November 8, 1972
President Humphrey Wins Landslide, Declares Healthcare Reform Will Become a Reality
President Humphrey has successfully shown that his victory in 1968 was no fluke. Winning at least 396 EV, Humphrey has shown once and for all that, to the contrary of political pundits, he is no sitting duck. As president, he surprised liberals by ending Vietnam and he surprised moderates when inflation was reduced, apparently by his actions. Though at the peak of the 1970 recession, it looked like he was about to lose, his actions in the Paris Peace Talks showed otherwise, and the rapid recovery of the economy and decline in racial tensions and crime showed that it was not the case. Though the failure of his first attempt at healthcare reform in 1971 hurt him, it appears it did not do so sufficiently for him to lose reelection. The nomination of Ronald Reagan by the Republican Party galvanized moderate opposition to him in what was reminiscent of 1964, and Humphrey's sunny and optimistic demeanour appears to have contrasted well against Reagan's pessimism, and Humphrey seeming like a man of the past seems to have been largely irrelevant. Running as a peacemaker at home and abroad, Humphrey was able to combat against Reagan quite well. With the Democratic Party winning enough seats in the Senate to break a filibuster, and a supermajority in the House, it looks like at last the Democratic dream of healthcare reform will be a reality, though the form it will take is very much in the air.