From Taking on the White House to Winning It: President Rick Lazio

Hello, Alternate History! This timeline will explore a possible path of sending Rick Lazio to the White House. It will be split into six parts, which will be posted in sections: Beginnings, Senate Tenure, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, The Election of 2008, Return to the Senate, and The Election of 2012. I have no current plans of going into in-depth details of his presidency, but if the desire is there, I will.
 
"I, Enrico Anthony Lazio, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God."

On January 20th, 2013, Rick Lazio was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. As he firmly shook the hand of Chief Justice John Roberts, embraced his family, and gazed upon the crowd eager to hear his inaugural address, President Lazio reflected on his thirteen-year path to the White House; how he started by taking it on, and how he ended up occupying it.

Beginnings:
Rick Lazio was debating First Lady Hillary Clinton in the 2000 race for one of New York's Senate seats, and Lazio was attempting to back Hillary into a corner in regard to her refusal to stop taking soft money. "Why don't you sign it?" Lazio said as he pulled a printed agreement from his jacket pocket which would bar soft money donations in the campaign. Hillary responded with a sleazy answer beginning with something along the lines of "I will when you..." followed by a deflection to another issue. Lazio returned the paper to his pocket, flashed a composed smile to the camera, and said, "Well, folks, if it wasn't clear before who the corrupted candidate is in this election, it most definitely is now." Lazio felt confident in his performance, though he would need more than confidence to prevail in this race against Mrs. Clinton. From the beginning, he faced considerable challenges. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had been the Republican nominee for most of the race, but five months prior to the election, he dropped out citing health concerns. Giuliani was replaced by Lazio, who at the time was a young, energetic congressman from Long Island. Lazio knew what laid ahead of him; not only would he be taking on First Lady Hillary Clinton; he would be taking on the entirety of the Clinton White House in an increasingly Democratic-leaning state. Lazio took no chances; he campaigned heavily in Long Island and upstate New York where he knew the majority of his support would be, and he ran his campaign like a well-oiled machine to prevent any slip-ups. He was also able to outspent Mrs. Clinton by over ten million dollars, which certainly aided his effectiveness. When the results came in, everyone was shocked.

Lazio: 3,347,541-49.4%
Clinton: 3,315,499-48.9%
Other: 116,799-1.7%

Lazio pulled off a major upset; he defeated Hillary Clinton and the establishment machinery behind her. Polling after the election showed that Clinton's failure was mostly due to her inability to galvanize the female vote to the extent to which she needed, and Lazio's heavy campaigning in his home turf of upstate New York undermined her attempts to win support there. Even then, the election was extremely close; Lazio only won by half of a percent, and with less than fifty percent of the vote. On January 3rd, 2001, Lazio was sworn in as the junior senator from New York, succeeding Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
 
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