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The New York State Republican Party had tried to sideline him in 1900. They'd dumped poor Frank Black for him when he returned from the war in 1898, hoping that the new governor would be more obedient to the party bosses than Black. Even though a vengeful Black had withheld his support, making the election far narrower than it should have been, the Republicans had still been successful in getting the man they thought would be a puppet elected to the governor's mansion. He'd proven them wrong, of course, and in time the New York State Republicans began to wish that Black was still the governor. The slimy Republican boss Thomas C. Platt, who had brought Black to his position and then replaced him, was desperate to get rid of the rebellious governor. Platt decided to get rid of him by convincing Mark Hanna to choose the governor and war hero as McKinley's running mate. The Vice Presidency was a powerless position; the deceased Garret Hobart was merely an anomaly in how involved he had been in the presidency. The war hero would help the ticket win, and get the pesky rebel out of Platt's hair up in New York. A win for Platt, a win for McKinley. A loss, and, Platt hoped, the end, to Theodore Roosevelt's political career.

But it took more than that to kill the political career of Theodore Roosevelt.

He had known that the bosses, Platt and Hanna and the rest, had been trying to sideline him in 1900 with the Vice Presidency. He had almost refused the nomination, but in the end he gave in and went on to beat Bryan's running mate, Adlai Stevenson, for the Vice Presidency. Vice Presidents had ascended to the Presidency via election in the early days of the Republic. It might not all be over. Roosevelt remembered the day that McKinley died, killed by the surgery for the wounds he received from that madman anarchist. He was sorry for McKinley's death, but he was glad to be the president. He happily thought of the faces of Platt and Hanna and the other corrupt bosses when they realized that the man they hoped to lock away in the do-nothing position of VP had been unleashed. Roosevelt, the American Dynamo, the great progressive president of the United States. His whirlwind presidency had been remarkably successful both at home and abroad, and when he was done, he had passed the White House onto William Howard Taft. Taft had proven to be a disappointment, however, and Roosevelt felt compelled to run against him in 1912. However, those party bosses, Penrose, Barnes, Crane, and Root, they had conspired against Roosevelt and robbed him of the nomination. They thought they had defeated the Bull Moose once and for all.

But it took more than that to kill the candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt, with those honorable people in the Republican Party who saw his great wronging, had not backed down. No, with the backing of people like Jane Addams and Albert Beveridge, Roosevelt had formed his own political party. The Progressive Party, called the Bull Moose party by some, had formed out of the Progressive Republicans, and with Roosevelt as its candidate and Hiram Johnson as his running mate, they were going to contest the 1912 election. In those first few days of the party, when it was still forming and many Republicans were undecided in whether they should switch to the Progressives or stay Republican, Roosevelt knew that he had to get all Progressive Republicans on his side to win. He'd traveled up to Wisconsin right after being nominated to speak with progressive Senator Robert M. La Follette, in hopes of convincing his former rival to join the Bull Moose. It had been in those early days of indecision amongst the GOP, the day that Roosevelt was giving a speech to many Wisconsinites, including their Senator, that crazy John Schrank had shot Roosevelt due to his belief that McKinley's ghost was speaking to him in his dreams. Roosevelt, saved by his eyeglasses case and a speech he had been preparing to give, famously declared that "it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."

Shocked by the assassination attempt right before his very own eyes, La Follette declared his support for Roosevelt right there (he might have begun to regret this decision later after thinking some more, but it was too late to backpedal then). With the news of Roosevelt's attempted assassination being the first real news about his campaign, many Republicans began to feel that Roosevelt might be able to win after all. Certainly in the subsequent rush of support and sympathy for Roosevelt encouraged many progressive politicians stumbled into support for the president. With candidates running for the majority of congressional seats, Roosevelt had many fellow Progressives on his side. Despite the early support due to the early assassination attempt, Roosevelt was still beaten by Democrat Woodrow Wilson in the general election. The progressives won a few seats, but were still by far the weakest party in the House. Many Republicans and Democrats hoped that this would be the end of the Progressive Party.

But it took more than that to kill the Bull Moose.

Roosevelt was broken out of his recollections by one of the Progressive Party officials, informing him that it was now his turn to speak. Giving a hearty smile (less hearty than it could be after the Amazon had tried and failed to kill the Bull Moose), Roosevelt walked to the stage. Looking over the crowd of people, he smiled again and then delivered his acceptance speech for the 1916 Progressive Party Presidential Nomination.
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