June 2000-The reunited Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is asked to join the Millennium Of Miracles Tour, but choose instead to stay focused on their CSNY2K Tour, but plan to donate the proceeds to the Gore campaign as well. Meanwhile, Karl Rove, Roger Stone and Governor Bush's VP pick Dick Cheney are foaming at the mouth at Cobain's tour and try to gather together their own counter tour of conservative artists and the support of conservative Hollywood icons. The tour, entitled the Time For Change Tour, secures Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, Sammy Hagar and his solo band The Waboritas, the current post-plane crash lineup of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and speeches by Charlton Heston, Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and so on. Rove attempts to secure Kiss, currently on their ostensible "farewell tour", to join in by appealing to the right-wing sensibilities of Gene Simmons. However, the idea is vetoed by Paul Stanley and the band's manager Doc McGhee, especially in light of unpublicized internal strife caused by Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. In the meantime, the Nader crowd grows ever more belligerent and vicious towards Cobain and the Gore supporting tour. The already-falling apart Rage Against the Machine adds gasoline to the fire when various Nader supporters start riots and Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha give separate statements refusing to condemn the violence.
July 2000-The Millennium of Miracles artists videotape a statement which is used at the Democratic National Convention. Along with speeches by President and Mrs. Clinton, as well as Vice President Gore's acceptance speech, many pundits refer to it as "the most energized convention one has ever seen." (ITTL, the Al-Tipper kiss still occurs, but it is far less awkward, and occurs organically rather than be used a transparent prop to distance themselves from the Clintons, which has not happened)
July 21, 2000-Cobain sits for an interview with Wired magazine, discussing the recent changes in the music and film industries. He is quite bemused and hopeful. "Everything's changing at an incredible pace. Right now, Blockbuster is offering a mail service through the Internet to rent movies for extended periods of time and without official late fees, both videotapes and DVDs. They're investing in video on demand, which will change so much. Music is now going digital, and it's a good thing the labels are embracing it so wholeheartedly. It wouldn't do any good to insist only on CDs as the only way to buy music. Not to mention, people still have a love of vinyl. And of course, it's also good that things like The Real World crashed and burned. I can't imagine an MTV with no music."
August 2000-Frances Bean Cobain's 8th birthday is celebrated onstage during the Millennium Of Miracles performance at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. The precocious youngster joins in during Nirvana's set to do some additional guitar that she's learned from her father, and backing vocals. She also jams a bit with the Foo Fighters on Dave Grohl's guitar and drum set, and is carried on the shoulders of drummer Taylor Hawkins. Many call it the sweetest moment of the tour yet.
September 7, 2000-At the Madison Square Garden show, Bob Dylan ends up joining the tour for one night. Dylan breaks with the tradition built up on his so-called Never Ending Tour, and gives a largely hit-studded setlist, though drastically rearranged as usual. Dylan also indulges the whims of Cobain's son Patrick, who asks that Dylan perform the version of "This Old Man" he recorded for the Disney charity album For Our Children. President and Mrs. Clinton appear on stage to give speeches to further support the Gore and Senate campaigns.
September 29, 2000-The final show of the Millennium Of Miracles Tour occurs at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., and is simulcast worldwide on MTV as part of their Rock The Vote/Choose To Lose campaign, the BBC, and various radio networks. The encore starts with Vice President Gore's speech, in which he refers to "this is the culmination of 8 years of peace and prosperity. And we stand on the brink of losing everything that we worked so hard to achieve. This shows what people can achieve when they put their mind to it. If more and more young people put their minds together and got involved in politics, there's no end to what we'd accomplish." The finale consists of all the artists doing a massive finale jam, most notably renditions of "Lithium", "Everlong", "The Pretender", "Midnight Rider", "Up On The Roof" and "Dark Star." By the time of this final show, Pickled Intuition has been released, received universal praise from the critics, spent two weeks at Billboard's #1, and sold 5 million copies. Most attention is focused on the liner notes, in which Cobain dedicates the album to Billie Joe Armstrong, stating that "I feel his presence around me very often. I think his spirit, as such, was what pushed me to make this album and enter the political sphere. Green Day, had it been able to continue, surely would've gone in a direction like this. There was so much more to them than odes to spacing out on the couch while stoned."
October 3, 2000-The first presidential debate occurs at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Vice President Gore is almost unanimously declared the winner. While not quite as stirring and impassioned as his campaign speeches, Gore gives many notable statements, particularly on the matters of healthcare reform, rebutting Governor Bush's economic points, and the recent election in Serbia to remove Slobodan Milosevic out of power, dismissing a desire to have newly-installed Russian President Vladimir Putin mediate the conflict. "The governor's instincts aren't bad, and we should work on a new period of cooperation and peace. But we know nothing much about this man Putin, who he is, what he stands for, or what vision he has for Russia." Gore makes sure to stress when he agrees with Governor Bush, and commends him for his handling of wildfires and floods that plagued Texas over the summer. Governor Bush is faulted by press for his shaky handle of the money for his policies, repeating the phrases "phony numbers" and "fuzzy math" over and over without explaining them, and for his increasing usage of sarcasm during the debate. There are reports of a screaming match between Karl Rove and various other Bush campaign advisors afterwards.
October 5, 2000-The vice presidential debate occurs at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Dick Cheney faces off against Vice President Gore's nominee, Senator Bob Graham of Florida. The choice is partially because of Cobain, but also because of President Clinton's advice. Originally, Gore had wanted to tap Senator Joseph Lieberman, who had been one of the first to speak out against the Monica Lewinsky affair and Clinton's deception. Clinton stated that it would signal a distancing that couldn't be afforded, while Cobain urged Gore not to use him to give credence to the Gores' infamous urging of the censorship of media through the PMRC and attacks on violent video games. Cobain stated that it could potentially sway too many people back to the Nader crowd if they thought their favorite media forms were going to be suppressed. Graham was chosen for his sterling record in the Senate, as well as his appeal to Florida voters. The debate is essentially a draw, and many refer to it as a "snoozefest."
October 11, 2000-The second presidential debate is held at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The debate focuses on foreign policy and hate crimes. Governor Bush asserts that he will be more measured in diplomacy than his opponent, and states of Vladimir Putin that "I looked into his soul, and I saw a man that I can trust." Gore hammers back, stressing again that not much is known of Putin other than his past as a KGB colonel, and that Boris Yeltsin, for all his faults, was essentially driven out in a coup. "For all we know, Mr. Putin could want nothing more than to rebuild the Soviet Union. We must be guarded in dealing with him." Gore finds his strength in castigating Bush for handling the murder of James E. Byrd, Jr., and not allowing the killers to be charged with hate crimes, and also stresses the aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Gore scores another win.
October 17, 2000-The final debate is at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in a town hall format. Vice President Gore somewhat falters a bit because he is not fully used to the town hall format, but is found to be in better command of his facts and have a far more appealing attitude as he answers questions. Governor Bush resorts to cheap shots to trip up his opponent by snorting derisively during Gore's responses, and vamping for the cameras. Gore, for his part, moves to stand right next to Bush to hover over him, which Bush hardly acknowledges. Bush attempts to right himself in his closing statement by resorting to his folksy humor persona by saying "if you want to vote for change, vote for me. If you don't, only vote once."
October 18, 2000-A public press release is made by Cobain's ex-wife Courtney Love, filled with bitter jealousy. In it, Mary Lou Lord is accused of emotionally abusing Frances and Patrick, and states that she is attempting to poison Cobain. The media mocks Love's wild allegations.