Into the Next Millenium

[The Lord Marbury]

Here's finally a new update. I decided the really cut down on election night and not do the whole map thing because it would just be too much work. Therefore I just chose to do some brief updates like this one, instead of just listing results seat by seat. There's going to be another update like this one, which will wrap up election night, and then we'll move on to what happens afterwards.

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"I hereby declare Richard John Santorum of the American Heritage Party, to be the duly elected Member of Parliament for the constituency of Chambersburg-Johnstown."
-Returning officer, 1988 election in Chambersburg-Johnstown

Election Night Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

RATHER: "Welcome back, we are now just over one hour into Election Night 1988, and while several seats have already been called, we are still far from seeing just what the full result will look like. But one thing that is for certain is that the Liberals are not having a great night, and here to comment on that we have Richard Daley Jr., Senator from Illinois and campaign coordinator for the Liberal Party. Welcome"

DALEY: "It's great to be here."

RATHER: "Now Senator Daley, I guess it's been pretty rough for your party tonight?"

DALEY: "Well the night is far from over, so we can't be sure about what the House of Commons will look like when all the votes have finally been counted, and I am confident that by tomorrow morning the people of this great nation will have resoundingly rejected the irresponsible policies of the Progressive Conservative Party, and embraced the many great ideas that we in the opposition have put out there."

RATHER: "But you can't deny that based on our exit poll, as well as the results we have seen so far, it would appear to your party is actually set to lose a great deal of seats. In fact, more seats than you lost in 1980 or 1984 combined. Do you honestly think that there's even chance for a Liberal government after such a major defeat?"

DALEY: "Well an exit poll doesn't determine the election, and we'd prefer to wait and see just how all Americans will vote. And I wouldn't say that things have been all bad for us Liberals tonight, because we've actually gained some seats as well.

RATHER: "You are of course referring to the election in Middletown-Connecticut, the one seat you have gained so far, where Liberal candidate Joseph Lieberman narrowly defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative Lowell Weicker."

DALEY: "That is correct, and I think that the victory of Mr. Lieberman proves that there's a great deal of people out there who still want strong Liberal values of good government in parliament."

RATHER: "But what does it say about the future of the Liberal Party, when your only new MP had to go to the right of his main opponent in order to get elected?"

DALEY: "Well I wouldn't say that this signals a big ideological shift in the Liberal, it is merely a testament to Joe Lieberman and his ability to unite people from both sides of the political spectrum, and both Mr. Robb and I are very excited to have him as part of our parliamentary caucus."

RATHER: "Speaking about Chuck Robb, there's no denying that all the rumors about his extramarital affair and alleged cocaine use, have been a serious detriment to the Liberal national campaign, but what most national political commentators forget is the effect the scandals have had in Mr. Robb's home constituency of Richmond. No polling was held in the constituency during the actual campaign since it was believed that Robb would win the constituency with a solid majority since he won it by over 60% in the 1986 by-election, so because of that us journalists got quite the shock after the exit poll came in earlier this evening, which showed Mr. Robb only holding a narrow two point lead over his main opponents, Progressive Conservative Thomas Bliley Jr., and Labor candidate Henry L. Marsh III. With his narrow reelection race in his own constituency, are you worried that Chuck Robb might not be reelected to parliament?"

DALEY: "Not at all, Dan. For the past two years Chuck Robb has been a great MP for the people of Richmond, who's wishes and ideas he always places into consideration when making a decision. Chuck Robb is a man who cares deeply about the people he has been elected to serve in the House of Commons, and I have no doubt at all that tonight the people of Richmond will reelect the man who always serve their interests in Philadelphia. Because Chuck Robb is-

RATHER: "I'm sorry, Senator, I have to cut you off there, because I'm now hearing that a winner has been announced in Richmond. We now go to Leslie Stahl who is present at the count in Richmond."

--



STAHL: "Thank you Dan. Just moments ago, on the stage behind me, the returning officer walked up and declared that the winner and new MP for Richmond was to be Labor Party candidate Henry L. Marsh III, who by a margin of just over a thousand votes, defeated Liberal Party leader Chuck Robb and PC candidate Thomas Bliley, for the seat. Chuck Robb himself was not present as the results were announced, but he was able to listen over the phone. One wonders just where the Liberal Party, and Chuck Robb, will go from here. The party is looking to make their worst election result in history, and how their leader has lost his seat, something which a hasn't happened to a political party in the House of Commons since 1933, when then-Prime Minister Calvin Coolidge lost reelection. Back to you, Dan."

--

RATHER: "Well there we have it. Senator, this sure didn't go as well as you expected it to."

DALEY: "Uh…"

-----

Richmond (federal electoral constituency), 1988 Election
Henry L. Marsh III (Labor) - 33,9%
Chuck Robb (Liberal) - 33,1%
Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (Progressive Conservative) - 31,2%
Others - 1,2%

[The Lord Marbury]

I'm eagerly awaiting the election night coverage

Yeah I decided not to do a big traditional election night like you see in a lot of threads on this forum, since it'd just be too much work.

[The Lord Marbury]

This is an awesome TL!  Ted Kennedy would be an awesome Labor leader.  Just one question: Would the Kennedy family be multi-party?  Joe Kennedy seems like he'd be a Tory, and John seems like he'd be more of a liberal (a left-leaning one, no doubt).  Robert and Ted seem like Labor types, but it's tricky to see how it'd work out in this system. 

Well things are quite different for the Kennedys ITTL since Ted Kennedy is actually the only member of the family to be actively involved in politics. Joe Kennedy was actually nobility, holding the title 'Duke of Suffolk', which then passed on to John after he died. Because of that Joe didn't see much of a reason to get all that involved in politics. Though you are correct that he would primarily sympathize with the Tories. John on the other hand got a bit involved as big contributor and advisor to the Liberal Party, and he later served as the AC Ambassador to Ireland from 1968 to 1979. Bobby meanwhile didn't get much involved in politics at all. He supported and advised his brother Ted in his work as the Premier of Massachusetts, but ITTL he primarily chooses to focus on charitable work.

[The Lord Marbury]

Here's something while you wait for the next real update.


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Chuck Robb: "How the **** could you guys let this happen!?"

Daniel P. Moynihan: "…How could we let this happen?"

CR: "Yes, how could you let this happen!? All the way through the campaign you told me that I didn't have to worry about Richmond, 'people love you there, Chuck, you're gonna get more than 60 percent of the vote'. You guys said that to me. I ask you again, how the **** could this happen to me!?"

DPM: "We know about as much as you do. We had done polling there when the campaign started, and every single one showed you leading by 30 points over your closest challenger. Obviously we should have gone back there at a later point to double check everything."

CR: "No sh*t, Sherlock. I don't care what you have to do, you're gonna fix this, Danny. Just get some nobody backbencher with the safest seat there is, to step down so I can get back in."

DPM: "Chuck, we've lost every single seat we had Virginia."

CR: "I don't give a ****! I'd move to the ****ing moon and give that smarmy fake smile to every single stupid martian just to get back into parliament! Remember that you need me. How the hell am I gonna lead the opposition if I'm not even in parliament!? Huh, have you thought about that!?"

DPM: "Well it won't matter either way, because you probably wouldn't lead the opposition even if you were in parliament."

CR: "What the **** are you saying?"

DPM: "I'm saying that it won't matter who we put up as leader of the party, because he's not going to be Leader of the Opposition. That'll be ****ing Ted Kennedy."

CR: "Are you serious? I thought that exit poll said that we would still be the bigger party."

DPM: "Yeah well, the exit poll showed that you'd win Richmond, and we both know how that turned out. The Labor Party is sweeping seat after seat, and by our projections, by the time the west coast results come in they'll have gone past us by at least five seats."

CR: "Well, sh*t."

-Phone conversation between party leader Chuck Robb and Liberal Party Chairman Daniel P. Moynihan

[The Lord Marbury]

"….but the ones I want to thank the most is the people of Hawaii for putting your faith in me to represent your interests in Parliament for another term. I promise that during the next five years I will always first and foremost put your wishes first, like I always have during these past 18 years..."

--


"That was of course Labor Foreign Policy Spokesman, Sir Daniel Inouye speaking before supporters in Honolulu, following his landslide reelection, which hardly came as a surprise to anyone. But Mr. Inouye's seat was also the last seat to be called during this long night, which means that we now for the first time have a definite look at the shape of the 49th Parliament."


"As we can see the Progressives Conservatives are at 297 seats, down 54 from their 1984 result, while the Labor have gained 115 seats, reaching a total of 163, and the Liberal Party is down 73 seats to 156. This means that for the first time ever in a federal election, the Liberal Party has ended up on third place. But the most important thing to glean from those results is that we now have a hung parliament with no party having a clear majority of seats. This means that Mr. Reagan, who gets the first chance to attempt and form a government due to being the sitting Prime Minister, will be negotiating with the other parties in the the House of Commons in an attempt to reach a majority of seats. However should he be unable to do that, the torch passes to Mr. Kennedy as the leader of the second biggest party.

We'll now have a look at the national percentages"


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"Thank you, thank you my friends for being here to celebrate this great night!"

[crowd cheers]

"Throughout this campaign we the members of this party have gone out to the voters and told them that there was an alternative which would put Americans back in work, which would make sure that our children had proper education, improve the quality of healthcare, and ensure that Philadelphia would start working for the people of this great nation. The response we've gotten tonight proves that our message has been heard across the land!"

[crowd cheers]

"This is a tremendous call to action and I, along with my team, will work every day to prove the trust that you the voters have placed in us have not been in vain. Tonight we may celebrate this victory, but tomorrow the real work begins. Tomorrow the Labor Party will start the work to bring real change to this country, a change we've been needing for too long!"

[crowd chants, "Labor, Labor, Labor"…]

-Ted Kennedy's election night speech, 1988

[The Lord Marbury]

Ronald Reagan: "Well, that certainly could've gone better."

Lee Atwater: "Could've gone a lot worse too."

RR: "I suppose. So where do you think we should go from here, Lee?"

LA: "Well we obviously need to start talking with some of the other party leaders to see if we can work something out. I've got some staffers suggesting that we should be considering talking with the Liberals since they're on third, but we both know that it's going to be pointless. They wouldn't be able to stomach the idea of being a junior coalition partner because they're just too damn stubborn, prideful and stuck in the times when they were the state bearing party. So I think our next move should be to talk with Paul and Buchanan."

RR: "You know that some people aren't very comfortable with the idea of giving the American Heritagers a significant deal of power. Maybe I should just talk to Paul alone? Buchanan's probably not going to go against me anyway, because the Liberals or Laborites aren't exactly going to be more friendly to his ideas."

LA: "I wouldn't bet on that, Prime Minister. Ever since Buchanan got the leadership a few years ago he's done everything to wash off the stains segregation from the party, and make it seem like it could be a credible part of government. It doesn't matter how we choose to interpret the election result, because Buchanan will see it as nothing but a validation of his ideas, even though I, and several other people, just see it as a fluke. Because of this massive ego boost Buchanan will have no problems with taking down your government, so you definitely need to talk to him."

RR: [sighs] "Okay. So I'll talk to Buchanan first since he's got more seats than Paul. I'll see if we can reach some kind of supply and confidence agreement so that I won't have to give him any seats. Do you think Buchanan will go for it?"

LA: "Well it depends on just how cocky he's gotten. There's a chance that he won't settle for anything less than cabinet positions, and in that case our options are to either agree or hold on as a minority for a few months and then call a new election."

RR: "Hmm. I'm not sure about calling a new election, because I don't think we'll manage to gain a lot of seats from that. To be honest it'll probably go in the other direction. So what do you recommend if the American Heritagers won't settle for anything less than cabinet positions?"

LA: "Well I guess we'll just have to try and keep them away from the places where they'd do the most damage, such as Education, Media, or Aboriginal Affairs. And it's important to remember that if we give American Heritage cabinet positions, the Libertarians are gonna come out and demand ones too, so we'll have them to deal with as well."

RR: [sighs] "Okay then. I guess it's time to face the music."

[Reagan picks up the phone; starts dialing]

-Conversation between Ronald Reagan and Lee Atwater, morning of September 21st

[The Lord Marbury]

Chuch Robb: "Hello?"

Daniel P. Moynihan: "Chuck, it's me."

CR: [sighs] "Yeah. Look, Daniel, I'm sorry about the way I blew off at you earlier."

DPM: "Don't give it a second thought, it's pretty understandable considering what's happened."

CR: "Yeah, what happened….."

DPM: "Look, Chuck, it's not easy for me to say this, but I've talked with the rest of the members of the Federal Committee, and we all agreed that the best way to move on from this is for-"

CR: "-Me to resign?"

DPM: [sighs] "You have to understand that it's nothing directed personally at you. It's just that you don't have a seat anymore, and we've just suffered our worst defeat in history, so we feel that it's time for a fresh start."

CR: "No, I fully understand. If you hadn't come to me I would've voluntarily resigned anyway. It's the best thing for my family and the party."

DPM: "Okay then. I'll have the speechwriters draw up some kind of statement for you. We'll do a press conference in a few days, have you make a calm and dignified exit."

CR: [sighs] "Yeah…"


Phone conversation between Chuck Robb and Daniel P. Moynihan, September 21st 1988

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Jim Jeffords: George, please don't tell me that the rumors are true!

George Bush: I'm sorry, Jim, but what are you talking about?"

JJ: "Oh come on, you know. Everyone in the parliamentary party is talking about how Reagan is considering jumping into bed the with goddamn segregationists! Sure, we always knew that Reagan was a right-winger, but we never in a million years expected that he'd cut deals with the likes of Pat Buchanan and Jesse Helms."

GB: "Look Jim, I have no idea where you're getting this from, but I can personally guarantee to that Ron won't be letting any American Heritagers into the cabinet."

JJ: "You sure about that?"

GB: "Completely."

JJ: "Well fine, I just hope you're right about that, because otherwise I'm not sure what I'd do."

Conversation between Jim Jeffords and George H.W. Bush, September 21st 1988

[The Lord Marbury]

"Our negotiation team of course consisted of me, Newt Gingrich, John Tower and Kim Campbell, while they sent Jesse Helms, Lester Maddox and James Edwards. In other words, three people half of our party never wanted to deal with under any circumstances. And things weren't exactly going great four us seven people in that room, because when we entered, basically they wanted to have everything, and we wanted to give them nothing. We of course all came to the conclusion that any plan where the American Heritage Party didn't have cabinet positions wasn't going to work, so we agreed that they'd have the position of Deputy PM, which would clearly go to Buchanan, as well as relatively free reign over one single ministry. The specific ministry would be decided on at a later date when Buchanan and Reagan finally met. But the biggest issues weren't the kind of representation they'd have in the cabinet, it was policy. Namely school prayer and abortion, the two big things that the Heritagers weren't ever going to let go."
-Paul Laxalt, interviewed by ABS NewsNight in 1994

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GB: "What the hell are you doing, Ron!?"

RR: "Excuse me, George?"

GB: "Oh you know exactly what I'm talking about. A day ago I flat out told several of our own MPs that we would not in a million years jump into bed with American Heritage. I told them this because I was pretty certain that due to my position as Deputy Leader of the party, as Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, I'd actually be informed if something like that was happening. So I guess you can imagine my surprise when I pick up my copy of the Inquirer this morning, and read about how Laxalt, Gingirch, Tower and Campbell were talking to Helms and his gang for five hours yesterday!"

RR: "Look, George, you know as well as I do that we have to deal with the Heritagers, they're the fourth biggest party in parliament."

GB: "Of course I'm aware of that, and I knew that I was probably lying when I told those people that we wouldn't deal with them, but I thought that I'd actually be informed if we were talking with them, especially if we were talking with them about cabinet posts!"

RR: "It's my prerogative to compartmentalize information as I choose, and I chose keep the information about our negotiations on a need to know basis because I felt that it would be the best way to prevent to leaks to the press, but obviously it didn't work."

GB: "Ron, I'm the goddamn Deputy Leader, if anyone should be informed of whatever party we're negotiating with, it should be me!"

RR: "I'm sorry that you feel disappointed that I didn't include you George, but I felt that your duties are Foreign Minister came first, and your position as Deputy Leader doesn't entitle you to be more informed than the other cabinet members."

GB: "Don't think I don't know what this is, Ron. Eleven years ago we made a deal. I'd give up my leadership run and you'd agree to not serve more than two terms as Prime Minister. Well two terms has gone by now, and from what I'm seeing now, you've got no intention to step down anytime soon."

RR: …. "George, eleven years is a very long time and you know that things change. With everything that's happing in this country and the rest of the world right now, I just can't leave yet. There's so much work that still needs to be done."

GB: "That's no excuse, Ron. We had a deal, but if you're not going to keep up your end, then you might find that me and my supporters are not going to be as inclined to support you and your legislative agenda as easily as we have in the past."

[Bush hangs up the phone]

-Phone conversation between Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, September 22nd 1988

[The Lord Marbury]

RR: "I want him gone"

LA: "What? Who do you want gone?"

RR: "Bush. I know that we only discussed dropping him if we managed to only lose less than 10 seats, but he's starting to become a real problem. I want him gone as foreign minister and deputy leader."

LA: "Ron, you do realize that if you dump him he'll probably challenge you for the leadership sometime down the road."

RR: "I do, but I can beat him."

LA: "I'm not sure that I share your confidence."

RR: "Lee, I'm this party's most successful Prime Minister since Calvin Coolidge, and my approvals among our members are in their mid 80s. I can and will beat him."

LA: "Well either way, you won't be able to dump him as Deputy Leader until the next national convention this spring, and because of that you'll have to keep him in the cabinet for the time being."

RR: "Fine, but he's not going to be my foreign minister. I'll make him a minister without portfolio, he'll still be in the cabinet, but he won't have any real power to speak of."

LA: "Are you completely sure that this is what you want to do, Ron?"

RR: "Yes, I am."

-Conversation between Ronald Reagan and Lee Atwater, September 22nd 1988

[The Lord Marbury]

Wow, I was actually just thinking this would end with a Thatcher-Major scenario, where some moderate (Specter, perhaps?) could try and stab Reagan and Bush would take over as the unifying candidate.  Now this is looking more like Blair-Brown...

I was actually going for a bit of a Blair-Brown here. Nice to see that you noticed that.

[The Lord Marbury]

PRESERVING AMERICA'S GREATNESS - TOGETHER

The results of this years' federal election show a clear majority in favor of conservative ideals and fiscal responsibility in this country, however they also show that the American people do not wish for one single party to hold a parliamentary majority. Therefore we, the leaders of the Progressive Conservative, American Heritage and Libertarian parties have decided to band together and form a government of consensus as desired by the voters.

We do this because we all recognize that in order for there to be a strong and effective government which can serve and protect the American people, there needs to be a government of the majority, not the minority. We have agreed to a joint program for a five year term in office where we place the preservation of the strength of our country first and foremost. We pledge to defend the ideals which this nation is founded upon; faith, family, and good government.

Ronald Reagan
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party

Pat Buchanan
Leader of the American Heritage Party

Ron Paul
Leader of the Libertarian Party

[The Lord Marbury]

That's a fine coalition in my book. Is Ron Paul still safe, or will the loss of Libertarian seats force him out?

Well ITTL the Libertarian Party is quite pragmatic when it comes to their leaders, so they won't just swap them out for a new one after a disappointing election result (especially if the losses weren't that big). Just look at Barry Goldwater, he led the party for 17 years. Instead they'll just try to figure where things went wrong, why their message didn't connect with the voters, and then move on from there. But Paul will have some problems if the party starts to lose seats in consecutive elections.

[The Lord Marbury]

The Third Term of Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1988-? (Part 1)



Prime Minister: The Rt. Hon. Ronald Reagan (Prog Con.)
-Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Intergovernmental Affairs: The Rt. Hon. Pat Buchanan (AmH.)
-Leader of the American Heritage Party

Minister of Foreign Affairs: The Rt. Hon. Jeane Kirkpatrick (Prog Con.)
Minister of Finance: The Rt. Hon. Jack Kemp (Prog Con.)
Minister of Defense: The Rt. Hon. Donald Rumsfeld (Prog. Con.)
Minister of Justice: The Rt. Hon. Paul Laxalt (Prog Con.)
Minister of Trade, Industry and Business: The Rt. Hon. Ron Paul (Lbt.)
-Leader of the Libertarian Party
Minister of Labor and Employment: The Rt. Hon. Dick Cheney (Prog Con.)
Minister of Health and Social Affairs: The Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell (Prog Con.)
Minister of Education: The Rt. Hon. Newt Gingrich (Prog Con.)
Minister of Energy: The Rt. Hon. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (Prog Con.)
Minister of Agriculture and Food: The Rt. Hon. Jesse Helms (AmH.)
-Deputy Leader of the American Heritage Party
Minister of Transportation: The Rt. Hon. Robert Michel (Prog Con.)
Minister of Infrastructure and Housing: The Rt. Hon. Phil Crane (Prog Con.)
Minister of Veterans Affairs: The Rt. Hon. John McCain (Prog Con.)
Minister of Aboriginal Affairs: The Rt. Hon. Alan Simpson (Prog Con.)
Minister of Culture and Media: The Rt. Hon. Jean Charest (Prog Con.)

Minister without Portfolio: The Rt. Hon. George H.W. Bush (Prog Con.)
-Deputy Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons: The Rt. Hon. Robert Dole (Prog Con.)
Leader of the Government in the Senate: The Rt. Hon. Senator Orrin Hatch (Prog Con.)
Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons: The Rt. Hon. John Tower (Prog Con.)
Government Chief Whip in the Senate: The Rt. Hon. Senator Ted Stevens (Prog Con.)

Reagan knew from the start that going into a coalition with the Libertarians and the American Heritage Party was going to be tricky. Not only the members of his party, but also the Libertarians, were quite weary about going into a coalition with the socially conservative American Heritage Party, so it was important that in the first months of the coalition that no piece of legislation was proposed which could create a major rift between the three parties. Because of this an agreement was made that the more controversial pieces of legislation that the American Heritage Party wanted to put forth, such as school prayer, and a late term abortion ban (the Libertarians or Red Tories would not agree to a full ban, so a compromise was reached), would be delayed for at least six months, and the only significant piece of legislation introduced by the government by the fall was the merger of the Ministry of Interior Affairs with the Ministry of Justice, which was an attempt by the coalition to streamline the way the government worked and eliminate pointless bureaucracy. However the fall budget introduced by the coalition was fairly uncontroversial. Of course it included the traditional tax cuts as one would expect from a Reagan government, including a cut of the income tax for the top bracket from 35 to 28 percent, as well as corporate tax cut from 25 to 19 percent. This drew large amounts of criticism from Opposition Leader Ted Kennedy, who railed against the government for, as he saw it, favoring the super wealthy over the poor and the middle class. And because of this Kennedy effectively shifted public opinion against the government and portrayed them as out of touch with the average American. But despite of this the budget passed with the full support of the Libertarian and American Heritage parties, and the support of all except nine Progressive Conservative MPs. In addition to the previously mentioned tax cuts the budget also included the Agricultural Tax Incentive, a brainchild by Agriculture Minister Jesse Helms (AmH.), which brought down the effective tax rate for farmers and other agricultural businesses to 11 percent. But all was not sunshine and roses for the coalition during their first time in office, because just one week after its formation, Vermont MP Jim Jeffords announced his intention to leave the Progressive Conservative Party and sit as an independent in the House of Commons. During the announcement of his departure Jeffords also strongly criticised Prime Minister Reagan and said that he had betrayed Progressive Conservative and American values by going into coalition with the American Heritage Party.

[The Lord Marbury]

The Shadow Cabinet of Edward Moore Kennedy



Following the monumental electoral success the Labor Party had in the 1988 election, you could say that the entire party was up on cloud nine. But as the dust settled following the election, things were clear, especially for Ted Kennedy and the party's inner circle, that the party still had a lot of work to do. Out of all the MPs elected, more than two thirds were freshmen, most with very little legislative experience prior to taking their seats in parliament. Because of this it was of the highest importance that Kennedy put together a strong team which could not only keep the new inexperienced MPs in check, but also come off as a strong and professional alternative to the Progressive Conservatives come the next federal election. The Labor frontbench appointed following the election mostly consisted of relatively young MPs who had only served in the House of Commons since the 1979 election, bar a few exceptions. This was because Kennedy wanted to create a strong contrast between the government and the opposition, one where they would come off as young and virile, more energetic, and full of new ideas and innovation, in comparison to a weak, tired and ineffectual government. However the most important positions of all, Shadow Foreign Minister, Shadow Finance Minister, Shadow Defense Minister and Shadow Justice Minister, were all filled by experienced party veterans such as Daniel Inouye, Patrick Leahy, Pete Stark and former party leader Ron Dellums.

Leader of the Opposition: The Rt. Hon. Ted Kennedy (Lab.)
-Leader of the Labor Party
Deputy Leader of the Opposition: The Rt. Hon. Joe Biden (Lab.)
-Deputy Leader of the Labor Party

Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs: The Rt. Hon. Sir Daniel Inouye (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Finance: The Rt. Hon. Patrick Leahy (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Defense: The Rt. Hon. Pete Stark (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Justice: The Rt. Hon. Ronald Dellums (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Trade, Industry and Business: The Rt. Hon. Mario Cuomo (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Labor and Employment: The Rt. Hon. Joe Biden (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Health and Social Affairs: The Rt. Hon. Bernie Sanders (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Education: The Rt. Hon. Barbara Mikulski (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Energy: The Rt. Hon. Paul Wellstone (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Food: The Rt. Hon. Russ Feingold (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Transportation: The Rt. Hon. Simon De Jong (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Infrastructure and Housing: The Rt. Hon. Nancy Pelosi (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Veterans Affairs: The Rt. Hon. David Bonior (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Aboriginal Affairs: The Rt. Hon. Patsy Mink (Lab.)
Shadow Minister of Culture and Media: The Rt. Hon. Marion Dewar (Lab.)

Shadow Minister without Portfolio: The Rt. Hon. Barbara Boxer (Lab.)
-Chief Campaign Coordinator for the Labor Party

Opposition Leader in the House of Commons: The Rt. Hon. Ed Broadbent (Lab.)
Opposition Leader in the Senate: The Rt. Hon. George McGovern (Lab.)
Opposition Whip in the House of Commons: The Rt. Hon. Svend Robinson (Lab.)
Opposition Whip in the Senate: The Rt. Hon. Roberto Sánchez Viella (Lab.)

[The Lord Marbury]

RIFKIND ELECTED LEADER OF UK CONSERVATIVE PARTY


In a leadership held election following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher as party leader following eleven years at the helm, including two years as Prime Minister, Shadow Energy Minister Malcolm Rifkind narrowly prevailed over Shadow Chancellor Norman Lamont. Rifkind's election as leader came as a surprise to many since most political analysts had expected Michael Heseltine, who previously challenged Thatcher for the leadership in 1983, to walk away with the victory. Because of this the media and most of the political establishment was shocked as Heseltine came last in the third round of voting, just one single vote behind Rifkind. Mr. Rifkind, at age 42 is younger than both Prime Minister Williams and Mrs. Thatcher, and he is also generally considered to be more moderate than his predecessor, having pledged to "bring the Conservative Party into the 1990s" and "present a brave new vision for [the] country which will connect with all Britons".  
-The New York Times, October 3 1988

UK Conservative Party leadership election, 1988 - 4th round

Malcolm Rifkind - 112
Norman Lamont - 85

[The Lord Marbury]

WHO WILL THEY PICK?



With Chuck Robb's resignation as leader of the Liberal Party just over a week ago, many are wondering just who the Liberals will pick as their next leader. Whomever that person will be, they will surely have a hard job ahead of them to rebuild their party and return to being one of the the top two parties once again. It is also important to briefly cover just how the Liberal leadership elections tend to work, since they are quite different from the other parties in the House of Commons in how they elect their leaders. While the other parties tend to elect their leaders either by a straight up vote between several candidates by the parliamentary party group, a delegate vote with participation from the provincial parties, or some similar variation, the Liberal Party generally only has one single candidate running for the leadership. Now there is nothing explicitly forbidding several candidates from running for the Liberal leadership, but historical precedence has led to the party's Executive Committee first picking person that they recommend to the leadership convention, who then confirms him or her. There is nothing preventing another candidate from entering the race at the convention, but it has not happened since 1929. Therefore, you could say that the members of the Executive Committee are the ones which will ultimately pick the next leader, no matter what the rank and file party members may think.

[...]

-The American Post, October 4th 1988

-------------------------------------

RD: "Daniel, it's me."

DPM: "Hello Dick, it's nice to hear from you. What can I help you with?"

RD: "It's about the meeting on Monday. I know that we planned to discuss the leadership candidates then with the rest of the committee, but I thought you and I could get a bit of a heads start today if you have the time."

DPM: "Sure, I'm not busy at the moment."

RD: "Right, let's get going then. Firstly, we need to look at what we did wrong last time. Now we did have the right idea when we went with Robb. He was a moderate war veteran from a traditionally conservative state who could've really challenged Reagan if it wasn't for his…. indiscretions. Because of this I don't think we need to change much from the strategy we used two years ago, except for putting measures in place to ensure that we don't make the same mistake again. Namely, not picking an outsider who hasn't spent any time in the Commons before. We need someone who's young and exciting, but still has and good deal of experience, but isn't tied in some major way to former Liberal governments."

DPM: "Well that all sounds very nice, but just where are we going to find this magical person? The Wonderful Land of Oz?"

RD: "Yes, yes, I know that that list of requirements is quite long, and we're probably not going to be able to find anyone who fills all the criteria, but I still think it's worthwhile to at least go through a few of the prospective candidates and see if they can meet at least some of the requirements."

DPM: *laughs* "Fine, knock yourself out."

RD: "Alright then, I think we should start with the only candidate I can think of which might manage to fill all these requirements: Al Gore. He's young, relatively fresh to the voters despite having served as deputy for the past two years, and he's been in the Commons for over 10 years, so he definitely has the required experience for the job. In addition to that he's southerner, which is a region in which we're losing ground by the minute, so hopefully he'd be able to help us out with that."

DPM: "That sounds great, but there's only problem with your reasoning."

RD: "What?"

DPM: "He doesn't want the job."

RD: … "You have to be kidding me!?"

DPM: "No, I talked to him yesterday, and he plainly said to me that he doesn't want the job now because he wants to be Prime Minister one day."

RD: "Call me crazy, but don't you have to actually be a party leader to become PM?"

DPM: "Well, legally you don't, but that's beside the point. But Al's opinion is that the next leader will not have a chance at living in 1 America Avenue since he'll be too busy with rebuilding the party to its former glory. Al think's that since he's relatively young he can come back in 5 or 10 years and take his shot at the leadership then.

RD: "You're sure that there's no way to convince him otherwise?"

DPM: "Don't you think I've tried? Besides, maybe it would just better to actually find someone who wants the job?"

RD: *sighs* "Fine, let's move on then."

DPM: "Okay, who's next?"

RD: "Michael Dukakis."

DPM: "Absolutely not."

RD: "He would help us with taking back the left."

DPM: "Yeah, but he was a Labor party member for 20 years before running for federal parliament, not to mention that he served in Ted Kennedy's provincial cabinet for gods sake! Sure, it'd be nice if we could challenge Labor and gain back a lot of the people who voted for them, but we can't do that with Dukakis. We need someone who can actually attack Kennedy, and  Dukakis just won't be able to do that. Besides, I think a better strategy would be to focus on the centre, because going to the left is not going to help us get back into government. If we manage to take back the centre from the Prog Cons, while at the same time painting the Laborites as extremists who'll run the country into ground, then we're back in the ball game."

RD: "I suppose you're right. So Dukakis is out, and we'll move on to the next guy."

[…]

-Part of a phone of conversation between Richard Daley Jr. and Daniel P. Moynihan, October 4th 1988

[The Lord Marbury]

WHO WILL THEY PICK? (Part 2)


DPM: "Well, what about Lloyd?"

RD: "You mean---Bentsen?"

DPM: "No, I mean Bridges; or course Lloyd Bentsen."

RD: "The man has the charisma of a tree."

DPM: "Yeah, but he is respected by both wings of the party and is extremely strong among the foot soldiers down in the south. He would be able to rebuild the party infrastructure and get us back in the game"

RD: "You might be right, even though the left aren't that happy with his positions on school prayer and business deregulation. But let’s put Lloyd on the back burner for a minute and talk about Brown."

DPM: "Oh God, I don't think that would turn out well."

RD: "How so?"

DPM: "He's just too much of a wildcard. Sure, his fiscal conservative streak would probably play well with swing voters, but his strong social liberalism and opposition to the death penalty would kill us with values voters and middle class families, which are exactly the kinds of people we want to get back into our fold."

RD: "But he is more charismatic than Bentsen so it could work if you're there to rein in most of his more crazy ideas."

DPM: "Well the problem with that plan is that I'm not gonna be around as much after the convention. I was gonna wait until next week to tell everyone, but I'm not going to run for another term as chairman."

RD: "What!? Why? Everyone thinks you've done a great job during the past two elections, and none of us are placing the blame for the losses on your shoulders."

DPM: "None of you perhaps, but a lot of the grassroots aren't as happy with me as they used to be. Besides, six years is good run, longer than most of my predecessors."

RD: "But who's going to replace you?"

DPM: "Well I was thinking about this one guy who has done a lot of good work for the party in recent years. You may have heard of him, he's one of the current Senators from Illinois."

RD: "……. Huh?"

[…]

-Part of a phone of conversation between Richard Daley Jr. and Daniel P. Moynihan, October 4th 1988

This update was partly written by Moore2012 at AH.com.

I'm also planning on jumping forward to December '88 now, in order to cover the Liberal convention, but I'll cover some of the events of October and November in some headlines I'll post next.

[The Lord Marbury]

Here's a series of headlines covering some of the events of October and early November.

JEFFORDS TO REMAIN INDEPENDENT; CAUCUS WITH LABOR
October 10, 1988
After weeks of speculation it has become clear. Vermont MP Jim Jeffords will not join the Labor or Liberal parties, however he has decided to caucus with the Labor Party in the future after, according to sources, Labor leader Ted Kennedy made a "convincing argument".


BENTSEN IS THE ONE
October 14, 1988
The Liberal Executive Committee today announced that it will endorse Lloyd Bentsen for the leadership of the party. Bentsen has served as Minister of Energy and Minister of Defense under Prime Minister Muskie, and later Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Shadow Cabinet of Chuck Robb.


GORE HANDS OVER REINS TO BENTSEN
October 17, 1988
Earlier today interim Liberal leader Al Gore handed over the parliamentary leadership responsibilities to Lloyd Bentsen after the Executive Committee officially endorsed him for the leadership.


BANK OF AMERICA LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH PROJECTION FOR '89
October 26, 1988
Bank of America, the central bank of the American Commonwealth, has officially lowered it's economic growth projection for 1989. This caused increased concern on the market over the possibility of a recession being over the horizon.


KENNEDY ATTACKS REAGAN OVER "FINANCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY"
October 29, 1988
Following the lowered economic growth projections for 1989 Opposition Leader Ted Kennedy attacked Ronald Reagan for what he sees as "financial irresponsibility by giving away drastic tax cuts to billionaires and multinational corporations while cutting spending on vital anti-poverty programs". The Prime Minister has not yet responded to the attacks.


MONDALE ALLEGEDLY "NOT HAPPY" WITH THE BENTSEN PICK
November 2, 1988
According to sources within the Liberal parliamentary group, the former Health Minister and Liberal leader is not happy with the Executive Committee's decision to endorse Lloyd Bentsen due to Bentsen's support of free trade, and that he would've liked to see them picking a more traditional Liberal closer to his ideological positions.

Next up, part one of the Liberal convention and leadership election....

It's probably going to be up either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

[The Lord Marbury]

Liberal Party National Convention, 1988 (Part 1)



The Liberal Convention held in Toronto, Ontario opened with a somber atmosphere in contrast to excitement felt two years prior in Dallas, when Chuck Robb was elected leader. In 1986 the Liberals were in high spirits, they had just won a string of by-elections, the government was being hit hard by the Iran-Contra Affair, and the party looked poised to get back into government in the next election with a young and strong leader at the helm. Alas, it was not to be, and in 1988 it was a battered and beaten Liberal Party which came to Toronto to elect its new leader Lloyd Bentsen. Not a fresh face, not a very charismatic figure, but calm and steady hand which they hoped could guide the party out of the wilderness.

Normally a convention dealing with an election of a new party leader would open with a speech from the outgoing leader, however as revealed years later, both Daniel Moynihan and Richard Daley felt that it was important to use the convention to take the focus off the Chuck Robb scandal, and a speech by Robb would most likely do the opposite of this. Robb was also eager to get out of the public spotlight as soon as possible, so he agreed not to hold a speech and just be at the convention as a regular attendee. Instead Deputy Leader Al Gore got the spot, and his speech, while well received by most, wasn't exactly awe inspiring in the end.

Following Gore former leader Walter Mondale got his chance to address the convention, and he caused quite a stir when towards the end of his speech he said that he hoped that "[Bentsen] will consider the interests of America first and foremost and not gamble America's wealth on risky free trade agreements with third world countries". The speech recieved great applause by left wing Liberals who commended Mondale for standing up for "traditional Liberal ideals that favor the average American", while he was derided by centrist Liberals and Bentsen supporters who called the speech a thinly veiled attack on [Bentsen's] viewpoints".

After Mondale's controversial speech it was time for the election of a new party President to replace the retiring Daniel P. Moynihan. As Senator Richard M. Daley or Illinois was the only candidate in the running he won the post with unanimous approval. Following this it was time for all the candidates running for the leadership position to officially hand in the required 5000 signatures from party members and make a brief address to the convention, due to an old party bylaw remaining from the early 1900s when it was actually common that several candidates would run at once.

Since Lloyd Bentsen was the only declared candidate in the running, everyone expected this to be a brief affair with Bentsen handing over the signatures to Moynihan and giving a brief and lofty speech to the attendees. And that was what it was, at least up until, according to tradition, Moynihan asked if there were any other candidates who wished to enter the race and hand in the required signatures. Normally, this question would go simply go unanswered, but not this time. A man walked up on stage, handed over 5000 signatures from registered party members to Moynihan, and then stepped up to the podium while the convention attendees looked on in what seemed to be stunned silence. All eyes, ears and cameras were focused on him as he began to speak….

To Be Continued

[The Lord Marbury]

I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm suffering from a minor case of writer's block, so writing the next update is progressing quite slowly, however I'm hoping to have something up during the coming week.

[The Lord Marbury]

Well it's been a while, but after a month of writer's block I'm making an attempt to get back at writing this. Though I can't promise that updates will come at a regular basis.

Liberal National Convention 1988 (Part 2)

"I, Edmund Gerry Brown, hereby declare my candidacy for leader of the Liberal Party of America. My reasons for making this decision is not one of personal greed, lust for fame or power, but a deep desire to make this country and this party better than it is today. I sincerely hope I'll have your support in this endeavor."

It was chaos. Pure unfiltered chaos. Mere seconds after Brown finished his brief statement, one third of the audience was screaming bloody murder, another one was happily cheering him on, and the rest were just staring at him, confused over what the hell just happened. It took nearly a full 15 minutes for Moynihan to successfully calm most of them down and call for the convention to take a recess until the next day.


It's Brown, Baby!
New York Times headine, the morning after the first day of the Liberal Convention

----


"There is only one man who is fit to lead this party back into government. That man is someone who has proudly served his province as its Premier for nearly 10 years and now continues to serve it as a member of the House of Commons. Ladies and gentlemen, that man is my good friend, the Right Honorable Jerry Brown of California!"
-Senator Pierre Trudeau, speaking to supporters outside of Maple Leaf Gardens, site of the Liberal National Convention

----

WM: "Hello?"

PT: "Walter, it's Pierre. I was hoping maybe you and I could sit down and talk about the future of our party. "

WM: [brief pause] "Alright then. I'm interested."

----

The Brown Coalition

The group of Liberals who ended up coalescing around Jerry Brown as their candidate, commonly referred to the Brown Coalition by the press, was indeed a most peculiar one. On paper there should be no way that a candidate like Brown, who was a known budget hawk with an independent streak would get the backing of left-liberal big shots like Walter Mondale and Pierre Trudeau, as well as the institutional backing of all who followed them, but somehow, someway, it all worked. Maybe it was a common belief in larger focus on social programs over defense spending, maybe a joint opposition to Bentsen's social conservatism and death penalty support, but together they certainly made up a formidable alliance which Bentsen had all the reason to fear.

[The Lord Marbury]

Moynihan: "California?"

Head of CA Delegation: "It is with great pride that the Province of California gives its 94 electoral votes to its native son, Jerry Brown!"

Moynihan: "94 votes from California to Brown. Current standing is 117 to 73 votes, in favor of Brown. Canada?"

[...]

----

Brown would quickly rack up quite a nice lead as the count started, with him grabbing most of the big provinces such as California, however Bentsen was certainly not out of the race as he would sweep the south and the plains provinces, as well as the big prize of Illinois which ended up in his fold largely due to Richard Daley's efforts. In the end it would be close, and Brown did indeed preform very well, even taking provinces like Pennsylvania, which would've most likely gone for Bentsen had it not been for the efforts of Walter Mondale and Pierre Trudeau. Alas for Brown, Bentsen would prevail in the end with 610 electoral votes to Brown's 587. It was close, very close, but when it was over everyone expected Brown to concede graciously and vow to work with together Bentsen to take the Liberals back into power. Boy were they wrong.


"I accept that it is the wish of a slim majority of the party to have Mr. Bentsen as leader and not me, and I respect their decision, just like I respect Mr. Bentsen. However I cannot in good conscience remain in a party which is following an ideological path I simply cannot I agree with. I first joined the Liberal Party because of its opposition to the backwards social agenda supported by the conservatives and its commitment to helping those in our society which cannot help themselves. To remain in the party when it now is starting to prioritize pork barrel spending over the needs of the poor and no longer emphasizes its opposition to school prayer and capital punishment is simply something I cannot do. Therefore, on this day I bid my goodbyes to the Liberal Party, and to all the friends I made during my time as a member, I want to say that I hope that my decision to depart from the party won't hinder our ability to work together in the future."

On that day Brown would leave the Liberal Party and never look back. And in his departure, he would be joined by an additional 15 Members of Parliament and 5 Senators, including his own father Pat Brown.


Meanwhile, far away in Philadelphia, Lee Atwater was watching the events of the Convention play out on live television…

Atwater: "I think we just won the next election."

[The Lord Marbury]

Is Brown joining Labor or forming a new party?

He's forming a new party.

[The Lord Marbury]

Still Standing



It was a battered, beaten and disunited Liberal Party which left Toronto following the end of the convention. A divisive leadership election had resulted in 15 MPs and 5 Senators, including highly prolific individuals like Walter Mondale, Pierre Trudeau, Geraldine Ferraro and Michael Dukakis, leaving the party to form the breakaway Progressive Liberal Party under the leadership of Jerry Brown. The December opinion poll which followed the convention was simply nothing short of disastrous for the Liberals.

API Opinion Polling - Which party would you vote for if the election was held today?
Progressive Conservative - 31,0%
Labor - 27,1%
Liberal - 14,0%
Libertarian - 9,9%
American Heritage - 8,8%
Progressive Liberal - 8,2%
Other - 1,0%

14 percent. 14 rotten percent of the population still supported the Liberal after their mess of a Convention, and now it was Bentsen's job to win back the confidence of the voters. And it would start, as it usually does; with a strong frontbench team.

Leader of the Liberal Party: The Rt. Hon. Lloyd Bentsen (Lib.)
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party: The Rt. Hon. Max Baucus (Lib.)

Foreign Affairs Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. John Glenn (Lib.)
Finance Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Max Baucus (Lib.)
Defense Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Sam Nunn (Lib.)
Justice Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Bruce Babbit (Lib.)
Trade, Industry and Business Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Tom Foley (Lib.)
Labor and Employment Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Al Gore (Lib.)
Health and Social Affairs Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Robert Byrd (Lib.)
Education Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Dale Bumpers (Lib.)
Energy Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. John Kerry (Lib.)
Agriculture and Food Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Dick Gephardt (Lib.)
Transportation Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. John Turner (Lib.)
Infrastructure and Housing Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Lawton Chiles (Lib.)
Veterans Affairs Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Joe Lieberman (Lib.)
Aboriginal Affairs Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Lib.)
Culture, Sports and Media Spokesman: The Rt. Hon. Charlie Wilson (Lib.)

Leader of the Liberals in the House of Commons: The Rt. Hon. Ralph Goodale (Lib.)
Leader of the Liberals in the Senate: The Rt. Hon. Terry Sanford (Lib.)
Liberal Whip in the House of Commons: The Rt. Hon. Tim Wirth (Lib.)
Liberal Whip in the Senate: The Rt. Hon. Jim Sasser (Lib.)

[The Lord Marbury]

Interesting stuff.  Are any labor supporters leaving the party to support the Progressive Liberals?

A few, possibly, but there's not going to be any major shift in support from Labor to the Progressive Liberals.