Claw of the Eagle
1977-1985: Governor Jimmy Carter (D-GA)/Senator Walter “Fritz” Mondale (D-MN) (Democratic) [1]
1976: def. President Gerald Ford (R-MI)/Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) (Republican)
1980: def. Former Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/Former Director of Central Intellegence George H. W. Bush (R-TX)*, Representative John B. Anderson (R-IL-16)/Former Ambassador to Mexico Patrick Lucey (D-WI)
1985-1989: Vice-President Walter “Fritz” Mondale (D-MN)/Reverend Jesse Jackson (D-IL) [2]
1984: Televangelist Pat Robertson (R-VA)/Senator William L. Armstrong (R-CO), Governor John B. Anderson (NU-IL)/Governor Dick Lamm (NU-CO) (National Union)
1989-1997: Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY)/Senator John Chafee (R-RI) [3]
1988: def. Senator Al Gore (D-TN)/Representative Tony Coelho (D-CA-15), Governor John B. Anderson (NU-IL)/Senator John Heinz (NU-PA) (dropped out, endorsed Simpson)
1992: def. Senator Gary Hart (D-CO)/Former Governor James Blanchard (D-MI), Governor Lowell P. Weicker (NU-CT)/Senator Bob Kerrey (NU-NE)
1997-2000: Senator Jerry Brown ( NU-CA)/Former Senator Mike Gravel (NU-AK) [4]
1996: def. Senator Paul D. Wolfowitz (D-WI)/Representative Donald M. Payne (D-NJ-10), House Minority Leader Dick Cheney (R-WY-AL)/General Norman Schwarzkopf (R-NJ)
* = winner of the Popular Vote
[1]- Operation Eagle Claw is successful, meaning that Carter enjoys a slight boost of popularity. As a result, Carter actually tries to campaign well, and, despite a terrible economy and the stagflation that plagued the late-1970s, he manages to pull it off. Political scientists mostly credit Reagan’s loss in the electoral vote to Anderson acting as a spoiler for him (as he does way better in ‘80 ITTL), leading to Carter barely winning the electoral vote and losing the popular vote to Reagan by nearly 5 million votes. He’s an unpopular president at first, with eggs being pelted at him during his inauguration by incensed conservatives; but eventually the economy grows once again, and, by today’s standards, most Americans (sans the Reaganites) see President Carter as an okay President.
[2]- Just because President Carter is seen as “an average President” who “may or may not have let socialist governments rule Central America” by today’s standards does not mean that he was popular in 1984. In fact, most people hated Carter, so they guy he hired to dissuade people from assassinating him (nearly failing if both John Hinckley, Jr.’s and Dennis Mark Prager’s assassination attempts in 1981 and 1983, respectively, were to judge) sure as hell wasn’t popular either. It seemed like a flat-out Republican victory, almost as bad as OTL’s 1984.
But, the RNC grew cocky, deciding to nominate the hard-right televangelist Pat Robertson. The party attempted to rebrand theirselves as the one of the Christian Right, and their convention in Detroit definitely showed it in the creepiest way possible. Needless to say, millions of Americans didn’t like seeing crowds of delegates and politicians speaking in tongues while holding their arms out towards the possible President.
In the end, “Flat Fritz,” as uncharismatic as he was, was ensured his victory in ‘84. Surprisingly, his presidency wasn’t seen as bad as Carter’s, with a now-booming economy and a more optimistic America, even if he did become a “lame duck.”
[3]- The 1988 election was close, very close indeed. After a lot of soul searching during the Mondale Administration, the Republican Party decided their weakest link was the moderate wing, specifically the National Unity Party, formed by the popular Independent Governor of Illinois John B. Anderson. As a result, they nominated centrist candidate Alan Simpson, a respectable bipartisan in Congress and outsider candidate that drew positive connections from the media to Carter’s ‘76 campaign. The Democratic Party nominated Senator Al Gore, who seemed to be poised to win with his moderate style being more similar to Anderson’s than, say, Mondale. However, two events caused Simpson’s victory, namely: Anderson dropping out of the race in early October, fully endorsing Simpson along the way, and Gore picking Coelho as his running mate. Tony Coelho was a good man, but his soft-spoken nature did not mix very well with Gore’s unremarkable persona, leading to many considering the ticket “boring” and “bland.”
As a result, the Republicans managed to win the White House for the first time since Nixon in ‘72, and Simpson became the first President from Wyoming. The next eight years involved Simpson overseeing the breakup of the Soviet Union, the revival of the United States space program (leading to the Space Station Alpha beginning operations in 1991 and the Buran-Shuttle Program) and heightened border security to deal with the migrant crisis brewed by the new socialist governments in Central America. Hell, by ‘92, even Gary Hart couldn’t beat him.
[4]- 1996 was groundbreaking for a few reasons, most notable that it marked the first win for a Party that wasn’t the Democrats or Republicans in 148 years. Indeed, 1996 was just as close as 1988 or 1980. Cheney was seen as Simpson’s heir, a moderate Republican from Wyoming. Everyone knew that President was the job Wisconsin Senator Paul D. Wolfowitz wanted, too, being the chair on the Senate Commission of Foreign Relations and previously rumoured to have been a possible pick for Simpson’s Secretary of State or UN Ambassador.
However, a miracle happened for Brown. A United States solider stationed on Okinawa Island shot three Japanese schoolchildren who pelted him with rocks, killing them. International outrage ensued, and, even in the face of this, Cheney and Wolfowitz both supported keeping the bases on Okinawa open and operational, with Cheney even going so far as to imply the Japanese would “take back the Island” (forgetting that all islands were returned to Japan in 1972) during an infamous first debate in Hartford, Connecticut.
Brown successfully managed to portray both Wolfowitz and Cheney as out-of-touch, foreign war hawks, with Wolfowitz as someone who cared more about being allowed to drop bombs than the people of America or Wisconsin, and Cheney as a warmonger who thirsted for the blood of children (hey, nobody ever said politics wasn’t dirty). His "vote for the eagle, not the hawks" strategy, added with Brown’s somewhat bizarre conservative streaks (including supporting large tax cuts for all Americans, implementing a 10% flat tax, leaving NAFTA and a smaller government), managed to win both the popular and electoral vote on November 5. We truly now do live under the Happy Face.
