The Presidency of America's Maverick

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Former President Clinton praises President McCain war time leadership in an interview with Larry King:



King: Thank You President Clinton for joining us today

Clinton: My pleasure

King: As you know the past decade had been considered a very divisive time in our politics with things seemingly getting worse and worse each year so are you in any way surprised how our country has come together over the past few months and how politicians on both sides of the isle have been working together in ways we haven't seen in a long time.

Clinton: I am not surprised at all and the reason is in times of crises especially during times of war we have seen throughout our history our country put politics aside and come together like during World War II where despite the fact that the 3 years leading up to Pearl Harbor had seemed to be extremely divided, after Pearl Harbor our country came together from all sides: Democrat, Republican, Liberal , Conservative and since the attacks on Setember 11th we have come together again because we are truly Americans first.

King: Do you give the President any credit for this

Clinton: Absolutely, as great leaders set great examples and President McCain has set a great example for all of us to be because over the past few months he has truly both in words and in actions has worked to make it clear that we are in its together not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans.

King: Do you believe that the War on Terror would eventually require us to confront more nations than just Afghanistan

Clinton: If other nations in the region who are currently funding and giving harbor to terrorists we will have no choice but to confront them. Like the President has said multiple times this is not a war against Afghanistan this is a war on terror and specifically against states that fund and harbor these terrorists. Whether that requires military confrontation or other ways of confrontation is only something the President can say given he is the one who has access to the daily brief and the ones getting official recommendations from a wide variety of experts.

King: Thank You for joining us

Clinton : No problem

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The unemployment rate jumps to 5.8% showing recession is still ongoing

Woodruff: Unemployment in December jumped to 5.8% as the effects of the recession caused by the burst of the internet bubble which began in the middle of 2000 and later got worse by the attacks on September 11th last year are still causing unemployment numbers to go up. The Dow Jones fell bellow 10,000 for the first time in over 3 years and the Nasdaq has dropped over 61% since its peak as well. Treasury Secretary Robert Lucas in a press conference said that he believes the tax cuts which will begin to go into effect this year should help stimulate the economy, and asked if he was willing to do further stimulus and he said if required yes the administration is but said the President would only sign a stimulus bill into law if most of the benefits go directly to the people and not special interest groups and bureaucracies.

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Excerpts of President McCain's 2002 State of the Union Address:



Souce: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/app/uploads/2019/02/RTX6LFXE-1024x683-e1549455385158.jpg

McCain: Members of Congress, distinguished guests and my fellow Americans four and a half months ago our nation was attacked by terrorists in hopes of weakening the state of the union and my fellow Americans we have shown since then not only were they wrong but that the state of our union has never been stronger and has never been more united than we are today(Standing Ovation). The brave men and women in our military have liberated the people of Afghanistan from the government who not only gave harbor to the terrorists that attacked us but had the goal of wanting to oppress people all across the world like they did in Afghanistan but thanks to our military along with the military of our allies all across the world and allies in Afghanistan itself the Tailban will no longer have control of Afghanistan(Applause). That doesnt mean our work is over as we now must make sure we can create a stable government in Afghanistan that protects essential liberties such as Free Speech and religious freedom along with keeps the nation itself secure so no terrorist group like Al-Qaeda can ever rise up there again(Applause).

While Afghanistan may no longer pose a threat to our nation, that doesnt mean our work is done as countries such as Iraq continue to post a threat to our nation , our allies and to its neighbors. Saddam Hussain has continued to flout the international community by kicking out weapons of mass destruction inspectors who were ensuring that Suddam Hussain follows by the Gulf War cease-fire agreement of Iraq not having any weapons of mass destruction. Every moment the Iraqi government refuses to allow the inspectors is a moment where they remain a threat to our country but especially its own people who it oppresses in brutal ways and has used weapons of mass destruction against its own people. Others nations in the region such as Iran and Syria also brutally oppress their own people as well, exports terrorism and seeks those weapons as well but I can tell the leaders of those nations something, we wont let them get those weapons(Applause).

While of course winning this war on terror is crucial for our nation, so is helping our nation recover from this recession we are currently experiencing and thanks to the tax reform we passed last year we are on step one in that goal(Applause). Number two is we must pass a stimulus program where most of the benefits go directly to the people and not to special interests groups who many times tend to receive these programs. My proposal of ensuring this is passing a 70 billion dollar infrastructure block grant that will help rebuild many of our roads and bridges while giving jobs to many struggling Americans as well(Applause). Number three we must increase accountability in our market so investors can remain confident that financial statements put out by companies are accurate(Applause) and are not fraudulent and do not use accounting tricks to make them seem more profitable than they actually are(Applause) and one way we can do that is by significantly regulating the use of Mark to Market Accounting(Applause). Scandals, like we saw out of Enron, is unacceptable in our modern economy and we must do all we can to make sure such a scandal does not happen again(Applause).

Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America

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Transportation Secretary Tillie Fowler announces Infrastructure package



Fowler: As the President said last night in his state of the union address one of the best ways to ensure a stimulus package benefits the people is to do an infrastructure package as that way we can improve not only our roads, bridges that people use but also helps create jobs as well. As the President also mentioned last night we would like Congress to authorize 70 billion dollars in infrastructure block grants to the states that are allocated based on the population of each state


Congress agrees to 80 billion dollar infrastructure block grant package which allocates 60 billion dollars based on population and splits the remaining 20 billion equally among each state and President McCain signs package into law

Shaw: After a week of the infrastructure package being held up in the senate due to senators of many smaller states demanding more funding, house and senate leadership agreed to a deal that would satisfy both the smaller and larger states with a larger 80 billion dollar package being agreed to with 60 billion of that 80 billion allocated based on the population of each state and the remaining 20 billion allocated equally among the states. The President signed the bill into law but made it clear that the administration would go after states who try to abuse the block grants for special interest purposes

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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani announces he will run for New York Governor



Woodruff: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani announced earlier today he will run for the New York Governor this November. He said that the city and state still has lots of work to do to rebuild after the September 11th attacks and believes he can help the city and state achieve that goal as Governor. In response to his entry many prominent Republicans announced they wouldnt run for Governor and even many prominent Democrats such as Andrew Cuomo and Carl McCall announced they wouldnt run either.

Shaw: Many are speculating that given New York allows candidates to be nominated by multiple political parties, that the former Mayor be be nominated by both the Republican and Democratic parties for this November's election.

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Great timeline, very much in line with how I've imagined a Gore vs McCain race would have gone.

One small caveat though, the field wouldn't be cleared for Giuliani. He was a highly controversial mayor and polarizing figure and even in the aftermath of 9/11 when his reputation was riding high it's extremely unlikely if not impossible that the Democrats would cross endorse him. He'd probably win by a comfortable margin but he definitely wouldn't be unopposed.

Hmm I thought given that Guiliani endorsed Cuomo in 1994,  Mario Cuomo would consider supporting Guiliani given that Rudy would seem nearly guaranteed to win a general election and I believe they had a good relationship as well.

Andrew Cuomo also said this about Rudy in OTL:

Andrew M. Cuomo said today that Gov. George E. Pataki did not deserve credit for leading New York through the difficult weeks after the World Trade Center attack, declaring that he had merely ''held a leader's coat'' as he stood at the side of Rudolph W. Giuliani last fall.

''There was one leader for 9/11: it was Rudy Giuliani,''

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/18/nyregion/cuomo-s-criticism-of-pataki-s-role-after-9-11-sets-off-furor.html

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Secretary of State Collin Powell announces the US will be withdrawing from 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea and placing Sanctions on them as well as Iraq, Iran and Syria.



Powell: As you know 8 years ago we had agreed to a deal with the North Koreans that we would agree to begin the process of normalizing relations with them in exchange for them dismantling their nuclear weapons progam. 8 years later it is clear that the North Koreans had no intention of upholding their end of the deal as they have tried to cheat on multiple occasions and due to that we have decided to withdraw our nation from that 1994 agreed framework and reimpose the sanctions we had gradually removed over the past 8 years.

We have also decided that we will be placing new sanctions on Iraq, Iran , Syria as its clear these 3 nations are rouge states who oppress their people and export terror across the region and we will into stand for it.


Media Member 1: Secretary Powell, does this mean that a military option will be taken of the table when it comes to Iraq, or is still on the table

Powell: Nothing as been taken off the table , as the fact is Suddam Hussain continues to flagrantly violate the cease-fire agreement of the first gulf war and these additional sanctions we have put in place hopefully can convince the Iraqi government to honor the cease-fire agreement because if they don't there will be no choice but to forcefully remove him from power.

Media Member 2: Have you worked with the UN and other international organizations on this

Powell: Absolutely we have and we will continue to do so

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President McCain signs bipartisan public accounting reform bill into law

Woodruff: In a wake of an accounting scandal that took down Enron and is in the process of maybe doing the same to one of the 5 largest accounting firms , Arthur Anderson, the White House and Congress began working on making reforms to reform public accounting standard to make sure such a scandal doesnt happen again. Here are some of the major reforms passed into law

- Significantly restricts the practice of Mark-To-Market Accounting
- Requires Financial officers to certify that financial information is accurate and reliable
- Requires companies to disclose all material off-balance sheet items
- Companies must explain in their annual reports the structure of the internal controls they use
- Disclose any major changes

The President called it a major piece forward in making sure large corporations remain accountable and we increase transparency in our financial system as well.

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Latest Gallup Polls on President McCain's approvals and other issues:

Woodruff: Lets look at the latest Gallup Polls on President McCain's approvals and other important issues which was taken between the 17th of April and the 19th of April.


President McCain's Approvals:

Approve: 81%(+4%)
Disapprove: 13%(-4%)

House Generic Ballot Polls:

Republicans: 45%(+1%)
Democrats: 42%(-1%)


Woodruff: As you can see President McCain's approval ratings have gone back above 80% where it remains at astronomically high levels but the race for the house remains close with Republicans having a slight edge but with 13% of people undecided. Now lets look at some issue polls


Should the US remove Suddam:

Yes: 27%
Only if he continues to not follow cease fire agreement: 44%
No: 29%

Woodruff: Gallup also asked the people who didnt answer straight yes or no how long the US should wait and it seems like most say while we should wait more than 3 months, we shouldnt wait more than a year

How long should the US wait:

Less than 3 Months: 16%
3-6 Months: 27%
6-12 Months: 42%
More than a year : 15%

Woodruff: Moving to Domestic issues Gallup asked people what issue we would like to see the congress tackle next and this is what people said

What domestic issue should Congress tackle next:

Prescription Drug Reform: 35%
Further Economic Stimulus: 27%
Immigration Reform : 25%
Entitlement Reorm: 13%

Woodruff: Looks like a Plurality of Americans believe Congress should deal with prescription drug reform first and from what we are hearing they are exactly gonna do that. Now lets look at our final poll where they asked what they think should be done for the economy

Should Congress pass more stimulus whether in tax cuts or spending increases:

Yes: 52%
No: 48%

Woodruff: On that issue people are pretty much divided

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Breaking News: Supreme Court upholds Modified Line Item veto in 5-4 vote



Shaw: We have some breaking news coming out of the Supreme Court and that is they have upheld the modified Line Item veto act passed last year with a narrow 5-4 vote. As you may all remember in 1998 the supreme court struck down the line item veto in a 6-3 decision but even in that decision it self the justices who struck it down had varying different levels of opposition to it. Stevens, Gingsburg, Souter and Thomas had the largest opposition with justices Scalia and Kennedy having more moderate opposition to it. This modified bill it seems like satisfied their concerns with a line-item veto and due to that it will now be upheld with one liberal justice, Justice Breyer, voting in favor of it and one Conservative Justice, Justice Thomas, voting to strike it down again.


The White House responded with the news by saying its a good day for America and gives us the ability to fully reduce the powers of special interest groups. Also becuase of this ruling the sections of past bills the President struck out with the modified line-item veto will before a district court had brought back by striking down this law will be struck down again as the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision on that issue decided that since the line iterm veto is now constitional so was the President's past use of it.

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Breaking News: Sandra Day O'Conner announces she will be retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of the session



Shaw: We have some breaking news to report and that is that Justice Sandra Day O'Conner has announced she will be stepping down from the Supreme Court at the end of the session and will be retiring. We are told the President is about to make a statement about this news right now so lets go to the White House

McCain: A short while ago I received a letter from Justice Sandra Day O'Conner where she was announcing that she would be retiring from the court at the end of this current session at the end of June. Since being nominated as the first-ever female Supreme Court Justice by President Reagan back in 1981, Justice O'Conner has served on the highest court with honor and as a fellow Arizonian has made us proud of having someone who served the court with such honor.

Reporter: Have you had any thought of who you plan to nominate to the court and will it be someone with a similar judicial philosophy as Justice O'Conner

McCain: Well I just received this news right now so I havent had much time to think about it and I think at least for the next couple days we should be talking more about the accomplishments of Justice O'Conner rather than speculate who the next supreme court justice will be. To answer your queston though, we will be releasing a shortlist of 4 potential justices sometime in the next couple of weeks .


Reporter: Ok thanks


Final shortlist of potential supreme court appointees released :


- Deborah L Cook
Current Position: Associate Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court

- Ronald M George
Current Position: Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court

- Priscilla Owen
Current Position: Associate Justice of the Texas Supreme Court

- Mike DeWine
Current Position: United States Senator from Ohio

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President McCain nominates Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah L Cook to fill seat of retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Conner



McCain: Thank You , Thank You . As you know one of the most important decisions a President could make is appointing a justice to sit on the highest court in our nation being that the Supreme Court is the final attributor of the law.  Given that power my belief is justices on the Supreme Court should not legislate from the bench and should only make rulings based on what our constitution and what our laws state and not on their personal views on the issues. Justice Sandra Day O'Conner throughout her career was someone who did exactly that and my beleif is that Ohio Supreme Court Justice Debroh L Cook will do the same as a Supreme Court justice which is why its my pleasure to appoint her to the court. She has shown throughout her tenure as a Supreme Court justice in Ohio her commitment to making ruling based on the laws and constitution of the state of Ohio not her personal beliefs and I have confidence she will do the same as the Supreme Court justice of our nation.


Cook: I want to thank the President for giving me the honor of having the chance of representing our nation as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. I also want to thank Justice O'Conner for all her years as a service on the highest court in the land and my hope is I can follow in her giant footsteps as a great justice who making rulings not based on personal belief but on the constitution and the law.


Schnider: Alright so the President has officially nominated Deborah L Cook to be the next justice of the supreme court and we are hearing that the Senate judiciary committee has made her confirmation hearing as their first priorty after they come back from recesses so the full senate can have a vote on whether to confirm her or not by mid-September. The reason is given the situation in the middle east the Senate will have to deal with some major issues in late September early October and they dont want to be dealing with a Supreme Court appointment then

Greenfield: My belief is given the fact that you have a Supreme Court vacancy and a possible confrontation with Iraq do deal with which are two major major issues, the Senate may come back from recess a week earlier so they can have the time to deal with both issues.

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Can we expect Deborah Cook to be similar to Sandra Day O'Connor or is she significantly more conservative?

Will Mitch the Turtle bring a lawsuit against the campaign finance reform bill up to the Supreme Court like in real life?

She is more conservative though I wouldn’t say significantly so as she was Someone who was on McCain’s shortlist in 2008 as well . As for McConnell not really given the fact that McCain not only has a powerful bully pulpit but the head of the RNC is someone who is anti money in politics himself so he really wouldn’t want to risk his career just to bring that lawsuit at this moment .

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I guess that more big Republican names are about to announce intentions to run for Senate in 2002 due to McCain's overwhelmingly high approval ratings.

I’ll post a list of the battleground senate races where i will list out the main candidates in each race and the how it’s rated as well once we get into the October updates .

Yes you are right , their is gonna be one major republican candidate who didn’t run in OTL who will be running for the senate .


I’ll let you guys guess who that candidate is in the meanwhile

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President McCain calls for UN to send an ultimatum to Iraqi Government: Comply with cease fire agreement or be removed from power



McCain: Thank You Thank You, its my honor to give a speech in front of this assembly tonight on this urgent matter. For the past 11 years the government of Iraq has violated every agreement they made at the end of the Gulf War, committed more atrocities than ever and even tried to assassinate former President Bush and its clear that Suddam Hussain does not intend to stop in his despicable attempt to get revenge on the rest of the world for his defeat in the Gulf War and to stay in power no matter how many people he continues to oppress. He earlier this year announced he would fund Palestinian terrorists and had made it clear that unless we do something he is a clear and present danger to the people of Iraq, the people in the region and also to people all around the world.

The time for negotiations has come and gone and it is now time we make it clear that unless he starts to stricty follow all the terms of the cease-fire agreement, stop funding all terrorists and cooperate in the global war on terrorism by the end of January of next year we will forcefully remove his regime from power and make sure Suddam Hussain recives justice for all the atrocities he has committed in his decades in power. While many may ask why the urgency, we must remember we do not live in the same world as we lived in two years ago and the terroist attacks against our nation last year on September 11th show we cant afford to wait longer and risk that type of attack happening anywhere around the world again. It is time we pass a resoultion that makes it clear that Suddam Hussain must follow every word of it or be removed from power. Thank You

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President McCain announces he will be temporarily appointing former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh to the Supreme Court using recess authority as the senate will be unable to hold formel hearings until after new session begins:



Woodruff: The President announced earlier today given the fact the Senate won't be able to hold formal hearings for the nomination of Judge Deborah Cook until after the new session of the supreme court has already begun and due to that he will be recess appointing former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh to the Supreme Court to make sure the Supreme Court continues to have 9 Supreme Court justices when the new session begins. The reason the senate wont be able to hold hearings is due to the fact that the senate will be dealing with a more urgent matter at the moment which is a possible confontion and wont have much time to properly hold hearings until they deal with this issue. We are told that both Republican and Democratic leadership in the senate told the President to temporarily fill that vacant seet using the powers of a recess appointment. Now with us is Senator Joe Biden  further dicuss this.

Biden: Yes Judy, the fact is at this current moment we do not have time on our schedule to deal with an issue as major as the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice , but since its important that we have an odd number of justices on the Supreme Court to avoid 4-4 decisions I think it was important the President also used his reccess appointment powers to temporarily fill the seat.

Woodruff: What do you think of his pick

Biden: I think it was a good pick , and it was one that both top Democrats and top Republicans agreed would be a good pick to temporarily fill the vacancy .

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Sorry for the delay, I have been busy but I should be able to post the next update by Sunday Night/Monday Afternoon

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Defense Secretary Tom Ridge's formally requests Congress give the President the authority to use military forces against Iraq if Iraq doesn't meet the terms of the  cease-fire agreement by February 1st

Ridge: For the past 11 years the Iraqi government has violated terms of the cease-fire agreement they agreed to at the end of gulf war, have repressed its own people more than it ever has done, has aided and abetted terrorists and shown repeatedly that it continues to be a rogue government and its clear that if they are continued to allow to be a rogue government they will continue to be a threat to their people, the region and our nation as well. This is why this administration believes that if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to strictly follow all terms of the cease-fire agreement, stop its brutal repression of its people and agree to cooperate in the global war on terror by Feburary 1st, they must be removed from power which is why we are formally requesting Congress to give the President the authority to use military forces against Iraq if these terms arent met by then.


Byrd: Secretary Ridge one thing I worry about is what if we go into Iraq and find out there are no weapons of mass destruction which currently we still cant say for sure that they do posses such weapons. Why should this body give the adminstration this authority when the adminstration still to this day hasnt given us concrete proof that Iraq does have those weapons

Ridge: Senator Byrd the answer to that is the reason we havent been able to find out is that Iraqi government kicked out all the inspectors and refused to let them back in so its clear they are hiding something. Also this is the same regime that started two wars , has used weapons of mass destruction in the past, shoots down our aircraft, and refused to cooperate in the War on Terror so the fact is they have shown countless times in the past and in the present that they are a threat to our nation and to the region and we cannot afford to wait much longer as if we do it might be too late.


Anti War protests take place across the country to protest Iraq War authorization vote:



Shaw: Earlier today anti-war protests took place in cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and in many other cities to protest the Iraq War authorization vote which is expected to take place in the next couple of days. We talked to many of the protesters and this is what one of them said

Reporter: Why are you out here protesting

Protester: The fact is that Suddam Hussain had nothing to do with 9/11 so why are we considering invading a country that didnt attack us.

Reporter: The Administration says that Suddam Hussain has violated Gulf War resolutions so what do you say about that

Protester: North Korea doesn't follow resolutions either, but we never talk about invading them cause it would be stupid to do so and it would be unjustified to do so.

Shaw: Many protesters conveyed similar sentiments as well


Breaking News: Congress votes to authorize Military Force against Iraq if certain terms are not met by March 1st of 2003



Woodruff: We have some breaking news to report to you and that is both houses of Congress in an overwhelming fashion have voted to authorize military force against Iraq if these terms are not met by March 1st of next year:


- Iraq Must strictly follow all the Gulf War Resolutions

- Iraq must cooperate with the United States in the Global War on Terror

- Iraq must increase the amount of freedom its people have

Woodruff: Also in the bill it gives President McCain the authority to send military troops and military equipment to Kuwait beginning next week to prepare for a potential invasion on March 2nd of next year . We are told that the President is meeting with his defense secretary, joint chief of staffs right now to talk about the preparation phase .

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Well written, as usual. Seems like McCain is handling Iraq more competent, but I still think any invasion would have been a great mistake in the long run despite Saddam being a horrible dictator.

Yah having Ridge instead of Rumsfeld as defense secretary and McCain listening to Powell much more than Bush did , as well as not having Cheney as VP results in Iraq being handled more competently .

On the other hand given McCain was in many ways even more Hawkish than Bush , I think Iraq still happens though having it handled more competently still is way better than what happened in OTL where we got an invasion along with it being handled extremely incompetently .

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Well written, as usual. Seems like McCain is handling Iraq more competent, but I still think any invasion would have been a great mistake in the long run despite Saddam being a horrible dictator.

Yah having Ridge instead of Rumsfeld as defense secretary and McCain listening to Powell much more than Bush did , as well as not having Cheney as VP results in Iraq being handled more competently .

On the other hand given McCain was in many ways even more Hawkish than Bush , I think Iraq still happens though having it handled more competently still is way better than what happened in OTL where we got an invasion along with it being handled extremely incompetently .

The invasion itself was a masterstroke and a brilliant work of military strategem. It was the resulting occupation that led to the bungled mess we have today. America would've been better off not getting involved in Iraq in the first and instead put all attention on Afghanistan, as the Arab Spring was in many ways inevitable and a strongman like Saddam, even if a monster, could keep the region in check and crush any group like ISIS quickly. It would've been better letting him die of natural causes or the Kurds finally getting to him then the US getting involved.

But that's my two cents, at least.

I agree that Iraq was definitely a mistake in hindsight, but the occupation I think was more bungled than it had to be due to Rumsfeld and Bremer .

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I just hope whatever befalls the Middle East in this timeline it's going to be less destructive than what happened in real life.
But let's see. We are still at winter 2002 right?

October 2002

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I just hope whatever befalls the Middle East in this timeline it's going to be less destructive than what happened in real life.
But let's see. We are still at winter 2002 right?

October 2002

Ah. And nothing on the results of the primaries?

I will post a list of the competitive Senate and gubernatorial races and do midterm coverage where the winner of each senate and the gubernatorial race will be projected

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Breaking News: Senator Paul Wellstone dies in an Plane Crash




Shaw: We have some tragic news to report to you and that is Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone has died in a plane crash where Senator Wellstone was heading to attend the funeral in Eveleth , Minnesota. On behalf of CNN and all our colleagues here, I would like to send our condolences to Senator Wellstone's family and friends .


President McCain releases statement:

McCain: Today has been a really sad day for our nation due to the sudden and tragic death of Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, his child and everyone else on the plane. I would like to extend our nation's condolences to the family of Paul Wellstone and the families of everyone else who died in the crash and led them know that they will be in all of our prayers tonight.

As someone who served with Paul Wellstone in the senate for 10 years, I can tell you that he was one of the most honest and principled men I knew and I really enjoyed working with him in the senate. He truly did what he thought best for the people of Minnesota and that is something we should all learn from him. May God Bless Senator Wellstone and all the victims of this terrible tragedy as well as their families.

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Battleground Senate Races:

Greenfield: With tomorrow being election day lets look at some of the battleground Senate seats we will be watching and remember Democrats need to pick up 3 seats in order to take control of the Senate next January. So let's look at the vulnerable seats for each party.


Vulnerable Democratic Seats:

Georgia: Senator Max Clelend(D) vs Congressman Saxby Chambliss(R)- Tossup

Lousiana*: Senator Mary Landrieu(D) vs Unknown Republican Candidate(R) - Tossup

Minnesota: Former Vice President Walter Mondale(D) vs Former St Paul Mayor Norm Coleman(R)- Tossup

Missouri: Senator Jean Carnahan(D) vs Congressman Jim Talent(R)- Tossup

New Jersey: Former Senator Frank Lautenberg(D) vs Former Governor Christine Todd Whitman(R)- Tossup

South Dakota: Senator Tim Johnson(D) vs Congressman John Thune(R) - Tossup


Vulnerable Republican Seats:

Arkansas: Senator Tim Hutchinson(R) vs State Attorney General Mark Pryor(D)- Lean Democratic Gain

Colorado: Senator Wayne Allard(R) vs Attorney Tom Strickland(D) - Lean Republican Hold

New Hampshire: Representative John Sununu(R) vs Governor Jeane Shaheen(R)- Tossup

North Carolina: Former Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole(R) vs Former Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles(D)- Lean Republican Hold

South Carolina: Former Governor David Beasley(R) vs  State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum(D)- Tossup


Greenfield: As you can see while the Democrats can take the senate it won't be easy as to take the chamber they must hold all their vulnerable seats and win in places like South Carolina to take the seante. Now one reason why Democrats are optimistic of winning in South Carolina is the Constitution Party nominee is polling better than they normally do so they hope they can siphon of enough votes for them to take this seat.

Now that does not mean they must win South Carolina to take the senate as they are still contesting North Carolina and Colorado and if they take either one of them then they wont need South Carolina and if they take both of them they can even afford to lose on of their own seats. Finally as you all can see there is an asterisk on the Lousiana race and that is because if Senator Landrieu cant get to 50% the race will go to a runoff between Senator Landrieu and whichever Republican gets the most voters in December

Woodruff: Jeff there is a chance that runoff could determine control of the senate

Greenfield: Yes if you assume the Democrats hold all their other seats and win Arkansas, New Hampshire, and South Carolina then the senate composition after election night will be 50 Democrats to 49 Republicans meaning the runoff in December would determine control. In that case you would very likely see both parties go all out for one senate seat in ways we have never seen before as that might be the first time ever one senate race would be guaranteed to determine control of the seante.

Woodruff: What about the House

Greenfield: The House most experts believe will stay in Republican hands and the only question is will they make gains or not with some Republican consultants believing they can win 10 or more seats which would be unprecedented for the party in power but in a year where the incumbent president is really powerful and given the low name recognition for individual candidates in house races compared to senate races its much harder to individualize those races which is why the Republicans have such a big advantage here.


Battleground Gubernatorial Races:

Schnider: Now lets go and see the battleground gubernatorial races and this year might have more than we have possibly ever seen and due to that we could see unprecedented amount of seats change hands


Vulnerable Democratic Seats:

Alabama: Governor Don Siegelman(D) vs Congressman Bob Riley(R) - Tossup

Alaska: Governor Fran Ulmer(D) vs Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin(R) - Tossup

California: Governor Gray Davis(D) vs Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan(R) - Tossup

Georgia: Governor Roy Barnes(D) vs State Senator Sony Perdue(R) - Tossup

Hawaii: Lieutenant Governor Mazie Hirono(D) vs Former Maui Mayor Linda Lingle(R) - Tossup

New Hampshire: Former Senator Gordon Humphrey(R) vs State Senator Mark Fernald(D) - Likely Republican Gain

Oregon: Former State Supreme Court Justice Ted Kulongoski(D) vs Former Chair of Portland Public Schools Board Ron Saxton(R) - Tossup

South Carolina: Governor Jim Hodges(D) vs Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler(R) - Tossup

Vermont: Lieutenant Governor Doug Racine(D) vs State Treasurer Jim Douglas(R) - Tossup

Vulnerable Republican Seats:

Arizona: State Secretary of State Betsey Bayless(R) vs State Attorney General Janet Napolitano(D)- Tossup

Illionis: State Attoreny General(R) vs Congressman Rod Blagojevich(D) - Lean Democratic Gain

Kansas: State Treasurer Tim Shallenberger(R) vs State Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius(D) - Lean Democratic Gain

Massachusetts: Busienssman Mitt Romney(R) vs State Treasurer Shannon O Brien(D) - Tossups

Michigan: Lieutenant Governor Dick Posthumus(D) vs State Attorney General Jennifer Granholm- Tossup

New Mexico: Lieutenant Governor Walter Bradley(D) vs Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson(R) - Likely Democratic Gain

Oklahoma: Congressman Steve Largent(R) vs State Senator Brad Henry(R) vs Attorney Gary Richardson(I)- Lean Republican Hold

Pennsylvania: Governor Mark Schweiker(R) vs Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell(D) - Tossup

Tennessee: Congressman Van Hilleary(R) vs Former Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen(D)- Tossup

Texas : Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry(R) vs Former Texas Comptroller John Sharp(D) - Tossup

Wisconsin: Governor Scott McCallum(R) vs State Attorney General Jim Doyle(D)- Tossup

Wyoming: Former Wyoming Speaker Eli Bebout(R) vs Attorney Dave Freudenthal(D) - Tossup
Vulnerable Independent Seats:

Maine: Congressman John Baldacci(D) vs State Represenatative Pete Cianchette(R)- Lean Democratic Gain

Minnesota: Former Congressman Tim Penney(I) vs State Representative Tim Pawlenty(R) vs State Seantor Roger Moe(D) - Lean Republican Gain


Schnider: The most important race will be taking place in Texas as one its an open seat given that Governor George Bush is running for the senate , and most importantly most polls show that its very likely the winner of the governor race will likely give their party a majority in the state house. Due to this whichever party wins the Governor race will likely get to redistrict the congressional seats next year and given Texas has 32 of them that makes this race huge which is why President McCain was in Forth Worth , Texas holding a rally for Mr.Perry.  Forth Worth is in Tarrant County a county considered a bellwether in Texas state wide elections so whoever wins that county will be favored to win the state tomorrow night and if either candidate wins Tarrant by more than 3 points they wil be heavily favored and we likely will be able to call it for them pretty soon as well.

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2002(Part 1):



7:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Shaw: Welcome to CNN's coverage of the 2002 midterm elections where we will find out who will control congress for the next two years as well as who will be elected to many gubernatorial seats acrosst the nation. The first polls have just closed in a few states and CNN can now project that in Kentucky- Senator Mitch McConnell will be reelected, and in Virginia- Senator John Warner will be reelected .

We are currently unable to make projections in Georgia, South Carolina and in New Hampshire

Democrats: 34
Republicans: 33


Schnider: In the Gubernatorial races , CNN can now project that Governor Jeb Bush will be reelected in Florida and in New Hampshire- The Republican Gordon Humphrey will be the next governor of the state . We currently do not have the information to make projects in Vermont, Georgia or South Carolina

Greenfield: So far no surprises


7:30:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchmoqssrQw&t=0s

Woodruff: The polls have closed in a few more states and we can project that in West Virginia- Senator Jay Rockefeller has been reelected as expected and in North Carolina we are currently unable to make a projection .

Democrats: 35
Republicans: 33


Woodruff: In the House so far CNN has already been able to project Republicans so far have already picked up 2 house seats from the Democrats which again while they arent surprises it is good news for their chances of holding the House and potentially making gains too.

Greenfield: At 8 PM we have a better idea whether Republicans make gains or not but this is clearly indicating that its more likely or not at this point that Republicans do make gains in the House.

Woodfuff: Lets go over to Bill for some more governor calls

Schnider: yes the polls have closed in Ohio - and we are able to project that Governor Bob Taft will be reelected

Woodruff: So Jeff is there any indications how any of these key seante races are going

Greenfield: Well so far in the Georgia senate race Mr. Chambliss the republican is leading but again none of Fulton County is in and remember if nobody gets to 50% there will be a runoff in December. Also for people who live outside the south some of the keys to winning in a southern state are different. For example, in many Northern states, the urban areas are Democratic , the rural areas are Republican and the suburbs are where races are won and loss. Well how it works in Georgia and in many Southern states are , the Urban areas yes are pretty Democratic but the Suburbs are solidly Republican so the battlegrounds are in the rural areas. Due to this it will take more time for places like Georgia to be projected as there arent a few bellwether counties we can look to make projects and instead we will have to wait for rural parts to fill in.