Red, Green, and Blue
The first Republican president since 1997, President Kasich attempted initially to both keep taxes low for business and focus on reducing the nation's debt, but soon realized it was impossible. The president then shifted to focusing on deficit reduction as his cornerstone policy shortly before the 2010 midterms.
Despite his own best efforts, Kasich was unable to help the Republicans keep their control over the Senate and their plurality in the House, largely because hardcore conservatives in both chambers immediately began speaking of cuts to all federal assistance programs. Voters quickly latched on to the opposition parties and the Progressives won control over the House while the Senate resulted in the three parties having roughly the same amount of seats, but the Democrats sided with the Republicans and thus a split legislature resulted.
Kasich's debt-reduction policies were tempered by Progressive dominance of the House, but they soon proved to be very controversial with the electorate itself, with Republicans applauding the "tough choices" the government was making while the Progressives deploring what they saw as balancing the checkbook by cutting funding to the most needy and Democrats shifting between the two perspectives.
In 2012, the Progressives picked longtime Delaware Senator Joe Biden, the best of the group who chose to stand against the well-liked Kasich. Biden was as folksy and down-to-earth as Kasich was, and he chose Arkansas Governor Blanche Lincoln as his running mate, cementing the ticket's moderate credentials.
The Democrats reached back and picked former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, who came out of a long political retirement to contest the election. Roemer selected retiring Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, a former Progressive, as his running mate, which saw Bayh kicked out of the Progressive caucus by the furious Progressive leadership in the chamber.
Kasich, despite his controversial debt reduction plan, dubbed "Kasichonomics" by opponents, proved to have one thing Biden didn't have: self-control. Biden made numerous gaffes during the campaign because of his free-speaking nature and he began slipping in more and more polls as both the Republican and Democratic campaigns hammered home the talking point that Biden was "un-presidential" and would not be suited for the office of the presidency.
Kasich won a second term, but with only 39% of the vote. The Democrats had a surprisingly strong performance, pulling in their highest percent of the vote since 1988 and strangely won the solidly red state of Massachusetts after Biden was reported to have denigrated popular former Senator Robert Kennedy, who had recently passed as a "ruthless bastard" behind closed doors shortly after his death in 2008.
Red, Green, and Blue
United States presidential election, 1928
United States presidential election, 1932
United States presidential election, 1936
United States presidential election, 1940
United States presidential election, 1944
United States presidential election, 1948
United States presidential election, 1952
United States presidential election, 1956
United States presidential election, 1960
United States presidential election, 1964
United States presidential election, 1968
United States presidential election, 1972
United States presidential election, 1976
United States presidential election, 1980
United States presidential election, 1984
United States presidential election, 1988
United States presidential election, 1992
United States presidential election, 1996
United States presidential election, 2000
United States presidential election, 2004
United States presidential election, 2008