AHC: President Oprah Winfrey

So is there any way we can get Oprah Winfrey to become president of the united states bonus notes if her talk show still exists.
 

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So is there any way we can get Oprah Winfrey to become president of the united states bonus notes if her talk show still exists.
Tell her about how good the catering is at the Whitehouse, and she'll be motivated, if her reputed dietary habits are accurate. If she needs evidence, point to the ahem, rather matronly (and formerly rather svelte) Michelle O.
 
1997: Oprah announces her candidacy for the California gubernatorial election the following year, for the Democratic party.
1998: Oprah Winfrey defeats Dan Lungren in the general election, and is elected as the state's first female and first African-American Governor.
2002: Winfrey is re-elected in a landslide against Bill Simon.
2007: Former Governor Winfrey campaigns for Illinois Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic primary for the presidential election the following year.
2013: Former Governor Winfrey is appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services.
2015: Secretary Winfrey announces her candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential election.
2016: Winfrey wins the nomination in a tight race between Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sec. Hillary Clinton. In the general election, she defeats Donald Trump in a landslide.
2020: Winfrey is re-elected, though in a tighter race, against Florida Governor Marco Rubio.
 
The situation has to be just right. Maybe Kerry defeats Bush in '04, but then Kerry is defeated by Romney in '08. Things fall apart like OTL and Romney doesn't handle it well. Oprah then runs in '12 and takes the Democratic nomination and wins the General.
 
Okay. Here is my scenario...

Hillary Clinton bows out of the 2016 Presidential election following a health crisis (Basically the most generic way I can get her out without changing too much). This blows the lid on the Democratic Party's primaries that year. While candidates like Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, Lawrence Lessig, and Bernie Sanders do announce their intentions to run, the lack of a Hillary Clinton not only allows them to perform better in the polls, but it also opens the path to many politicians with ambitions for President to run when they otherwise would not want to challenge Clinton. Andrew Cuomo, Claire McCaskill, Brian Schweitzer, and Christine Gregoire announce in the following weeks their hopes to win the Democratic nomination. The race proves to be just as crowded as the Republican field, and Oprah Winfrey, realizing how much of a threat Trump was, and seeing how ineffective most of these candidates were for the Democratic Party, announced in July 2015 she was running for President.

Already with a dedicated fan base and self-funding her entire campaign to the point that she did not accept any donations, she hoped to make history. With the shock of her announcement still on people's minds at the start of the first debate, she had a breakout performance alongside Senator Bernie Sanders. Despite herself being a leftist, she and Sanders were very cordial with one-another, and supporters who did vote for Sanders saw Oprah as a good alternative. Despite being a close race, Winfrey had the lead for most of the primary season, and over time, she assembled a long list of endorsing politicians. Running on a progressive platform of acceptance, reform, and building on the change Barack Obama began, she hoped to lead a mostly optimistic campaign, and held her attacks on Trump for the primary. Winning the nomination, Oprah announced former NATO commander and Admiral James Stavridis as her running mate, an unusual and unconventional choice that brought much needed military experience to the ticket.

Going into the general election, she faced Trump with stride. Without any scandals trailing her like it would have with Clinton, the Winfrey/Stavridis ticket was optimistic yet serious on issues such as poverty in the United States, and she campaigned in any state she could get, going to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and even traveling through the Deep South to rally voters. Without anything to attack her on, Donald Trump resorted to even more dog-whistling and racial innuendos, only further enraging and motivating minority groups to get out and vote. On election day, Oprah Winfrey would be elected to be the 45th President of the United States, taking Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia while losing Ohio and Iowa.
 
The situation has to be just right. Maybe Kerry defeats Bush in '04, but then Kerry is defeated by Romney in '08. Things fall apart like OTL and Romney doesn't handle it well. Oprah then runs in '12 and takes the Democratic nomination and wins the General.

To piggyback:

Kerry wins Ohio in 2004, winning the EC without the popular vote. The GOP in Congress introduces legislature to amend the Constitution to abolish the electoral college, and the small states that saw their voices overridden by the big states jump on board.

The recession happens in 2007 and the people vote out Kerry, installing John McCain, who inexplicably chooses Sarah Palin as his VP. However, in 2010 McCain dies of a stress-related heart attack, and Palin becomes unpopular very quickly. As a result, she does not seek re-election.

As the Oprah Winfrey show draws to a close, she discusses the unpopularity of Palin and frames it as several things, including a fear that her poor performance will discredit women in public office. The crowd starts a chant of "RUN OPRAH RUN!"

The campaign starts off as a joke but picks up steam. As a result, Oprah Winfrey wins the Democratic nomination. She chooses, I don't know, Jim Webb out of Virginia for her running mate. The GOP picks Romney, Romney shoots off his mouth, and Oprah wins.
 
I hate to bring up Trump PODs since they're all over the thread, but IIRC when he ran in 2000 he talked about naming her as his running mate. Now OTL 2000 doesn't seem like it would've been an opportunity for a strong third-party candidate, but I suppose in a scenario where Trump stays relatively centrist I could see him running as an independent (or even Democrat!) with her on the ticket.
 
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