POD: GOP does not shut down governments, hence causing Clinton some more trouble in the general election.

Note: For General and Senate, the color scheme is Blue: GOP, Red: Dem, while for the House, it is the other way around.

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After the GOP revolution of 1994, things were not looking bright for Clinton. The Republicans were looking forward to unseat the current president. It looked like things would be a toss-up, as Clinton had the advantages of being president under a good economy. After the 1996 primaries ended, GOP nominee Bob Dole chose former HUD secretary Jack Kemp to be his running mate. Clinton, in an attempt to appeal to moderates and Republicans, began passing bills such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA), much to the dismay of Liberals. However, Clinton also passed bills that raised the minumum wage and expanded health insurance, which were seen as ok to Liberals in the Democratic Party. Polls shown Clinton leading Bob Dole, which made the Dole Campaign try to go on the offensive. With Atwater dead, the Dole campaign hired Karl Rove, who worked on the Bush Gubernatorial campaign of 1994, Bush's congressional campaigns of 1978 and 1980, and the 1984 Reagan Presidential campaign.
Rove began an extremely negative campaign, focusing on Whitewater and Clinton's many scandals. When October came, it appeared that the race was a toss-up. However, they were two October surprises, both which benefited both candidates. The first one was with Dole appearing dizzy during a debate, which caused concerns of his ability to serve as president. The second was a big one, one which had to do with Clinton's affairs. It turned out that Clinton was having an affair with White house intern Monica Lewinsky. At first, Clinton denied it. But a day later he realized that that was a huge mistake and admitted to it. That hurt his campaign numbers, and the Clinton campaign went under damage control. Clinton then began attacking Dole on child smoking and his age. Clinton also emphasized the
good economy. Clinton was also pretty popular amongst young and black voters. This was enough for the race to return to being a toss-up. Perot also made a late entry around October 15th, but no one expected him to make a big difference. The Dole campaign was determined to make sure that the American people vote for Bob Dole. So they kept dragging on Clinton's affairs and Whitewater and make sure that it makes the American people vote for Dole. Rove attack Clinton on his affairs, and the fact that he lied about it, and the fact that he changed because of the
fact that an election is taking place. These attacks seem to stick, and when election day came, Dole had won by a hair, maybe 2, ok, he won by 4%.

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When Rove was not busy focusing on the General election, he was focusing on down-ballot, and hoped that the GOP can expand it's majorities in the Senate. He began putting out ads urging Republicans not just to vote for Dole/Kemp, but to also vote for the state's senate candidate for the GOP. It proved effective, with the GOP winning 5 seats.

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The GOP also expanded in the house, which, ITTL, didn't shut down government after government, that, and turnout was low, with mostly Republicans voting. This led to the GOP gaining 11 seats. Gephardt would later resign as leader.

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MIDTERMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11



The 1998 House and Senate elections were called “the big disappointment” for the fact that little changed in the composition of seats. Because Gephardt resigned, a new House Minority leader was found: Dave Obey of Wisconsin. The Democrats were hoping for a reverse-1994, but all they got was 6 more seats. Newt Gingrich will later resign due to ethics violation, leading to Bob Riley becoming the new speaker.

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The Senate, in the mean time, was more interesting. Senate Minority leader Tom Daschle resigned after a poor showing in 1996, which led to South Carolina senator Ernest Hollings to be the new Senate Minority leader. Senators everywhere were trying to defend their seats, even Lott and Hollings were. Hollings gave the Democrats a long-needed boost after the years of 1994 and 1996. When November came, the GOP gained 4 seats, but was out-weighed by the Democrats gaining 3 seats.

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One of the seats that the GOP gained was South Dakota, which Daschle had been hoping to keep after resigning as Senate Minority leader but narrowly failed to attorney Ron Schmidt. The South Dakotan Senate Election was so close that it required 2 recounts, but after it was finalized, Schmidt became South Dakotan Senator.

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In New York, Long-time Al D’Amato was facing a challenge from 1984 Democratic VP nominee, Geraldine Ferraro. D’Amato hit hard on many of the subjects the Republicans hit her on in 1984. The race was seen as a toss-up, with no one finding out who will win. When November came, it was clear that voters wanted Amato for 6 more years.

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D'Amato narrowly won Manhatten

Meanwhile, in Georgia, incumbent senator Paul Coverdell did not care about the election, since he thought he would win no matter what. So what if the Democrats nominated a businessman? So what if the election was close, would voters would choose Coverdell over any cookie-cutter nominee whose business is literally cookies? That was a mistake.

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The Georgian race was the biggest surprise of them all, by just .03%, or 500 voters, Coverdell lost his seat to a businessman that makes cookies.

When Terry Branstad decided to refuse a 5th term for Iowa’s governorship, the Democrats could sense an opportunity. They knew Iowan voters had enough of 30 years of Republicans, and were willing to make sure that Iowans vote for the Democratic Party. That was until the primaries, State Senator Vilsack narrowly defeated Judge Mark McCormick by just 29 votes. 29!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. McCormick’s supporters, along with McCormick himself, were sure that the primary was rigged. When an attempt at a re-count was refused, McCormick announced a write-in campaign. That, right then and there, ended any chance the Democrats had in 1998.

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Despite not winning any county, McCormick was able to split the vote enough that Vilsack lost. Iowan Democrats were furious, but they kept telling themselves: “2002”.



When Minnesota governor Arne Carlson’s 2nd term ended, everyone thought that it was between a Democrat and a Republican. But when actor and mayor Jesse Ventura entered the race, it became more interesting. Ventura and Coleman began trading leads, while Humphrey just got 2 leads in the polls. When election day came, it was too close to call. A recount was demanded, and by just 7,000 votes, Coleman became the 38th governor of Minnesota. If you look at the pictures, you can see that Coleman is happy that he became governor, Ventura is sure that it is rigged, and he is angry about it, and Humphrey is surprised, even though he shouldn’t because just because you are a son of a famous Minnesotan does not mean you become governor, ok?!? I thought he learned that lesson when he defeated Walter Mondale’s son, Ted, in the primary….

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I'm pretty happy with Minnesota. I would have loved for the son of the greatest president we never had to be Governor, but Coleman is better than Ventura.
 
You know what guys? I am in a good mood, so heres 2000 for you!

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When the 2000 primaries arrived, it was clear that it would be a hard fight for Al Gore. Gore was unpopular with Mainstream Democrats, which gave the Liberal wing power after the New Democrats fell from power after 1996. Al Gore had to face two challengers, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Bill Bradley of New Jersey. An issue in the primaries was DOMA, which Gore supported and Bradley voted for it. When it came on the debates, Gore fumbled and stuttered, Bradley just said “I regret this decision”, while Feingold was the only one that didn’t vote for it, which helped his poll numbers. At first, it proved tough for Gore since only Feingold and Bradley were winning anything, until he won his first primary: Georgia. Al Gore was hoping to get Tennessee, Florida and Texas if his campaign was to get anywhere. After the New York primary, in which Bill Bradley heavily invested in but lost to Feingold, Bradley dropped out. With it being Gore v Feingold, and with Tennessee and Florida being on the same day, it became a heated match. Finally, judgement day came for the Gore Campaign on March 14th, Tennessee was first to be called for Gore, while Feingold won Florida 3 hours after Tennessee was called. Gore later dropped out, leaving Russ Feingold as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

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Paul Wellstone was popular with Liberals and Centrists alike, Wellstone was billed as the “New Humphrey”, a title approved by Hubert Humphrey’s son and failed Gubernatorial candidate Skip Humphrey.


Russ Feingold was popular with Liberals and Centrists alike, Feingold was billed as the “New La Follette”, a title approved by a lot of Democrats


The GOP, in the mean time, went through easily. Bob Dole responded to the “New La Follette” title by saying “Well, Feingold, like La Follette, you are going to lose”, invoking La Follette’s 1924 bid. The speech was praised by a lot of people, and when the polls came in after both conventions, showed both candidates tied 47-47.


Dole had the advantage of a strong economy. In the mean time, GOP insiders both knew that Dole would probably die or resign in his 2nd term, so they tried to make sure Dole stays at the White House, while Jack Kemp and others on the campaign trail. The polls still showed a tight race until the October surprise came. Al-Qaeda had attacked the USS Cole, killing over 17 sailors. The “Rally-around the flag” effect came into play, with Dole beginning to lead the polls. Dole had made a speech, talking about how “Justice will be served”. When election day came, Dole had a kind of comfortable victory, and the 2nd term of Bob Dole was beginning….

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In the house, the GOP gained a net gain of six seats. This was historic since, four years ago, the Democrats had the same number of seats, and, in 1996, the same popular vote percentage. Despite this, House Democratic leader Obey refused to step down. Barack Obama primaried Representative Bobby Rush of Illinois-1st, leading to Rush having a write-in campaign, which soon lead to Obama losing to the write-in campaign very narrowly. Obama’s career ended after this.

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The Senate also proved dire for the Democrats, 4 seats were nabbed by the Republicans, even New York, though, admittedly, it was close. However, like Obey, Hollings refused to step down.

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How did someone as far to the left as Wellstone get nominated. I mean, I like him, but no one in their right minds would think he'd make a good president because he's too far to the left.
 
How did someone as far to the left as Wellstone get nominated. I mean, I like him, but no one in their right minds would think he'd make a good president because he's too far to the left.

Well, the New Democrats were kicked out from power, and Wellstone could moderate. Besides, Wellstone was an upcoming star in the Democratic party both OTL and ITTL who could set a new, liberal face to the Democratic party.
 
Well, the New Democrats were kicked out from power, and Wellstone could moderate. Besides, Wellstone was an upcoming star in the Democratic party both OTL and ITTL who could set a new, liberal face to the Democratic party.

Still, he's too far to the left to even win the Democratic nomination. If you wanna do that, I say you should choose Russ Feingold. He has a bipartisan record, even working on finance reform with John McCain, but he's a liberal member of Congress.
 
Still, he's too far to the left to even win the Democratic nomination. If you wanna do that, I say you should choose Russ Feingold. He has a bipartisan record, even working on finance reform with John McCain, but he's a liberal member of Congress.

Well, alright.
 
Still, he's too far to the left to even win the Democratic nomination. If you wanna do that, I say you should choose Russ Feingold. He has a bipartisan record, even working on finance reform with John McCain, but he's a liberal member of Congress.

Changed it.
 
Alright guys, I am having trouble with a person infobox (The US President and Kansas senator keep merging together), that, And it is too big for gyazo to snip all of it. Anyone can help me?
 
Alright guys, I am having trouble with a person infobox (The US President and Kansas senator keep merging together), that, And it is too big for gyazo to snip all of it. Anyone can help me?

I'd suggest asking that question in Help and Rules (as well) and perhaps ask a moderator. I've never made Wikiboxes, so I'm sorry I can't help you much :rolleyes:
 
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