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If McCain crosses over, I have serious doubts that he would try and run for the White House only three years after becoming a Democrat.

Rather, I see him as a Joe Lieberman supporter and then probably a Wes Clark supporter. And of course, he'll finally settle for John Kerry, who will likely have him on a shortlist somewhere or another. McCain probably maintains his relatively conservative voting record but wins the Democratic primary for Senate in 2004 at any rate (there's not really a netroots at this point to go after him ala Lieberman in 2006).

Beyond that, and Kerry-Gephardt's [1] loss to Bush-Cheney in 2004, I don't see McCain deviating much beyond the center-right. He probably joins up with the DLC, adopts a moderately more pro-labor voting record (about as 'pro-labor' as say, Blanche Lincoln :rolleyes:) and generally stays on the right of the Democratic caucus. Assuming that Lieberman loses his primary in 2006, McCain will be out to campaign for his independent candidacy and encourage him to stay within the Democratic caucus after his general election win.

McCain announces that he'll run for the White House as a Democrat in 2008 and gets about as much support from the Democratic primary electorate as did Lieberman in 2004. Nada. Probably drops out after a poor showing in Iowa, endorses Hillary Clinton, who goes on to win the nomination over the more progressive John Edwards [2] and various other also-rans. The Republican nomination goes to Fred Thompson, who loses by virtue of being boring.

In the run-up to his 2010 re-election bid, a more organized netroots starts going after McCain for his conservative voting record. Drafting the more progressive Rodney Glassman to challenge McCain on labor and other economic issues, McCain, like fellow Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter from OTL, moves to the left and starts voting left-of-center. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for the old codger, who lost his primary and thus his chance at another term in office to Glassman. Glassman, of course, would lose the general election by the barest of margins to Congressman Jeff Flake.

[1] Butterflies!
[2] Barack Obama doesn't win the Illinois Senate race ITTL because his opponent is not Alan Keyes. It's Jack Ryan.
 
SENATOR MCCAIN WINS NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA, AND MISSOURI IN MINI-TUESDAY CONTEST!

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SENATOR KERRY WINS NORTH DAKOTA, DELAWARE, AND OKLAHOMA!

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SENATOR EDWARDS PULLS OFF SURPRISE VICTORY IN SOUTH CAROLINA! MCCAIN POLLS CLOSE SECOND.

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GOVERNOR DEAN UNFAZED BY MINI-TUESDAY LOSS. VOWS TO CONTINUE. PUNDITS ATTEMPT TO DISCERN DEAN’S STRATEGY.

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WESLEY CLARK PULLS IN SURPRISINGLY CLOSE SECOND PLACE IN OKLAHOMA. SPLITS CONSERVATIVE VOTE WITH MCCAIN.

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2004 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Blue- John Kerry

Purple- John McCain

Brown- John Edwards

Green- Howard Dean

Light Blue- Wesley Clark

Pink- Dennis Kucinich

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JOHN KERRY WINS BIG IN MICHIGAN AND WASHINGTON!

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KERRY BEATS OUT COMPETITION BY DOUBLE DIGITS IN MOST RECENT STATES.

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DOWN BUT NOT OUT. DEMOCRATIC CONTENDERS MARCH ON.

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JOHN KERRY WINS IN MAINE!

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JOHN MCCAIN MAKES COMEBACK AFTER STRING OF LOSSES! TAKES TENNESSEE AND VIRGINIA!

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DOWN GOES CLARK! GENERAL CLARK SURRENDERS DUE TO POOR SHOWING IN VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE.

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JOHN KERRY WINS WISCONSIN!

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DOWN GOES DEAN! VERMONT GOVERNOR SURRENDERS AFTER WEAK SHOWING IN WISCONSIN.

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MCCAIN POLLS SECOND IN WISCONSIN. VOWS TO SHAKE UP THE RACE.

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2004 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Blue- John Kerry

Purple- John McCain

Brown- John Edwards

Green- Howard Dean

Light Blue- Wesley Clark

Pink- Dennis Kucinich

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I'm a little aprehensive about this timeline. On the one end, McCain as president. (shiver) On the other, he's a Democrat. :D
 
I'm a little aprehensive about this timeline. On the one end, McCain as president. (shiver) On the other, he's a Democrat. :D

I'm actually kind of stuck here. I'm debating on whether or not to just skim over the primaries so I can get to the General Election where all the juicy content is, or to try to flesh out the primaries. BTW, events are pretty much the same as in OTL in terms of domestic and international events. I'm only documenting the major changes.

What do you guys think I should do?
 
KERRY WINS IDAHO AND UTAH.

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MCCAIN PULLS OFF CLOSE VICTORY IN HAWAII.

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DEMOCRATIC RACE EXPECTED TO BE DECIDED ON SUPER TUESDAY.

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JOE LIEBERMAN ENDORSES JOHN MCCAIN.

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MCCAIN AND KERRY SPLIT SUPER TUESDAY.

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KERRY’S MOMENTUM SLOWED, THE RACE SHALL CONTINUE.

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SENATOR MCCAIN’S CAMPAIGN GAINS NEW LIFE ON SUPER TUESDAY.

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DESPITE PULLING OUT, GOVERNOR DEAN WINS HIS HOME STATE OF VERMONT.

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I'm... hitting a mental block here. In retrospect, I regret not adding more content, and I think I rushed into this a little too fast after I got the idea. Didn't really think it through. Either way, I'm going to take a bit to try to salvage this while I can. I'll probably finish up the primaries in the minimalist stuff and do the 2004 General Election in detail. I've also got other projects to work on and will continue to do that. Will also try to finish Reversed Fortunes before Christmas. Either way, stay tuned for more.
 
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