Talk Elections

This is based on Clinton winning in 2008, and having a decent first term, with no major disasters, but nothing special happening either.

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Looks a good deal like 2008 (although McCain might loosen a few states).  :P

By 2012, Obama has brought the troops home from Iraq, passed Universal Healthcare and a major energy independence initiative, and has dealt successfully with the recession in 2008. Going into 2012 against some random Republican, his approval rating hovers around 60%.

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I don't think GA, LA, or SD will be tossups in the near future.

Well, not in a 50-50 election, but if Obama hypothetically wins re-election by 10-15 points, maybe.

Yes, and world hunger will have dissapeered, the middle east will just get along, and winged pork chops will be all the rage.

No president can pursue a strong agenda and retain that kind of popularit, not now adays anyway.

SD a tossup? I think you're being too hackish.

President Barack Obama's approval rating hovers at 50%, sometimes dipping lower after beating McCain/Barbour in 2008 with what amounted to a campaign againest the Iraq War.  The War is just finishing after president Obama's plan to get out the troops takes longer than expected, three years in fact.  Universal health care under the Obama plan is just beginning to be implemented and Obama has taken out the Bush tax cuts.

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Obama would be the new Jimmy Carter.

I have the distinct feeling whomever wins will be the next Jimmy Carter/Herbert Hoover.

First it was Jesse Jackson, then it was Michael Dukakis, and now it's Jimmy Carter.

I doubt Obama will be like any of them.

I also doubt, however, that he will be a new John F Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Teddy Roosevelt, or Franklin Roosevelt.

Obama, if he wins, will be his own President.

South Dakota almost went to Bill Clinton in 1996. There was only a 3.5% difference (11,000 votes). If Obama wins by a large margin nationally, then its likely he could carry South Dakota.

The state's Native American population is growing faster than the state average (will be about 10% by 2012, up from 7% in 1990). They are heavily Democratic, as you can tell from any election map.

Clinton did well in South Dakota because the Dakotas are full of the type of people who liked him personally (at least until Monica), but couldn't vote for a pro-choice candidate for president also not to discount the Perot factor. 

Too many single issue voters in those areas. He over performed amongst White South Dakotans.

Bush is a two-term Herbert Hoover, and you know who succeeded Hoover, don'tcha?

Oh my God. Didn't you leave out ending world hunger, defeating Al-Qaeda through diplomacy, fixing immigration so that no illegal immigration ever occurs, running up a $100 billion surplus, presiding over the stock market crossing DOW 20,000, and raising real wages by 50%? I expect this will also  occur during the Obama first term, and the map will look like this:

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This assumes an Obama victory:
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If Obama wins and has a good term this is what the map will look like at the start.

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If McCain win and has a good term this is what the map will look like at the start.

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If Obama wins the presidency this year, and does remarkably well during his first term, getting much of his agenda passed, and retains high job approval ratings by the time he runs for re-election, and the GOP nominates a southern conservative governor or former governor, the map would look a lot like like this:

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