Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes V (Do Not Post Current Politics Here)

[Archangel Michael]

Nebraska with 25 electoral votes?

Flattery will get you everywhere, sir

 

[LeftsideLock]

Nebraska with 25 electoral votes?

Flattery will get you everywhere, sir

It's for well thought out worldbuildy reasons swear

 

[lord caedus]

"X-in-Canada" finishes up with America and heads back north.

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Mitt Romney is a former Canadian federal politician, cabinet minister and businessman. The son of Michigan premier and federal MP George Romney, Romney spent two and a half years in France on a Mormon mission as a young man before returning to attend Brigham Young University in the United States. After graduating, Romney continued his education by achieving a joint MBA and JD program at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Romney would amass a fortune in business and would co-found Bain Capital, the one of the largest private equity investment firms in North America. In 1997, Romney became openly involved in politics for the first time, running as a Progressive Conservative candidate in that year's federal election. However, he failed to unseat the Liberal incumbent owing in part to vote-splitting between Romney and the Reform Party candidate. After his loss, Romney briefly returned to Bain Capital, but retired only a few years later to join the effort to unite both the Progressive Conservatives and Reform's successor, the Canadian Alliance, into one party.

Romney's business skills and deep pockets made him a valuable member of the "Unite the Right" effort and Conservative leader Stephen Harper rewarded Romney by naming him the star candidate for the riding of Birmingham—Bloomfield—South Auburn. Romney won handily and became the Shadow Minister of Finance. Eighteen months later, after Harper led the Conservatives to victory, Romney would become the Minister of Finance. Romney's service would coincide with the 2008 financial crisis, where his calm demeanor and handling of it won widespread praise among Canadians and some credit him and Harper for helping Canada to avoid much of the recession that hit the United States and the rest of the developed world. Romney would also oversee the abolition of the penny, and the bailout and restructuring of the automobile industry (a move that Romney reportedly privately criticized). Talked about as a potential successor to Harper in the first six years of the Conservative government's life, Romney's star would fade after he was reported disparaging Canadians too poor to pay federal income tax, castigating them as "entitled". After an uproar (helped by Romney's own status as a millionaire venture capitalist and son of a former provincial premier) Harper would shuffle Romney to the Ministry of Industry, the last of Harper's original cabinet to leave the post they began at. Shortly afterwords, Romney announced that he would retire in 2015, citing both his age and the abolition of his riding as part of the 2013 federal redistribution.

In retirement, Romney is still involved in Conservative politics, endorsing Paul Ryan in the race to succeed Harper in 2015. He and his wife Ann currently split their time between Detroit and their winter home in the American state of Utah.

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The United States presidential election, 2012 was the 57th quadrennial election to elect the President of the United States, held on November 6, 2012. It was between incumbent President Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum of the Republican Party and several other minor party candidates.

As an sitting president, Obama faced only token opposition in his party's primaries. The Republican Party, on the other hand, had contentious primaries, a result of no clear front-runner emerging before the Iowa caucuses. A drawn-out campaign resulted in Santorum defeating former Speaker Newt Gingrich for the nomination. An outspoken social conservative who had lobbied for the teaching of intelligent design, and on the campaign trail called contraception "not okay" and "a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be", Santorum was by some measures the most socially conservative major party nominee of the post-war era, in comparison to social attitudes at the time of the election.

The campaign was marked by a large increase in spending by super PACs (political action committees), a result of Supreme Court decisions regarding campaign finance in the previous four years. The main issues of the campaign were the economy, which had slowly been improving since the 2008 financial crisis, the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare) and social issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Poll numbers remained very stable throughout the campaign, a fact that observers chalked up to the clear contrast between the two nominees and the cultural divide they represented. Obama would win a comfortable victory, although he would become the first president since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 to be re-elected with a smaller popular vote percentage and electoral vote total. The election made Obama the third consecutive president to win two terms in office, the first such occurrence since 1820. As of 2018, this is the most recent election where a candidate has won a majority in the popular vote and the most recent one where a candidate with different home and birth states lost both (Santorum, born in Virginia and represented Pennsylvania in the Senate).

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The Three River Highway is a major inter-provincial highway that runs from Seattle, Oregon to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A major part of the Trans-Canada Highway and National Highway System, the Three River Highway is one of the most widely-traveled interprovincial highways in Canada, and runs in or through major Canadian metropolitan areas like Seattle, Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities while also crossing through Spokane, Billings, Fargo and Liverpool. At 3,262 kilometers (2,027 miles) in length, it is the longest individual highway in Canada and the only one that runs through five provinces (Oregon, Montana, Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin).

Named after the three major Canadian rivers it crosses- the Missouri, Red River of the North and Mississippi, the Three River Highway first opened in 1962. In 1990, the green and white Trans Canada logo began to be used alongside its unique logo to designate the route. It is designated number 90 in Oregon and 94 in the other four provinces it passes through.

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Spoiler: Notes

• I briefly considered making George Romney the PC leader who contested the 1968, 1972 & 1974 elections, but opted not to. The rationale being that Romney did such a poor job campaigning for the GOP nomination IOTL that he would similarly blow it *here* with something similar to the "brainwashed" comment.
• The results for TTL's 2012 were the based off of Obama/Santorum head-to-head polling from OTL 2012 when Santorum was still in contention for the GOP nomination. The only state that changes from OTL 2012 is North Carolina.
• Rick Santorum really did call contraception "not okay" on the campaign trail.
• Reminder that Liverpool is OTL Madison, Wisconsin.
• The Three River Highway is just OTL Interstate 90 from Seattle to Billings tacked onto then Interstate 94 from Billings to Milwaukee.

X-in-Canada
Minnesota
Dakota
Alaska
Wisconsin
Maine
Oregon
Montana
New Hampshire
Michigan
----
Bhutan (joke)
----
Canadian federal election, 2015; Next Canadian federal election
Senate of Canada; Prime Ministers of Canada
United States presidential elections, 1876 and 1880
Robert La Follette Sr.; United States presidential elections, 1924 and 1968
George McGovern; Gerald Ford; United States presidential elections, 1972 and 1976
United States presidential elections, 1984; Dick Cheney; Sarah Palin

 

[BlackentheBorg]

Why does McCain have a beard?

Came about due to nationwide shortage of toiletries such as shaving sticks, etc. When production kicked up he didn't really bother to trim it.
Otherwise, think of it as one of those alt-earth identifiers, like when Evil Spock had a beard. This is kinda the darkest timeline.

 

[Deloria]

The 2164 United States presidential election

This setting seems really interesting! Where can I read more?

 

[LouisTheGreyFox]

This setting seems really interesting!

Though my question is how come Puerto Rico is not a state yet?

 

[InfernoMole]

So election boxes, especially US election boxes, are kinda like the Dark Side of the Infobox Force to me; and I've never really liked delving into the politics of my science fiction setting, because I think it can detract from what I want the focus to be on. That being said: I've had terrible writer's block, I was bored, and I wanted to challenge myself. So without further ado...

___

The 2164 United States presidential election was one of the most contentious in the nation’s history, with the period from the election itself to the inauguration marked by extreme acrimony. It was the first since the 2076 election to be decided by the House of Representatives. It was the first since 1864, three hundred years ago, to result in a President and Vice President that belonged to different political parties (and at least Abe Lincoln actually chose Andrew Johnson). And while perennial issues such as the economy, taxes, bioconservatism, the environment, and more drove plenty of voters to the polls, more than anything else, the election was about the United States’ role in the Alliance of Terran States, and the ongoing war in the eastern colonies, in particular the War on Ashoka. It was this that was the primary cause of the extreme political tensions, and the ruinous, decisive end of the long “22nd Century Consensus” that had been a uniting force in the country.

Incumbent President Andrés Gutierrez had been elected on a Democratic wave that saw him win the electoral college in a landslide, and enlarged by a considerable amount what had been only a slim Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. His popularity stayed steady through the early years of his term; the Alliance’s War on Ashoka was less than a year old during the 2162 midterm; with its bloody toll on American fighting men and women not yet widely known or appreciated (over 25% of Adelaide Treaty combat forces on Ashoka from 2162-2165 were from the United States, with concomitant share of the dead and wounded), Democrats saw moderate gains in the House and narrowed the Republican majority in the Senate to fifty-one seats, the first time a President’s party gained in a midterm since 2132.

All this changed as gradually, the War on Ashoka began to affect more American families, directly and indirectly. In addition to requesting more American military units be sent lightyears away, the Alliance tried and succeeded in passing a raise on “mandatory contributions” (meaning higher taxes) from terrestrial powers. This was deeply unpopular in many countries; it was no different in America, and President Gutierrez, fairly or unfairly, was widely characterized and not having sufficiently stood up for American interests. Republican Senator David H. Garcia, branded him “Alliance Andy,” and the nickname stuck in certain political circles.

But the discontent went deeper than political point-scoring. The summer of 2163 saw demonstrations, and in more than a few instances, extensive rioting, in major cities, especially in Texas, Oklahoma (both of which were in the midst of a developing regional depression), Kansas, and more. These protests were largely in opposition to size of the American contribution to the War on Ashoka, but many also took on other causes, such as opposition to the contribution hike, and as time went on, a coherent political movement coalesced around former Texas Governor Santiago Odusanya. This movement was described by Governor Odusanya as “broad-tent Alliance skepticism.” Ideological positions ranged from simply wanting a re-examination of America’s role in the Alliance, to wanting a full exit from the ATS. The latter wing, while perhaps not the majority, was certainly one of the louder factions; this contributed to the christening of the movement “America Out.”

But it was not only from this quarter from which Gutierrez came under attack. It had long been bipartisan government policy to overall be “green” on environment issues (even if the two major parties disagreed to the extent of said greenness). However, Gutierrez in particular had promised during his campaign to enact a comprehensive slate of ecological policies, including extensive land reclamation and rewilding programs (particularly urban land reclamation and rewilding) and economic relief packages for malaise-ridden Gulf and Atlantic states, such as Louisiana, Florida, and Maryland. Suffering from shrinking populations and depressed economies, these states broke for Gutierrez in historic margins. However, as the war dragged on, “Alliance issues” seemed to take up more and more of the President’s and government’s attention. The same states that only a year or two before backed Gutierrez to the hilt now felt either neglected or outright betrayed by his lack of action on environmental and related economic issues.

It was fertile ground for the Green Party. Already relatively strong on the local and state level in Gulf and Atlantic states, a national effort coalesced around Natalie Long (of the Long political family), who had held several different statewide offices in Louisiana and a noted activist and community organizer. Under her stewardship, but with the undoubted support of state and local organizations, the Greens ran a series of candidates in local, state, and national elections, and built a formidable on the ground GOTV organization in disaffected Gulf and Atlantic states.

The national Republican Party also took advantage of the political climate, attempting and succeeding in the minds of many as branding themselves as the party of “reasonable Alliance policy” – neither the “spineless kowtowing” of the Democrats, or the isolationist radicals of America Out. In addition to their normal stable of reliable base-motivating issues, the Republicans believed themselves to be on the verge of an unprecedented return to power in all branches of government, but particularly the Presidency, from which they had been excluding since 2152. The Republican field was initially divided, but Senator Jia Williams of Tennessee cleared the field with a combination of charisma, a strong policy-vision, and the experience to back it up.

President Gutierrez, despite undercurrents of discontent from his party, secured the Democratic nomination fairly easily, appealing to both the Democratic base and power-brokers by reminding them of the victories (or so he said) he had stewarded the party to in 2160 and 2162, and playing to misgivings about empowering (variously) the GOP, America Out, or the Greens.

While in almost every campaign of the 22nd century, third parties had been excluded from the high-profile presidential and vice-presidential debates, in 2164, the momentum behind the America Out and Green campaigns could not be denied, and they consistently polled above the needed margin to qualify for the debates. The debates themselves, despite the best efforts of moderators, were often passionate and chaotic, and not just on part of the candidates. Audiences were notably rowdier compared to previous elections.

In the end, the four-way race ended up with no one candidate securing the needed electoral vote to be declared winner of the contest (though the Democratic majority in the House was decimated, with the Republicans gaining a narrow majority, and Democratic seats in California, Texas, the Gulf, and the Atlantic succumbing to America Out and Green challengers. The GOP widened its Senate majority, and America Out elected two senators, and the Greens three). Jia Williams came within three electoral votes of the needed 271. President Gutierrez, though he had the next biggest tally, was nowhere close. The Green Party won their strongest presidential result in history, and America Out, in its first presidential election, won the most populous state in the Union and performed shockingly well. The Greens and America Out together had denied the major parties the presidency for the first time since the Democrat-Republican two party system emerged. For the time being.

Once the result was finalized, the respective political machines went into overdrive. The Electoral College was possible route of victory for any of the major candidates (though Odusanya and Long rightfully doubted their chances of winning over any additional electors). The Republicans in particular went on the offensive, arguing that by virtue of having nearly clinched the electoral vote, and far outstripping any candidate in the popular vote, Jia Williams had won the mandate of the people. But when the date came, not a single elector proved faithless. Each one obstinately pledged their vote to the candidate their respective states had voted for.

This threw the country into a degree of political chaos; though for the average American, especially if tuned out or only interested in the way one might be interested in a drama, life continued relatively normal, the country’s political and pundit class were in turmoil. The election headed to the House of Representatives, and in what Republican elder statesmen Juan Ordonez called “a travesty of democracy and an insult to the American people,” the Democratic majority, in control of enough state delegations, though many were soon to be thrown out on their ears, re-elected President Gutierrez. The GOP majority in the Senate, in 51-48 vote in which only one Democrat defected (and one abstention), elected Senator David H. Garcia to Vice President. The political drama seemed to have ended. The country had a President-elect. Unfortunately for the legacy of Andrés Gutierrez, his second-term as President would largely be a lame duck one, and he would exit office in 2169 with one of the lowest approval ratings of the 22nd century.

__

Production notes: it's the FUTURE so yes everybody, i mean everybody, even experienced politicians are beautiful and attractive [INSERT IDEOLOGY], and yes, I couldn't figure out how to manipulate the wikipedia electoral map for the life of me, and yes, orange and blue color scheme unashamedly stolen from @Archangel Michael with what I hope was his blessing and tacit endorsement of all my behaviors.

And the electoral map:

Orange denotes states won Gutierrez, Blue denotes states won by Williams, Olive denote states won by Odusanya, and Green denotes states won by Long.

How does New York have less electoral votes than North Dakota?

 

[LeftsideLock]

This setting seems really interesting! Where can I read more?

The top link in my sig is to the "main thread" so to speak where everything has been aggregated, and the bottom one is to the story most recently completed in the setting.

Most of it doesn't have much to do with US politics though.

Though my question is how come Puerto Rico is not a state yet?

Independence my dude

How does New York have less electoral votes than North Dakota?

This is about the eastern seaboard more generally, but:

I envisaged it as a combination of factors, but primarily climate change and the effects of the age of colonization. Some of the South suffered similar effects, with Florida and Louisiana in particular being hit very hard. The West Coast has also experienced population decline, particularly California, though to a lesser degree due to an earlier and more vigorous embracing, development, and construction of things like sea walls, dikes, pumps, and the like.

The affects of the age of colonization created a lot of economic centers in the Midwest, Mountain West, Southwest and parts of the Upper South. Newly created/invigorated areas aerospace and space industries led to the growth of the these regions, resulting in more jobs, increased standard of living, etc. This caused an internal migration away from the hard times on the Eastern Seaboard; this initial migration developed into a self-sustaining cycle of migration away from the population centers of the East Coast. As more people left, jobs and economic opportunity grew scarcer, making more people depart, decreasing opportunity even more, and on and on. This also diverted immigration to the more prosperous regions of the country.

The areas of the US that have seen the biggest population growth are the above mentioned Midwest, Mountain West, Southwest, and Upper South. Of special note are Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Arizona and Tennessee, which have seen extensive population growth with Texas being the most populous state in the Union. Other states that have seen great deals of population growth are Montana, Wyoming, Utah, the Dakotas, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Kentucky.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The Torch and the Rose
In which Libertarians become a major party!

[Minor shout-out to @Al Smith For Real, as his seemingly-matter-of-fact statement in an old electoral game of his "There are two parties: Democrats and Libertarians" intrigued me enough to make this whole thing]

2020: In which Donald Trump falls and Amy Klobuchar rises.
2024: Bannon, Libertarians and Ted Cruz all running? Klobucharslide!
2028: President Raúl Labrador, via a really odd route.

And now 2032...

On the surface, 2032 went as expected, an easy re-election for a popular incumbent. But that betrays the shifts happening under the roof. The most obvious sign of the importance of the 2032 election was the collapse of the Republican Party. For many who still stuck to the party in the hope that they could keep it from going fully to the alt-right, Spencer's nomination was a confirmation that their hopes were unfounded.

The three states that voted for Alex Jones in 2028 went their own ways, with Oklahoma and Tennessee voting Labrador while Kentucky voted Gabbard. Another notable thing was that despite Labrador's gains elsewhere he faced a swing to the Democrats in New England as his 2028 voters [who voted for him as a vague protest vote] were heavily turned off by his hardline economic-liberalism and rallied behind Gabbard.

For Tulsi Gabbard, Labrador knew full well that her weaknesses were buried in her past. A history of being a hardline social conservative and a reputation as a supporter of fascism elsewhere, those were expertly used to scare moderate voters to vote Labrador, and some would argue that it ensured the Democrats would fully absorb Appalachia into its column as the swing there was considerably more than expected.

In the end, Gabbard would be the first Democrat since Adlai Stevenson in 1952 to win Kentucky while losing the national election. America's decade-long re-alignment was now complete.

[If the mods say this is Current Politics, I'll move it]

 

[puerto-nic0]

And the electoral map:

That's some pretty drastic long-term population change for Florida to have 4 electoral votes and Kansas to have 32.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

>Libertarian

WICKEDNESS MUST BE STAMPED OUT

 

[Keeganc2020]

I'm going to guess that climate change has made a lot of costal areas and the Deep South to hot and or unstable so people move to the Midwest and the plans ? I guess Omaha has like 2-3 million people

 

[kyc0705]

And now 2032...

There's still quite a conversation to be had in this U.S. if Richard fucking Spencer can win 13% of the vote.

Regardless, great TL!

 

[Keeganc2020]

It's for well thought out worldbuildy reasons swear

Do corn husker nationalist plant bombs on all the costal cities and then reveal a cheap new form of housing development that can be used to house millions of refugees???

 

[Keeganc2020]

There's still quite a conversation to be had in this U.S. if Richard fucking Spencer can win 13% of the vote.

Regardless, great TL!

I'm still supprised a moderate white woman was able to 1 win the Dem nomination in 2020 and 2 beat trump

 

[kyc0705]

I'm still supprised a moderate white woman was able to 1 win the Dem nomination in 2020 and 2 beat trump

Kasich running as an independent and siphoning some of the conservative vote away from Trump definitely helped Klobuchar do as well as she did.

 

[Keeganc2020]

Kasich running as an independent and siphoning some of the conservative vote away from Trump definitely helped Klobuchar do as well as she did.

Even then ... it's almost inevitable that if such a moderate democrat was nominated then some lower level Bernie supporter and or who ever is the " progressive" candidate in the 2020 primaries would launch an independent left wing bid. Especially considering they might reason that republicans would fracture between Kasich and trump enough to safely assure a mainstream democrats victory. Which would inevitably leads to a much higher percentage of democrats not voting or voting third party and it's a repeat of 2016.

 

[LeftsideLock]

That's some pretty drastic long-term population change for Florida to have 4 electoral votes and Kansas to have 32.

I'm going to guess that climate change has made a lot of costal areas and the Deep South to hot and or unstable so people move to the Midwest and the plans ? I guess Omaha has like 2-3 million people

Do corn husker nationalist plant bombs on all the costal cities and then reveal a cheap new form of housing development that can be used to house millions of refugees???

There's a longer explanation a few posts upthread, but I'll write a bit more on the subject.

I would disagree that it's drastic change, in part because it's a long-term shift. It's ~150 years in the future; look at an electoral map 150 years in the opposite direction, and the states with the most population are NY, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with California, Texas, and Florida each sitting at 3-4 electoral votes. But technology changes, the economy changes, sources and destinations of immigrants change, etc., and now those latter three states are the most populous in the Union (with NY sitting pretty at #4, so not everything changes, but I think I've provided a reasonable explanation for why it's population drops, and it even has a kinda-sorta parallel in 2164 Texas). The same type of thing continues to happen in the future - new economic centers, new technology, new patterns of immigration, changing birth rates and all that.

And I suppose for a more metaish-reason, it's a reaction against things staying static? Perhaps it's just me (and thankfully, it's not nearly as common now) but it used to be that back when future and further-future election boxes were more in vogue, often they seemed to have things, at least in terms of population centers, kinda just staying the same - coastal states continue to grow, non-coastal states (with a few exceptions, like Illinois) continue to hollow out. I don't think that will necessarily be the case, and wanted to paint a picture of a future US that while familiar, was a different place.

(But Left, if you're reacting against static conditions, why keep Dems and GOP? Because clearly they must have made a pact with one or several Eldritch beings, how else do both parties survive, variously, the Civil War, the World Wars, the Depression, the Cold War, and our current political acrimony, and more?)

 

[Burton K Wheeler]

The Torch and the Rose
In which Libertarians become a major party!

[Minor shout-out to @Al Smith For Real, as his seemingly-matter-of-fact statement in an old electoral game of his "There are two parties: Democrats and Libertarians" intrigued me enough to make this whole thing]

2020: In which Donald Trump falls and Amy Klobuchar rises.
2024: Bannon, Libertarians and Ted Cruz all running? Klobucharslide!
2028: President Raúl Labrador, via a really odd route.

And now 2032...

View attachment 357836

On the surface, 2032 went as expected, an easy re-election for a popular incumbent. But that betrays the shifts happening under the roof. The most obvious sign of the importance of the 2032 election was the collapse of the Republican Party. For many who still stuck to the party in the hope that they could keep it from going fully to the alt-right, Spencer's nomination was a confirmation that their hopes were unfounded.

The three states that voted for Alex Jones in 2028 went their own ways, with Oklahoma and Tennessee voting Labrador while Kentucky voted Gabbard. Another notable thing was that despite Labrador's gains elsewhere he faced a swing to the Democrats in New England as his 2028 voters [who voted for him as a vague protest vote] were heavily turned off by his hardline economic-liberalism and rallied behind Gabbard.

For Tulsi Gabbard, Labrador knew full well that her weaknesses were buried in her past. A history of being a hardline social conservative and a reputation as a supporter of fascism elsewhere, those were expertly used to scare moderate voters to vote Labrador, and some would argue that it ensured the Democrats would fully absorb Appalachia into its column as the swing there was considerably more than expected.

In the end, Gabbard would be the first Democrat since Adlai Stevenson in 1952 to win Kentucky while losing the national election. America's decade-long re-alignment was now complete.

[If the mods say this is Current Politics, I'll move it]

It's current politics.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

It's current politics.

Noted.