Interested to see what you guys might cook up for this.
Presidents of the United States, 1977 - 2004:
1977 - 1981: Gerald Ford / Bob Dole (Republican)
1981 - 1989: Dale Bumpers / Jack Gilligan (Democratic)
1989 - 1990: Harold Washington / Mel Levine (Democratic)
1990 - 1993: Mel Levine / Janet Reno (Democratic)
1993 - 2001: Jeremiah Denton / Chuck Grassley (Republican)
2001 - ???: Janet Reno / John Morrison (Democratic)
In 1976, despite the still-unstable economy and the stench of Watergate still hanging over the nation, a well-run campaign by President Ford- employing his "Rose Garden" strategy while Bob Dole acted as the attack dog and Ronald Reagan made a case to conservatives- managed to prevail over the progressive Congressman Mo Udall. While many were shocked as to how the man who pardoned Nixon was able to eke out such a narrow victory, Ford and his team- or rather, Ford et al's new conservative bent, as mandated by the party base- simply believed that the American people had grown tired of the Kennedyesque liberalism that rigged the economy to crash in the first place.
And thus would begin another four years of interest rate-tweaking, deregulation, and tax cuts for the middle class. To their credit, the Ford administration did help the economy recover, especially as waves of subsidies and slashed regulations- dreamed up by the Reagan-selected, Ford-approved new Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Kemp- brought the energy industry back to life. By the time 1980 rolled around the economy had crawled out of the valley- still not objectively good, but far from the Depression-esque conditions of years prior. However, another crisis would drag the United States back into a feeling of malaise and weakness, this time in foreign policy: the Iran Hostage Crisis. Of course, this went about as well as any tense, diplomatic operation with Secretaries of State and Defense Cheney and Rumsfeld running point would be assumed to go, and by Election Day 1980, the United States was teetering on the brink of war with Iran. When you combine that with twelve years of a Republican administration, it's easy to see how the nation would turn towards the Democrats once more.
Enter Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. A southern, moderate reformer with experience on both the state and national level, his nomination seemed to prove to the general public that the Democrats had learned from the days of nominating the likes of Humphrey, McGovern, and Udall. With the former governor of Ohio as his running mate, the Bumpers / Gilligan ticket crushed the Dole / Pressler one, and cruised to =the White House. To help return the economy to its former, prosperous state, Bumpers greenlit a litany of legislation to combat unemployment, while also increasing the marginal tax rate on the rich to curb the growing deficit and inflation. This, of course, was met with a great deal of opposition from conservatives, such as Ronald Reagan, who sat out the 1980 race, knowing it to be a sure loss for the GOP. However, at 74 years old, Reagan was not in the hottest shape when compared to the younger President in the televised debates, despite his legendary wit. Moderates were alienated by Reagan's more hawkish stances, allowing Bumpers to win yet again. The second term would focus much more heavily on foreign policy, as the Soviet Union lurched its way towards oblivion.
As the 1988 Election season began, the front runner was obviously Vice President Gilligan. However, one too many speeches about how he most definitely saw a UFO turned off voters, and Mayor Washington of Chicago managed to lock down liberals and pull establishment figures into his orbit. Though many doubted whether the nation would be
ready, his optimistic vision for a world with a dynamic, prosperous American economy and a world free of the repressive Soviet Union, in addition to the coattails of a successful two-term presidency behind him, catapulted him to victory and the nation towards a new decade of hope.
So one could imagine the heartbreak the nation felt when on New Years' Day, mere minutes after the ball had dropped, President Washington was slain by a far-right assassin during a public appearance in Chicago. So much for a new decade of hope. He would be succeeded by his Vice President, Mel Levine, a man whose nomination to the number 2 spot was solely to put an moderate-friendly workingman in a position that mollified the establishment. Of course, being the fairly mediocre ombudsman he was, Levine was able to do little to fix the recession that had resulted from the years of contractionary monetary policy that preceded it.
In 1988, the Republican party had figured that the path out of the wilderness was not to nominate a conservative like Reagan or Dole, but to put up a moderate in the form of Governor Tom Kean. However, when lowered conservative turnout saw Washington thrash his opponent, the right wing of the party was ready to seize victory after sixteen years of being shoved off to the side. While the more orthodox candidates squabbled over the economy, Senator Denton appealed to both the suburbanites concerned about violence blocks away from their picket fences and the fundamentalists who though the Rolling Stones were Satan's own messengers. It appeared that this strategy worked, and when paired with doctrinaire Republican financial positions, Denton ripped Levine a new one in the polls. While reviled by liberals, he's admired by conservatives and moderates for his strong stance against illiberal nations in a post-Soviet world order and his pro-family politics.
However, after eight years, it was time for a change. Vice President Grassley's attempt to run on Denton's message had come up short, as there were only so many TV shows left to censor, only so many tax loopholes left to re-open. The nation decided it was time for a new direction, both in the opposite direction from the GOP and in the opposite direction of the Y-chromosome, and elected Former Senator and Vice President Janet Reno of Florida to the office of the presidency.
Thus far, things have been going well. Aside from an attack on the nation's power grid orchestrated by a terrorist cell called Al Qaeda and a wave of far-right governments popping up across Central Europe with a suspicious amount of support from Russian President Vladimir Zhirinovsky, things look to be fine. Not amazing, but well enough. However, is "well enough" enough to win re-election?
