AHC/WI: Bush Wins Both The Electoral & Popular Votes In 2000

Just as the tin says, your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to give Dubya the total win over Gore in 2000, and explain the aftermath of such an event.
 
Just for bonus, should we also have Bush's victory called within the night (no back and forth calling, recount, etc)? That way "red states and blue states" doesn't enter the popular lexicon.
 
Are we talking about a scenario where Bush wins a few of the swing states a bit more definitively (for instance, Florida and New Hampshire) a bit more definitively and thus avoids all those weeks where the winner of the election was in doubt, but still ends up with the same Electoral College results and the popular vote is ultimately still very close? Or are we talking about a scenario where Bush wins states such as New Mexico, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Oregon, taking his Electoral College tally well above three hundred and wins the popular vote by a comfortable margin? Both outcomes would mean slightly different things for the Bush Administration.
 
Are we talking about a scenario where Bush wins a few of the swing states a bit more definitively (for instance, Florida and New Hampshire) a bit more definitively and thus avoids all those weeks where the winner of the election was in doubt, but still ends up with the same Electoral College results and the popular vote is ultimately still very close? Or are we talking about a scenario where Bush wins states such as New Mexico, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Oregon, taking his Electoral College tally well above three hundred and wins the popular vote by a comfortable margin? Both outcomes would mean slightly different things for the Bush Administration.

It’s up to you.
 
Just have the DUI story that dropped over the weekend before the election, not break at all, or break much earlier so he can deal with it.
 
One instance to have him rack up votes is to win the states he lost by less than 1% OTL: Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon, and New Mexico. Ralph Nader ran a strong campaign that caused several states to be extremely close. If Bush can take advantage of the divide that Nader gives as a spoiler to Gore, then you can theoretically see him taking those four states.

Also, you might be able to have him win more decisively in Florida and avoid the recount controversy all together. Perhaps if his brother campaigns for him a little more relentlessly there.
 
Just as the tin says, your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to give Dubya the total win over Gore in 2000, and explain the aftermath of such an event.

Given that Gore only won the popular vote by 0.5 percent this is relatively easy--Gore does a little better in the debates, Bush doesn't say that Gore thinks Social Security is a federal program, Bush's DUI doesn't get out, etc.

It may be that what you're getting at is "If Bush is a clear but narrow winner of the national popular vote, but his Electoral College victory still depends on FL and that state is as close as in OTL does Gore still go for a recount?" In which case, my answer is Yes. Gore may be a bit more criticized for it than in OTL but he still is not going to pass up the chance. But his chances of success are even less than in OTL.
 
I'm gonna go with the classic TL style once more with some butterflies from the Cold War. It's long past due since posting anything like this:

October 4, 1957: USSR launched Sputnik 1 into space, which is the first artificial satellite.

January 31, 1958: USA sent up their first satellite Explorer I into space.

April 27, 1958: Sputnik 3 launched by USSR.

January 20, 1961: Inauguration of President Kennedy.

April 12, 1961: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space and in orbit.

May 5, 1961: NASA's Alan Shepard is the first American in space with a 15 minute suborbital flight.

May 25, 1961: US President Kennedy delivers his speech to put a man on the Moon in the Congress.

February 20, 1962: John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.

July 22, 1962: Mariner 1 is launched, and would become the first probe to fly by a planet (Venus) later. (Butterfly POD)

April 26, 1967: Soyuz 1 disaster.

1968: Apollo 8 became the first manned mission to orbit the Moon. Yuri Gagarin is still alive by the end of this year ITTL. (Butterfly POD 2)

July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 landed on the Moon which is the first manned mission to do so.

October 6 - 25, 1973: Yom Kippur War.

Circa 1974: Pioneer H is launched as an out-of-the ecliptic mission. Project Azorian is a full success with all the Soviet submarine K-129's components raised from the sea. (Butterfly POD 3)

July 15, 1975: Apollo Soyuz test project is launched into space.

September 5, 1977: NASA launched Voyager 1 to the outer planets and beyond.

1984: Mikhail Gorbachev took over the leadership after Andropov's death. As a result of his anti-alcohol campaign Gagarin who is known to be fond of alcohol began to be sidelined and marginalised from their mainstream.

1988: By this point Yuri Gagarin is appointed as a goodwill ambassador and is sent to the US for the job.

1989: China's Tiananmen protests are suppressed violently, resulted in international condemnation and consternation. George Bush became the president after Reagan served only a term.

1991: The Gulf War which saw Saddamist forces pushed out from Kuwait where they invaded earlier. The Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

1992: Bill Clinton won the presidential election.

1993: After some hurdles Yuri Gagarin managed to emigrate to USA due to reduced opportunities after the USSR's fall. He settled in Houston, Texas.

1994: Taliban took over power in Afghanistan.

2000: The Al Qaeda millennium attack plots succeeds, as a result Bush began to capitalize on anti-terrorism to boost his popularity. Then on the same year's election he expectedly won both the electoral & popular votes.

2001: The 9/11 disaster, although the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 successfully overpowered their hijackers and managed to land safely and the scale is much reduced than OTL with the Pentagon not hit by a plane.

2003: Iraq War.

January 19, 2006: NASA launches space probe New Horizons.

October 9, 2006: North Korea explode its first nuke.

January 20, 2009: Barack Obama became the US president.

December 18, 2010: Start of the Arab Spring and eventual civil wars across many Arabic countries.

2011: Osama bin Laden is captured and killed by US SEAL teams.

April 13, 2012: North Korea launched its first satellite into space.

July 14, 2015: New Horizons flew by Pluto.

January 20, 2017: Hillary Rodham Clinton is inaugurated as the President of the United States.

January 3, 2019: Chinese Chang'e 4 lander became the first to land on lunar far-side.

January 12, 2019: Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed granted asylum by Australia after she was briefly detained at Bangkok airport for fleeing her abusive family.
 
Last edited:
January 20, 2017: Hillary Rodham Clinton is inaugurated as the President of the United States.

January 3, 2019: Chinese Chang'e 4 lander became the first to land on lunar far-side.

January 12, 2019: Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed granted asylum by Australia after she was briefly detained at Bangkok airport for fleeing her abusive family.

No current politics please.

To answer the OP, I agree that no DUI scandal is an easy way to do this. Or alternatively Bush does better in the debates and doesn't make a gaffe about Social Security. Either way Bush isn't seen by many liberals as an illegitimate President, and if the election never goes to the Supreme Court then the SC would probably be more trusted by the public at large and by liberals in particular.

Unfortunately though, I don't really see Bush's presidency playing out much differently.
 
@ amadeus: My understanding is it would be fine as long as we didn't veer in too much on it though; one hand can't make a clap but two does. So I gonna respectfully say "no thanks".

It's hard to relate the Chinese lunar lander mission with "Current Politics" though.
 
Last edited:

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
@ amadeus: My understanding is it would be fine as long as we didn't veer in too much on it though; one hand can't make a clap but two does. So I gonna respectfully say "no thanks".

It's hard to relate the Chinese lunar lander mission with "Current Politics" though.
You are clapping. The last post is clearly current.

Cease and desist.
 
I don't see 9/11 happening if the millennium plot succeeds. Security is ramped up and every country that was targeted will go into Afghanistan and disrupt AQ's safe haven.

Security will also be ramped up.
 
I don't think Bush winning the popular vote and the EC in 2000 substantively changes how the early part of his presidency plays out. It isn't like he wasn't able to pass major legislation (NCLB, the tax cuts) despite losing the popular vote. Why would that change if he narrowly won it instead of narrowly lost it? He still had a GOP congress til Jeffords defected.
 
It is possible for Bush to win the popular vote, just have Trump win the reform party nomination, but in that scenario Trump is toast in the long term.
 
Top