A True October Surprise: The Added Surprises

I always love political TLs that simultaneously feel different from the world we live in, while still containing figures that I recognize in scenarios that seem realistic, and ATOS is certainly a standout in that category. Fantastic work!
 
Just finished re-reading this series (it's even better the second time around!). Naturally, I have an obscure question now. What happened to the gold standard? did Humphrey retire the Bretton Woods system like Nixon IOTL?
 
Just finished re-reading this series (it's even better the second time around!). Naturally, I have an obscure question now. What happened to the gold standard? did Humphrey retire the Bretton Woods system like Nixon IOTL?

By the POD, Bretton Woods and the gold standard were pretty much unsustainable, so Humphrey did end up also taking the US out of Bretton Woods (and effectively ending it) by 1973. Unlike OTL Nixon, Humphrey did so in consultation with other major countries like France, the UK & Japan instead of unilaterally and causing a shock to the markets.
 
the president's son and former governor Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III

I assume Skip was elected Governor in 1998, but did he serve two terms? Also, given that Skip was Governor during that time, is that why Tim Pawlenty ended up serving in the Senate instead the Governorship?
 
I assume Skip was elected Governor in 1998, but did he serve two terms? Also, given that Skip was Governor during that time, is that why Tim Pawlenty ended up serving in the Senate instead the Governorship?

Skip succeeded Rudy Perpich in 1994 (butterflies resulting from Mondale not becoming VP and thus no Wendell Anderson self-appointment mean that Perpich didn't become governor until 1982) and won a second term in 1998. He briefly considered running for a third term (no term limits in MN) but poor in-house polling resulted in him opting to retire instead.

I put Pawlenty in the Senate because IOTL he planned to run for that office in 2002 until then-VP Dick Cheney persuaded him to run for governor instead. Without a Republican in the White House, he sticks with his first choice and manages to take Paul Wellstone's seat.
 
Skip succeeded Rudy Perpich in 1994 (butterflies resulting from Mondale not becoming VP and thus no Wendell Anderson self-appointment mean that Perpich didn't become governor until 1982) and won a second term in 1998. He briefly considered running for a third term (no term limits in MN) but poor in-house polling resulted in him opting to retire instead.

I put Pawlenty in the Senate because IOTL he planned to run for that office in 2002 until then-VP Dick Cheney persuaded him to run for governor instead. Without a Republican in the White House, he sticks with his first choice and manages to take Paul Wellstone's seat.

Man, just goes to show how much can change when you take one person out of the equation.

I had no idea Pawlenty wanted to run for the Senate. I figured that with Skip as Governor ITTL, Pawlenty opted to run for the Senate instead. Then again, with the "Internet bubble" bursting during a Democratic President's tenure, all Democrats suffer as a result.

Governor Rick Lazio

new governor Thomas Suozzi

Also in regards to the New York Governorship, did Lazio end up serving two terms from 1999 to 2007 (based on Barack Obama's tenure as New York's Attorney General and Ron Brown's tenure as Governor)? Also, is Thomas Suozzi still Governor of New York by the TL's end?
 
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Also in regards to the New York Governorship, did Lazio end up serving two terms from 1999 to 2007 (based on Barack Obama's tenure as New York's Attorney General and Ron Brown's tenure as Governor)? Also, is Thomas Suozzi still Governor of New York by the TL's end?

Yes to both, although Suozzi is effectively a lame duck since he has declared he will not seek a fourth term in 2018.
 
OOU: Odds and ends
Hopefully I don't get anyone's hopes up with this post, but this is a collection of some odds and ends stuff (mostly centered around TTL's 1968 elections) that I've worked on since finishing this series.

Presidential birthplace map
uspresbirthplaces.png


Just a fun little map, with 37 OTL presidents (Washington to Lyndon Johnson plus HW Bush) represented alongside the seven men who didn't become president IOTL who did ITTL.

Notably, the states of California (Nixon), Nebraska (Ford), Georgia (Carter), Arkansas (Clinton), Connecticut (W Bush) and Hawaii (Obama) don't have any presidential birthplaces ITTL. Illinois swaps one IOTL (Reagan) for two ITTL (Pete Wilson and Deval Patrick).

States that don't have a presidential birthplace IOTL that do ITTL include: South Dakota (Humphrey), Maine (Muskie), Kansas (Dole), and Alabama (Riley).

1968 presidential election results by county
onAeNbP.png


A closer look at TTL's 1968 election results. A key caveat is that Alaska didn't record their votes by county/borough, so I couldn't figure out TTL's winners for those areas. Also, some of the Virginia counties changed IOTL & ITTL between 1968 and 2016 (when the basemap I used was created), so hopefully my awful hand-drawing of those old county/independent city boundaries isn't too noticeable.

United States legislative elections, 1968
1968uscong.png


I got to wondering how exactly TTL's 1968 would shake-up, given the measured effects of presidential coattails. I'd seen research indicating that *generally* one percentage-point increase for a presidential candidate correlates to a percentage-point increase in that party's Senate candidates (if a state has a concurrent Senate election) and about one-half of one percentage-point for that party's House candidates. So I applied the changed vote and came up with the changed results in the spoiler below.

House of Representatives
New Mexico's 2nd district (DEM hold)
North Dakota's 2nd district (DEM gain)
Wisconsin's 1st district (DEM gain)

Senate
Kentucky (DEM gain)
Ohio (DEM hold)
Oregon (DEM hold)

Interestingly, the same research indicated that voters have a sort of "balancing" impulse, so that presidential candidates often have negative coattails when it comes to gubernatorial contests. Applying the average changes didn't result in any changes from OTL, so I decided not to bother with an infobox for TTL's 1968 gubernatorial contests.

Two freshmen who become more notable ITTL include the Republican congressman from Connecticut's 4th district (future independent presidential candidate Lowell Weicker) and Republican senator from Kansas (future President Bob Dole). People that were elected IOTL that weren't ITTL include OTL future Attorney General William Saxbe (Ohio), Bob Packwood (Oregon) who IOTL resigned before he was expelled from the Senate, and two OTL Secretaries of the Interior, Thomas Kleppe (ND-02) and Manuel Lujan Jr. (NM-02).
 
I'm disappointed by the lack of a list detailing every single statewide official elected since 1968.

I got you, fam.

Governors of Arizona, 1968-present
13. 1967-1975: Jack Williams (Republican)
14. 1975-2004: Evan Mecham (Republican)*
15. 2004-2011: Joe Arpaio (Republican)
16. 2011-present: Russell Pearce (Republican)

*-resigned due to health issues; last governor unbound by term limits

This is so non-canon it hurts.

Jk, jk. This is good, and a nice little surprise.

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One question:
What is Bernie Sanders doing in this ATOS timeline? (Was he ever elected to the House in 1990?)
 
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