Chapter 80: January 2000 – June 2000
“We are all bozos on the same bus, so we might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.”
– Wavy Gravy (OTL)
“The door’s always open,” said the voice; visitors needed to be cleared by the security guards, nevertheless.
Bob’s former Chief of Staff had been curious for weeks. The call kept coming; newspaper editorials, radio call-ins, and good ol’-fashion grassroots-style grapevine-traversing enthusiasm had led to opinion poll after opinion poll. What was Bob’s take on it all? What was going on in his old boss’s mind?
“In the studio, Jimmy,” Jim heard the voice say as he entered the abode, a surprisingly modest lake house, nestled near the banks of a contributor of the Tanana River, more than 20 miles upstream from Fairbanks proper. Jim entered the hall and followed the voice into the large room facing the waterfront.
On the love seat rested Bob’s beau, Linda, who still remembers the scene fondly. In front of a large tripod holding a nearly-finished oil-on-canvas stood Bob. “Hello, Jim, what can I do for you this beautiful morning?”
Jim smirked, “You know why I’m here. You called me, remember?”
“So I did.”
“So, you’ve made a decision, then, yeah?”
“I will admit, America does need a few touchups here and there.”
“That’s a yes, right?” Jim’s face lighted up at the prospect of, let’s say, going national. “Because there’s a lot of issues you can address even if you don’t make it.”
Bob sighed as he zig-zagged a bit of emerald green onto a branch, giving a tree a friend in his unfinished world. “It’s like I tell the painters at home, Jim. ‘We want happy paintings. Happy paintings. If you want sad things, watch the news.’ [1]”
“It wouldn’t hurt to try. I mean, it wouldn’t, uh, knock the wind out of your sails, um, I mean, your doing much better, yeah?”
“Paint a bush, don’t beat around one,” he said gently but assertively.
“Can your body take such an undertaking or not,” Jim said more firmly.
“It’s still in remission, Jim.”
“Well good, because the leukemia would be a major concern.”
He paused for just a second. “I was talking about my political drive,” he said warmly, smiling at the unintentional joke.
Linda giggled at the exchange as well, then left her seat to give her two cents. “I wouldn’t mind another bunch of months on a campaign bus. Heck, I take up less room that your paints.”
Bob smiled at her, then turned back to the painting as he add the final details on the meadow. Some red dots to create roses, and white-and-yellow spots for daisies. Finished; another landscape, beautiful and serene like most of his. Only this one seemed to conjure up an even greater sense of optimism. Light sirrus clouds edged the top of the canvas and tiny acidic leaves blow on by in the meadow. A scene of change, of hope. Bob walked on over to the window, his face now just inches away from the glass. Squinting, he gazed past the lake before him and onto the mountainous terrain beyond, as the morning sun shined its rays brilliantly onto the works of nature. “I guess one more voice defending these majesties wouldn’t hurt.”
Jim smiled.
“We’ll give it a go,” said Linda confirmed.
– Kristin G. Congdon, Doug Blandy, and Danny Coeyman’s Happy Clouds, Happy Trees: The Bob Ross Phenomenon, University Press of Mississippi, 2014
BOB ROSS ENTERS PRESIDENTIAL RACE: Credits Large Draft Movement [2] For Last-Minute Bid
– Anchorage Daily News, 1/9/2000
My past life of stumbling around in a drug-induced haze of ups and downs and highs and lows finally caught up to me at the dawn of the new century. At 65, my haired gone all white, my eyes had become little glasses I kept in a little case in a little zipper pocket so they’d never fall out an embarrass me. At worst of all, my heart was giving out. Heart disease, the cardiovascular menace was wrecking my heart every which-a-way. I couldn’t hide it from my fans; I would sweat profusely, I looked puffy from treatment, and I was exhausted from me and my doctors and therapist worked to keep me at that balance between needing medicine and wanting more. On January 10, I had that on-stage collapse in Houston. The next day, I confirmed what many already had guessed. I had the heart of a 90-year-old man, and he was about to retire on me.
– Elvis Presley’s second autobiography It’s Been All Right, I Guess: My Life So Far Once More, Berkley Books, 2018
…Some of the more technologically-sophisticated Wide-Awakes began the new millennium by targeting school netsites to spread their jingoistic, militaristic, or even pro-violence propaganda. Dubbed “cyber-terrorists” whenever they verbally harassed technetters, the incidents lead to “e-threats” rising in prominence and in seriousness…
– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press (e-publication), 2018
…In other news, an upstate New York man has been arrested at his home in Poughkeepsie for allegedly plotting to bomb the Duchess County Sheriff’s Office. According to several of the apprehended individual’s neighbors, the arrested man held radical views such as supporting eugenics and the use of nuclear weapons as a first-response measure to all conflicts in non-white nations. Local police claim that an assortment of cherry bombs, dynamite sticks, C4, and homemade pipe bombs were found in a raid on his home. The man in question, a resident known by locals for being an active supporter of the Wide-Awakes, a conservative pro-military political organization affiliated with Republican war hawks, was known for previous incidents of public disturbance. He was apprehended because these incidents led to him being observed by local law enforcement under the Mental Health Protection Act passed by New York Governor Cuomo in 1996...
– NBC News, 1/11/2000 broadcast
SECRET SERVICE TO GUARD JACKSON, TAKING UNUSUALLY EARLY STEP
…Governor Jesse Jackson, whose crowds at political rallies across the country have often numbered in the thousands, was placed under Secret Service protection yesterday, a spokesman for the agency said.
The agency authorized the protection for Governor Jackson after consulting with a Congressional advisory committee that reviews security for presidential hopefuls. The decision to assign agents to Governor Jackson, nearly two months before voting even begins in the Democratic Presidential primaries, is the earliest the Secret Service has ever issued a security detail to a candidate. Jackson received such protect when he ran for President in 1996, but not until April, after already winning several primaries.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service today said the agency was not aware of any specific threat against Jackson, and declined to provide details of what had prompted the elevation of security for Governor Jackson.
Presidential candidates often resist security protection until the last possible moment, saying it restricts movement and prevents them from campaigning directly with people. But since Governor Jackson announced his candidacy, he has been accompanied by a private security detail hired by his campaign. Members of this detail also have declined to discuss whether the Governor has received specific threats.
In an interview yesterday, Jacqueline Brown Jackson, the Governor’s wife, said the Secret Service protection underscored the notion that “we are moving to the next level” of the presidential campaign, “including unusually large crowds and attention. Security was one of many issues that I have and will have in the course of this campaign,” said Mrs. Jackson, who has talked openly about fearing for her husband’s safety. “But I’ve thought through in my mind all the possible scenarios and how we’re going to handle it.”
Generally, candidates are placed under security protection around the time they receive their party’s nomination. [3] In the 1996 election, for example, Senator John Glenn received his secret service details in June, days after the primaries had concluded and Glenn was viewed as the nominee-in-waiting...
– The New York Times, 1/17/2000
…In his fifth formal State of the Union Address, held on Thursday, January 27, 2000, Dinger sought to appeal to voters beginning to tire of the warfare continuing on down in Mexico and Colombia. After describing the situation down there as “promising,” he branched off to mention how, “while foreign threats peck at the back of our minds, domestic threats must be addressed as they strike at the live and livelihoods of more Americans every day” – heart disease, STDs, and cancer rates; automobile accidents; knife and gun accidents; and other culprits responsible for unnatural deaths were touched on. In an additional effort to win over voters who cared more for economic/domestic-policy issues than foreign-policy ones, Dinger touted the improvements to the economy that had been made in the months since the nation entered recession, but the fact that DOW Jones had recovered did little to either comfort or win over those still living off NITR and the slashed remains of FJG program instead of the full employment that they had previously enjoyed…
– Edward Gulio Romano III’s LMD: A Study of The Dinger Days, Sunrise Publishers, 2020
AL GORE JR.’S “BELLAMY”: A Documentary On America’s First Female President Shines Light on Misogyny Still Found In Politics
…Al Gore Jr., the documentary filmmaker who rose to national prominence with his 1987 debut “Before It’s Too Late” and the 1990 critically-acclaimed “Get Well Soon” hopes his latest project will “shine a light on the parts of the administration that few people are aware of.”…
– The Nation, progressive news magazine, 1/29/2000
…The book [Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser] was published in 2000. …while attempted to describe broadly the issues concerning the fast food industry and how it impacts American eating habits, the book particularly criticizes McDonald’s. Additionally, while praising the early efforts taken by KFC in the 1970s to improve the quality of their products, the author also criticizes modern KFC more failing to promote healthy eating habits in recent advertising. The debatably scathing attacks were viewed as “a new low” for the company by some but dismissed by others…
– clickopedia.co.usa/Fast_Food_Nation
…On 1 February, when John decided to declassify several million pages worth of military documents, he gave me one simple reason as to why he would do something so controversial at a time when his approval ratings were not too reassuring that he would even win the general election set to be held later that year: “I had to give people the truth!”
John had been inspired by the 1956 book Alas, Babylon, which he had been given and read in 1965 to become more involved in the calls for nuclear disarmament, but from what I gather, it was really the 1975 film adaptation that really lit a fire under him. The movie had never gotten a big screen adaptation until then, apart from being an episode on Playhouse 90 in 1960. But I know that that film, directed by Roman Polanski and Roger Corman, and I think co-written by Rod Serling right before he died, was one of John’s favorites. He used to watch it every time it was available. Theaters, television, and when the Micro-LaserDisc (MLD) became a thing, John personally called the people who made it to get the ball rolling on it becoming available on home video. You don’t do that without really liking the movie…
– Lyn Cornell-Lennon’s memoir, Lennon & I: Our Lives: From Liverpool to 10 Downing Street And Back Again, Thames Books, 2017
“Look around. Look at what we have. Beauty is everywhere – you only have to look to see it.” [4]
– Bob Ross, calling for greater land preservation measures while campaigning in White Mountain National Forest, NH, 2/3/2000
MALCOLM X ENDORSES DIAMONDSTONE!
….calling Presidential candidate Pete Diamondstone “the only true progressive in this race,” Malcolm X traveled to Diamondstone’s home town of Brattleboro, Vermont to give a speech encouraging young voters to “listen to what this man is really saying.” Like the junior US Senator from Vermont, Civil Rights activist Malcolm X has suggested the use of “armed revolution” from time to time, albeit in order to create “natural racial secession,” as X described it in 1967. Mr. X also agrees with Diamondstone that “government should provide, not suffocate; enshrine, not desecrate; and preserve, not decimate,” as X put it in his speech, and that all “responsible Americans” should own “as many guns as they need to keep themselves and their families safe and protected.”
(please forgive the shoddy editing on this picture; I'm already sorry about it
)Above: Malcolm X, endorsing Diamondstone outside of the US Senator’s house in Brattleboro, VT.
Malcolm X, 74, was most influential in the early and middle years of the 1960s decade, when racial disparities persisted after the 1962 Civil Rights Act was passed, and “shoutnik” activism was at its apex. Since then, Malcolm X has only slightly pivoted ideologically – to far-left, from very-far-left – with his persistent support of the Second Amendment – even after the assassination of President Iacocca – and his claims that “the welfare state keeps The Black Man in invisible chains” being his most libertarian viewpoints. He is currently seen as an elder statesman for various socialist groups – even serving as Angela Davis’ 1988 campaign manager. With a belligerent debating style, X has continued to stir up controversy ever since his 1964-65 trial and acquittal for the murder of Louis Farrakhan. In 1998, for example, X butted heads with Al Sharpton and then-gubernatorial candidate Jesse Jackson over Jackson’s support of gun regulation, with X claiming “these kind of laws take away guns from more Black hands than White hands,” despite most studies suggesting X greatly exaggerated the disparity. In another example from last September, X flipped the bird to Wellington Webb for failing to close a major private prison outside of Boulder, Colorado…
– The Boston Globe, 2/5/2000
CIA LINKS MEXICO’S INTERIOR MINISTER TO RECREDRUG LORDS!
Mexico City, MEXICO – Francisco Labastida, Mexico’s former Interior Minister and a leading candidate for President of Mexico, may have just lost his chance for higher office, as CIA officers working with Interpol and Mexico’s DFS have announced that “irrefutable long-standing ties” have been discovered linking Labastida to multiple recreadrug dealers. Labastida has been accused of protecting Sinaloan drug traffickers by overlooking their criminal activities, with connections to the drug lord underworld reportedly dating back to Labastida’s time as Governor of Sinaloa in the 1980s. If true, the case is the most high-profile example of corruption in Mexico yet. As Mexico is a key part of major supply routes for heroin, cocaine, and other dangerous and illegal narcotics, passing into the US, the federal government is coordinating with Mexican agents to combat “multinational crisis,” as Dinger called it in his State of the Union address last month…
– The Washington Times, 2/7/2000
“I don’t get it, John. Jackson’s not as radical as Diamondstone, but he’s still a radical!”
“Maybe people aren’t getting the threat these Mexican cartels pose.”
“What's to not understand, though? I mean, is it because it’s a new kind of war, one where we’re sending in troops to combat criminals instead of other troops?”
“I don’t really know, Larry. But the fact remains that the calls for legalization backed by the likes of Jackson and Wellington Webb are only rising.”
“Maybe we should double down on the message – the Americans can’t allow recreadrug,s and the crime and death rates that accompany them, to become the new norm!”
– President Larry Dinger and Chief of Staff John Dinger, White House transcript, 2/9/2000 (publicly released in January 2009)
‘OUR NATIONAL COMMUNITY’: Jackson Gaining Momentum, Siphoning Supporters, Funding From Fields, Hall, Webb
– The Daily Advertiser, Louisiana newspaper, 2/11/2000
PARLIAMENT SET TO LEGALIZE BLUTAG MARRIAGE!
London, ENGLAND – More than two years after a formal consultation was launched to determine how to best introduce civil marriage for British BLUTAGs into the United Kingdom, parliament’s Marriage Couple’s Act was been granted royal assent – a major stepping stone that will ease the passing of this landmark piece of legislation. In effect repealing the Matrimonial Causes Act passed under PM Powell in 1972, and reversing the Civil Partnership Act and Gender Recognition Acts passed under PM Goodlad in 1989 and 1991, respectively, the Marriage Couple’s Act may very well lead to same-sex marriage being legal in the UK in the very near future. The bill was introduced by Conservative MP Matthew Parris and was sponsored by members of the Labour, LD, and Intrepid Progressive parties. Citing “no credible reason, morally, ethically, mathematically, religiously or logically, to oppose this bill,” PM Lennon approved the draft penned by the House of Commons in January. “Letting people who love one another marry will strengthen, not weaken, the institution of marriage.” The bill also includes wording that is meant to ensure that religious organizations will not be forced to conduct same-sex marriages – wording which may have been a contributing factor in the crown assenting to its passing. “This is a legal matter before it is a faith matter,” explains MP Gordon Marsden (Labour)…
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 15/2/2000
JACKSON, RICHARDS SEEN AS WINNERS OF FINAL PRE-PRIMARY DEBATE; Webb, Blanchard Falter Under Scrutiny
…”Jackson promoted the largest and diverse set of ideas,” says one audience member. Indeed, Jackson’s support for a “Voting Rights For All” Act, “so that all American have the right to full representation,” and calling for all territories to become states or be treated like states in Presidential elections, was well-received by viewers. His support for anti-gerrymandering legislation, and a guarantee of every American voting via Automatic Voter Registration, were also praised. His support for voting rights for those found guilty of victimless crimes, however, received criticism from most other candidates on stage, especially from Senator Richards. ...When the subject of government efficiency came up in relation to the controversial Balanced Budget Amendment, Ross stated “Sometimes you’ve just got to take something that’s well-meaning but doesn’t work right and just beat the devil out of it until it works like it’s supposed to. If there’s a government program that’s iffy, we’ll review it, and see what money’s being used on what exactly and specifically, so we remove government waste and use taxpayer money for taxpayer needs.” …Diamondstone’s gauche remarks – calling for all prison regardless of the crimes for which they were convicted to have the right to vote, and for all workers to have 1 hour of paid time off for every 9 hours spent working – set him apart from the other men and women on the stage, and made even far-left candidates like Paul Wellstone look moderate by comparison...
– The Bangor Daily News, Maine newspaper, 2/21/2000
As the economy continued to struggle, the once-highly-popular PM Ryutaro Hashimoto lost support, and resigned in November 1999; he was succeeded by Takeo Hiranuma, a member of the Diet since 1980 who had overseen several ministries since 1987. …The yakuza were increasingly angry at American and Japanese politicians trying to “run [them] out of business.” While America’s Dinger was not as hardline as Iacocca when to came to Japanese machinations, he was still reluctant to lend Japan a helping hand, at least not one as large as many in Japan wanted them to lend. In response to this, several prominent syndicates dedicated to take a more active approach to local politics. Blackmailing prominent Japanese locals and politicians to promote anti-American sentiments and policies came easy, as such sentiments were already festering; the yakuzas’ action simply brought them up to the surface. Thousands across Japan blamed the US’s belligerence earlier on in the second half of the 1990s for the recession ending their two decades of economic expansion in 1999. Despite the government’s effort to rebuild the national economy without resorting to “backwards isolationism” as Hiranuma called it, the yakuza’s pushing of anti-American politicians, with many of them being from “the hard right” of the dominant LDP, led to several conservatives gaining prominence and influence in Japanese politics. An effort to push conservative members of the LDP into higher positions of power was the subsequent result of this.
Within the LDP existed factions closely aligned with the Uyoku Dantai, an ultranationalist far-right group founded in 1996 and quickly grew in size after the nations entered recession. Calling for more isolationist practices, the group’s most controversial plank was its revisionist view of Japan’s actions in WWII, with many members downplaying or even outright denying several war crimes incidents, and claiming that there was a “self-hate bias” taught in modern Japan’s education centers. This group was also backed by the yakuza, and without blackmail or threats, either.
It seemed the LDP was approaching a leadership crisis, as Hiranuma failed to keep the factions united ahead of new elections.
Enter Shintaro Ishihara.
Ishihara (b. 1932), a friend and somewhat follower of controversial conservative nationalist writer Yukio Mishima, was one of the most prominent conservative/right-wing politicians in Japan’s Diet, having served in the House of Representatives from Tokyo since 1972. A Liberal Democrat with independent tendencies, he was the one who authored the 1989 book “The Japan That Can Say No,” which called on his countryman to “stand up” to the US. Many analysts believe this and other works promoted anti-US business practices in the late 1980s and early 1990s – practices that had led to Lee Iacocca running for President in 1992. Seeing a chance to “lead the party in a better direction,” he worked with the hard-right factions of the LDP to become their unofficial leader, and reached out to more moderate members of the party in the hopes of forming an anti-Hiranuma coalition.
Most Diet members, however, were not that interested in throwing Hiranuma under the bus until another major scandal hit the presses. It was discovered that Hiranuma’s son-in-law was embezzling funds from a Hokkaido construction company. In a moment reminiscent of the Lockheed bribery scandals of yesteryear [5], the scandal rocked Hiranuma’s administration and was embarrassing at a multi-national level.
Four weeks later and Hiranuma had failed to bounce back from the scandal. In a leader confidence vote, Hiranuma was rejected from the office of Prime Minister and replaced with Ishihara.
Two weeks after that, on February 28, 2000, the general election was held. Ishihara increased the number of the LDP’s seats, besting several opposing parties. The most prominent of his challengers were Yukio Hatomaya of the Democratic Party, and 85-year-old Kaname Harada of the Socialist Party (Harada was WWII veteran whom, due to the grief of him killing, opened a kindergarten and became an anti-war activist)…
– Alec Dubro and David E. Kaplan’s Yakuza: Japan’s Criminal Underworld, University of California Press, 2003
…After less than two years, KFC began considering ending the production and broadcasting of the “Cartoon Colonel” commercials, voiced by Oscar winner Randy Quaid, as many older customers were still calling in to complain that the portrayal was disrespectful to the Colonel. “But even his kids liked it,” argued Quaid in a 2000 meeting at KFC advertising division. “Well the silly old grannies who remember the Colonel and the conservative are still having a hard-o for the old man don’t. They may not be the majority, but a minority group always get their way when they’re this loud and annoying,” was the answer he received, according to his autobiography. After this, Quaid met with FJC CEO J. A. Collins to make his case that the cartoon series was popular, saying “Only people who aren’t satisfied pick up the phone to call management nowadays.” Quaid also took to the technet, where he discovered that younger consumers were more supportive to keeping the “Cartoon Colonel” “character” around. Some technetters even suspected that it would receive his own cartoon spinoff series, similar to what had happened to the mascot of the SpongeBob’s seafood restaurant chain. However, Collins came to the conclusion that it was these rumors of the TV series that was fueling the rise in “anti-CC” backlash. On February 28, the KFC confirmed in a public announcement that the company had no intention of, or plans to, create a TV series based on the Cartoon Colonel. Based on post-announcement technet forum discussions and other trends, the announcement disappointed some younger customers, but seemed to have contributed to a drop in anti-CC complaints…
– Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation Revisited: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012
COYLE SUSPENDS PRESIDENTIAL BID AMID POOR POLLING, DRIED-UP FUNDS; ENDORSES WELLSTONE
– The Minnesota Daily, side article, 3/1/2000
…On March 2, 2000, a shipment of cocaine was apprehended 20 miles south of El Paso by anti-narcotics officers from both sides of the border. The Dinger administration made sure to capitalize on the event, calling it “just another victory” in their ongoing fight to stem the flow of drugs into the US. The uptick in Dinger’s approval ratings significantly took the steam out of former Senator Paul’s anti-incumbent tires just days before the nation’s New Hampshire Presidential primaries…
– Stephanie Wayne’s 2000: The Millennium Election, Random House, 2019
WELLSTONE WINS GRANITE STATE IN FIRST-IN-THE-NATION PRIMARY
…on the Republican side, Dinger defeated challenger Ron Paul in a landslide; the President received 94.3% of the vote, compared to Paul, 5.2%; the remaining percentage went a several minor and write-in candidates…
– The New Hampshire Union Leader, 3/7/2000
JUSTICE EDWARD H. LEVI DIES AT 88: Sanders Appointee Walked Line Between Left And Right Factions In Supreme Court
…The associate justice, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, was planning to retire next January…
– The Washington Post, 3/9/2000
WASHINGTON STATE PASSES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE!
– The Los Angeles Times, 3/10/2000
…In order to boost the economy and lower unemployment, the Korean government launched The Reconnection Project in 1999, which saw the building of rail lines and roadways on the peninsula, some of whom even cut through selected parts of the DMZ in order to better physically connect the two regions. Maglev train construction increased during the period, with workers breaking ground on one in Pyongyang in March 2000…
– John Wood’s Travel Technology: Maglev Trains, Hovercrafts, And More, Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2019
– Jesse Jackson on horseback, while campaigning in Ely, NV, ahead of the March 14 Nevada caucus, 3/12/2000
“As president, I would make Congress have to retire on Social Security and Medicare. You know that those programs would suddenly become funded and fixed to work right if I did that, or if any President did that!”
– Peter Diamondstone, 3/13/2000
…The clock past midnight forty minutes ago, but it looks like we can only now call Nevada for Senator Richards. The narrowness of this primary, once thought to be a surefire win for Richards, really shows the strength of the Reverend Governor’s Rainbow Coalition, as pro-Jackson Hispanic voters may have outnumbered pro-Clemente Hispanic voters tonight – er, uh, last night. Again, to recap: Senator Ann Richards has clinched the Presidential Democratic Primary in Nevada, with Jesse Jackson outperforming with a close second finish, and Roberto Clemente coming in third. …In a major update, Senator Diamondstone has won a plurality of votes in his home state. However, due to the delegate math, it is likely that he and second-place finisher Paul Wellstone will have an even number of delegates, if not one more delegate than Diamondstone...
– ABC News, 3/15/2000
…Dinger’s second Supreme Court appointment pushed the bench’s composition even further to the center. On March 15, 2000, Dinger surprises analysts by nominating 52-year-old Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Emilio Miller Garza of Texas, after high-profile attorney-at-law/public defender Barry Scheck of California was repeatedly floated to be an “outsider” favorite. Two other major rumored candidates for the nomination had been Dana Sabraw, a 42-year-old half-Japanese Judge of the San Diego County Superior Court who had a moderate-to-conservative judicial record, and – in what was retrospectively a longshot – John Paul Kennedy, a prominent (but 34-year-old) Mormon law expert who twice argued before the Supreme Court as a lawyer before joining the Utah state’s third district court in 1997. Garza was the first very Hispanic/Latino-American to be nominated for a Supreme Court seat…
– Linda Greenhouse and Morton J. Horwitz’s Upholding Liberty: The Supreme Court Under Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson, Sunrise Publishing, 2019
The HWB Team: The Aberrant Campaign of Harry W. Braun
…the junior US Senator from Arizona has gathered a small but fierce and loyal following of supporters. Compiled mainly of a diverse collection of technology enthusiasts, environmentalists, and elderly peaceniks, these “braunsters” are intrigued by Braun’s hydrogen-based energy proposals, which Braun claims would lower unemployment and replace fossil fuels with a more Earth-friendly global energy source. “He’s totally not a single-issue candidate,” says his campaign’s western states field organizer. “the utilizing of hydrogen product would lower energy costs, freeing up money for taxpayers to spend and thus improve the quality of life overall.” Braun’s middle-tier showing in most polls do little to deter the candidate’s most loyal backers, who believe he will pull of a major upset in the March Cluster despite his eighth-place showing in New Hampshire and his sixth-place finish in Nevada...
– Newsweek, mid-March 2000 issue
WEBB SEEN AS BIGGEST LOSER ON LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE IN SAVANNAH: Fumbled on Mary Jane Questions, Repeated Rehearsed Lines Twice
– The Augusta Chronicle, Georgia newspaper, 3/16/2000
…March 21 saw GOP and Democratic primaries be held in Georgia and Maryland. Dinger received over 90% in both, while Paul received less than 10% in both. The Democrats, meanwhile, saw a much more contentious race unfold in Georgia, where several candidates fought to win over Black voters. In the end, Jackson won the primary. Congressman Leland, having underperformed in the contest, immediately dropped out to endorse Jackson in a showing a party unity. In Maryland, Jackson edged out Blanchard and others. This made Jackson the winner of two primaries, and Wellstone and Richards the winners of one each, heading into the delegate-rich March Cluster…
– Stephanie Wayne’s 2000: The Millennium Election, Random House, 2019
“It always trips me out that America, the most powerful and magnificent nation in the history of the world, whose might was built by immigrants from all over the world, only speaks one language. [6] Now, if I ran for President, I’d be a candidate for a wide variety of language-speakers. People who speak Spanish, people who speak Cuban, people who speak Mexican, people who speak Colombian, the list goes on and on. But right now, I’ve got a lot of work to do for New Mexico, and I’ve got to do it. If we get a brokered convention, I’ll jump in, but right now I’m thinking Jesse Jackson’s the best man for the job. Wellington would be cool, too. But I’d like to say, you know, thank you all, I mean it, to everyone who urged me to jump in, because that means there’s a lot of people out there who not only understand what’s at stake in this election, but also are trying to do something about it. So I’ll all tell you what – the best thing you can do, if you want to do something great this year, is to go help out the Democrats down-ballot. Stand up for immigration workers any way that you can. And do everything that you can to legalize Mary Jane. Or just to New Mexico. Whatever’s easier for you. No sweat, man.”
– Governor Cheech Marin (D/LRU-NM), 3/24/2000
…In an extensive exit poll taken during the Georgia and Maryland primaries, the top 4 issues among Democratic voters were ranked as follows: economy/jobs at 35%, crime rates at 17%, recreadrug use at 15%, racial inequality at 14%, and the war in Colombia at 10%. …These numbers conflict with Governor Blanchard’s talk of a great economy in Michigan, exaggerating their handling of unemployment rise. The numbers also conflict with former Governor Clemente’s anti-war rhetoric...
– Gallup, 3/27/2000
The March 28 “March Cluster” saw the return of “favorite son” voting in many of the 12 contests held that day. In Iowa, Jackson edged out Richards in an upset, while Blanchard won Delaware and Washington, breathing some air into his campaign’s sails. Richards won North Carolina and Virginia, as predicted. In Alabama, Jackson won a plurality of the African-American vote, and won the contest by a hair over Clemente (in second place) and Richards (in third). California, however, was the biggest win of the night; Jackson won the delegate-rich contest by a 7% margin, widening the delegate gap between him and Richards. Despite his best efforts, Wellstone underperformed in the South, and only won the Massachusetts primary. Arizona and Missouri went to the “favorite son” candidates of Braun and Litton, respectively, even though Litton had not officially entered the race. Clemente’s overall underwhelming performance, winning only American Samoa, led to him losing prominent in polls conducted afterward. Bob Ross won the Alaska primary with ease. New York was the final contest to be called, on account of how narrow it was. With 40% of the vote, Jackson won the Empire State, with New York Senator Gabe Kaplan coming in second place with 30%, and Wellstone coming in third. Many pundits credit Bern Sanders, a philanthropic businessman who invested millions into Jackson’s campaign in his home city of NYC, which seriously cut into Kaplan’s strategy for winning the primary.
– Stephanie Wayne’s 2000: The Millennium Election, Random House, 2019
– Media mogul Bern Sanders congratulates Jesse Jackson on winning the New York Democratic Presidential primary, 3/28/2000
“Maybe it was too many Groucho impressions. In that case, (imitating Groucho Marx) I’ve had a wonderful time, but this wasn’t it. But seriously, we gave it our best, but the voters were more interested in other candidates. But I currently, and everyone who supported my bid should, take comfort in the fact that we raised the call for better education to the national spotlight. I think it’s wonderful that the other candidates are finally talking about how children with good schooling has a massive spillover effect. Place with good schools experience less crime, such as stealing, a.k.a. creative borrowing, and produce greater economic opportunity for the next generations of Americans. To quote Grouchy Marx, ‘Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them, well, I have others.’ For example, the call for financial relief for Mexico, another position many of the other candidates have picked up. Which is good because Mexico’s good citizens are really suffering right now. I mean, times are so rough over there, the cartels don’t even use guns – they just insert the bullets manually!”
– US Senator Gabe Kaplan (D-NY), suspending his campaign and endorsing Governor Wellstone, 4/1/2000 [7]
…As you can see her on the monitor, Richards has narrowly edged out Jackson in the Kentucky primary. This makes for Richards’ sole win of the night, as Jackson coasted to victory in South Carolina, where he is the Governor, and as Roberto Clemente picked up Puerto Rico, where he was the Governor eight years ago. That wraps up all three primaries of the night…
– CNN, 4/4/2000 broadcast
SNL DEBATE SKETCH HOLDS LITTLE BACK WITH JABS AT ALL CANDIDATES
…In last night’s airing of “Saturday Night Live,” guest star Eddie Murphy serenaded the audience with a witty “soul” song calling for “a coalition of perms, weaves, yamukas, fedoras, cowboy hats and hardhats,” while guest star Grand Lee Bush portrayed Wellington Webb, describing the Presidential contender as “the closest think y’all got to a real-life Bass Reeves.” …In the debate sketch, Chris Parnell presented Governor James Blanchard as a monotone and milquetoast contender (“the safe choice is always the most exciting one. Whoo.”). Tim Meadows wonderfully depicted former Governor Cleo Fields, lightheartedly mocking his youth and glasses by dressing up as the character Urkel from Family Matters to complain about his low approval ratings. Cheri Oteri made for a rambunctious Ann Richards, while guest star Bob Newhart exaggerated President Dinger (“I know, uh, lately, that, some people have been saying this, uh, this office was been, uh, tiring me out. I’ve got more wrinkles than a trampled carpet, the bags under my eyes have bags of their own, and I’m only 53. But, uh, hey at least I still look better than Steve Martin.”). The mock debate ended with Chris Kattan playing Ron Paul, dressed as an old-time prospector, crashing the vent:
MODERATOR (played by Ana Gasteyer): “Ron Paul, you’re not in this debate!”
PAUL: “Don’t mind me, I’m just looking for a good place to hide my gold! It’s a good investment, you know!” …
– Variety magazine, episode review, 4/9/2000
…In the first debate held after the March Cluster, Richards stumbled when her voting record on prisons came under fire. In a gaffe meant to be an example of both her honesty and policymaking abilities, Richards said, “To be frank with you, I made a deal, and the deal was that I would help pass the legislation and be for building a lot more prisons in Texas if I could get rehab programs for people who were alcoholics and drug abusers because I knew that over 80 percent of the crime committed in Texas was committed by people under the influence of alcohol or drugs.” [8]
Jackson cut into her time allotment with the retort, “Only for those programs to be scrapped in ’97. But the prisons remain, Ann!”…
– Stephanie Wayne’s 2000: The Millennium Election, Random House, 2019
…In the April 11 collection of primary contests (dubbed an “April Cluster” of contests), Jackson underperformed, winning only the state of Mississippi, while Ann Richards added Tennessee and Kansas to her tally. Blanchard and Wellstone, won their respective home states of Michigan and Minnesota. Within a week, three more candidates – businessman Arthur Simon, Congressman Mike Easley, and Governor Kathleen Brown – had all dropped out of the race, having failed to win any primaries. Additionally, Simon and Easley failed to win a single delegate, while Brown only obtained three delegates from her disappointing showing in the California primary held on March 28…
– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition
“JUSTICE MATTERS!” Why Democrats Are Fighting With Republicans And Each Other On Prison And Recreadrug Reform
…a major topic this year favoring the Democrats is Dinger’s slashing of social welfare programs in 1997 and 1998, after the Second Korean War boosted his approval ratings and before the start of the recession. However, instead of charging the incumbent administration of being irresponsible and unwise in this decision, many Democrats are falling for the GOP trick of changing the subject to the supposedly-successful War on Recreadrugs. A “war” that has American troops combating mafia-type cartels and recreadrug lords in Mexico and Colombia, leading to the deaths of thousands of innocents caught in the crossfires, all for the sake of lowering the amount of drugs entering the country. When Democrats reply to these claims by noting the taxability of legal marijuana, they can come off as uncaring to the ears of suburban and blue-collar voters, believing Democrats think taxes are more important than a child’s safety. But the ironic thing is that Dinger’s social program cuts may be a bigger contributor to juvenile delinquency than illegal narcotics!...
– The Washington Post, 4/12/2000 editorial
2003 MISSIONS TO MARS COULD SWING BY VENUS ON RETURN VOYAGE, NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS
…According to planetary geologists who have drafted a white paper on the subject, it is possible that the planned 2003 mission to Mars could see the spacecraft travel past Venus on its way back to Earth. “It all depends on when exactly their orbits align; short-distance intervals can last as long as 2 Earth years,” says assistant co-writer of the white paper. “The ship could slingshot past Venus and use its gravity to assist in the return home, dramatically reducing the amount of fuel spent and thus saving NASA millions of dollars!” This last aspect may just be a selling point for the fiscally-conscious Dinger administration. “It’s all about the exact timing,” the co-writer continues, “but if it can work, and NASA approves of a change in their current flight path plans, whatever they may be, the trip would prove our calculations correct – that a Venus flyby would in fact simplify the propulsion calculations for this endeavor,” meaning going to one planet and passing by another can actually be cheaper than just going to one planet... [9]
– The Houston Chronicle, 4/15/2000
On the Republican side, Ron Paul not doing well. His primary performances had only waned after New Hampshire, and funding were drying up. He didn’t even make it onto the ballot in half of the contests scheduled for May and June. In a rant made to an embarrassingly near-empty high school annex gym on April 16, Paul complained to the small attendees, “The federal government is not a charity case, nor does it have some magic wand that will fix all your problems for you. If you can’t handle the responsibilities that come with adulthood, then you shouldn’t be entitled to the privileges of adulthood, like operating a thousand-pound piece of machinery called a car, or voting, or owning a home. You need to be able to take care of yourself so you are not a burden, but instead are a responsible and productive member of society.” Most of the attendees left by the end of his rant.
Three days later, Paul once more received under 5% in a round of primary contests. Having enough of the humiliation, and with nothing to show for his efforts except for one delegate from Arizona, Paul bowed out the next day, his campaign dying with not even a whimper, just slight gust of wind.
Meanwhile, the Democratic began thinning again, and in a more prominent way. As his candidacy lopped away more supporters from Jackson than from Richards, and with no clear path forward for his campaign, Governor Wellstone dropped out and endorsed Jesse Jackson. Jackson accepted Wellstone’s subsequent help to win over voters in Florida. With its large Cuban and Jewish retiree communities, Jackson carried the Sunshine State on April 18 with a slight majority of 51%, an overperformance that shocked the Richards and Blanchard campaigns, who underperformed and won 29% and 11%, respectively. Ross, who was born in Florida, received 8% of the vote. In the only other contest held that night, Bob Ross won Hawaii by a plurality.
– Stephanie Wayne’s 2000: The Millennium Election, Random House, 2019
SIGN LANGUAGE RESEARCH TEAM MAKE BREAKTHROUGH IN MOTION-ACTIVATED SOFTWARE
…a group of scientific researchers, computer software developers and sign language specialists are working with M.I.T. to try and develop a special pair of “e-gloves,” or “SL-gloves.” The concept behind them is that moving the fingertips of the globe will allow its user, a mute person, audially produce the words they are saying with sign language in order for them to speak to those that don’t understand sign language. A computer chip build into the fingers of the glove translate SL into spoken words with a voice box/speaker located at the wrist. While still in its infancy, the expensive project has “enough funding to keep moving forward. Hopefully, it will become readily available, and affordable for mute and audially and verbally impaired people, by the end of the decade if not sooner,” said the head of the project…
– Popular Mechanics magazine, April 2000 issue
WILL WELLINGTON FINALLY GET HIS WATERLOO?
…Colorado Governor Wellington Webb is trying to revive his underwater candidacy with a shakeup of his campaign staff and a shift to a more informal campaign style, replacing the articulated speeches with descriptions of personal anecdotes. For instance, at an event held in Roanoke, Virginia, last week, Webb tried to show the audience that he related to healthcare concerns by saying “I am six-foot-four and 275 pounds right now, but when I was a child struggling with asthma, I was a skinny, sickly kid. My parents could afford to take me to Arizona and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to try to better my breathing, and this one trip to Nogales, Mexico was one of the best times my mother and I shared.” [10].
Putting his robust personality to the center of his campaign, Webb seems to be trying to win over western voters by touting his reputation for being a “Western movie buff.” While visiting the Navajo Nation two weeks ago, Webb described how, when growing up, he liked western movies that “showed Native Americans were intelligent and had principles they were fighting for,” [11] like the James Stewart film “Broken Arrow,” then pivoted to his advocacy for clean water and modern medicine being introduced to Native American reservations via “actual treaties and agreements, not lies.” In his favor, Webb pointed out the fact that two of his children have the Native American names Cochise and Sonseeahray as middle names…
…Additionally, Webb poignantly touched on his relationship with urban renewal: “During my lifetime, I watched the neighborhood change. Both of the drugstores became liquor stores. The donut shops closed. The dime store become a beer joint. The area went from comprising working families to people living on government assistance…The gang issue was part of my first term in 1995. The media tagged it as The Summer of Violence. As Governor, I fought to take the neighborhoods back to where kids, like me as a Cole junior High School student, could feel safe playing in the parks or walking down the street.” [12]
…In arguably his most relatable batch of anecdotes, given two days ago during a stump speech in Wilmington, North Carolina, Webb discussed how he has personally experienced violence. He retold the time in his youth when he was held up while working at a convenience store, recollected a time when a girl he knew was murdered by an unstable boy with whom he sometimes played basketball [13], and pointed out the fact that Webb even has a criminal record (he was arrested for taking the wrap for a girlfriend he had in the early 1960s, who crashed his grandfather’s car into a store window; Webb spent the night in jail and was fined $250 the next day for “careless driving”) [14]…
…while polling shows Webb to be hovering at fifth or even sixth place (far from the second-place showing he had when he entered the race last year), suggesting little chance of him having a “breaking out” moment in the upcoming Second April Cluster, this new campaign strategy is creating more media attention. If that if anything to go by, then there very well may be hope for Webb’s campaign yet.
– The Gazette, Colorado Springs newspaper, 4/21/2000
…The April 25 primaries were dubbed “April Cluster 2” for simplicity’s sake. These six contests yielded results favorable to Jackson the most. In Louisiana, “favorite son” candidate Cleo Fields, who had failed to become a prominent candidate in the race, barely won his home state over Jackson. Clemente, who had already dropped out, won both the Virgin Islands’ caucus, and his home state of Puerto Rico’s primary. Predictably, Richards carried her home state of Texas. The race in Illinois was tricky, as Jackson won the popular vote, but split the delegates with the second-place finisher, Senator Katie Beatrice Hall; Hall had heavily invested in the Illinois primary in the hopes of it reviving her campaign, but when momentum failed to materialize afterward, Hall dropped out and endorsed Jackson; Fields followed suit a day later. The biggest election of the night, however, was in Ohio, where Jackson once more subverted expectations by winning the Buckeye state’s primary in an upset over Governor Jim Blanchard. With a war chest depleting and fears of splitting the moderate vote with Richards (effectively heading the nomination to Jackson) rising, Blanchard suspended his candidacy on April 28th…
– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition
DINGER FOR EX-PRESIDENT!
– Banner spotted at a Jesse Jackson political rally in pro-GOP Scranton, PA, 5/1/2000
TONIGHT’S DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES: Jackson Wins PA, Richards Wins Arkansas; Richardson Bows Out After Upset Home State Loss, Endorses Jackson
– The Birmingham News, Alabama newspaper, 5/2/2000
Dear Elvis,
My sister Elaine was an avid fan of yours, as am I. She traveled across the country following your 1981 comeback tour, and I think attended every single one of your concerts. I last saw you at that Feed Korea concert in New York; you were great as always.
I’m writing to you because my sister died in a car accident last month, and in accordance to her recently-updated will, I have to at least offer to donate her heart to you. Let me explain. Elaine was an organ donor, and somehow found out about your blood type. She was very proud of your blood type matching her. And after hearing about her heart shutting down on you, she insisted that, should anything happen to her, we’d offer you her heart.
Please contact me as soon as you can,
Danielle
– A fan letter to Elvis Presley, postmarked 5/3/2000
…President Colosio’s efforts to root out government corruption has yanked out another rotted vine. It appears that Manlio Beltrones, a federal deputy of Colossi’s own party who served as Governor of Sonora from 1991 to 1997, has been arrested for accepting bribes to protect recreadrug lord Amado Carrillo, head of the Juarez Cartel, who is wanted by the police for laundering money through war-torn Colombia to pay for his fleet of drug-transporting jets – a level of showboating anti-federal defiance not seen since the Pablo Escobar days…
– XEABC-AM, Mexico City radio station, 5/4/2000 broadcast
LENNON WIN THIRD TERM! Incumbent PM Secures Victory, But In Narrowest Win Yet
…the former Beatle carried the Labour Party to a slim plurality tonight over Nigel Lawson (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), and Rosemary Byrne/Tommy Sheridan (UKIP/Socialist Alliance). Like with Lennon’s victories in 1992 and 1995, the Labour Party has announced it will form a minority government with the LD party. This time, however, the UKIP Party will not be joining them in the coalition government, due to the party’s recent criticisms of Lennon’s tax policies and his pushing off the election until almost five years after the last one, and due to Labour leaders’ “concerns” over the UKIP Party forming an alliance with the Socialist Alliance. This coalition is thus much smaller than it was before – only 4 seats over the minimum needed to make up a majority of seats in Parliament…
– The Daily Telegraph, 5/5/2000
SENATE CONFIRMS GARZA FOR VACANT SUPREME COURT SEAT: Texas Judge Will Become First Hispanic Associate Justice
– The Washington Post, 5/7/2000
…The May 9 “West Cluster” of five primary contests was very telling for the Richards campaign. The Texan won only one state (Wyoming), while Jackson won Utah, Idaho, and Oklahoma… Wellington Webb won his first Presidential primary, his home state of Colorado; it was also his last Presidential primary win, as, without a path forward, Webb gave up the ghost and endorsed Richards for President less than a week later. The subjectively “late” endorsement was considered appropriate by Colorado’s state media, due to Webb’s infamous tendency to often show up late to meeting and events. Webb even showed up late to a Presidential debate in December 1999, leading to him not wearing makeup or even a tie during the event. The trait was so notable that Webb himself owned up to it in his autobiography: “The only place I needed to improve was in punctuality. (That issue dogged me as an adult. When I was mayor, and when I was Governor, the media used to joke that all press conferences were on ‘Webb Time’ – that usually meant I was running behind fifteen to twenty minutes.)” [15]…
– Stephanie Wayne’s 2000: The Millennium Election, Random House, 2019
…After the war, Korean-German relations grew to be very strong because the revelations over the extent of the North Korean concentration camps ended up leaving a deep psychological scar on both former Northerners and former Southerners. It was a sense of national shame and self-reflection that the German people could easily relate to…
– Choe Yong-ho’s Bittersweet: Korea After Reunification, Columbia University Press, 2010
…The May 16 primary contests saw Jackson win Wisconsin and Oregon, with Richards coming in second place in each race. After having put all of her chips on victory in either place, Richards bitterly and reluctantly dropped out. This major development left Ross and Diamondstone as the only significant candidates left in the race, and finally let Jackson go from “frontrunner” status to “presumptive nominee” status…
– Stephanie Wayne’s 2000: The Millennium Election, Random House, 2019
BIAGGI SWITCHES TO GOP, RESTORING REPUBLICAN SENATE MAJORITY!
“I can’t in good conscience go along with a party supportive of Jesse Jackson’s wild and dangerous policies. If the Democrats nominate him, the 2000 election will be theirs to lose, and I for one refuse to tie myself to the mast of a sinking ship!”
– The Washington Post, 5/17/2000
ISRAEL AND UAE STRIKE DIPLOMATIC DEAL TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS, ENDING MANY YEARS OF LOW-KEY TENSION
– The Guardian, 18/5/2000, side article
…Five states held contests tonight in a round of Presidential primaries called the Arcadia Cluster. On the Democratic side, Bob Ross won Maine, while presumptive nominee Jesse Jackson won Rhode Island, Connecticut, the North Dakota caucus, and Washington, D.C., with that last content being won with over 95% of the vote there. On the Republican side, Dinger won all five contests with only opposition from minor candidates on three ballots, and unopposed in North Dakota and Maine…
– The Overmyer Network’s Night-Time News, 5/23/2000 broadcast
TWO NATIONS, ONE PEOPLE: The Complexities Of Life In The Two Yemens
…The Yemen Arab Republic, also known as North Yemen or Yemen-Sana’a, lies west of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, a.k.a. South Yemen, or Yemen-Aden… while divided by political structure, their shared border being undefined and unclear, and the homogeny of the Yemen people, has led to these two nations being very close and friendly. Neither government wants to merge with the other, and yet, at the local level, these two countries almost function as one, with citizens being allowed to travel freely between the two, and families and businesses expanding far into each other…
– National Geographic, May 2000 issue
“We’ve come as far as we can. When you hit a wall, you climb it and move on.” Days ahead of the Indiana and West Virginia primaries, Bob sat down with Jesse Jackson to discuss environmental policy and artistry. In the preceding several weeks, Bob had slowly accumulated an impressive number of delegates from primaries that divided delegates proportionally, instead of in the winner-take-all sort. He told Jackson he was going to drop out of the race and endorse him, but wanted confirmation that the policy planks of the Ross campaign would not be ignored.
“Bob, I’ll be honest with you because I like you,” the presumptive nominee said. “You are really something special, Bob. In the debates, when Ann and Blanchard were going after me on prison reform and social justice, saying my ideas went too far or made me unelectable, you always had my back. You were always in my corner. If you want, I can give you a position in my administration.”
Bob replied that he was flattered, but urged Jackson to add a stronger “Green” plank to his campaign ahead of the election. “We can talk more about it after you’ve won,” Bob said gently.
Jackson and he negotiated until that made a “friendly understanding” as Bob called it. On May 28, two days before the Indiana and West Virginia primaries, Ross graciously bowed out of the race, making Jackson the sole candidate left in the race (except for Senator Peter Diamondstone, who failed to get on the ballot in any of the remaining primary contests). On May 30, Jackson won both aforementioned primaries, but Bob still received 2 delegates from each of them, as his candidacy had posthumously received 10% and 15% of the vote in each respective race.
– Kristin G. Congdon, Doug Blandy, and Danny Coeyman’s Happy Clouds, Happy Trees: The Bob Ross Phenomenon, University Press of Mississippi, 2014
…Well, this morning is certainly a good if not early morning for Jesse Jackson, as he won all five Presidential primaries held last night. Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Nebraska – Jackson won them all in landslides last night…
– ABC Morning News, 6/7/2000
Popular vote:
Jesse Jackson – 7,115,145 (43.7%)
Ann Richards – 2,539,963 (15.6%)
Paul Wellstone – 1,823,561 (11.2%)
Roberto Clemente – 960,625 (5.9%)
Bob Ross – 830,371 (5.1%)
James Blanchard – 814,089 (5.0%)
Harry W. Braun III – 455,890 (2.8%)
Peter Diamondstone – 341,917 (2.1%)
Wellington Webb – 325,635 (2.0%)
Katie Beatrice Hall – 227,945 (1.4%)
Jerry Litton – 195,381 (1.2%)
Cleo Fields – 179,099 (1.1%)
All other votes – 472,171 (2.9%)
Total popular votes – 16,281,792 (100%)
– clickopedia.co.usa [16]
RICHARDS (FINALLY) ENDORSES JACKSON
…The Senator presented a reconciling tone in an effort to bury the hatchet and end the bad blood reportedly made between their two campaigns during the primary season…
– The Spartanburg Herald-Journal, South Carolina newspaper, 6/10/2000
“Their relationship was much friendlier than the media outlets made it out to be. It really wasn’t that bitter; there were no below-the-belt punches or personal jabs. In fact, in one of the pre-primary debates, when Senator Diamondstone tried to ridicule my Mother for holding a glass of water with two hands, [17], claiming it was a sign that she was too old and weak for the job, Jesse Jackson was the first candidate to admonish him for making such a stupid and childish remark. But friendliness is for fluff pieces, I guess, because the media didn’t focus on what Ma had to say about Jesse Jackson, just that she delayed giving her speech, which was because of scheduling conflicts, not reluctance. In her concession speech, my Mother was sincere when she said, and I quote ‘Jesse Jackson is a leader and a teacher who can open our hearts and open our minds and stir our very souls. And he has taught us that we are as good as our capacity for caring. Caring about the drug problem. Caring about crime. Caring about education. And caring about each other [18].’ She meant that.”
– Cecile Richards, 2012 interview
GOP LEANS INTO COLONEL IMAGERY
…the upcoming Republican National Convention is heavily emphasizing one of the nation’s most iconic Republican leaders in the GOP's effort to compare Dinger's re-election bid to The Colonel's own re-election bid back in 1968…
[pic: imgur.com/rZ74bpH.png ]
Above: one of the many posters of Colonel Sanders adorning the walls of the upcoming convention
– The Los Angeles Times, 6/17/2000
…For running mate, Jackson considered dozens of national politicians. Outside of fellow 2000 Presidential candidates, several names were floated. Moderates such as Oklahoma Governor Robert S. Kerr III and US Representative Jim Folsom Jr. were floated as potential choices if Jackson meant to appeal to less “change-centric” voters, while Texas Governor Henry Cisneros (who has since recovered from the 1999-2000 Texas budget crisis that prevented him from running for President this year) would double down on his message. One of three prominent US Representatives, Louis C. Weinburg, Howard Wolpe, and Dick Gephardt, would give legislative experience to the ticket, as would a number of US Senators. …Reports that Jackson passed over Richards for the nomination due to bad blood between her and Jackson went unconfirmed, and were subsequently rebuked by most pundits and Richards supporters as the year went by…
– Christine Baker’s The Party of Jackson: How The 2000 Election Changed The Democratic Party, Borders Books, 2011
JACKSON SELECTS WELLSTONE FOR VP SLOT!
...the nominee-in-waiting is doubling down on his progressive platform by choosing Minnesota’s own Paul Wellstone, our incumbent Governor and a former Presidential candidate, to be his running mate…
– The St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota newspaper, 6/19/2000
“Jackson pulled together what they’ve called a Rainbow Coalition. It sounds like a labor union for Sesame Street, but it’s actually the uniting of all the ethnic groups in the US – I’m talkin’ Blacks, Browns, Smurfs, Martians, you know – Jackson won the ethnic vote, while Richards solidly won over the ‘Get the f@3k off my property before I shoot you’ vote. Now, the good news is that Jackson will bring out the black vote. And it will, but the bad news is that it will bring out ‘I-don’t-want-his-kind-runnin’-my-country’ vote. Yeah, didn’t think about that. But Jay-Jay did. He thought, ‘How’m I going to win over white people? I know, I’ll pick this Jewish guy over here.’ So now Jesse’s going to bring out the ‘I-don’t-want-his-kind-runnin’-my-reichstag’ vote, too. Uh-oh. Didn’t think that out, either!” [19]
– comedian Chris Rock, 6/21/2000
…I was taken aback by Elaine’s generosity. I still receive hundreds of packages, letters, art and other kinds of fan mail, but I say it was fate that led me to her post-mortem message. God’s mysterious ways, which are no match for postal service workers, was what led to that one fan letter getting to me. Elaine’s mother’s name being the same as my own mother’s name confirmed the presence of divine intervention. I believe the transplant worked for that reason. My family and I were so grateful to that beautiful woman, that my next album was dedicated to her honor. Elaine was released on July 25, 2003, the third anniversary of the transplant. I am so ebullient that the titular song became so well known. They even used it for a time for the intro music for the TV drama series “Drywater” in the early 2010s…
– Elvis Presley’s second autobiography It’s Been All Right, I Guess: My Life So Far Once More, Berkley Books, 2018
“…Dinger gave Korea 30-year loans with the first payment not due for ten years. If we can rebuild Korea and Japan, we can rebuild Chicago and Atlanta and Pittsburgh. We can rebuild America! …Dinger has failed to defend the dignity of America from attacks made by the right-wing assaulters, the naysayers, the defends of the worst of the old ways, the type of people who would prefer it if people like me and my family and my wife and my children had to sit at separate lunch counters again. When the President turns a blind eye and keep their mouth mute to the inequality and injustice of the country over which they preside, then the President does not deserve four more years.”
[snip]
“…We deserve better than this. We have welfare; now we must fight for jobs and daycare and education. This fight was never about upholding a nanny-state welfare, but about jobs and opportunity, of breathing new air into ideas like the National Initiative, the Federal Aid Dividend, and the Zones of Economic Development. It is a moral imperative to create a job for every American. ...We can change the course, and right the wrongs of the last four years. We can rid ourselves of private prisons and renovate the buildings into reform centers, schools, hospitals, civic centers and museums. We must lift our youth up, not lock them up. We must reclaim our children’s future for them. It is our moral obligation. ...Social Justice, gender equality, racial equality cannot be achieved without the support of the people, and that support begins this November.”
[snip]
“…We must ensure proper representation for the citizens of Washington, DC. In our nation’s capital, more people live than in five states. They pay more in taxes than ten states, and yet they live in a limbo-like state of congressional occupation. Freedom must ring from our nation’s capital…”
[snip]
“We must seek a new moral center… How we respond to diversity is a measurement of our character, our strength, and our dedication to the ideals of equality and justice enshrined in the US Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence, two documents that call for the creation of an America that we do not have yet, but certainly can.”
[snip]
“…Keep the faith, stand with the chicken workers. Keep the faith, stand with the coal miners. Keep the faith, stand with the shipbuilders. Keep the faith, stand with the poor. Keep the faith, stand with the widows and the children and the elderly. Keep the faith, stand tall. Keep the faith, and we will prevail, and we will win and deserve to win! Keep hope alive!” [20]
– Jesse Jackson at the 2000 DNC, 6/28/2000
NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] OTL quote!
[2] A.k.a., the high number of votes he got in the poll
[3] The italicized passages were pulled from this source: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/politics/04obama.html
[4] Quote is from OTL!
[5] OTL event from the 1950s (thank @ajm8888 for pointing it out to me, and for his help with the Japan-centric parts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_bribery_scandals
[6] This is also an OTL quote – at least, according to the following website: www.brainyquote.com
[7] Both Marx lines are from RL, and the stealing and manual bullets jokes are from “Welcome Back, Kotter”
[8] OTL quote!: Ann Richards Discusses Texas, Politics and Humor on Larry King Live, CNN, January 23, 2001
[9] This is an OTL proposal; many pieces, passages, and terms used in this section were pulled from this article here: https://www.space.com/mars-astronauts-venus-flyby-idea.html
[10] The italicized part(s) is/are from his OTL autobiography https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wellington_Webb/nYw_NaCgJuMC?hl=en&gbpv=0, page 38
[11] Ibid., page 39
[12] Ibid., page 41
[13] Ibid., page 45
[14] Ibid., page 47
[15] OTL quote, found on page 36 of his autobiography: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wellington_Webb/nYw_NaCgJuMC?hl=en&gbpv=0
[16] The placement/ranking of the candidates is based on their ranking in the poll on August 21st, as their numbers had not moved in 48 hours at that point.
[17] Here’s a (regrettably low-quality) picture of it:
[18] The italicized part is a quote from Ann Richards’ 1988 DNC speech; specifically, starting at the 15:10 mark: youtube: wtIFhiqS_TY
[19] Based on his comedic style and delivery during the opening monologues on The Chris Rock Show in OTL (which is on the air for much longer ITTL, BTW)
[20] Several sections of this series of speech extractions were pulled and edited from here: youtube: Xi2KyaI9GIU
The next chapter’s E.T.A.: Very soon!
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