The Al Gore/Ann Richards 2000 ticket resoundingly defeats the John McCain/Lamar Alexander one, largely thanks to the Reform Party's ticket of Pat Buchanan and a very reluctant Alan Keyes. President Gore's first term sees Osama Bin Laden's plot to attack the Twin Towers smothered in its crib (thanks to the work of one Secretary of Defense Sam Nunn). However, without the "rally-round-the-flag" effect that 9/11 and the Iraq War brings, President Gore is hampered by a recession early into his presidency and Democrat fatigue. In 2004, Rick Santorum makes a bid for the presidency fueled by the social conservatives who hop between the Reform Party and the Republicans. Not willing to be responsible for the rise of a third party, the Republican establishment backs Santorum with the caveat that their baby boy, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, is the Vice Presidential nominee.
Santorum/Bush beats Gore/Richards because as we all know, charisma is an incredibly important factor in presidential politics, and even a fucking rock with googly eyes on it is more charismatic than Al Gore. There's some conflict in the Middle East that gets stirred up because it's been a long time since the GOP cut loose, and it happens to coincide with the first rumblings of a recession, which is exacerbated because the Republicans have been waiting four long years for an equivalent to the Bush Tax Cuts, and Santorum delivers with aplomb.
The economy eats shit, and President Santorum is defeated for re-election by THE DREAM TEAM of Russ Feingold and Bill Richardson.
Also, President Santorum catches some heat for bribing his VP's brother to stack games in favor of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who go on to win every world series until the heat death of the universe, thus proving that even under President Rick Fucking Santorum, the world wouldn't be a total dystopia.