The Bush/Lieberman years

This is inspired by a thread I started. Since it's been nearly a year since I posted it, I think a new thread is probably the way to go. Anyway here's the background.

In November 2000 Richard Cheney suffers a fatal heart attack. The Florida debacle has the same eventual result, with George Bush being declared the victor. When the time comes for the electoral vote, Bush requests that Republican electors vote for the John Danforth. Unfortunately, two or so electors vote for Cheney instead, throwing that vote to the Senate. Al Gore casts a tie breaking vote in the Senate, making his running mate, Joseph Lieberman Vice President.

On January 20th, George W. Bush and Joseph Lieberman are sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States respectively.

What happens next? Who becomes Secretary of Defense if Cheney isn't there to recommend Rumsfeld? What kind of role would Vice Lieberman play in the Bush administration? Would Lieberman stay on the ticket in 2004. What impact would the absence of Lieberman have on the 2004 Democratic Primaries
 
As far as Lieberman's absense from the 2004 primary, if the different VP doesn't affect the politics of the past 4 years, I would say not at all. If we stick to the OTL 2004 Democratic Primary, Lieberman was only polling at around 3-5% the entire time.
 
Well, I think the impact of 9/11 would quickly stop Lieberman from replaying the Adams/Jefferson fight from 1796-1800. The question is would Lieberman still want to campaign for President in 2004 with the War on Terror going on or would he decide to be a one-term Vice-President and support Bush on Foreign policy?
 
I wrote a TL about this, only I switched the electoral votes of Florida, New Nexico, Wisconsin and Iowa, which results in tied electoral
College. I see Vice President Lieberman trying to asset himself as the leader of the Democratic Party. I don't much if anything changing. Starting in 2002, he becomes an ally to the Bush administration in the Iraq debate just as he did OTL. He runs for the Democratic nomination and as well as he did OTL. In 2004, Bush still does better than he did in 2000 and elects his own Vice President. w Who that is I don't know.
 
I certainly don't think that Lieberman will run for the Democratic nomination in 2004 here. Indeed, his chances of ever winning the Democratic nomination, miniscule as they were historically, are now entirely gone by TTL 2004. Lieberman would initially be a fairly popular figure in the administration for Democrats. And by initially I mean the first few months after the inauguration or so. But eventually, he'll be so identified with the administration that he will functionally cease to be a Democrat. If he's dumped from the ticket he's probably retired in 2005.

In this Bush White House, Karl Rove is going to be an even more influential figure than he was historically. No, I'm not saying that Bush was Cheney's puppet. I will say that everything I've read suggests that, at least in the first term, Cheney was a strong influence on President Bush. And Cheney's strongly held beliefs in secrecy and executive privilege became hallmarks of the Bush administration policy. There's a difference between influence and control.

Who the Defense Secretary is is going to be really important. Cheney's the one who recommended Rumsfeld, so Rumsfeld might be out. Maybe if Bush did want Danforth to be his Vice President, he offers him Defense with a promise to put him on the ticket in 2004? Secretary of Defense John Danforth?
 
Cheney could still have a very important role in the Bush White House even if he was not VP. That said, why not put Cheney at the Pentagon in this timeline?
 
I forgot about that, nevermind. Rumsfeld could still end up at defense. Chances are Dubya still knew him even without Cheney. Or, it goes to Danforth as a consolation prize.

I was thinking of making Danforth Secretary of Defense. But I am not sure whether Danforth would accept or whether Bush would be inclined to offer it to him.
 
Of those options Norm Augustine seems to be the most likely choice based on the article. Nunn was rejected not only because of animosity between him and Cheney but because of his opposition to the Gulf War resolution. The argument for Nunn is that, according to the article, Bush wanted a bipartisan cabinet. With Lieberman as VP that probably is not as much of a concern. The other candidates are assessed in the article based on their relationship with Cheney hinting that without him they would not be under consideration here. Would Augustine have accepted? And does anyone know enough about him to predict what kind of Secretary of Defense he would have been?
 

Archibald

Banned
In November 2000 Richard Cheney suffers a fatal heart attack. The Florida debacle has the same eventual result, with George Bush being declared the victor. When the time comes for the electoral vote, Bush requests that Republican electors vote for the John Danforth. Unfortunately, two or so electors vote for Cheney instead, throwing that vote to the Senate. Al Gore casts a tie breaking vote in the Senate, making his running mate, Joseph Lieberman Vice President.

Merde alors, an american cohabitation. Didn't thought that was even a remote possibility.

Bush should seek advices from Chirac :p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohabitation_(government)
 
I was thinking of making Danforth Secretary of Defense. But I am not sure whether Danforth would accept or whether Bush would be inclined to offer it to him.

Well, Danforth and Bush would clash eventually in our timeline anyway, I'm not sure how they got along initially.
 
Vice President Lieberman is going to be in a unique position to have a say on Bush's domestic policy in one important respect. Now, let's assume for the moment that a different set of national circumstances butterfly the death of Senator Wellstone, or otherwise imagine that circumstances are arranged in such a way that the Democrats have the same number of votes in 2003 as they had historically despite the fact that Lieberman is likely to be replaced by a Republican in the Senate if I remember things correctly. The 2003 tax cuts passed by 1 vote-Dick Cheney's. If the same thing happens here, if the 2003 tax cut depends upon Joe Lieberman's support, what would he do? He would have to decide between bucking the administration and voting against it, or going against his party and voting for it. Conceivably, he could vote against it, which would mean that the 2003 tax cuts do not pass the Senate.
 
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