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

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eaglesfan101

eaglesfan101

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Based off my President Infinity Perot game.
 

Temeraire

A random worldbuilding constituency infobox I made for a story of mine.

Constituency1.PNG


Basically, dragons exist, and are communal. They're also concentrated in mining and factory towns, which form the basis of this constituency. Ikedr Nummoc is the dragon branch of the national communists, name translating to "Our (Dragon) Community". Ikedr Eefinu is the main dragon-interest party which has been losing ground to Nummoc, name translates as "Dragons United". The Socdems, Liberals, and Conservatives are what you'd expect, and have bases of support elsewhere, but dragons don't really vote for them. The only other party is "Trev" or the Greens, who like the communists have a semi-independent branch focused specifically on dragons.

This election features the protagonist winning in a shocking upset over Ikedr Eefinu's leader (who is elected on an MMP party list instead) due to a stellar campaign in a safe seat that nobody expected to flip. The swing isn't as crazy for dragons as for other elections, as whole communities vote as blocs, meaning that a good campaign can flip a lot of votes by talking to the right people/dragons.

Any comments or questions are welcome!
 
gap80

gap80

Biden, And His Son Barack
Part 2 (of 3)​

America’s latest leader immediately went about the customary procedures of the situation – he attended his predecessor’s funeral and began to adjust to the specifics of his bittersweet promotion. President Janklow met with military experts to learn what Snelling had kept from him, and nominated Commerce Secretary and former US Congressman Phil Gramm to become the new Vice President, with the Senate approving by a wide margin.

At first, apart from Janklow shifting some policies to the right, things seemed to be returning to "normal" in the US. Then he declared war on Iraq in November 1991, after Hussein invaded Syria in October. Iran stayed neutral, the Ayatollah hoping his country’s two enemies would destroy one another. Janklow found regional allies in Israel, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

In the world of American politics, the Iraq War’s initial high popularity was a blow to Democrats vying for the White House. By late 1991, major party names such as Senators Ted Kennedy and Gary Hart, and Governor Mario Cuomo had declined to challenge the leader of the party of the deceased Snelling, believing the sympathy vote would do them in. So by Super Tuesday, the frontrunner-less primaries saw a crowded field of mostly regional favorites (with former Governor Richard Riley of Georgia, Congressman Dick Gephardt of Missouri, Senator Jim Folsom Jr. of Alabama, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, and Congressman Bart Gordon of Tennessee all winning a sufficient number of delegates, mostly from their respective home states). Only Governor James Blanchard of Michigan, former Ambassador Jesse Jackson of South Carolina, and former Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts managed to rise above the rest; Blanchard won that three-man competition in the final round of contests. At the convention, Blanchard chose Governor Helen Boosalis of Nebraska in an attempt to siphon off Janklow’s regional support. Blanchard believed she would be appealing to frustrated rural voters, which would tip key states in the Midwest and the Rust Belt.

Post-DNC polls showed the Blanchard/Boosalis ticket leading in Iowa, South Dakota, and even being competitive in Nebraska. Polls showing Blanchard in the lead faded, though, as more attention fell on the war. In the debates, In September, a major tactical victory – the toppling of Baghdad – was broadcast across America’s television screens. Janklow was praised for his leadership, and his popularity sharply rose – and just in time for the election, too!

His victory became less than assured, however, when the Washington Post published an expose concering Janklow’s mid-1970s arrest for shooting other people’s pet dogs while driving drunk through a Native American reservation. The expose returned a 1974 rape accusation to the voters’ minds, with the alleged victim being underage and being killed under suspicious circumstances in 1975 making things worse for Janklow. The President immediately filed a libel suit against the newspaper, but in 1993 was denird under the first amendment protecting freedom of speech and press. Several states were very narrow, but nevertheless, enough went for Janklow for him to achieve victory, leading to Blanchard conceding early the next day. The Libertarians failed to recreate their 1988 results.

As his full term began, Janklow broke with Republicans to reform the Franchise Tax on banks, a move similar to the one he made to make up lost state income in South Dakota when he was Governor there. Economic pickup and the implementation of the limited free trade accords with Europe helped the country essentially “break even” in terms of foreign debt in late 1993. Janklow also pushed to reinstate capital punishment at the federal level and to abolish the EPA “for the sake of economic reliance on resource development and to end dependence on foreign materials,” both actions also being similar to ones he made when Governor. Janklow won over establishment support and wealthy donors with his promotion of removing interest rate limits in order to promote foreign investors placing their finances in the US. Democrats accused him of hypocrisy, with one congressman openly claiming “[you] only like foreigners when their rich!” Janklow additionally sough to make good PR out of his success in arguing a 1980 case before the US Supreme Court, marking the first in US history that a sitting Governor argued before that court.

Overseas, however, American troops were remaining in Iraq for vague and indefinite terms. Meanwhile, upon creating the National Security Administration, Janklow chose House Minority Leader Dick Cheney to be its first Administrator. Under Cheney’s advice, accusations of genocide in the former Soviet Union’s Turkestan republics were responded to with a US-led coalition intervening militarily in 1993 (and largely staying around in the area until 1997).

Back in the states, former First Lady Snelling worked with Senator Albert Gore on expanding the use of the inter-net, a far-reaching multi-purpose international technological entity supported by Presidents Biden and Snelling. Their efforts culminated in an unenthusiastic Janklow signing of pro-technology legislation in early 1994.

And sometime around late 1994, former First Lady Ann Biden was enjoying dinner with Joe when she first began to experience some unusual stomach pain. Upon immediate examination, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Thankfully, it was still at an early stage and had not yet spread to any other organs, which meant immediate chemo/hormone/radiation therapy would be required in lieu of a hysterectomy or other surgery. Amidst the health crisis, Ann became an even stronger supporter of healthcare reform in regards to pre-existing conditions and expense deductibility, declaring in early 1995, “As First Lady, I didn’t have to struggle with paperwork, medical bills, and insurance coverage, but that is not the case for millions of Americans who end up spending more time worrying about payments and funds than focusing on getting better.” By mid-1995, the cancer was in remission, much to the joy of the Biden family. The experience convinced Barack to become more politically involved, and ultimately decided elective politics was the best way to go about it…

Back in D.C., President Janklow’s attempt to seat Clarence Thomas, a district judge since 1989 and the Attorney General of Missouri during the Biden Presidency, to the Supreme Court led to associate Anita Hill making sexual harassment accusations against Thomas. When reporters asked him about it, former President Biden said bluntly, “I believe Anita.” Ann Biden concurred. Thomas, however, was inevitably confirmed on partisan lines by the Republican-majority Senate.

A surprise turn in the election cycle came in November 1995 when Victor Atiyeh entered the race as a third-party candidate after judging the impracticality of primarying an incumbent President – it hadn’t worked for Reagan, nor for any politician since 1884. Atiyeh was fiscally moderate and socially liberal, making him too conservative for the Libertarian party, an organization whose offer to be their nominee he kindly rejected to form his own party, the Victory Party. Nevertheless, due to the difficulty in getting the party registered in some states, Atiyeh appeared on the Libertarian ballot in Oklahoma and Michigan instead of the official LP nominee, Harry Browne of Tennessee. Nevertheless, Janklow was opposed by two prominent candidates in the Republican primaries – Pat Buchanan (a U.S. Representative from 1983 to 1991) and Arthur Fletcher (the former Mayor of Washington D.C.). However, those two failed to even make a significant dent in the President’s share of the primary victories, as he clinched the nomination before the end of March.

By the summer 1995, the Democratic field was already crowded, only this time with a clear frontrunner once the primaries actually began. Buzz Aldrin, having won re-election to the Governorship of New Jersey by 67% in 1993, shot to the top of the pack after a surprise New Hampshire win (despite polls showing him in third place behind Governor Paul Wellstone and former Secretary George Mitchell). Aldrin was the presumptive nominee by April. With a campaign focusing on the “kitchen table issues” he tackled in New Jersey, Aldrin won over minority voters and more centrist Democratic voters; he doubled down on all this with the selection of US Senator and former New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya for running mate.

The fall campaign focused heavily on the war effort and the incumbent administration’s many scandals. The Presidential debates were the first ever to feature a third-party candidate, a move Janklow approved of due to his belief that Atiyeh would more strip votes from Aldrin; and Aldrin approved of the move due to his belief that Atiyeh would deprive more votes from Janklow. In the debates, Atiyeh accused Aldrin of “being a driving force for oppressive government overreach” and of being “fuzzy [on] the most crucial issues of our time.” Janklow was much harsher, but also criticized Aldrin with the relatively infamous gaffe “Buzz keeps his head in the clouds instead of on the ground.” The debates seemed to improve Atiyeh’s numbers the most, with Janklow’s remaining stagnant and Aldrin being hurt by his poor performance in the first two. His campaign’s use of snippets from the third debate in advertisements helped boost his numbers as election day neared.

Ultimately, it was the economy, stupidly disregarded by liberal talking heads, that voters focused on when entering the voting booths. Snelling’s 1990 tax reform was indeed generating millions of dollars, and Janklow capitalized on the economic forum right on into a second term. Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio were the closest states. Had Aldrin won any one of them, he would have won in the Electoral College. Attempts from Oregon’s electoral votes to defect to Aldrin’s total were unsuccessful, as was a similar attempt concerning some electors in the Midwest. While Aldrin had lost in the electoral count, it was confirmed the next day that the former astronaut had actually won the popular vote (the first time such an instance had occurred in over 100 years). “At least the whole country finally saw me be the first in something,” he famously replied.

There were many Democratic victories down-ballot in the Senate, where the party almost won back the majority (while the party just barely won back the House). The most prominent races were the following:
Alabama: after winning over Roy Moore, Jeff Sessions and Sid McDonald in the Republican primary, businessman Charles Woods (R) won over Roger Bedford (D) and Charles Hebner (L) in a narrow upset. Woods would serve until his death in late 2004.
Georgia: state Secretary of State Max Cleland (D) won over political scientist Guy Milner (R)
Louisiana: Barack Biden decided to throw his hat into the ring in September and faced accusations of carpetbagging almost instantly. In the jungle primary, the feud between Mary Landrieu and Barack threatened to advance both state Attorney General Richard Ieyoub and former KKK leader David Duke to the runoff. But then, Republican state representative Woody Jenkins entered the race at the last minute and slowly gathered momentum. Ultimately, the GOP vote was split greater than was the Democratic vote (though Duke did make it to third place, missing the runoff by only 8,000 votes), advancing both Landrieu and Bide to face each other in November. Biden won in November with 51.9%, compared to Landrieu’s 48.1%.
Nebraska: John W Decamp, the 1994 Libertarian nominee for Governor, won the Republican nomination in an upset and won over Ben Nelson (D) by 1.7%.
North Carolina: in a rematch of the 1990 competition between controversial incumbent Republican Jesse Helms and former Democratic Mayor Harvey Gantt, Gantt bested Helms thanks to Helm’s close association with Janklow and his unpopular support of false claims and rumors concerning the Biden family.
South Carolina: Strom Thurmond won another term over former Governor Richard Riley by just 1.02%, making it one of the closest elections of the night.

Preparing to become America’s second-longest-serving President, Janklow’s 1997 legislative highlights included cutting property taxes for homeowners and farmers by 30 percent (which was popular) and cutting taxes for the economic top 5% and significantly deregulating federal financial market oversight (which was…controversial to say the least). Meanwhile, some House Republicans joined with Democrats in calling for the Justice Department to look into allegations that Janklow has committed gross misuse of the Presidential pardon by letting several people connected to him off the hook for crimes regarding the alleged misuse of federal funds and federal property during the 1992 and 1996 campaigns.

This move was coupled by the Iraq War becoming increasingly unpopular – Hussein had been deposed in 1992 and tried and executed in 1994, yet the US had still not fully transferred administration duties to the new Iraqi government as local resentment and lingering anti-US military factions continued to plague the US’s alleged attempt to rebuild the country. Then in late 1997, a former White House intern accused Janklow of sexual harassment, returning public attention to the 1974 rape allegations once more. This time, the Justice Department believed there was enough evidence to merit an investigation into the accusations. Remembering the trouble Nixon got into for firing the special prosecutor in 1973, Janklow “kept cool,” as his allies Roger Stone and Ted Nugent would later recall, and allowed the inquiries to proceed. Privately, though, the President’s health was in decline. He began drinking heavily, and his medical need for insulin in relation to his history of hypoglycemia became a larger issue as he continued to abuse his body.

His problems only continued to pile on as his final midterms approached. After the economy recovered from the 1990-1991 recession, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates from 1993 to 1997. This action, coupled with oil price shock, consumer pessimism, and Janklow cutting off trade relations with several minor nations over seemingly-trivial disputes, brought on a recession in August 1998, and the economy would not exit from said recession until April 1999. Still, several tech companies went belly-up during those months.

1998 midterms were a disaster. In the most watched race on the night, former Commerce Secretary Ross Perot (b. 1930; R) lost his bid for Governor of Texas in a landslide to “controversial” Chicano activist Martha P. Cotera (b. 1938; D). Many of the Republicans who won re-election had been willing to openly criticize the President’s conduct, indicating to the rest of the GOP that Janklow had become a liability to the party.

In January 1999, with bipartisan approval, Janklow became the first President since Andrew Johnson to be impeached. Process slowed when Janklow was hospitalized for two days for exhaustion, causing some pundits to suggest that the President should resign, or that the cabinet should invoke the 25th amendment, while others believed the impeachment was the reason for his health scare. Privately, Janklow’s behavior was reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson toward the end of his own Presidency – paranoid and boisterously suspicious of all.

Finally, in May 1999, the vote was held. Janklow was not convicted, but only by a narrow margin. The trial was compared to Nixon’s and Andrew Johnson’s, in that both former Presidents lost the support of their own respective parties, while Janklow retained the support of roughly half of the Republicans in the House and Senate. Disappointed in this “betrayal of un-American elements” within the Republican party, political strategist and Janklow’s former Attorney General Rudy Giuliani founded an alternate moderate-conservative political entity, the Patriots Party – it received practically no attention, not even among third-party circles, until 2012. Other politicians, though, reacted to the results of the impeachment vote differently.

In the Biden family, for instance, Barack was disappointed but not too surprised – he knew from his father’s time in the White House that the executive office and its relationship with congress were imperfect, and that they needed to be presided over by someone whom would not corrupt or abuse their features. Barack soon began heavy contemplation. He had made a family with Majora (their three children – a son, Barack Biden II, known as “Junior,” had been born in 1993, and two daughters were born in 1995 and 1998 – were still very young) but Barack wanted the world, or at least more of America, to be a better place for them to live in. He believed he had the experience to do it, having worked on important bills in 1997 and 1998, and in the 2000 cycle he saw the opportunity to do it, or at the very least, to influence the party platform. Barack was also uninspired by the emerging roster of primary candidates: Governor Jay Inslee was effective at addressing Global Warming but little else; Congressman Dennis Kucinich was too sympathetic to Middle Eastern regimes; Anaya was not progressive enough, Governor Nick Theodore of South Carolina was too conservative, and Mayor Webb of Denver had no national standing. His father Joe supported the idea, saying “the party needs a younger Buzz [Aldrin] who can win over both the establishment and the grassroots progressives.” Ann supported the notion as well. But Barack would only go for it if Majora was onboard. After much deliberation, “Let’s do this” was her reply. On July 2, U.S. Senator Barack Biden announced his decision to run for his dad’s old job of President of the United States.

In August, Vice-President Gramm sent shockwaves throughout the party by declining to run for President in 2000. Republican politicians had been questioning for months if they could be the nominee that could win the GOP a fourth consecutive term in the White House, and already several at hinted at planning on giving the challenge a try, especially if Gramm didn’t run. America’s longest-serving VP deduced that he was not as palatable to voters as other Republicans, and after the election would retire to managing a think tank and investment firms in DC and Texas, making him millions (he later contemplated running for President in 2004 and 2008, but declined each time due to low polling). In a sudden rush, Senator Carruthers, Governor J. R. Thompson, Senator DeCamp and initial frontrunner businessman Fred Thompson as assembled campaigns. After Senator McKernan won New Hampshire only to peter out by March, the ultimate winner of the primaries was pro-death penalty Garry Edward Carruthers (b. 1939), whom was Governor of New Mexico (1987-1991) before becoming a US Senator. He won over the rural/farmer vote and enough suburbanites to clinch the prize by May. Caruthers came under fire for questioning the existence of man-made global weather disruption, calling it “strait out of a Sci-Fi movie,” but that seemed to only win over former DeCamp and Dornan supporters. His campaign’s acceptance of contributions from corporations from the tobacco, pharmaceutical, and nuclear power industries, along with his Senate record concerning votes favoring such companies, also came under scrutiny, but that seemed to only win over former Rell and McKernan supporters – well, that and picking McKernan to serve as running mate.

On the Democratic side of things, Barack Biden prevailed over his fellow Democrats to clinch the nomination in May. After much speculation that Biden would choose the less liberal Bruce Babbitt (Gov 1978-1987, US Sen 1987-1999) for running mate, with even some campaign material being produced promoting a Biden/Babbitt ticket, Biden instead doubled down and chose liberal Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland.

Barack Biden ran on the message of “H.O.P.E.”:
H – honesty (government transparency)
O – opportunity (promotion of entrepreneurialism such as vocational schooling programs; better access to jobs, education, and healthcare)
P – protection (defensive foreign policy and making the police be friends to their community)
E – environmentalism (cap emissions spending and promote domestic alternatives to oil)
The debates were cordial and demonstrated two civil but still contrasting visions for the nation’s future. Polls favored Barack, but there were still some folks who believed Caruthers could eke out a win. Those folks were wrong:

The 1992, 1996, and 2000 Election Results:
JMB7ZJR.png

[ https://imgur.com/JMB7ZJR.png ]

One conservative faithless elector whose son had died in the still-ongoing Iraq War cast his vote for the anti-war Libertarian nominee, former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska. America had elected its first Black President, and at 39, the second-youngest President in history. On inauguration day, Barack and the country bid farewell to the nation’s second-longest-serving President and welcomed in “an new era in America.” Biden’s cabinet in 2001 included Jay Inslee as head of the EPA, David Tatel as Attorney General, and Michelle Robinson as H.H.S. Secretary.

President Barack Biden immediately went to work on legislation and efforts such as education reform. He supported the expansion of C.C. (computer-console) affordability for schools, and promoted programs to train young people in software and hardware services. In protest of Barack calling for programs that she saw as “invasive of personal privacy,” increasingly conservative actress-turned-freshman Senator Jan Smithers of California changed her affiliation from Democrat to Republican. Under “the Second President Biden,” at-risk youth programs were installed at the U.S. H.H.S. Department. Healthcare reform in the form of a newly proposed bill that was a combination of state healthcare exchanges and an extension of Medicaid was the primary focus of his 2001 agenda, though. It bill would lower rates by 15%, and “fix” healthcare premium costs. An additional tax hike on high-income taxpayers was viciously attacked by the right, including billionaire Brian P. Burns, whom quickly became a known talking head on TV as his money vault frighteningly became a little bit roomier. The American Health Care Affordability Act, branded by conservatives as “Barrycare” (referring to Barack’s teenage nickname Barry for some reason), narrowly passed the Democratic-majority House and the Democratic-majority Senate in 2001.

Next, Barack faced the federal budget, as the economic turndown had gutted the government’s revenues and had left safety net expenditures in disarray. Deficit spending on fiscal stimulus contributed to pulling the U.S. out of the last effects of the recession. An economic stimulus package was passed by congress and signed into law in 2001, but critics noted that it essentially ignored the nation’s worsening debt. These cries of ineffective red tape were made moot when Barack, following the unofficial advice of his wife and mother, issued an executive order prohibiting American corporation from using offshore tax havens to avoid U.S. taxes; the order ultimately was held up by the courts. Additionally, in 2002, Barack repealed Janklow’s tax breaks and subsidies on oil, gas, and coal companies, and worked with New York’s Governor and New York City’s Mayor to impose a “Robin Hood Tax” on Wall Street speculators. In spite of infuriated conservative figures such as Rush Limbaugh calling for impeachment, these moved allowed for the nation to see economic prosperity for the rest of the decade, with conditions improving in 2002 and becoming very noticeable by 2003. With the collapse of the Mexican Dollar in 1999, Barack also had to tackle a rising issue concerning illegal immigration that culmination in productive talks with Mexico's President; at around the same time, Barack also implemented tax cuts and other incentives to banks that forgave students loans.

Barack had called for a “New Strategy for the New Millennium” (specifically, a call to end wars responsibly, join the worldwide campaign against genocide and terrorism, search for and destroy all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue nations and push for the eventual elimination of nuclear stockpiles in all nations, and achieve energy security through non-fossil-based means) during the 2000 campaign. He largely kept to this by slowly pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq from 2002 to 2003, singing a landmark nuclear stockpile elimination treaty with the increasingly liberal Russian Federation in 2002, and offering tax breaks to anyone to whom converted their house to electric or traded in their oil-using car for an electric one. However, Barack did leave alone his predecessor’s expansion of internet activity surveillance, which led to a small scandal in 2005. For the struggling companies affected by the 1998-1999 recession, the President agreed to a bailout in exchange for compliance with the U.S. Justice Department’s investigations into the recession’s causes. Several former CEOs were subpoenaed and prosecuted, but received no prison sentences.

President Barak Biden had his first opportunity to mold the Supreme Court’s composition in late 2001, when Byron White (1917-2004) retired. Mirroring his father’s picks of judicial “firsts,” Barack nominated the experienced José A. Cabranes (b. 1940) for the soon-to-be-vacant seat; upon confirmation, he became America’s first Puerto Rican Supreme Court Justice.

The November 2001 saw Democratic sweeps in state legislature nationwide plus Superintendent Joe Louis Clark becoming New Jersey's first Black Governor, while the biggest Republican victory was in Virginia, where former FBI Director George Terwilliger was elected Governor by a narrow margin.

Meanwhile, situations overseas were becoming rather interesting. Afghanistan was still a wreck after the 1979-1986 Soviet invasion, having gone from one system of government and regime to another – including a (different) monarchy (1989-1990) and a democracy (1993-1997) – until 2001. That is when the country fell to an isolationist faction of Islam fundamentalism that looked to North Korea (“the peaceful hermit kingdom,” as the new Afghanistan leader described it) for guidance, in that the faction rejected all “outsiders” and sought to make Afghanistan 100% self-sufficient. For the time being, though, the US had its attention on another, seemingly more pressing foreign policy concern. The U.S. military had to ultimately intervene in another country’s activities for the first time in quite a while in mid-2002, in Indonesia. American-UN coalition forces quickly deposed the radical dictator that had plunged the nation into civil unrest/civil war in 2001, and after assuring a more stable successor had been found, the US’s forces were withdrawn. The American people overwhelmingly approved of this intense go-in-then-get-out method of warfare, and it boosted Barack’s approval ratings.

Despite this, in November 2002, Democrats lost the House and almost lost the Senate in a wave of conservative backlash to the Barack Biden administration. The President soon found himself attempting to reach out to the other side of the aisle, only to be rebuked by Speaker Hastert and company. This essentially crippled Barack’s legislative abilities, and with them smelling the blood in the water, 2003 saw Republican politicians announce their Presidential aspirations much earlier than usual. While Governor Luther Strange of Alabama initially lead the pack, nobody expected the candidacy of conservative billionaire businessman Brian P. Burns of Massachusetts to gain so much attention. But there he was, on seemingly every news channel, attacking the President’s policies while promoting “some good old” views of his own. With an unbeatable war chest, Burns won New Hampshire and proceeded to defeat Strange, Senator Lamar Alexander, Senator Kay Ivey, and (in a surprisingly strong showing) Mayor Tom Laughlin (of the diminishing moderate faction of the party) for the nomination by the first of April. For the second spot on the ticket, Burns doubled down on the “political outsider” image and chose Senator Jan Smithers of California. This was protested at the convention by conservative Republicans unsure of her allegiance until Smithers won the convention delegates over with a speech calling for limited government, albeit adding “within reason” in the less fiery sections. Smithers was approved.

The general election saw Brian Burns and Jan Smithers both flip-flop on several issues, with Smithers being seen by many as trying to hide her liberal past and Brian trying to ignore his old ties to the Kennedy political dynasty and his own elitist habits. For example, in an attempt to show he understood the needs of the working class, he produced a short film showing off his “humble” Boston estate, an idea that backfired tremendously. Barack, on the other hand, capitalized on the growing use of the internet. While the 1996 major party nominees all had campaign websites, the Biden campaigns of 2000 and 2004 were the first to truly utilize the information-spreading capabilities of the communicative tool. This lead to a surge in voter registration and mobilization in the years and months leading up to November 2004. Another element that worked against Burns was the October Surprise that was the allegations of sexual misconduct made against House leader Dennis Hastert.

Burns hoped his numbers would improve in the debates, in which he attacked Barack for failing to adequately hamper the nation’s rising debt and for his increase on taxes inhibiting the growth and freedoms of businesses. In stark contrast to the GOP’s nominee of 2000, Burns openly criticized Biden’s environmentalist policies as the reason for an allegedly still-sluggish economy, and argued Federal regulation impeded entrepreneurial freedom and innovation. Burns’ closing remark was “I would be a tremendously better President than Barry Biden.”

Clearly, the American people disagreed, as Barack Biden won re-election in a huge landslide. A record-breaking number of young people voted, and only the most loyal of Republican states voted for Burns. Texas was the closest state.

While the President celebrated his re-election, he also rejoiced and reveled in the narrow re-taking of the House, which meant he could finally resume active legislative work without Republican sabotage. In the Senate, Native American state senator Georgianna Lincoln (D; b. 1943) of Alaska was elected (and would consider Presidential runs in 2008 and 2012, but decline each time and retire from the Senate in 2022); dozens of other notable Democrats of the liberal and progressive variety won public offices that November, and in doing so ushered in the most left-wing congress in decades.

President Barack Biden began his second term with the primary focus being on energy independence, which in 2000 and 2004 had hit a populist nerve by asserting that expansion into non-fossil-fuel-based energy sources would end America’s dependency on foreign oil, the alleged motivation behind “the Janklow Wars.” Prison reform and crime prevention programs were also pushed; reconciliation between racial groups became a major part of his domestic policy after race anti-riots broke out in response to his election and re-election, to say nothing of the high number of threatening mail letters and not-even-close-to-successful assassination attempts with which the Secret Service found themselves busy. The 2005 “Make the Cops Ours Friends” initiative helped to open a dialogue between law enforcement and those that they are meant to serve and protect.

Such strides for social improvements where suddenly put on hold when FEMA had respond swiftly to Hurricane Katrina after that storm ravaged New Orleans and other parts of the Southern US. Domestic legislation work was then distracted in October, when the American Embassy in Jakarta was hit by a terrorist attack; the US Ambassador was killed along with 21 Americans, the perpetrators being radicals whom opposed the “Americanization” of their country follow the US intervention there in back in 2002. “National security” returned to the front pages of newspapers as war-hawks openly claimed that under Barack Biden the US military was no longer respected overseas, which to them translated to mean that American citizens were no longer safe neither abroad nor at home. This rhetoric helped Republican candidates as the midterms approached.

His second term started with the President supporting the 2006 Anti-Date Rape Drugs Act and the FDA’s outlawing of several steroids such as androstenedione. Attempts to outlaw their production in the US was only partially successful, though, as a 2011 Supreme Court ruling determined that the prohibition of drugs manufacturing violated rights of businesses; fortunately, this decision was reversed in 2018. Before long, a school bombing in early 2006 became a symbol of the rise in domestic terrorism, which, with racial tension broke out in what seemed like a particularly "hot" summer, only bolstered GOP prospects in November.

While the President battled foreign and domestic problems, Ann faced one of her own. After leaving the role of First Lady 17 years ago, Ann had found work at the UN as a goodwill ambassador, and while many wanted her to, she had repeatedly declined to run for public office, though she almost accepted the role of temporary appointee for a US Senate seat in 1992. Instead she founded several charitable and humanitarian organizations. In early 2005, she was on top of the world; then the cancer returned. After a private struggle to beat it a second time, which included a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and a radical hysterectomy that both ultimately failed to root out all of the endometrial cancer, Ann closed her eyes for the last time on December 1, 2006.

The 2004 election results, plus wikiboxes for Janklow and Ann Biden:
vvdygVj.png

[ https://imgur.com/vvdygVj.png ]

Joe was beside himself as Ann was laid to rest in Hawaii. His mother’s passing, however, only gave Barack the drive to ensure that her legacy and the life lessons she taught him would not fade from memory, nor go unheard by the American people.

(E.T.A. for Part 3: tomorrow or so)
 
gap80

gap80

Biden, And His Son Barack
Part 3 (of 3)
(Part 1)(Part 2)​

In the 2006 midterms, President Barack Biden saw his party lose control of both chambers by narrow margins. A month later, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of federally legalized GLUTABO (Gay-Lesbian-Undefined-Trans-Asexual-Bisexual-Other) marriages. Prior to the swearing-in of the new congress, Barack backed further reform of the nation’s pharmaceutical drug policies and managed to reverse the policies of his predecessor in regards to overseeing and coordinating national drug control for the gradual legalization of marijuana, but failed to do more than this during his final two years in office. Barack also faced bipartisan backlash for the unpopular last-minute move of raising federal taxes of fossil fuel production in order to promote non-gas transportation, which lead to a spike in gas prices; Republican congress successfully reversed this action in early 2008. On the world stage, Barack Biden was popular in Europe, especially when the US joined the UK in intervention in the unstable autonomous regions of southern and eastern Sudan in mid-2007. The “Jakarta-style” conflict allowed for the UK’s conservative PM to win a snap election later that year.

Aware that he would be almost 76 on inauguration day 2009, Paul Sarbanes declined to run for President in 2008, content to instead close his political career with the Vice Presidency. This left the Democratic primary wide open to multiple candidates wanting to try to ride the coattails of Barack’s popularity into the White House. Before long, Senator Marjorie Osterlund of Pennsylvania demonstrated linguistic skill and charm in enough early debates for her to rise to frontrunner status in the polls, ahead of fellow candidates California Governor Phil Angelides, Senator Chris Dodd, and former US Secretary of Commerce Bill Richardson. After much deliberation, Governor Clark of New Jersey declined to run.

Then along came Quimby. William R. “Bill” Quimby (b. 1936 in AZ) was initially an author, columnist, editor and publisher on all things concerning big game hunting. His work in combating overgrazing in the 1970s later led to him being appointed to a state committee in the 1980s, which propelled him into Arizona politics, and culminating in his election to the U.S. Senate as a conservative Democrat (or “D.I.N.O.” as some called him) in 1998. A proud animal hunter whom often clashed with Barack Biden, the “blue dog” Democrat seemed very much out of place in his own party, which is what allowed him to win the Iowa primary – and ultimately, the nomination – as the other candidates divided the liberal vote in enough of the early primaries. As his momentum grew, many Democrats came to believe that he was the only Democrat that could retain Texas and the Midwest. Others ridiculed Quimby online for his hunting, and derisively compared him to Maynard “Tex” Quimby, a “trigger-happy” character from the Matt Groening TV Series “Life in Hell” (13 Seasons, 1988-2001) whom Senator Quimby seemed to resemble slightly. By April, Quimby’s nomination was inevitable, and Osterlund exited the race. Facing the possibly-serious threat of progressives walking out at the DNC, Quimby convinced Congressman Alex Penelas of Florida to be his running mate.

Republican primaries, meanwhile, were more crowded, with eight major candidates ultimately throwing their hats into the ring. Rudy Giuliani, Janklow’s Attorney General and an unsuccessful candidate for NYC Mayor in 2005, ran on populist rhetoric; Senator Patty Cafferata of Nevada sought to appeal to low-income blue-collar workers in Iowa who understood the woes of working families despite her mother being a Governor and long-time US Congresswoman; retired General Tony Zinni of Virginia was more conservative than Giuliani but still pulled populist voters from him; former one-term Senator Steve King had a small but “fiery” niche of backers, just not enough for him to be leading in his home state of Iowa; Governor Marvin Bush made a late jump into the race despite being less than a year into office; former Senator Will Romney of Colorado appealed to businesses and moderates, or at least his war chest did. Chuck Hagel ran too.

The eighth major candidate was George Terwilliger. Carrying a hefty resume – US Attorney for the District of Vermont 1987-1991, US Deputy Attorney General 1991-1993, US Attorney General 1993-1997, FBI Director 1997-2001, and Virginia Governor 2002-2006 – Terwilliger focused on white-collar crime and the rise in foreign and domestic terrorism, calling for “a better country and a safer world”. While not as friendly to the big banks as the other candidates due to his judicial work, he nevertheless edged out Romney in New Hampshire in an upset. After lagging behind Romney and Bush (whom ultimately cancelled each other out) in February, Terwilliger “came back” during Super Tuesday and carried that promotion all the way to the number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright in June. At the RNC, held a month after the DNC, Terwilliger chose Cafferata for running mate, in an attempt to unify the party, win over female voters, and neutralize Quimby’s western and conservative appeal.

For the general election, the parties found themselves in the unusual situation of having nominees with a number of qualities that appealed to members in the opposite camp. The Democratic ticket concentrated heavily on domestic issues, while the opposing ticket centered laboriously on foreign affairs. A potential third-party candidate, former one-term (1997-2003, R-NE) US Senator John DeCamp, won the Libertarian nomination and in the summer was averaging in the polls at 9%. Then he opened his mouth, and out from it spewed his beliefs in various political conspiracy theories, including but not limited to “D.C. Pedophilia Ring Cover-Ups under Biden and Snelling,” “Federal Satanism Programs,” and “Dick Cheney orchestrating the Nepalese Royal Massacre of 2000 so the U.S. could collect oil, precious metals, and mineral hidden from underneath the Himalayans.” DeCamp quickly petered out of the public’s attention, and he ultimately received only 1.04% of the vote. Apart from him, the third party tickets received very little attention, even in light of Bill Kristol, co-founder of the Patriots party, dying in a subway derailment in October.

The informal and uncouth Quimby did poorly in the first debate against the refined and reserved Terwilliger, and did even worse in the second, when a fever caused Quimby to appear wooden and distant to viewers (despite informing viewers of the fever, no less). Quimby did considerably better in the final debate, but ultimately it was not enough.

Terwilliger won the popular vote by a fairly narrow margin, and made significant inroads in the Midwest and Northeast. Quimby flipped several traditionally (since the 1980s) Democratic states due to actually being to the right of Terwilliger on some issues, winning four states in the west, plus Florida, and, in an upset, Iowa as well. Texas was the narrowest state, with a recount being needed. Neither candidate had enough Electoral Votes to win the Presidency without the Lone Star State’s, and so for over a week the nation was on edge as paper ballots were recounted. On November 14th, by a margin of just 22,000 votes, Terwilliger won the state, and with it the Presidency.

Biden wished Terwilliger “good luck” and was then faced with the same dilemma Barack’s father, Joe Biden, faced in 1989 – what to do next. Like his father before him, Barack Biden did not stay out of politics for long. At 47, Barack felt that he was “way too young” to retire, and it was not long before pundits began promoting his return to the Senate, or perhaps a gubernatorial bid. Instead, Barack founded some charitable organizations with his wife, and became an active surrogate for multiple democratic candidates for public office during the election cycles that were to come and go. Now, in 2026, Barack teaches law (part-time, of course) at the University of New Orleans.

But back in 2009, President Terwilliger had his work cut out for him. With the support of the majority of Republicans in both Congressional chambers, President Terwilliger increased government overview, first for better and then for worse. Pro-environmentalist policies led to higher fines and greater allowances of investigations to the ire of some in his party. In the sphere of foreign policy, Terwilliger sent American forces to Afghanistan in 2009 and to Burma in 2010, hoping each one would be executed in the Jakarta style. Instead, complications arose in Afghanistan, and Burma put up a heavier fiht than anticipated; U.S. forces wouldn’t leave until 2019, and the forces in Burma would end up staying there until 2014. On the Judicial side of things, Terwilliger managed to appoint Judges Julia Smith Gibbons (b. 1950; R-TN) and Timothy Tymkovich (b. 1956; R-CO) to the Supreme Court in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Then came the recession. While President Barack Biden has quietly and efficiently dealt with a minor recession from March 2001 to July 2001, the Economic Recession of 2009 (Aug 2009 – Feb 2010) was a different matter altogether. While somewhat brief and shallow, major companies remained reluctant to rehire workers in its wake, keeping employment rates lower despite the recession officially ending, and causing unemployment rates to rise again in October. Plus, the rise of automation in some areas lessened the hopes of the recently laid-off.

And if that wasn’t enough, Terwilliger became the second Republican President in a row to have to deal with major scandals connected to his administration. While he eventually had to demand a letter of resignation from several staff members and two low-ranking Cabinet members, the President was personally plagued by claims that under him the FBI’s activities, increasingly edging legality lines, were being left unchecked, if not privately allowed. An expose on how latest technologies were being used to spy on “over 70%” of the US population in their own homes was the Number 1 story of 2010. The President was accused of abuse of power, and the Republicans lost control of the House in the 2010 midterms. When an incident arose involving misuse of funds meant for nuclear waste concealment in Nevada, Terwilliger tried to pin the fault on Vice-President Cafferata as she was that state’s Senator when Barack’s program to redirect all U.S.-made nuclear waste to “one giant hole in the middle of some desert in Nevada” began in 2005. Feeling betrayed, Cafferata informed Terwilliger that she was separating from his administration, arguably to save her then-dying political career (she later served one additional tem as a US Senator from Nevada before retiring from active politics, leaving office in 2019 at the age of 78). Terwilliger, needing to maintain support among the party base, convinced the recently-out-of-office Terry Branstad (Governor of Iowa 1983-1999/2003-2011) to fill the VP vacancy. Soon after, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Swan Mueller III of California, stepped down as well (for an unrelated “betrayal”), and then went even further by challenging Terwilliger in the primaries. For the rest of the year, the President got little legislation passed and once even considered not running for re-election. Instead, he sought out a second term, and in the Republican primaries defeated his former Defense Secretary in surprisingly easy fashion.

There was no way a mere small field of candidates would arise in the Democratic camp, not with these conditions. After an initial whopping 19 candidates, only 5 made it to the primaries. After the “Quimby-lite” moderate former Senator Bart Gordon of Tennessee dominated the field in the early straw polls and won Iowa by a larger-then-expected margin, the Green party’s sole U.S. Congressman, Vietnam veteran Ronald L. Kovic, announced a run for the Green nomination for President. As the primaries continued, though, progressive Senator Lisa J. Brown defeated Gordon, Senator Ned Lamont of Connecticut, former Secretary Shirley Jackson of Maryland, and Senator Baron Hill of Indiana during Super Tuesday, causing Lamont, Hill and Jackson to drop out by the end of the month. Lisa Brown and Bart Gordon subsequently participated in a long and bitter duel for the nomination, each representing the two sides of the party’s critical contemplation – go bold and embrace the far-left, or appeal to blue-collar moderates and independents? Due to the fact that Quimby had tried the latter approach in 2008 and lost, Brown bested Gordon, clinching the nomination in the final round of primaries (held in June). The feud, however, had weakened the party, and so, Brown convinced the relatively less-liberal Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts to become her running mate.

With both major party nominees being “not too conservative,” some felt unrepresented, or at least, that is what went through the mind of a certain gun-loving, God-loving guitarist who decided to finally do what he “threatened” to do in 2004 and 2008. Nugent entered the political scene quite dramatically, latching onto the “Patriots” party and overthrowing the more moderate members and delegates to establish a practically jingoistic populist-conservative platform that would better suit his newfound Presidential aspiration. A breakaway “True Patriots” party failed to gain much attention. For running mate, Nugent chose the equally inexperienced African-American former New York Giants/Cleveland Browns wide receiver and political activist/sports media personality Homer Carroll Jones (b. 1941). However, after just seven weeks, Jones left the ticket over several disagreements he had with Nugent over the extent of healthcare affordability, though the official reason (until the true reason was revealed after the election) was that Jones had to recover from a fall from a stage affecting an old knee injury that required surgery. Nugent quickly replaced Jones with a more experienced candidate – former U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman.

After barely squeezing into the first debate, Nugent found himself unable to answer questions concerning tax brackets and replying to all foreign policy concerns with the notion that “any place can be shot up until it’s okay again.” Towards the end he was as scared and furious as a cornered raccoon, accusing Brown of being a “closet socialist” and Terwiliger of “just being in the closet. His polling subsequently dipped and he was excluded from the last two debates, which saw Brown and Terwilliger give lucid responses to the moderator’s inquiries.

In the end, Terwilliger lost in a landslide over alleged violations of the law, ironic for someone who began their career upholding it.

The 2008 and 2012 elections, plus a wikibox for Barack Biden:
mAoi11u.png

[ https://imgur.com/mAoi11u.png ]

Brown appealed to the Hispanic vote due to the time she spent teaching economics in Managua, Nicaragua in the early 1990s, allowing her to be the only major party candidate to appear as a guest on a Spanish-language TV program. Ron Kovic went from a high point of 15% in May to just 2.79% (3,601,483 popular votes) nationally. Nugent whom received 8.91%, took the moment to rant about the “corruption of the two-party system” and claimed he lost due to voter oppression, demanding a recount in all 50 states (and receiving none). Nugent would later host a TV show from 2014 to 2019, and decided against running for President again in 2016 and 2020 after heavy consideration.

It would be President Lisa J. Brown to finally bring free universal health care to America, signing the landmark bill into law in 2013. Having inspected Cuba’s healthcare system when visiting the nation in 2003, Brown opted to model some of the community-based healthcare system for our own. This opt-in/opt-out form of federal healthcare/health insurance program, coupled with tax hikes on the top 1% in early 2014, created considerable conservative backlash and caused her party to lose the House but not the Senate in the 2014 midterms (in Texas, for instance, state senator Dan Patrick was elected Governor in a landslide). In regards to environmentalism, Brown pushed the nation to increase its usage of “aquaponics” in produce cultivation due to the process (a combination of fish farming with plant farming that uses water and waste from the fish to grow the plants) requiring as little as 2% of the water used in standard farming methods. In geopolitics, the steady rise of China lead to competition with Russia on the global economic stage; there were no major foreign policy issues for Brown to deal with after finally withdrawing American troops out of Afghanistan and Burma. For the Afghans, though, the question remained how to rebuild such a war-torn land. In 2015, a loose federation between the factional regions in the country formed that essentially caused the country to have fifteen presidents at once. This federation is still shaky at best, but with opium becoming legal in some parts of Europe lately, Afghanistan’s financial situation is projected to improve in the near future.

The 2016 Republican primaries saw eight candidates clutter up the early contests, as opposed to Brown winning re-nomination unopposed. After Senator Joe Barton of Texas was taken down by a sex scandal, Senator Katherine Harris fumbled in late 2015 debates, and Governor Clovis lost momentum after losing his home state of Iowa, conservative Governor of Ohio Mary Taylor carried her New Hampshire victory through Super Tuesday and all the way to the convention, ultimately choosing Senator Randal Paul (a resident of North Carolina since working in a medical practice there since the 1990s) to be her running mate. For the first time, both major party candidates were women.

Brown maintained her high popularity due to the increase in life quality, as shown by several 2016 reports circulated by the Brown campaign. Taylor brought forward the usual conservative talking points, but her bid to make Brown a one-term President ultimately failed.

Brown’s second term saw her administration continue to concentrate on domestic issues. With automation replacing assembly line workers with assembly line robots, legislation was passed in 2017 to increase funding for vocational education programs, eventually leading to many former assembly line workers becoming assembly line robot repairers and programmers.

Brown received a PhD from Boulder, CO, was an associate professor of economics from 1981 to 1991 and was a professor in organizational leadership from 1999 until her election to the Senate in 2005; Brown credited these elements for her success in keeping the economy afloat for a record-breaking number of years. Critics, however, called her out for her 2017 rise in taxes across the board in an effort to balance the budget, as the move was very unpopular and allowed for further Democratic losses in 2018. That year’s midterms saw Republicans gain seats in both chambers. That November’s gubernatorial elections saw similar Democratic losses. In Texas, Dan Patrick won re-election by a larger-than-projected margin. The biggest progressive win was when former Congressman Bill Lee (who won 30% in Vermont in 2016) was elected Vermont’s second Green party Governor.

It was the drop in food and fuel prices thanks to the flourishing economy that boosted her approval ratings as 2019 continued onward. To make amends with suburban voters, Brown called for tax breaks on the middle class and called out Republicans when they attempted to block the legislation. The bill was passed just in time of the Senate’s 2020 summer recess.

When 2019 rolled around, the contest for the Republican nomination began in earnest. Governor Dan Patrick, age 70 in 2020, was not the first to enter the race, but as the powerful Governor of a most powerful state, he was the most prominent name in a surprisingly shallow pool and prospective politicians. Born Dannie Scott Goeb in Maryland, Patrick (the name “Patrick” being the middle name of his brother-in-law and chosen for his broadcaster career due to his dislike of his own birthname) was a radio talk show host, sports bar owner, and conservative activist whom served as a state senator from 2003 to 2007, and as the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 2007 to 2015 before election to the governorship. Patrick rode of typical populist talking points, and claimed he would be “tougher on China than even Russia’s being on ’em.” He defeated Governor Dennis Michael Lynch (NY), former Senator Luther Strange (AL), former Senator Olympia Snowe (ME), and businessman Phil Robertson (LA) for the nomination, and, to placate angry former Lynch supporters at the convention, chose Congressman Trey Radel to fill in the number-two spot on the ticket.

Meanwhile, Vice-President Deval Patrick’s only opposition for the nomination came from the young outgoing Governor Mike Ross of Arkansas. After winning his home state in March and no other contests, Ross dropped out to successfully mount a bid for the US Senate. In June, VP Patrick chose for running mate the more moderate freshman US Senator Jim Matheson of Utah over the 45-year-old Governor Jason Carter of Georgia, progressive former Governor Michael Michaud of Maine, and 49-year-old U.S. Senator Fallon Biden of Delaware; VP Patrick saw whom the prospective GOP opponent would be, and opted to try to win away conservative, centrist, and moderate Republicans weary of Governor Patrick’s populism, and to him that meant having a more moderate running mate.

The autumn debates demonstrated how ideologically different the two candidates were; the only thing they seemed to have in common were their names (which was a headache for sign makers, fundraisers and even the moderators, quickly leading to most referring to them as “Dan” and “Deval” instead of referring to either of them as “Patrick.”).

Finally, election night came, and the results were…controversial.

After losing the election despite winning the popular vote by over 1,100,000 votes, Patrick called “shenanigans,” alleging that the candidates’ similar names caused confusion among voters. Subsequent recounts in three states narrowed the results by roughly 2,000. Immediately, Republicans began calling for Patrick’s removal from office, a new election to be held in 2021, a “Senate cancellation” of the Electoral College, and other senseless/desperate attempts to curtail another four years of Democratic rule.

America’s second Black President in history had a much more humble family background than the first Black president; born to and raised by a single mother on the South Side of Chicago, he worked and studied his way into Harvard Law and was made partner at a law firm at the age of 34. He entered state politics four years later via successful bid for state attorney general. In 2000, President Barack Biden appointed him Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights division of the US Justice Department, and served in that position until resigning in late 2005 to launch a successful bid for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006. During his second term, a bid for the Presidency ended after coming in fifth place in the New Hampshire primary, but his early support for Lisa Brown led to him becoming her running mate, and subsequently VP.

As President, Deval maintained and slightly expanded “LisaCare,” increased education funding, focused on lowering national ethnic profiling and police brutality/misconduct, passed criminal justice reform legislation (an explosive 2021 scandal concerning high-profile individuals really helped this get off the ground after lagging since 2017), worked with the National Governors Association to implement development programs for urban/inner city neighborhoods, such as rent charge limits and go-green initiatives (solar panels, rooftop gardens, etc) in order to increase urban life quality, and worked to strengthen affirmative action (still a controversy even today). All while Dan Patrick complained and complained from his 500-acre estate. President Patrick’s biggest accomplishment was raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15.00 per hour in 2023; his biggest failure was promoting states legalizing gambling, which clashed with his inner city cleanup and anti-addiction rhetoric. In 2021, for the first time since in almost exactly 15 years, the government had a budget surplus, which Patrick used to lower taxes, except on gas, which he saw as “an inopportune necessity.” His doubling of the number of refugees allowed into the country from crumbling nations such as the Congo became a “boogeyman” talking point for conservative political talking heads and fodder for conspiracy theorists. In 2023, the federal government declared addiction to “poppy-crack” was a national crisis, and the nation found itself experiencing an unprecedented public awareness/prevention/recovery campaign.

Economically, things could have been better. From December 2022 to June 2023, the Light Recession shook Wall Street. The downturn's arrival ended the longest period of economic growth in American history, much longer than the period between the 1961 and 1969 recessions (which was eight years and ten months). President Patrick presided over a quick recovery, but the long-term effects were still felt by many of his programs.

Once again, Republicans found their party on the outside looking in, contemplating the best way to win the White House. Governor Paul Mango of Pennsylvania offered a moderate route that all the other candidates labelled too leftist, even the libertarian candidates (Senator Thomas Massie of Kentucky and retired General Tony Zinni of Virginia). Governor Larry Rhoden of South Dakota was the frontrunner prior to his trouncing in the debates by a man who until his campaign very few people knew much about – Oklahoma Governor Markwayne Mullin. Mullin (b. Mark Wayne Mullin in 1977 in Oklahoma) was a plumber, rancher, and former professional mixed martial arts fighter when he was elected to Congress in 2012 at age 35 despite the Blue Wave of that year, and then became Governor in 2018 at the age of 41. Mullin’s campaign primarily focused on transportation infrastructure rejuvenation, water and power needs, and economic development, with Native American rights and protecting the environment/enhancing FEMA being more private and personal concerns. Former VP nominee Trey Radel’s bid for higher office in 2022 died before it even got off the ground when a story on his history of crack cocaine use broke on the eve of the GOP primary, and so his primary campaign only lasted for a fortnight.

Along with the economy and taxes, a major issue going into the 2024 general election was American Interventionism. Proposed intervention in Civil War-torn Argentina had been hotly debated since 2021, with the situation becoming more dire with each passing month. Patrick suggested a practically isolationist policy in regards to “troubled spots” which the Mullin campaign successfully used to portray Patrick as being unsympathetic and elitist. After 12 years in the political wilderness, and voters fatigued with Democratic taxes, a Republican was sent to sit in the Oval Office once more:

The 2016, 2020, and 2024 Election Results:
6F5pbUe.png

[ https://imgur.com/6F5pbUe.png ]

Republicans gained seats in the Senate and won back the House. One good win for the progressive Democrats was political commentator, radio show host, and interim press secretary Kyle Kulinski (b. 1988) being elected to the U.S. Senate from New York.

The Mullin Presidency has so far been above-average. The commander-in-chief has received praise for recent transportation renovation bills passed, his libertarian-light approach to social issues, and his use of military forces in Argentina only lasting eight months. The economy is healthy and America’s quality of life is continuing to rise ever-higher. But according to President Mullin’s 2026 State of the Union address, there is still much to do. Indeed, there are rising concerns over medical spending for the 65-and-over crowd, there is a water scarcity in the American southwest, over 100,000 people in the US are homeless, gas and electric car companies are poised for a market “showdown,” and in a long-overlooked crisis, over 4,000 gun-related deaths occurred in the U.S. last year alone…

In the summer of 2026, an 83-year-old man visited Honolulu, Hawaii. He revisited the old spot where he had first met his departed wife, the old home she once lived in, the beaches on which together they used to walk, and the diners from which they would often grab a bite. He smiled, for instead of mourning her death, he celebrated her life – their years together, the family they grew together that now saw the man RemoteFacing his great-granddaughter earlier that very morning, and the plethora of accomplishments that they had made together. Looking back on it all, and optimistic of all of the lasting positive changes that came about from a young man saying hello to a young girl, he knew that if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t change a thing.

Ann and Joe:
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https://imgur.com/XPKJifS.png

And to think that it all stemmed from one student deciding where to go for spring break.​

Fin​

Happy First Day of Spring (and Spring Break (at least for me)), everybody! Choose your actions/destinations wisely!
 

AndrewH

I just learned that John McCain considered defecting to the Democrats in the mid-2000's, and compounded with the knowledge he considered settling down in Pennsylvania after marrying his first wife, I decided to make a really obvious analogue so you wouldn't have to.

Mccain box.png
 

Josh Poynter

2001 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

The opening weekend of the drivers had a chance to get to grips with their new cars. With only Williams retaining their lineup from 2000. Juan Pablo Montoya, Fernando Alonso and Tomas Enge would be participating in their first seasons in F1 while drivers like Olivier Panis would be returning after time out of the sport.

Qualifying saw the McLarens establish themselves as the frontrunners for the year with Mika Hakkinen vying for pole with his new teammate Jarno Trulli. Eventually it was the Italian who won out, taking the first pole position in his career. Hakkinen would have to settle for 3rd after a last gasp lap from Ralf putting the German on the front row, achieving a good on the grid despite his brother's ban lingering over him. The Ferrari's were considerably off the pace, the instability around the team having a negative impact on the car. Barrichello could only manage 4th with his new teammate Giancarlo Fisichella in 5th, half a second behind. Finally, it was the Jordan of Heinz Harald Frentzen that rounded out the top 6, the Jordan looking set for a good season.

2001 AUST GP Quali.png
 
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