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Alternate Wikibox Thread

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can't decide if I was too generous to Casey here or not...
 
Why does Casey run? Why does he do so well? Does this mean we get old President Dole?

Casey very nearly ran IOTL. His campaign would have been centered on his opposition to abortion rights. That mostly motivates him to run ITTL, too, but a generally more disastrous Clinton presidency leads some primary voters to channel their angst into Casey -- an imperfect vessel.
 
Casey very nearly ran IOTL. His campaign would have been centered on his opposition to abortion rights. That mostly motivates him to run ITTL, too, but a generally more disastrous Clinton presidency leads some primary voters to channel their angst into Casey -- an imperfect vessel.
I'm guessing this means we get President Dole?
 
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The 1995 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 4 May 1995, to elect 650 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The election resulted in the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party since 1981 and would be the last time that the Conservatives would win a majority at a general election until 2015.

Opinion polls in the run-up to the election had suggested that it would end in a hung parliament or a narrow Labour majority. The fact that it produced a Conservative majority, with Labour ultimately losing seats, meant that it was one of the most dramatic and memorable elections in the UK since the end of the Second World War.

Ian Lang had won the 1992 Conservative leadership election following the resignation of Geoffrey Rippon due to ill health. During his first term he signed the Marseille Treaty that turned the European Economic Community into the European Union, oversaw the privatisation of the National Power Corporation and signed the Conservative Union Agreement, which formally merged the Liberals and the Ulster Unionist Party into the Conservative Party.

While the British economy was recovering from a sharp recession, the campaign focused largely on two major constitutional issues: the Devolution (Clarity) Act which greatly restricted the powers of devolved administrations, specifically the Scottish Assembly's ability to call an independence referendum, and Britain's membership of the European Single Currency. The Labour Party, led by Jack Straw, strongly opposed both measures. Labour campaigned for a moratorium and referendum on Britain's membership of the DucatZone as well as highlighting traditional issues such as the decrepit state of public services.

The election was also notable for a breakthrough for the third parties, especially the Greens. The Scottish Nationalists campaigned on the Conservative intrusion into Scottish self-government and heavily targeted Scottish Labour for their weak opposition to the clarity act, even as nationalist-unionist polarisation saw SNP parliamentary leader Winnie Ewing lose her seat. The Unionist Party, heavily divided by the split and merger into the Conservatives by their more moderate members, rebranded as the New Unionists. Under their new leader Ian Paisley they campaigned against European integration and mass immigration under their new leader Ian Paisley and won their best yet result in Great Britain.

Notably the Green Party made a breakthrough as well, appealing to disaffected liberal and environmentalist voters from both Labour and the Conservatives. At the time the Greens had a collective leadership structure and nominated Green MEP Sara Parkin as their "Lead Candidate" to represent the party in televised debates and likely negotiations in a hung parliament.

This breakthrough for third parties was blamed by many for Labour's defeat, splitting the anti-Conservative vote and allowing the incumbents to campaign against a Labour-led "free-for-all" in a hung-parliament.

Ian Lang served as Prime Minister until he was successfully challenged for the Conservative Leadership in 1997.

Who Governs Britain?
1978 UK General Election
1987 UK General Election
 
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Had an idea for David Koch sticking with the Libertarians and the Koch Bros. funnelling their campaign money into the Libertarian Party instead of the GOP. POD here is in 1983 instead of nominating David Bergland, whose party faction and ideology was a big reason for David Koch abandoning the party, in 1984, the second place guy wins instead. That would be Earl Ravenal, who is a well known foreign policy analyst and is more palatable to the Kochs.

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Some minor notes. To avoid 2000 going to the House, Bush also wins say Wisconsin. And in 2016, all else being equal, Trump would still win a majority, but I'm undecided on that or having it go to the House. Also the reason it's Weld/Johnson instead of Johnson/Weld is because Romney said in 2016 that if Weld were at the top of the ticket instead of Johnson he would have endorsed the Libertarian ticket, so in this timeline the party goes for it.
 
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The 2003 UK General Election was held on Thursday 1 May 2003 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It was notable for being the first election held under the new Alternative Vote (AV) system legislated under the 2001 Representation of the People Act.

The election resulted in a landslide re-election victory for the Labour Party, the largest achieved in its history and by any political party in British politics since the Second World War. With an uneventful campaign and turnout dropping to its lowest levels to the lowest levels since the 1930s, the election was widely dubbed "the quiet landslide".

The campaign took place in the aftermath of the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic, and strong public approval of the government's handling of the crisis was seen as a decisive factor in the result. Running on the slogan "Take the Right Road to Recovery", the Labour campaign focused on the economic recovery from the pandemic and pre-pandemic achievements in economic investments and public service reforms, most notably the Social Services Framework Agreement with local governments and home rule administrations.

The new electoral system produced mixed results for the opposition parties. The Conservatives, heavily divided over their response to the Ashdown Government's pandemic border closure and emergency powers legislation, won their worst result since 1945. There were several high profile Conservative defeats, include that of Conservative leader Peter Lilley, former Prime Minister Lynda Chalker and Shadow Chancellor Michael Fallon.

The Scottish Nationalists won their worst result since the 1970s, attributed to the new AV system enabling anti-SNP voters to vote tactically against the party. Conversely, the Greens and the New Unionists both achieved significant breakthroughs that were attributed to winning the second preferences of Labour and Conservative voters.

The election campaign was heavily influenced by pandemic-era restrictions; there were few mass-rallies and much campaigning was done virtually over television, Ceefax and the Minitel. Because of pandemic concerns 50.6% of votes were cast by postal ballot, which caused significant delays in tallying results and widespread irregularities in many marginal constituencies. The large number of postal ballots meant that for the first time in decades there was no exit poll.

Who Governs Britain?
1978 UK General Election
1987 UK General Election
1995 UK General Election
 
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Around 2002/2003 there was a pretty widespread belief that Tom Daschle was going to run for President. It made sense – there was no obvious Democratic front-runner, he had the name recognition and fundraising skills to do well, and being from South Dakota would have given him an immediate advantage in Iowa – but, obviously, it didn’t end up happening.

Here, he makes the leap, with a strong win in Iowa setting the stage for the rest of the primaries. Picking Wesley Clark as his running mate, Daschle wins a narrow victory over Bush in November, though the Democrats fail to flip either the House or the Senate. This makes Daschle’s first term in office a bit of a mixed bag, though as they near the 2008 election there’s a perception among Republicans that he’ll be re-elected (things haven’t been that bad, and what are the odds there are two one-term Presidents in a row?). This ends up shooting them in the foot – in the absence of stronger, higher-profile candidates, the party nominates former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who ends up shitting the bed and allowing Daschle to narrowly win re-election despite a worsening economy. Daschle’s second term isn’t much better than his first – he spends most of it trying to get the economy back on track while locked in a constant battle with congressional Republicans. Exiting office with mixed approval ratings, Daschle does not leave a huge a legacy behind, though his appointment of four Supreme Court Justices – to replace Rehnquist, Souter, O’Connor, and Stevens – would ensure progressive control of the court for more than a generation.

Come 2012, with a middling economy, Jeb Bush is able to defeating Hillary Clinton in a closer election than expected, avenging his father and redeeming his family name following the failures of his brother’s administration. Awkward on the stump and never particularly beloved by the American public, Jeb nevertheless proves to be the most effective politician in his family and in 2016 becomes the first President Bush to win re-election.

With no clear front-runner in 2020, Rahm Emanuel, elected to replace Nancy Pelosi as House Democratic leader in 2012 following five dismal elections and Speaker of the House since 2014, decides to enter the race – the House is fine, but he’s looking for something more. His gamble succeeds; nothing if not a talented legislator and organizer, his presidency promises to be eventful. Brace yourselves, America!

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Presidents of the United States:
2001-2005: George W. Bush (Republican)

2000 (with Dick Cheney) def. Al Gore (Democratic)
2005-2013: Tom Daschle (Democratic)
2004 (with Wesley Clark) def. George W. Bush (Republican)
2008 (with Wesley Clark) def. Rudy Giuliani (Republican)

2013-2021: Jeb Bush (Republican)
2012 (with Kelly Ayotte) def. Hillary Clinton (Democratic)
2016 (with Kelly Ayotte) def. Cory Booker (Democratic)

2021-present: Rahm Emanuel (Democratic)
2020 (with Stephanie Schriock) def. Kelly Ayotte (Republican)
 
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The 2012 UK General Election was held on Thursday 3 May 2012 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Labour Party, led by Shahid Malik, saw a large swing against them similar to those seen in 1999 and 1983, the last times incumbent governments lost re-election. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons, the first since the Second World War.

Shahid Malik had defeated his predecessor Paddy Ashdown in the 2011 Labour leadership election, becoming the first Muslim Prime Minister and the first Prime Minister and major party leader of non-European ancestry. During his first term he passed the Accountability Act, the repeal of pandemic-era emergency powers legislation and announced the withdrawal of British armed forces from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The election campaign focused on recovery from the late 2000s recession, national security concerns and corruption. The Labour Party campaigned on a record of thirteen years of strong management of the economy and public services but the campaign was severely disrupted by a series of embarrassing leaks regarding backroom negotiations and agreements by Shahid Malik and other senior Labour officials to remove Paddy Ashdown as leader during the 2011 leadership election.

The Conservatives had also ousted their leader in the year before the election. Former army officer and Shadow Defence Secretary Tim Collins lwas the first Conservative leader and leader of the opposition to represent an Irish seat since Edward Carson. The Conservative campaign focused on the cost of living, national security and the series of corruption scandals that had hit the Labour government in the 2007-2012 parliament, most notably the Maxwell Affair that ultimately led to Ashdown's downfall. Collins regularly referred to Malik's Accountability Act as "the Great Whitewash" and promised a full public inquiry into the scandal if elected Prime Minister.

While maintaining wide leads over the Labour Party in the year leading up to the general election, by the time the campaign began Labour and Conservative polling was tied and remained so throughout the campaign. As a result there was much speculation over a potential hung parliament and potential coalitions and inter-party agreements, with the major third parties largely campaigning on the demands they planned to make on either Labour or the Conservatives. All three major third parties, the Greens, the New Unionists and the Scottish Nationalists, came under immense pressure to declare a preference for a Labour or Conservative government; all parties refused to make explicit confirmations.

Since a hung parliament had been largely anticipated by the opinion polls in the run-up to the election, politicians and voters were relatively well-prepared for the constitutional process that would follow such a result. The coalition government that was subsequently formed was the first to result directly from a UK election. Coalition talks began immediately between the Labour Party and the Greens and lasted for two weeks. There was an aborted attempt to put together a Conservative-Green-SNP Coalition (although 10 seats from other smaller parties and independents would have been required). To facilitate this, Tim Collins announced on the evening of Monday 15 May that he would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party in order to facilitate a "Fourth National Government" made up of members from all parties.
The next day, Shahid Malik asked King Charles III's permission to form a minority government in his name and remain Prime Minister. He accepted this request, despite public and private calls to delay this appointment until the conclusion of Labour and Conservative talks with smaller parties. Just after midnight on 17 May, the Green Party national executive approved the proposed agreement "overwhelmingly", sealing a coalition of the Green and Labour Parties, with Green leader Rupert Read becoming Deputy Prime Minister and four other Green MPs and Peers becoming ministers. This agreement, and the Second Malik Ministry, lasted three years until the Greens broke the coalition in 2015 over the 2015 Defence and Security Review.

Who Governs Britain?
1978 UK General Election
1987 UK General Election
1995 UK General Election
2003 UK General Election
 
A lot of Independent MPs I see, it would be interesting to know their story
AV tends to make it a lot easier for them to sneak through the middle.

There are a lot of stories for them, in an election dominated by an anti-system mood a record number of independents were elected. A few popular councillors (like in the Shetlands), Resident’s Association protesting against government public service cuts and housing developments and a suspended Northern Irish Tory who ran with tacit New Unionist support in Belfast North.
 
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The 2019 UK General Election was held on Thursday 2 May 2019 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Conservative Party, led by Tom Newton Dunn, was re-elected but suffered a significant swing against them, resulting in the narrowest majority government since 1974. With most election polling predicting a second large majority for the Conservatives, this result is widely considered to be the greatest upset since 1995.

The Conservatives in their first term had embarked on several radical policies under the umbrella of the "New Capitalism" agenda; signing free trade agreements with Japan and the United States, privatising several state industries and the government housing stock and heavily restricting immigration and the rights of temporary residents. In addition, the incumbent government had joined the UN-led intervention in the Ethiopian Civil War. Running on the slogan "Strong and Free", the Conservatives hoped to capitalise on the popularity of these measures and characterise the Labour Party as elitist and out of touch.

The Labour Party, led by former Defence Secretary Sarah Smith (and daughter of former Scottish First Secretary and EU Commissioner John Smith), campaigned against Conservative austerity and selloffs, while seeking to atone and apologise for the scandals of the last Labour government. Her strong performance in the campaign, especially at the two televised debates, was credited for avoiding expected losses for the party.

The third parties had mixed results; the New Unionists under Phillip Davies argued that the Conservative Immigration bill didn't go far enough and campaigned on "Common Sense", highlighting Newton Dunn's failure to repeal human rights legislation passed by Ashdown and Malik. The Scottish Nationalists suffered heavy losses due to the unpopularity of the Cunningham Administration in Scotland. The Greens ran a left-leaning campaign focusing on their opposition to Austerity; their leader, Aaron Bastani, had been one of the leaders of the "All Are Welcome" movement formed to oppose the Immigration Act. He heavily criticised the Labour Party for their weak opposition to the bill and support of the Ethiopian intervention, but faced constant controversy of his own owing to his frequent inflammatory comments on Orkut and other Minitel sites.

The unexpected result was blamed on many factors: the strong Labour campaign, a backlash to austerity and strong performances by third parties. But most notably early in the campaign the scandal that came to be known as the Central Office Affair dominated the headlines. Allegations that Conservative staffers had compiled dossiers of damaging and libelous information on opposition politicians and even some Conservative critics of Newton Dunn had lingered in the headlines for months. But the further revelation during the campaign that the source for much of these dossiers were far-right and fascist Minitel pages and outlets caused Conservative polling to drop significantly, forcing Newton Dunn to promise a full inquiry and dismiss Conservative Party Chairman Ian Duncan.

The New Unionists saw their best performance in history while Northern Ireland's Independent Republican Alliance saw their worst, squeezed between hardline Republican independents and the Northern Irish Labour Party. The election also set records for representation, with the highest number of female MPs, with 260 women elected, making up 40% of the House of Commons.

Who Governs Britain?
1978 UK General Election
1987 UK General Election
1995 UK General Election
2003 UK General Election
2012 UK General Election
 
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