Decided to do an idea that's been bubbling in my head for a bit...
In the Tank
1989-1993: Michael Dukakis/Lloyd Bentsen (Democratic) [1]
1988: George H.W Bush/Dan Quayle (Republican)
1993-1997: Jack Kemp/Thommy Thompson (Republican) [2]
1992: Michael Dukakis/Bob Kerrey (Democratic)
1997-2005: Thommy Thompson/Christine Todd Whitman (Republican) [3]
1996: Al Gore/Harris Wofford (Democratic), J. Marshall Coleman/Tim Penny (Independence)
2000: Brad Carson/Jeanne Shaheen (Democratic)
2005-2009: Jim McGreevy/Cleo Fields (Democratic) [4]
2004: Christine Todd Whitman/George Allen (Republican), Winona LaDuke/David Cobb (Green)
2009-2013: John Sununu/J.C Watts (Republican) [5]
2008: Jim McGreevy/Cleo Fields (Democratic)
2013-Present: Gwen Graham/Dave Freudenthal (Democratic) [6]
2012: John Sununu/J.C Watts (Republican), Parker Griffith/Lou Dobbs (Independent)
[1]: Michael Dukakis was able to avoid having a cold before the second debate with VP Bush, and wins that one, avoiding the Willie Horton affair (He also keeps his campaign manager). He's able to eek out a .5% win. His Presidency starts off by being fairly uneventful, signing a budget early in the year, introducing gun control legislation and giving speeches to college kids, but it soon finds itself in trouble as Exxon Valdez tips over. He quickly signs into law an Enviromental Regulations bill and sends aid workers to clean up the mess left behind. Soon after, the resignation of Jim Wright gives the Democrats a dip in popularity, though Dukakis was still in the positive. Democrats have some positive news as Colonel North was sent to prison over the Iran Contra business. The President later co operated with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to continue the START Treaty and possibly expand it. In Summer, after some decent economic news, Thurgood Marshall announced his retirement from the Supreme Court. Dukakis quickly nominated Governor Babbit, who was confirmed by a vote of 58-42. After President Noriega of Panama ordered a massacre of American embassy workers, there was a large call for invasion. Dukakis was fence sitting on the issue for about a week before he decided to relent and announce the invasion. It went smoother than many thought that it would, and the US was able to pull out a victory by the autumn of 1990. Also during that year, the US underwent a small recession, and the GOP refused to go along with the Volcker economic plan unless he conceded a tax cut to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. While the plan passed with flying colors, Democrats screamed bloody murder over the GOP concession. Dukakis' major issue by August was the decision of whether or not to invade Iraq. After Iraq had invaded Kuwait, the US had condemned the country, but was unsure on the war. Democrats were split on the issue while the GOP attacked Dukakis for not being decisive enough. The President attempted a compromise on the issue when he put 1,900 troops on the ground, but focused more heavily on airstrikes. It was declared over by January 20th 1991, with Saddam deciding to withdraw from Kuwait and sign a peace treaty. Dukakis was incredibly popular.
Dukakis had a +13 approval rating after the Soviet Union fell, even though the collapse of the USSR was credited with Reagen by some. A combination of poor debate performances, a messy VP replacement situation and an economic slump in August caused his loss to Congressman Kemp.
[2]: President Kemp took office during a time of economic uncertainty. However, Kemp promised to get the economy back on track by early 1995. He decided to work with the split Congress and hammer out a compromise economic deal. He conceded some things to the Democrats, like a payroll tax holiday for Middle Class families, cutting the defense budget by a billion and a small stimulus package. But he went along with a lot of Republican ideas too, like cutting taxes across the board, a freeze on spending, increased deregulation and a general supply side position. The bill passed by an embarrasingly narrow margin (220-213 in the House and 53-45 in the Senate). Justice William J. Brennan passed away in the Winter of 1993, so Kemp was forced to nominate someone. He thought about his choice for a week, and he finally came to a decision: Former New Hampshire Associate Justice David Souter. Souter faced heavy criticism from Democrats, including Russ Feingold, who attempted to filibuster his nomination, though he made it on anyway. By mid 1994, the Economy seemed to have picked up, so voters decided to keep the Senate for the GOP and let the party make a few gains in the house. The US had a smooth intervention in Haiti, removing the Dictator Raoul Cédras and reinstalling former President Jean Bernard Astride as leader of the country. The popular President Kemp decided to call it quits in late 1995, just after the Dot Com bubble pops up. He signs increased AMTRAK Reform and funding at the Behest of Senator Biden and VP Thompson at the end of the year. Thompson easily clears out the Republican field, and goes on to win the general election along with Senator Whitman with 45%, to Senator Gore's 39% and Governor Coleman's 14%.
[3]: Thompson started off his term with an extension of bailouts given to rail companies. Soon after, Saddam Hussein announced that Iraq would take a stand against the US and bomb any army facilities left in Iraq after the Gulf War. President Thompson decided to send air strikes mainly over Baghdad, Mosul and Ramadi, hoping that would scare Saddam off. It didn't, as Saddam continued to threaten Kuwait yet again, firing missles at it, but not actually invading. Soon there were rumours that he was hiding WMDs, or Weapons of Mass Destruction. Another invasion seemed to be looming, when the UN intervened by saying that another war would not be permitted. Thompson decided to continue the air strikes until Hussein finally worked out a peace treaty. General Colin Powell returned carrying a "We did it!" banner. Thompson in early 1998, at the behest of VP Whitman, cobbled Congressional Republicans together to author the "Three Strikes Act", which would enact a three strikes law regarding criminals, lessen parole and extend the possibility of the death penalty for other crimes. It faced considerable opposition from both sides of the aisle, including from Congressman Ron Paul, who called it a "disgusting violation of liberty", and Senator Patricia Schroeder, who decried it as "inhumane". Despite the conviction of Timothy McVeigh over the murders of 34 in the San Fransisco bombings only a week before, 55 Senators and 189 Representatives voiced opposition to the bill. Thompson and Whitman decided to scale it down, removing the parole and death penalty provision, so it was able to pass, though due to illness taken by 4 Senators, who were unable to turn up. Republicans lost the House and Senate in the midterms, and Thompson became incredibly unpopular as the economy was going through stagnation, where it was neither growing or dropping. Congressman Brad Carson won a contentious Democratic Primary against Governor Russ Feingold and Former Senator Harris Wofford. However, despite the ecnomic uncertainty and looming war with Nigeria, Thompson was able to win by the skin of his teeth.
He began his second term hoping for better times, and they seemed to be happining. Unemployment went donw by 1.9% within the past two years and was now becoming less of a problem, the stock market began to grow and the previously dominant threat of the net bubble popping died down. So the President got to work on his favourite topic: Trains. He began instituting a nationwide high speed rail system, complete with higher speed trains developed recently. He packaged it into his "infrastructure bill", which also included a small expansion of the rail tax and an expansion of nationwide infrastructure. Over 300 supported it in the House and 75 supported it in the senate, and it was signed into law only a short while later. Nigeria was still threatening the US, so Thompson decided to go with a repeat of Iraq and carpet bomb the country into submission. The leadership went into hiding as the capital lay in ruins, in what would be known as one of the darkest nights of 2002. A stop to it was eventually pushed by Congress, Thompson finally relented and managed to get Secretary of Defense Cheney to withdraw the air strikes. Democrats expanded their majorities in the House and Senate in 2002, though it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Thompson's final act as President was a bill which would extensively reform the CDC stockpile and increase the power of the state's handling it. Thompson now has a mixed reputation, with many admitting that he was no Kemp.
[4]: Congressman McGreevy defeated Whitman in an exciting race. He was inaugurated with the first black Vice President. He first decided to push through Health Care Reform in the style of a "Medicare Buy In" program with a Canada-esque system where consumers could import from other countries. It easiliy passed the Democratic House and Senate, and was signed into law quickly. Soon after, an attempt at strengthening the Glass-Steagall act was introduced, packaged with a Campaign Finance Reform bill and a stimulus package. Many derided it as "Far Left" and "restrictive", but a watered down version was able to pass. He wanted to halt the expansion of F Type bombers that were planned to fly over Iraq during the Thompson years, but he was only able to slow down the production and drop the F-53. During early 2006, he repealed the welfare cuts made during the Kemp administration. But in June, the race to win Senator Robert Byrd's seat (Byrd had resigned in December of 2005 to spend time with his family) was won by Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, who defeated State Attorney General Joe Manchin by a margin of 51-48. This smashed the Democrat's supermajority in the senate. But Capito was willing to work with the president, forcing him to compromise on his debt reduction plan, including some tax and spending cuts, though with a 6% cut on the military. Republicans made a small gain of 4 seats in the Senate and 30 in the House during the midterms, narrowly taking the latter. Despite a decent economy and smoothed relations abroad, Governor Sununu defeated the President with 49.5% of the vote.
[5]: Sununu had a mixed time in office. His first act was to invade Sudan, which was under the control of Omar al Bashar, and was linked to reports of massacres and public executions being ordered. Within a month, Darfur was captured and the US was in control now. The Republic of Sudan was soon formed, but troops and military bases were still in place. Soon after, Sununu decided to tackle the economy. He compromised with Democrats a bit in order to get extra votes on things like the environment and unemployment benefits. It passed quite easily, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats only barely holding the Senate. But right after, the US went into a mild recession, something the president hadn't forseen. He wished that his plan would work and decided to pass a new budget, this time directed at taxes. It would include a gutting of the death and sales tax, and a lowering of the income tax. While this plan faced more intense criticism, it also passed. For the rest of the year, Immigration Reform, a new free trade extension with the African Union and Cap n Trade would all be heavily debated in Congress. 2010 was an "eh" year, according to Vice President Watts, as little happened during it. However, the ordered assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, the resignation of Governor Billy Graham due to a sex scandal, and Sununu's approvals finally dipping into the negatives were all in the headlines. Democrats gained in the Senate, while Republicans lost 10 Seats in the Midterms. Extra action was taken against the Iraq-Libya coalition, continuing the air strikes from Thompson's time, with mixed results. Secretary Fred Thompson reported that Unemployment went down by .9%, a good result for the President. He would go on to lose to Florida Governor Gwen Graham in a heated contest.
[4]: As of the 2nd of October 2014, Graham has had a decent term. She enacted Welfare Expansion and extension of benefits to the unemployed in April. She stopped the air strikes over Libya and Iraq. But she's faced problems, as the economy is still struggling and the African Union seems to be in crisis as a new group of rebels have emerged, taking over a quarter of Nigera and half of the Congo at this point.