Introduction
(Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at a collaborative TL so if you want to add a response feel free to go right ahead! Just make sure to look at everyone else’s posts to prevent any continuity errors, try to make your posts plausible, and most of all make sure to have some fun!)
Westbound Interstate 4, somewhere between Walt Disney World and Orlando, December 1998
The nighttime calm was rudely interrupted by the roaring of an old pickup’s engine and the shrieking of police sirens. Speeding down the highway at breakneck speed, the pickup’s driver, who had just robbed a small bank and shot a security guard, was in a rush to beat the cops, who were hot on his trail. He tried swerving, weaving, anything to lose them, but to no avail, their squad cars were more nimble than his old beat-up Ford. Time was running out. He had to do something, and fast! He tried swerving off of the highway, in a last-ditch bid to lose the cops. Atleast his truck could go off-road! He veered sharp right, expecting to slide into the field. Instead he proceeded to roll over his truck and land in a ditch.
When he came to he was surrounded by flashing lights. He tried reaching for his pistol, but unfortunately for him it must have been flung out of the vehicle. He decided to make one last run for it. He opened the door, crawled out, and jumped onto his feet, one last dash for freedom! This was short lived however, as he was immediately tackled by a police officer.
When they brought him back to the station, and they identified his name, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Hey Jim, come over here!”
“What is it?”
“Look’s like we’ve arrested the Governor!”
Indeed, they had arrested Jebediah “Jeb” Bush.
Florida Governor’s Office, Tallahassee, May 2000
“Can you explain this again to me?”
“Governor, it appears that due to Secretary Harris’ felon purge program, you’ve been listed as a felon. This means that you will be unable to vote this November.”
“How is that possible?” John Ellis “Jeb” Bush asked, feigning ignorance. He know why it had happened, it was the result of an “unintentional” feature of the anti-felon purge program, which included anyone in several counties whose name matched that of Floridian felons (even when those people weren’t felons) in the voter purge. Although it wasn’t outwardly spoken, the programs true goal was to prevent many people in many counties from voting for a Democrat, by preventing them from voting at all. However it had backfired on himself. Now he himself couldn’t vote in November, and this was nothing short of an embarrassment. He wanted to ask his aide to strike his name from the list, to relieve himself of this embarrassment, but doing that would reflect badly on himself, and risk exposing the whole operation. Maybe he could fix a few of the errors, but leave the rest, to prevent this from happening. That seemed like the best choice at this time.
“I will look into this, we may have to roll back some of our voting reforms to figure out what went wrong, thank you.”
And with that, Jeb Bush had unwittingly doomed George W. Bush’s chances of winning Florida.
Election Night, 2000
“Well folks, after a long grueling night of uncertainty and intrigue, we can finally project with relative accuracy that Vice President Al Gore has won the state of Florida and it’s 25 electoral votes by an narrow margin of roughly 4,000 votes, making Albert Gore, barring any possible recounts, the 43rd President of the United States!”
Vice Pres. Albert Gore Jr. (D-TN)/Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) - 292 EV
Gov. George W. Bush (R-TX)/SecDef Richard Cheney (R-WY) - 246 EV
(I apologize if the POD is unrealistic, if you have any other ideas please pm me.)
Westbound Interstate 4, somewhere between Walt Disney World and Orlando, December 1998
The nighttime calm was rudely interrupted by the roaring of an old pickup’s engine and the shrieking of police sirens. Speeding down the highway at breakneck speed, the pickup’s driver, who had just robbed a small bank and shot a security guard, was in a rush to beat the cops, who were hot on his trail. He tried swerving, weaving, anything to lose them, but to no avail, their squad cars were more nimble than his old beat-up Ford. Time was running out. He had to do something, and fast! He tried swerving off of the highway, in a last-ditch bid to lose the cops. Atleast his truck could go off-road! He veered sharp right, expecting to slide into the field. Instead he proceeded to roll over his truck and land in a ditch.
When he came to he was surrounded by flashing lights. He tried reaching for his pistol, but unfortunately for him it must have been flung out of the vehicle. He decided to make one last run for it. He opened the door, crawled out, and jumped onto his feet, one last dash for freedom! This was short lived however, as he was immediately tackled by a police officer.
When they brought him back to the station, and they identified his name, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Hey Jim, come over here!”
“What is it?”
“Look’s like we’ve arrested the Governor!”
Indeed, they had arrested Jebediah “Jeb” Bush.
Florida Governor’s Office, Tallahassee, May 2000
“Can you explain this again to me?”
“Governor, it appears that due to Secretary Harris’ felon purge program, you’ve been listed as a felon. This means that you will be unable to vote this November.”
“How is that possible?” John Ellis “Jeb” Bush asked, feigning ignorance. He know why it had happened, it was the result of an “unintentional” feature of the anti-felon purge program, which included anyone in several counties whose name matched that of Floridian felons (even when those people weren’t felons) in the voter purge. Although it wasn’t outwardly spoken, the programs true goal was to prevent many people in many counties from voting for a Democrat, by preventing them from voting at all. However it had backfired on himself. Now he himself couldn’t vote in November, and this was nothing short of an embarrassment. He wanted to ask his aide to strike his name from the list, to relieve himself of this embarrassment, but doing that would reflect badly on himself, and risk exposing the whole operation. Maybe he could fix a few of the errors, but leave the rest, to prevent this from happening. That seemed like the best choice at this time.
“I will look into this, we may have to roll back some of our voting reforms to figure out what went wrong, thank you.”
And with that, Jeb Bush had unwittingly doomed George W. Bush’s chances of winning Florida.
Election Night, 2000
“Well folks, after a long grueling night of uncertainty and intrigue, we can finally project with relative accuracy that Vice President Al Gore has won the state of Florida and it’s 25 electoral votes by an narrow margin of roughly 4,000 votes, making Albert Gore, barring any possible recounts, the 43rd President of the United States!”
Vice Pres. Albert Gore Jr. (D-TN)/Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) - 292 EV
Gov. George W. Bush (R-TX)/SecDef Richard Cheney (R-WY) - 246 EV
(I apologize if the POD is unrealistic, if you have any other ideas please pm me.)
