(OOC: Inspired by the British and German Empire election threads)
Confederate democracy is much more fragile than US democracy. Traditionally, there was a stable two-party system in place in the CS, the two dominant parties being the Democrats and the Dixiecrats. But ever since the tumultuous 1960's, which was dominated by the Civil Rights movement and the Nicaraguan War, the CS has seen the rise of many smaller third and fourth parties and although there has yet to be a President from outside the "Big Two", countless governors, congressmen, senators, mayors and other political offices have been snatched from the Democrat-Dixiecrat axis by the newer parties. The incumbent president is Virginian Dixiecrat, Harriman Wilburt Lee III, whose administration is widely seen as "unremarkable".
"THE BIG TWO"
John Edwards/ Mitt Romney, Senator from North Carolina/ Governor of Deseret - Democratic
equivalent of OTL US Democrats, traditionally dominated by Southern aristocracy but recently loosened up to include people from more modest backgrounds
Wallace Fitzhugh-Beauregard IV/ Nathan Bedford Forest V, Senator from Virginia/ Senator from Tennessee - Dixiecrat
equivalent of OTL US Republicans minus the Evangelical Christians, still heavily dominated by Southern aristocracy
THIRD PARTIES
Mike Huckabee/ Sarah Palin, Governor of Arkansas/ Governor of Confederate Greenland Territory - Christian Democrats
represents interests of Evangelical Christians, founded in the 1970's but only came to prominence in the 1990's as a result of the Christian Revival, advocates the teaching of Creationism against "Godless Darwinism" in all Confederate schools
Ron Paul/ Bob Barr, Congressman from Texas/ Senator from Georgia - Liberal Party
small government, isolationist, libertarian tendencies, as well as many equivalent policies borrowed from the OTL Ron Paul
FOURTH PARTIES & "ONE-STATE, TWO-STATE" PARTIES
Bobby Jindal/ Michael Landrieu, Governor of Louisiana/ Lt. Governor of Louisiana - New Liberal Party
younger, more radical splinter of the Liberal Party, very strong in Louisiana but weak outside that state
Raul Castro/ Guillermo Richardson, Governor of Cuba/ Senator from Lower New Mexico - Socialist Party
far-left, Latin American socialism, dominant in the Spanish-speaking states as well as in the Spanish speaking parts of Texas but weak outside those states
Storm Thurmond Jr./ David Duke, Congressmen from South Carolina - Segregationist Party
advocates restoration of institutionalized Segregation, vehemently racist
Dexter Scott King/ Jefferson Black, Civil Rights Activists - Civil Rights Party
composed mostly of Black Confederates, formed in the early 1980's as a reaction to lingering racist, segregationist sentiments in the Confederacy