vice-president Texas, Robert Russell vice-president Colorado, William Clarkson Governor Delaware, Matthew Santos Congressman Texas, Jack Griffth Former Governor Arkansas.
Left to Right- Wendell Tripplehorn Senator Minority Leader South Dakota, Billie Atkins Governor Rhode Island, John Hoynes Former vice-president Texas, Robert Russell vice-president Colorado, William Clarkson Governor Delaware, Matthew Santos Congressman Texas, Jack Griffth Former Governor Arkansas.
Rev Don Butler withdraws from the Republican nomination race after his defeat by Arnold Vinick in the New Jersey primary.
Vinick wins the Republican nomination after his win in New Jersey and the withdrawl of Rev. Don Butler.
Arnold Vinick and Ray Sullivan accepting the Republican nomination.
Matthew Santos and Leo McGarry accepting the Democratic nomination.
Matthew Santos and his wife Helen on the campaign trail.
Arnold Vinick making a speech during the campaign.
Santos and Vinick during the only debate.
Leo McGarry during the Vice-presidential debate with Ray Sullivan.
The announcement of the death of Leo McGarry on election night.
Leo McGarry during the Vice-presidential debate with Ray Sullivan.
The announcement of the death of Leo McGarry on election night.
Matthew Santos victory speech in Houston Texas.
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RealClearPolitics.com
Pennsylvania weighs in
With many leading politicians coming out in favor or against the supposed "Department of Homeland Security," many leading politicians in Pennsylvania have decided to weigh in.
Senator Robert Royce (republican) and Governor Michael Kellner (democrat) have both stated that they are very much in favor of the formation of such a department. Royce said: "Its really quite simple. Things don't get done because the different agencies we have are legally restrained from sharing information. It's not fair to the American people when we put thir lives at risk simply because of a formality."
Meanwhile, Mayor Jackson Kennedy, Congressman Stephen Collins, and Senator Morgan Mitchell have come out against it. Kennedy said: "Lets be honest here. This is just one more way that the government can spy on it's people. Here, in this nation, where it is the supposed "Land of the free an the home of the brave," we cannot allow something like this become law. There is bipartisan agreement that this come to pass. And I'm positive that all Americans will vote people who will vote against this, into office."
It is very likely that this will become a major topic in the 112th congress.
Pennsylvania weighs in
With many leading politicians coming out in favor or against the supposed "Department of Homeland Security," many leading politicians in Pennsylvania have decided to weigh in.
Senator Robert Royce (republican) and Governor Michael Kellner (democrat) have both stated that they are very much in favor of the formation of such a department. Royce said: "Its really quite simple. Things don't get done because the different agencies we have are legally restrained from sharing information. It's not fair to the American people when we put thir lives at risk simply because of a formality."
Meanwhile, Mayor Jackson Kennedy, Congressman Stephen Collins, and Senator Morgan Mitchell have come out against it. Kennedy said: "Lets be honest here. This is just one more way that the government can spy on it's people. Here, in this nation, where it is the supposed "Land of the free an the home of the brave," we cannot allow something like this become law. There is bipartisan agreement that this come to pass. And I'm positive that all Americans will vote people who will vote against this, into office."
It is very likely that this will become a major topic in the 112th congress.
politico.com, Wednesday August 25th
Tandy wins Florida Democratic Primary
After a tough fight Congressman John Tandy prevailed in his primary battle against Miami Mayor Umberto Guerro and will now face Governor Eric Swenson in this November’s election.
Swenson easily saw off the challenge of Tallahassee Mayor Ryan Hendrix to secure the Republican nomination. Governor Swenson told supporters that they must “focus relentlessly on defeating the big government agenda of President Santos that Congressman Tandy has supported.”
In the Gubernatorial primaries there was a surprise for the Democrats as former Attorney General Lance Peterson defied all of the polls going in the scrape past Congresswoman Lucy Royle to secure the nomination. His opponent in November was less of a surprise with Congressman James Ritchie hold off challenges from self funding businessman Kent Rodgers and fellow Congressman Glen Stanley to secure the GOP nod.
Congressman Stanley, who ran a bitter campaign after he claimed that Congressman Ritchie went back on a previous promise to not run against him, refused to congratulate his opponent after hearing the results.
Tandy wins Florida Democratic Primary
After a tough fight Congressman John Tandy prevailed in his primary battle against Miami Mayor Umberto Guerro and will now face Governor Eric Swenson in this November’s election.
Swenson easily saw off the challenge of Tallahassee Mayor Ryan Hendrix to secure the Republican nomination. Governor Swenson told supporters that they must “focus relentlessly on defeating the big government agenda of President Santos that Congressman Tandy has supported.”
In the Gubernatorial primaries there was a surprise for the Democrats as former Attorney General Lance Peterson defied all of the polls going in the scrape past Congresswoman Lucy Royle to secure the nomination. His opponent in November was less of a surprise with Congressman James Ritchie hold off challenges from self funding businessman Kent Rodgers and fellow Congressman Glen Stanley to secure the GOP nod.
Congressman Stanley, who ran a bitter campaign after he claimed that Congressman Ritchie went back on a previous promise to not run against him, refused to congratulate his opponent after hearing the results.
realclearpolitics.com, Wednesday August 25th
Senate Handcapping
With latest polling average in italics.
Alabama moved to Safe Republican
Pennsylvania moved to Leans GOP
Michigan moved to Likely GOP
Indiana moved to Toss Up
Florida moved to Toss Up
Safe Republican 46
Safe Democratic 36
Likely Dem
Connecticut (Open - R) Casey 52, McAdam 42
West Virginia (D) Harrison 58, Oakley 38
Leans Dem
California (Open - D) Seaborn 50, Lassiter 41
New Hampshire (Open - R) Larkin 49, Lockley 41
Illinois (D) Montgomery 51, Hohner 42
Toss Up
Ohio (R) Strauss 49, McIntosh 44
Minnesota (Open - D) Daniels 44, Hunter 43
Vermont (Open - R) Benstead 46, Skinner 43
North Carolina (R) McNamara 45, Logan 42
New York (D) Daschowitz 47, Cruger 43
Iowa (D) Kasey 45, Nolan 43
Indiana (Open- D) Barkey 46, Matteo 43
Florida (Open- R) Swenson 47, Tandy 45
Leans GOP
Pennsylvania (R) Royce 49, Collins 42
Likely GOP
Michigan (R) Thomas 51, Flack 41
Utah (D) Elderton 52, Degbie 33
Missouri (D) Shallick 49, Oliom 36
Colorado (R) Moseley 54, Aubry 45
Senate Summary
Polling continues to suggest a moveable picture in the race for a Senate majority. Most handicappers still favour the Republicans retaining control and with 46 likely safe seats that seems like the most likely outcome.
The big question will be the size of the majority and much depends on a whole host of toss up states.
Recent polls have mixed results for both sides. A series of strong polls in favour of Majority Leader Robert Royce has seen the Pennsylvania race move to “Leans GOP”. This seems to be the result of allegations of wrong doing by his opponent Congressman Stephen Collins and a relentless assault by the Royce campaign against him. With a big cash advantage it seems likely that Senator Royce will continue to batter his less well known opponent all the way to November.
There is better news for the Democrats in Ohio where the controversial Haydn Strauss is stretching his lead of Carrie McIntosh who is struggling to unite the party after overthrowing incumbent Thomas Ford. A number of prominent McIntosh supporters also appear to be showing some degree of buyer’s remorse.
Indiana and Florida have moved to toss up with 2000 Gubernatorial candidate Frank Barkey struggling to pull clear of State Treasurer Damon Matteo. Congressman John Tandy has struggled since Governor Eric Swenson entered the race in Florida but he is finally back on track and with a Primary win secured looks again like a serious threat.
New York, Vermont, North Carolina and Minnesota remain very tight races whilst Iowa incumbent Rod Kasey is struggling to fend off a challenge from Angelica Nolan.
In California former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Sam Seaborn has cracked the 50% mark for the first time in the race. His opponent Richard Lassiter has responded by going negative it will be interesting to see the impact over the next few weeks.
Senate Handcapping
With latest polling average in italics.
Alabama moved to Safe Republican
Pennsylvania moved to Leans GOP
Michigan moved to Likely GOP
Indiana moved to Toss Up
Florida moved to Toss Up
Safe Republican 46
Safe Democratic 36
Likely Dem
Connecticut (Open - R) Casey 52, McAdam 42
West Virginia (D) Harrison 58, Oakley 38
Leans Dem
California (Open - D) Seaborn 50, Lassiter 41
New Hampshire (Open - R) Larkin 49, Lockley 41
Illinois (D) Montgomery 51, Hohner 42
Toss Up
Ohio (R) Strauss 49, McIntosh 44
Minnesota (Open - D) Daniels 44, Hunter 43
Vermont (Open - R) Benstead 46, Skinner 43
North Carolina (R) McNamara 45, Logan 42
New York (D) Daschowitz 47, Cruger 43
Iowa (D) Kasey 45, Nolan 43
Indiana (Open- D) Barkey 46, Matteo 43
Florida (Open- R) Swenson 47, Tandy 45
Leans GOP
Pennsylvania (R) Royce 49, Collins 42
Likely GOP
Michigan (R) Thomas 51, Flack 41
Utah (D) Elderton 52, Degbie 33
Missouri (D) Shallick 49, Oliom 36
Colorado (R) Moseley 54, Aubry 45
Senate Summary
Polling continues to suggest a moveable picture in the race for a Senate majority. Most handicappers still favour the Republicans retaining control and with 46 likely safe seats that seems like the most likely outcome.
The big question will be the size of the majority and much depends on a whole host of toss up states.
Recent polls have mixed results for both sides. A series of strong polls in favour of Majority Leader Robert Royce has seen the Pennsylvania race move to “Leans GOP”. This seems to be the result of allegations of wrong doing by his opponent Congressman Stephen Collins and a relentless assault by the Royce campaign against him. With a big cash advantage it seems likely that Senator Royce will continue to batter his less well known opponent all the way to November.
There is better news for the Democrats in Ohio where the controversial Haydn Strauss is stretching his lead of Carrie McIntosh who is struggling to unite the party after overthrowing incumbent Thomas Ford. A number of prominent McIntosh supporters also appear to be showing some degree of buyer’s remorse.
Indiana and Florida have moved to toss up with 2000 Gubernatorial candidate Frank Barkey struggling to pull clear of State Treasurer Damon Matteo. Congressman John Tandy has struggled since Governor Eric Swenson entered the race in Florida but he is finally back on track and with a Primary win secured looks again like a serious threat.
New York, Vermont, North Carolina and Minnesota remain very tight races whilst Iowa incumbent Rod Kasey is struggling to fend off a challenge from Angelica Nolan.
In California former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Sam Seaborn has cracked the 50% mark for the first time in the race. His opponent Richard Lassiter has responded by going negative it will be interesting to see the impact over the next few weeks.
politico.com, Wednesday August 25th
Democrats Attack Walken Healthcare Plan
A number of prominent Democrats have united to attack the healthcare proposals of Republican Presidential candidate Glen Walken.
The group led by Massachusetts Senator Stephen Wilson said that Walken’s plan was “full of holes” and “didn’t do nearly enough to address the level of uninsured Americans that the country must face up to.”
Wilson was joined by a number of other key players including retiring Minnesota Senator Howard Stackhouse, for who healthcare has long since become a crusade, New Hampshire Governor Kurt Breech and former House Speaker Mark Sellner.
The Walken campaign responded in kind saying “All of the aforementioned politicians have held influential positions from which they could have influenced the direction of healthcare in this country. They have failed. Our intention is to address the fundamental problem with our healthcare system and that’s cost. Our plan outlines measures to reduce the number of uninsured people by 50% by the end of one term and it does so without putting the government between the public and their doctor.”
Democrats Attack Walken Healthcare Plan
A number of prominent Democrats have united to attack the healthcare proposals of Republican Presidential candidate Glen Walken.
The group led by Massachusetts Senator Stephen Wilson said that Walken’s plan was “full of holes” and “didn’t do nearly enough to address the level of uninsured Americans that the country must face up to.”
Wilson was joined by a number of other key players including retiring Minnesota Senator Howard Stackhouse, for who healthcare has long since become a crusade, New Hampshire Governor Kurt Breech and former House Speaker Mark Sellner.
The Walken campaign responded in kind saying “All of the aforementioned politicians have held influential positions from which they could have influenced the direction of healthcare in this country. They have failed. Our intention is to address the fundamental problem with our healthcare system and that’s cost. Our plan outlines measures to reduce the number of uninsured people by 50% by the end of one term and it does so without putting the government between the public and their doctor.”
msnbc.com, Wednesday August 25th
Vansen Confirms Independent Run
New Mexico politics was turned on it’s head this morning when former Governor Rudi Vansen confirmed that he intends to mount an independent bid to reclaim the Governor’s mansion.
Vansen who sparked a man hunt earlier this year when he fled from what he described as politically motivated charges that he was involved in fraud. He was later caught in the UK and transported back to New Mexico. The charges were quietly dropped after Vansen had been removed from office.
Speaking this morning Vansen told a packed press conference “It’s been clearly demonstrated that I was the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice. I feel I owe it to the people of New Mexico to let them have the final say on this matter. If they want me back as Governor I will happily serve them.”
Vansen immediately came under fire from his successor Henry Gomez who attacked him as an “opportunist” and slammed him for “fleeing from justice” and “attempting to rewrite history”.
Thus far Democratic nominee Simon Ratner has refused to make any comment. It remains unknown just how big an impact Vansen will have on the remainder of the race.
Vansen Confirms Independent Run
New Mexico politics was turned on it’s head this morning when former Governor Rudi Vansen confirmed that he intends to mount an independent bid to reclaim the Governor’s mansion.
Vansen who sparked a man hunt earlier this year when he fled from what he described as politically motivated charges that he was involved in fraud. He was later caught in the UK and transported back to New Mexico. The charges were quietly dropped after Vansen had been removed from office.
Speaking this morning Vansen told a packed press conference “It’s been clearly demonstrated that I was the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice. I feel I owe it to the people of New Mexico to let them have the final say on this matter. If they want me back as Governor I will happily serve them.”
Vansen immediately came under fire from his successor Henry Gomez who attacked him as an “opportunist” and slammed him for “fleeing from justice” and “attempting to rewrite history”.
Thus far Democratic nominee Simon Ratner has refused to make any comment. It remains unknown just how big an impact Vansen will have on the remainder of the race.
realclearpolitics.com, Wednesday 25th August
Gubernatorial Polling
Florida (R)
Ritchie 48, Peterson 40, Ritchie +8
Connecticut (D)
Van Dorn 46, Northman-Page 42, Van Dorn +4
Ohio (R)
Halley 45, Marino 42, Halley +3
North Carolina (R)
Wu 47 Cullner 45, Wu +2
Colorado (D)
Wallace 45, Moseley 45, TIE
Nevada (R)
Broughton 44, Carrington 42, Broughton +2
Michigan (D)
Brennan 47, Hutchins 41, Brennan +6
New York (D)
Lewis 47, Marshall 45, Lewis +2
Montana (R)
Lynch 45, Carner 44, Lynch +1
New Mexico (R)
Vansen 34, Ratner 33, Gomez 22, Vansen +1
Tennessee (R)
Denham 51, Rake 39, Denham +12
Gubernatorial Polling
Florida (R)
Ritchie 48, Peterson 40, Ritchie +8
Connecticut (D)
Van Dorn 46, Northman-Page 42, Van Dorn +4
Ohio (R)
Halley 45, Marino 42, Halley +3
North Carolina (R)
Wu 47 Cullner 45, Wu +2
Colorado (D)
Wallace 45, Moseley 45, TIE
Nevada (R)
Broughton 44, Carrington 42, Broughton +2
Michigan (D)
Brennan 47, Hutchins 41, Brennan +6
New York (D)
Lewis 47, Marshall 45, Lewis +2
Montana (R)
Lynch 45, Carner 44, Lynch +1
New Mexico (R)
Vansen 34, Ratner 33, Gomez 22, Vansen +1
Tennessee (R)
Denham 51, Rake 39, Denham +12
ooc: Dis, a few things. First, Stephen Wilson doesn't exist. :O Ryan Lyndell assumed the position as Senior Senator when Pierce died. The other seat hasn't been filled yet. Collins was in the last poll pulling back at 48-44 in favor of Royce.
West, what is the situation with Pierce's old seat? Is there going to be a special election or an appointment?
West, what is the situation with Pierce's old seat? Is there going to be a special election or an appointment?
KMan10:
Stephen Wilson does exist-He's the Senior Senator from Maine.
Pierce's old seat hasn't been filled yet-The Governor of Massachusetts is waiting until next year, out of respect for Pierce.
Stephen Wilson does exist-He's the Senior Senator from Maine.
Pierce's old seat hasn't been filled yet-The Governor of Massachusetts is waiting until next year, out of respect for Pierce.
ooc: Ah gotcha. I just knew that he wasn't from Massachusets. 
Has he been cast? I have two actors I want to cast before I'm done. Mark and I believe Tim know who they are.
Has he been cast? I have two actors I want to cast before I'm done. Mark and I believe Tim know who they are.He hasn't been cast, due to Mark's request that we not cast. Really, nobody has been in any of my stuff.
Oh, yeah. About that... I specified earlier that just because actor Dennis Hopper died, doesn't mean Roland Pierce would die (he retired suddenly due to illness). It's just that he was seriously ill and convalescing elsewhere. On July 29th at the DNC, his son gave a speech honoring him, but he was specified to be still alive.
The August 3rd Massachusetts 535 specifies that Pierce died, which never actually happened in the thread, unless we assume it was overlooked or something. I have a feeling the death of a former Vice President, the Democratic presidential candidate of 1994, and a liberal idealogue in the Senate of such stature, would at least cause a couple articles and another state funeral this year.
I overlooked the detail in that 535 that said Pierce is dead. I guess we could say that he passed away on July 30th, and all the pomp and circumstance happened in early August right after the DNC. There were a few days where not much about the campaigns was reported, so the funeral could've been on August 3rd, when we were posting 535's, Wikipedia pages, and scheduling info (schedules were, thankfully, for after the 3rd).
Oh, and I want to apologize for casting Walken's family. I thought it was necessary at the time to visualize them, as they could potentially be very important characters (just like Mark casting the Supreme Court Justices and Henry Gomez).
You're right-It never said he died, but then again, never said he was still alive. We were talking about Pierce dying, and and I guess that he just had, and ran with it.
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