Think of the Djurgården Boys - A Co-Operative Wikibox TL

One of the major features of this site is updates playing to the present - there's a reason why the Wikibox thread drowns in Trump and Gabbard, while Aaron Schock, Patrick Murphy and Brian Schweitzer seem like dated choices. I decided to embrace this phenomenon this time, using a name that would have remained hipster had the world been a better place, because it all fit so perfectly - and honestly, what party in sound mind would choose Marie Granlund as their prime candidate anyways?

The story of the New Left had always been one of the crimson Scylla and the pale red Charybdis.

Actually, most of all, it had been the story of one Ylva Johansson. So, to begin there:
In 1988 - perhaps the last showdown of the old time, just before the proper beginning of the modern age - Ylva Johansson was a breath of fresh air in the Left-Communist party as the star candidate of the party's Youth League: a young and radical teacher-to-be in a hip cap adorned with a red star, couchsurfing in anticipation of being able to afford an apartment of her own. Despite the party hanging onto its Riksdag seats by the skin of its teeth, Johansson was elected as the final of three Left-Communists from Stockholm, bumped up on the list after the person originally number three on the list, former party secretary Bo Hammar - who would later marry Johansson - stepped aside for health reasons. As the Riksdag's youngest MP, she appeared on TV more often than most minor party backbenchers and was seen as a true rising star. Her career as a Left-Communist MP would not be long, however, as the party began to fracture along with the Soviet Union and she with many others felt increasingly uncomfortable in the party. When the party's internal primaries didn't go the reformists' way, Johansson announced her retirement. Shortly after the 1991 election that began the demise of the Left-Communists, Johansson announced her departure from the party itself - in fact, only a failed (and to an extent quite inauthentic) turn towards a campaign based on social issues instead of communist ideals had kept her from leaving already.

At the same time as the Left-Communists went down in flames, the feminist movement was gaining steam, mobilized by the male dominance on the left (the visibility of Stig Malm probably contributing). When the Social Democratic congress voted for austerity measures and against gender quotas on party lists at the 1992 party congress, some members had had enough. Perhaps the timing was crucial. When all nuances of the left crumbled at the same time, there was room for a new force. In fact, no less than two emerged. One was the Socialist People's Party, a vehicle of Left-Communist deputy leader Schyman that tried to gather the ashes of the not completely insane part of the Left-Communists. The other one was the Women's List, an entity fleeting between a feminist pressure group and a new political party running on social justice issues, especially feminism. The latter was where a few disillusioned Social Democrats - including the majority of the City of Stockholm and Skåne SSU districts - ended up after the mass walkout of the 1992 congress, quickly turning the formerly non-partisan group into a decidedly left-of-centre one. They were generally skeptical to Ylva Johansson and Bo Hammar teaming up with them, but they did allow them to convice the List that they had not only left the Left-Communists but also communism itself.

In the end, it was all about simple math. All parties could count to 4%, and a broader tent would only help on the way there. The idea of accepting the Socialist People's Party into the fold was far more controversial, especially as Schyman and Johansson had gotten in several fights over the latter criticizing the Left-Communists. In the end, what sealed the deal was the not insignificant number of local officeholders elected for the Left-Communists that had joined the SPP, and that would grant the nascent party proper platforms in the local news. Thus, the New Left was born, claiming democratic socialism and social justice as its ideological pillars. Ylva Johansson, squarely in the middle of the party, was elected party leader.

While the 1994-1995 period seemed to be a period of strength for the young party, it was having a hard time internally. The EU had come into the limelight with the referendum, and the New Left realized that they were more divided on the issue than they thought that they were. In fact, Ylva Johansson was in opposition to a clear majority of her own party. To avoid being forced out and provoking a collapse of the party, Gudrun Schyman was appointed head of the party list and led the party's campaign to a stunning success while Johansson stayed out of anything European. While it did "earn" the party some questioning headlines, Schyman's charisma and ability to pretend that the party was the most credible anti-EU force brought another victory, but the party still had to avoid being seen as anti-western by those who mistrusted the former communists in the party. In the end, the tightrope was too tight and Johansson had to take a break from politics. But the very same tightrope prevented the party's brightest star Schyman from returning home and forced the decent but milquetoast Margareta Olofsson upon the party. Yet perhaps that was still a better alternative than letting the radicals take control, as the 1996 budget debacle proved.

This dilemma was, as has been alluded to, the biggest hurdle to the New Left - the line between radical and brave, and between competent and bland, was not easy to balance on. And there was no ready-made recipe for success - the very same combination that brought them success in the early nineties hurt the party more and more as the years passed.

Alas, it appeared that the rope had finally snapped, as the hardliners in the youth league (not a problem) and the headlines (a problem) disappeared for the Radical Alternative, that ironically used the same script as the New Left itself did fifteen years earlier: push the political scale to the left while appearing to be normal people. As the New Left gathered in the newly constructed Uppsala House of Music, the feeling in the air was intense: how would they profit on the new red-green government without looking too angry? What was a good balance of economics and social issues, considering the zeitgeist? And how could they mobilize students and radicals without looking like "Karl-Petter Light"?

Surprisingly, most of the answers were to stay on track: fair trade over free trade, quotas on company boards, chaining social security levels to the consumer price index - all standard New Left policies - were affirmed. The most heated issue was instead the classical clash of personalities, though with a twist: it was mostly about numbers. The clear favorite to take over from Johansson was Jonas Sjöstedt, just elected to the Riksdag after a successful career in the European Parliament, a wonk and a skilled orator as well as a proper Working Class Man formerly employed at Volvo. While popular in the party, many were worried that a man's man would dominate the party. Especially those more inclined to put social issues first therefore put forward a motion to introduce a system with two party leaders, like the Greens before they decided to put all their cards in Åsa Domeij's basket (and then complete their descendance into madness with the introduction of a system with no less than twelve spokespersons). Though the Green experiment was the main argument against the proposal, it had the support of Sjöstedt himself - who didn't want the burden of being the sole party leader - and passed easily.

When the election came, Sjöstedt was unsurprisingly the big winner, crushing the Skåne district's token (but unexpectedly strong, likely thanks to protest votes against the double leader system) candidate. On the female side, the choice was less clear-cut, though the frontrunner was without a doubt the former Youth League chair Zaida Catalàn, an outspoken feminist and environmentalist, contrasting against her more traditional rivals, both former Social Democrats. In the end, the biggest surprise was the closeness of the race, likely due to the runner-up Nordström promising a sweet deal to Granlund's (mostly southern) backers. With a new duo in charge, it was time to start opposing the Social Democrats from the left, for the first time in years.

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(For foreign readers: Ms. Catalàn was OTL a former Green politician who was recently murdered in the DR of Congo while working for the United Nations. I hope that it is not improper to put a recently deceased individual in such a visible position in the timeline.)
 
Disclaimer: Half of this post was written as I came home somewhat inebriated from a friend's birthday party. Hopefully it's not noticeable.

2010 was one of the most eventful years in recent British political history - and even so it was a year without a single general election. But one election which took place this year was that for the post of London Mayor, a post which had seemed to grow more and more prominent for every year since its inception. From 2006 onwards the job had been held by the Tory David Cameron who had defeated Labour's Ken Livingstone in an election which was held concurrently with the 2006 local elections where Labour faced disaster and the Tories jubilation. However London was still a city which leaned left of centre and David Cameron ran city hall with this knowledge constantly in his mind, embracing environmentalism, public transport and reaching out to minorities, all in an effort to show people that he was not just the typical Tory. This meant that going into 2010 he was the heavy favourite to win, in spite of Labour's best efforts.

Speaking of Labour and more specifically their candidate in the 2006 election, one could say that Ken Livingstone's 2010 campaign began the moment he was informed of his loss on election night 2006. Leading London was something which was rightfully his job in his mind and something he had fought for ever since the GLC was abolished by the Thatcher government, and while his near-fatal car crash prevented him from taking part in the 1994 election, he finally saw his chance in 2006 when Glenda Jackson announced that she would not run for reelection a third time. Unfortunately events had conspired against him and in his eyes he was only the victim of the dismal approval rating of the incumbent Labour government and when he ran again in 2010 he would be all but assured victory. The problem with that was that the Labour Party and its leader Peter Mandelson in particular certainly did not see it that way.

For Mandelson Ken Livingstone was a relic of the past, a hard left Bennite with no place in the Labour Party of the 21st century and having him get a second go at one of the most prominent elected positions in the country was completely out of the question. Instead the Labour leadership looked beyond the expected MPs and Assembly members and got a candidate which had never even held elected office before, businessman and big time Labour donor Alan Sugar to be precise. Even so most people still expected Livingstone to win out in Labour's primary election for London Mayor, which meant that people got quite the shock in November of 2009 when Alan Sugar defied all the polls and narrowly won the Labour nomination for the forthcoming mayoral election. Obviously Livingstone was livid and his independent campaign for the mayoralty launched only a few hours after the results were announced, with the widely derided slogan of "KEN 4 LDN". It was almost like you could hear the clinking of the champange glasses at CCHQ at that moment as the Tory dream of a divided left had finally come to fruition, but contrary to their beliefs victory was not all but assured.

As April 2010 came around and the campaign began in earnest David Cameron held a comfortable lead, polling in the high 30s with Ken Livinstone a distant second at roughly 20% and Alan Sugar tied with former Deputy PM and Lib Dem candidate Simon Hughes at 15%. In every hypothetical second round poll Cameron also held decent leads of 53-56%. While the nationally the Tories were in deep troubles owing to the open fissures left from their budget row only a few weeks earlier, London looked like it would be one of the few bright spots for the party in the local elections. At least until the scandals hit. The first one was perhaps the most damaging; it concerned Rebekah Wade, a close friend of Cameron and his Chief of Staff since August 2009. The Daily Mirror revealed how happily and easily she used her work-related expenses account for her own private consumtion, with everything from expensive dinners, theatre visits and trips to Spain with her family paid for by London taxpayers. Initially David Cameron made the disastrous mistake of standing by Wade which damaged him much further than the scandal itself necessarily would have, and after nearly a week of constant newspaper headlines of Wade's abuse of taxpayer funds she finally resigned and Cameron distanced himself from her. But it was still far too late, Cameron had dropped by more than 10 points in the polls, with the main beneficiaries being Alan Sugar and Simon Hughes, with Ken Livingstone getting a small bump.

In the first and only debate between the mayoral candidates held two days after Wade's resignation Cameron was clearly on the defensive, with Livingstone in particular going after him pretty hard, even going so far as to insinuate that Cameron had also used taxpayer funds for personal consumtion just like Wade, which earned him some criticism afterwards as there was no evidence of that. Simon Hughes on the other hand came out very well from the debate as he was experienced with these types of events from his time as Lib Dem leader and Deputy PM, and managed to strike a good balance between criticising Cameron and laying out his own plans for London. In the aftermath of the debate his polling numbers got a decent bump to where he was tied with Livingstone for second place in the first round. But everyone's attention soon turned back to the Tories, and not in the way that they were hoping for. Andy Coulson, Cameron's campaign manager in the 2006 mayoral election who was now in charge of the Conservative Party's local elections campaign at CCHQ was revealed to have paid off low level staffers within both the Labour Party and the Lib Dems to steal secret strategy documents. Coulson's dirty campaign tactics further damaged Cameron due to his association with him, along with the Conservative Party on the national level as well. As Cameron had tried to distance himself from a scandal and get back on message he was back in the gutter once more.

As election day came near Cameron was still ahead in the first round polls, with his three challengers competing for second, but things were very much neck and neck in the polls for the second round with perhaps a slight advantage for Cameron. Because of that the real margin on election night came as a surprise, as it appeared that Londoners had grown tired of the sleaze they'd witnessed of the Cameron administration in the past weeks and he lost the election by a fairly convincing margin. Who he lost it to was also a big headline as Simon Hughes made history by winning the London mayoralty for the Liberal Democrats. With his political career seen as totally finished after losing the 2007 election and stepping down as leader he had staged a spectacular comeback, and only time would tell if a certain Dave could do the same.
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How I missed this update is beyond me. Sad to see Cameron lose, but intrigued by the Liberal Democrats victory.

Let us hope this is not the last we see of DC. He may have cocked up here and there IOTL, but he is by far more preferable than the alternatives in the Tory Party.
 
How I missed this update is beyond me. Sad to see Cameron lose, but intrigued by the Liberal Democrats victory.

Let us hope this is not the last we see of DC. He may have cocked up here and there IOTL, but he is by far more preferable than the alternatives in the Tory Party.

I won't give anything away by saying that Cameron will return in a different capacity further down the line, so I'm not done with him yet.
 
And now for a brief cultural interlude...

On the 12th of May 2011 it was finally time. The longest running Doctor of the revived era, the first Doctor with a North American accent, the Doctor who embodied the show for many of the new and young (American) fans was finally leaving. Ryan Reynold's Tenth Doctor was going to regenerate and he was going to go out with a bang.

When Reynolds joined the show back in 2005, UPN had placed a simple demand upon the BBC and the incoming showrunners Manny Coto and Steven Moffat due to the flagging ratings of the latter half of the Izzard era; That the next Doctor should be a younger, attractive American. While he didn't meet the last demand Ryan Reynolds certainly met the two first, and with is his film career failing to take off he happily took the part which pleased the UPN executives as he brought over his own fanbase from his run as Xander Harris in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Spike. However in spite of significant scepticism across the pond Reynolds was well recieved, even if his Canadian accent (often referred to as American by British tabloids) made people hesitant. After a long run in the TARDIS and with a film career which was finally taking off Reynolds was ready to make his departure. While his run had seen a number of fan favourites making their return, like the Daleks and Cybermen which had been seen before in the revived series, and the Ice Warriors and The Rani who made their first appearance since the original series; The Doctor's most inconic adversary had not made a single appearance since the days of Izzard, which meant that the writers couldn't resist bringing him back for the finale.

With The Master saved for a very special episode it was only fitting that the actor who would portray him should be equally special, and that he certainly was. David Bowie was someone that the producers of Doctor Who had tried to get on the show ever since the reign of the Eight Doctor, but every time either Bowie's schedule didn't line up, the part didn't appeal to him or he just didn't feel up to it at the time. After an exhaustive campaign by co-showrunners Steven Moffat and Tim Minear to convince Bowie to take the part he eventually relented and made his debut as The Master in the Season 14 finale entitled Better Human Beings. In it The Master is initially disguised as Professor Thomas, a human scientist based on Mars in the late 21st century, part of a military project to develop clone bodies utterly lacking in sentience, designed for organ harvesting and scientific experimentation. However ultimately it is revealed that the clones are in fact very much sentient and utterly loyal to The Master who's plan is to replace all the leaders of Earth with his loyal clone subjects. In his own words he would "snatch The Doctor's precious Earth away from him without him even noticing". Unfortunately for him The Doctor very much noticed, even if it took him a while, and in the ensuing battle the cloning facility was destroyed and The Master was left wounded in the collapsing dome of the Mars base, sure to suffocate. The viewers said goodbye to The Master for now as he gazed up on the martian sky, unable to move, and goodbye to David Bowie's incarnation in particular as this was his first and only appearance on the show.

The Doctor was not much better off, with his showdown with The Master wounding him severely and leaving him on the brink of regeneration. With the help of his companions he made it back to the TARDIS only for his regeneration to finally kick off. A new Doctor was entering the stage, and the actor picked to take up Ryan Reynolds mantle would ensure that it Bowie would not be the only hot topic among viewers. In final scene of the episode The Doctor regenerated and viewers witnessed Ryan Reynold's form getting somewhat shorter and sprouting longer blonde hair out of his otherwise so short haired head until the Eleventh Doctor was there. With the simple phrase "Well, this is new" the new Doctor ended the episode as it cut to credits and people at home wondered just what the show's first female Doctor would bring to the table in the next season.
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By Labor Day 2008, Les AuCoin's approval rating was 43 to 49 according to Gallup. While the DNC had been a modest success, Republican veep candidate George Allen had stolen the show in Indianapolis and polls were showing Republican leads in every swing state. The Democrats did the best they could do running on the economy and AuCoin finally seemed to have gotten the memo as well. Unfortunately, much of the spotlight from AuCoin's center-left agenda was stolen by the odd phenomenon called the Yellowstone Group - an insurgent green left-populist group attacking the incumbent party from the left while indirectly compromising the President by affirming their (tepid) support for his agenda. While a few successful House primaries weren't the biggest deal, they had managed to elevate bowtie biker Rep. Earl Blumenauer over establishment favorite Sec. of State Bonamici in the race to go up against Gordon Smith in the President's home state and the failed primary challenge to Mitch Landrieu made Democrats weary of backlashes. And most of all, their radical "drain the swamp" language risked making the Democrats appear too out there for the coveted Moderate Sane Voter. The unveiling of a new program for tax reform did shore up the center-left, but for the left flank it was far too cautious; and where was the green tax shift? And around the country, more and more voices were clamoring for comprehensive health care reform. It was clear that the Democrats faced an uphill battle.

It didn't help that they faced a team of high-quality Republican candidates, conservative family men who looked the part. Among Republicans, enthusiasm for the ticket was high; both Allen and Perry drew large crowds in places such as Cincinnati and Orlando. Their tax plan was simple; three tax brackets, no more, no less, plus the first 5000 dollars earned on a payroll every year being tax-free. They wanted more restrictions on immigration and a crackdown on those who had come illegally, but a path to citizenship for those truly deserving of the American Dream if they had lived most of their lives here. And government did its job best if it did as little of possible. As the Wall Street Journal put it, "it's Middle America's ideals cooked down to a tasty stock".

Unfortunately for the Republicans, they didn't realize the importance of selling that message to Middle America. Instead, Rick Perry called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in each and every speech; Planned Parenthood was trashed as "the devil's henchmen" and George Allen promised to put an end to the "marijuana epidemic". The actual turning point was probably a misfired anti-gay ad in late September, but the one everyone remembers was in the season's first debate in Gainesville, Florida - already in the opening remarks.

"Senator Perry," Chuck Todd began, "what are the three things that you are most worried about in America today?"

"Thank you for the question, Chuck. First of all, the stagnant economy, that desperately needs a tax reform that puts families first and fam-accountants last. Secondly, the destruction of family values, American values, that the administration willfully lets being destroyed every day while family values keep decaying. And lastly, the abortions, so many young women, people today think that the most responsible thing to do after marriage is to, not to raise a kid, but to drive fifty miles away and terminate it. I will stand up for life." It was a ramble for the ages, a mish-mash of talking points and talk radio. As the question passed to AuCoin, the audience didn't know what to think, and most wouldn't remember the President's succinct answer or indeed anything else from the debate afterwards. Republican pollsters saw an immediate 1.5% drop in the polls as Republican-leaning moderates reconsidered their options. And outside the insular realm of politics, unemployment dropped below five percent in October 2008.

Ultimately, though, the Republicans managed to salvage their campaign, mostly thanks to George Allen who delivered the performance of his life in the Vice Presidential debate. And while the race has tightened, upon entering Election Day, Republicans were still leading barely outside the margin of error when polls were aggregated. Exit polls in Florida showed a 5-point Republican lean; by then many observers assumed that the deal was sealed. However, New Hampshire stubbornly held on to a tiny Democratic lead, and AuCoin's losses around Pittsburgh were offset by a huge swing in the Philadelphia suburbs. Republicans were glad again when Iowa and Ohio went their way, but were disappointed by Michigan, where Carl Levin also held his seat. And the west was looking quite shaky; had the Republicans underestimated the Hispanic vote, despite Perry's good connection to Texas Hispanics? And had they forgotten the lesson from four years ago in the middle of the clear lead versus AuCoin: that the Electoral College was a thing?

When Nevada was called, by lunch-time on Wednesday Eastern Time, they got their answer. And this time, there would be riots.

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Major Statewide Officeholders in the United States, January 2009
Freshmen are listed in italics, pickups are underlined. Luther Strange won a full term after being elected in the 2007 special election.​

Senators

Alabama

3. Richard Shelby (R)
2. Luther Strange (R)


Alaska


2. Ted Stevens (R)
3. Loren Leman (R)

Arizona


3. John McCain (R)
1. Matt Salmon (R)


Arkansas

3. Fay Boozman (R)
2. Bill Clinton (D)


California


1. Dianne Feinstein (D)
3. John Garamendi (D)


Colorado

2. David Skaggs (D)
3. Bill Owens (R)

Connecticut

3. Chris Dodd (D)
1. Joe Lieberman (D)


Delaware

2. Joe Biden (D)
1. Mike Castle (R)


Florida

3. Bob Graham (D)
1. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R)


Georgia

2. Tom Price (R)
3. Nathan Deal (R)

Hawaii

1. Daniel Inouye (D)
3. Daniel Akaka (D)


Idaho

3. Larry Craig (R)
2. Mike Crapo (R)


Illinois

2. Dick Durbin (D)
3. Jan Schakowsky (D)


Indiana


1. Richard Lugar (R)
3. Evan Bayh (D)

Iowa

3. Chuck Grassley (R)
2. Tom Harkin (D)

Kansas


2. Sam Brownback (R)
3. Bob Knight (R)


Kentucky

2. Mitch McConnell (R)
3. Ed Whitfield (R)


Louisiana

2. Bobby Jindal (R)
3. Jim McCrery (R)


Maine

1. Olympia Snowe (R)
2. Tom Allen (D)


Maryland

3. Barbara Mikulski (D)
1. Kweisi Mfume (D)


Massachusetts

1. Ted Kennedy (D)
2. John Kerry (D)


Michigan

2. Carl Levin (D)
1. Joe Knollenberg (R)

Minnesota


2. Skip Humphrey (D)
1. Jim Oberstar (D)


Mississippi

2. Thad Cochran (R)
1. Trent Lott (R)


Missouri

3. Kit Bond (R)
1. Jo Ann Emerson (R)


Montana

2. Max Baucus (D)
1. Brian Schweitzer (D)


Nebraska

2. Don Stenberg (R)
1. Chuck Hagel (R)

Nevada

3. John Ensign (R)
1. Jim Gibbons (R)


New Hampshire

2. Judd Gregg (R)
3. John E. Sununu (R)


New Jersey

2. Albio Sires (D)
1. Rob Andrews (D)


New Mexico

1. Jeff Bingaman (D)
2. Tom Udall (D)


New York

3. Geraldine Ferraro (D)
1. Nita Lowey (D)


North Carolina

2. Richard Burr (R)
3. Pat McCrory (R)


North Dakota

1. Kent Conrad (D)
3. Byron Dorgan (D)


Ohio

1. Mike DeWine (R)
3. George Voinovich (R)


Oklahoma

2. Jim Inhofe (R)
3. Steve Largent (R)


Oregon

2. Earl Blumenauer (D)
3. John Kitzhaber (D)

Pennsylvania

1. Tom Ridge (R)
3. Jane Earll (R)


Rhode Island

2. Jack Reed (D)
1. Lincoln Chafee (R)

South Carolina

2. Lindsey Graham (R)
3. Mark Sanford (R)


South Dakota

3. Tom Daschle (D)
2. John Thune (R)


Tennessee

2. Diane Black (R)
1. Stephen Fincher (R)


Texas

2. Lamar Smith (R)
1. Carole Keeton Strayhorn (R)


Utah

1. Orrin Hatch (R)
3. Bob Bennett (R)


Vermont

3. Patrick Leahy (D)
1. Jim Jeffords (R)

Virginia

2. Eric Cantor (R)
1. Frank Wolf (R)


Washington

3. Norm Dicks (D)
1. Christine Gregoire (D)


West Virginia


1. Robert Byrd (D)
2. Jay Rockefeller (D)


Wisconsin


3. Russ Feingold (D)
1. Doug La Follette (D)


Wyoming

1. Dick Cheney (R)
2. John Barrasso (R)


Governors

Alabama: Spencer Bachus (R)
Alaska: Bruce Botelho (D)
Arizona: Betsey Bayless (R)
Arkansas: Mark Pryor (D)

California: Matt Fong (R)
Colorado:
Mike Coffman (R)
Connecticut: Chris Shays (R)

Delaware: John Carney (D)
Florida: Joe Scarborough (R)
Georgia: Bob Barr (R)

Hawaii: Ed Case (D)
Idaho: Dirk Kempthorne (R)
Illinois: Glenn Poshard (D)
Indiana: Brian Bosma (R)
Iowa: Terry Branstad (R)
Kansas: Gary Sherrer (R)

Kentucky: Steve Beshear (D)

Louisiana: David Vitter (R)
Maine: James D. Libby (R)
Maryland: Elijah Cummings (D)
Massachusetts: Stephen Lynch (D)

Michigan: Candice Miller (R)
Minnesota: Judi Dutcher (R)
Mississippi: Mike Parker (R)

Missouri: Jo Ann Emerson (R)
Montana: Jon Tester (D)
Nebraska: Don Stenberg (R)
Nevada: Greg Brower (R)

New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen (D)
New Jersey: Jon Corzine (D)
New Mexico: Patricia Madrid (D)

New York: Rick Lazio (R)

North Carolina: Cherie Berry (R)
North Dakota: Heidi Heitkamp (D)
Ohio: John Kasich (R)
Oklahoma: Dan Boren (D)
Oregon: Jeff Merkley (D)
Pennsylvania: Bob Casey Jr. (D)

Rhode Island: Buddy Cianci (I)
South Carolina: André Bauer (R)
South Dakota: John Thune (R)

Tennessee: Phil Bredesen (D)
Texas: Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)

Utah: Greg Bell (R)
Vermont: Jim Douglas (R)
Virginia: George Allen (R)

Washington: Adam Smith (D)

West Virginia: Joe Manchin (D)
Wisconsin: Mark Green (R)
Wyoming: Joseph Meyer (R)

Close or noteworthy races:
AR-Sen: Bill Clinton (D) def. Mike Huckabee (R) 50-45
CO-Sen: David Skaggs (D) def. Dan Maes (R) 55-40
GA-Sen: Tom Price (R) def. John Barrow (D) 54-44
LA-Sen: Bobby Jindal (R) def. Mitch Landrieu (D) and Malik Rahim (G) 51-44-5
ME-Sen: Tom Allen (D) def. Charlie Summers (R) and Andrew Ian Dodge (I) 50-42-6
MI-Sen: Carl Levin (D) def. Pete Hoekstra (R) 52-47
MN-Sen: Skip Humphrey (D) def. Tom Emmer (R) 53-45
NE-Sen: Don Stenberg (R) def. Scott Kleeb (D) 61-39
OR-Sen: Earl Blumenauer (D) def. Gordon Smith (R) 50-49
SD-Sen: John Thune (R) def. Tim Johnson (D) 52-47
VA-Sen: Eric Cantor (R) def. Tim Kaine (D) 54-42

DE-Gov: John Carney (D) def. Christine O'Donnell (R) 64-30
MO-Gov: Jo Ann Emerson (R) def. Claire McCaskill (D) 53-44
NC-Gov: Cherie Berry (R) def. John Edwards (D) 51-47

(I didn't bother with wikiboxes this time; the Republicans held the House, with a handful gains, and they lead the Democrats by 30 seats.)
 
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Well, 2010's probably going to be brutal for the Dems.

Or the Republicans implode in a civil war following two "illegitimate" losses and the Democratic ticket sweeps the Electoral College. Anything I make up is less strange than truth after all.

To all readers: Feel free to guess the 2012 nominees!
 
"Thank you for the question, Chuck. First of all, the stagnant economy, that desperately needs a tax reform that puts families first and fam-accountants last. Secondly, the destruction of family values, American values, that the administration willfully lets being destroyed every day while family values keep decaying. And lastly, the abortions, so many young women, people today think that the most responsible thing to do after marriage is to, not to raise a kid, but to drive fifty miles away and terminate it. I will stand up for life."

All this is missing is an "Adios, mofo" at the end of it.
 
Meanwhile - here is an overview of the Swedish parties' platforms in 2010-13, compared to those of OTL Norway (!)

Most should be obvious, but some might not be.

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