The Presidency of America's Maverick

[OSR stands with Israel]

2004 RNC: Republicans gather in Madison Square Garden in Hopes of firmly establishing position as the dominant party in American poltics

Notable Speakers:

Former President George HW Bush - Talked about the challenges of being President and how President McCain has lived up to the challenges over the past 4 years

Secretary of Defense Tom Ridge- Talked about the successes in the War on Terror and how Afghanistan and Iraq are on path to becoming stable democracies

Speaker Dennis Hastert- Talked about the need for Republicans to keep control of the house

Senate Majority Leader Slade Gorton - Talked about the need for Republicans to keep control of the senate

New York Governor Rudy Guliani - Talked about the need to win the war on terror and how New York has been rebuilt since 9/11

Florida Governor Jeb Bush- Talked about need to reform our immigration and education systems

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman- Talked about his friendship with President McCain and asks Democrats to consider voting to reelect President McCain in November

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney- Talked about how President McCain's economic policies have helped improve the US economy


Excerps of John Danforth's Speech accepting the Vice Presidential Nomination:





Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBTyjR8ElLc

Danforth: Thank You, Thank You. It is an honor to be once again nominated for Vice President by this great party and I accept your nomination(Applause). As someone who has worked with President for 8 years in the senate and 4 years in the White House, I can tell you I have never seen a more honorable and determined politician like John McCain before and I look forward to working with him over the next 4 years to make our nation an even better place(Applause). Four years ago when we spoke to you at the convention, the President promised to clean up corruption and guess what he has done so(Applause) and he will continue to do so for the next 4 years(Applause). For the past 4 years the President has signed legislation to reform our campaign finance system to give power back to the people, eliminated pork barrel spending to make sure special interests dont reap the benefits of bills, and a bill that increases transparency in our financial system(Applause).

3 years ago everything changed with the attacks on September the 11th here in New York and in Washington DC and we must do all we can to make sure an attack like that can never happen again. The reason it happened was cause for decades the world treated terrorism like any other crime rather than an act of war , and it is a mentality we can never have again(Applause). It is why over the past 3 years , the President has made it clear to terrorist groups that we will do all in our power to make sure they can find no safe haven anywhere in the world and made it clear to nations who harbor terrorists that the United States from now on will view that as an act of war(Applause). We are helping Iraq and Afghanistan on their pathway to Democracy, and nations across the world and standing for freedom all across the world(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America


Excerpts of John McCain's speech accepting the Republican nomination for President:



Source(Modified): https://www.c-span.org/video/?182728-3/2004-john-mccain-speech

McCain: Thank You Thank You. It is an honor to be nominated by this great party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan once again and I accept your nomination(Applause) . 4 years ago when I spoke to you, none of us could imagine the challenges our nation would face over the years to come but I was confident no matter what challenges we faced we would overcome them and so far we are overcoming them becuase there is nothing this great nation cant do(Standing Ovation). We thought can't get complacent as the consequences of being complacent are too large, as we saw on September 11th in this great city and in Washington and I can pledge to the people of this great nation if you reelect me I will never get complacent in facing this threat(Applause).

Terrorism is also an issue that not only faces us but people across the world which makes it similar to the threat faced by fascism in World War Two and just like then the forces of evil will be destroyed(Applause). We have already liberated Afghanistan and Iraq and both those nations are now on track to becoming stable democracies and other nations in the region such as Libya have agreed to dismantle their WMD program and start cooperating with the rest of the world in this war on terror(Applause). Now while my friends on the other side are trying to say that there is not much of a contrast on this issue, let me remind the American people that when we were preparing for the invasion of Iraq, both Senator Biden and Senator Rockefeller both said they wanted us to wait for United Nations approval before we undertake the mission(Boos). If we had followed the path outlined by Senator Biden, Senator Rockefeller and the Democratic Party then Suddam Hussain would still be in charge of Iraq today as the United Nations was never gonna give us the approval due to the veto power Russia and China have and pledged to veto such a resolution no matter what which is why we didnt take that route(Applause). Yes the United Nations is important and we in the US support many of its efforts but that doesnt mean we can wait on them to make every decision and we will not do so(Applause).

Now my Democratic friends in Boston also claimed that we haven't done much on critical issues at home so lets look at the record between the past 4 years and the prior 8 years they were in power for. Back in 1992 the Democrats took the White House promising to clean up Washington and pass a bill that would cover prescription drugs under Medicare and not only did that not happen but the power of special interest groups increased and so did the price of prescription drugs(boos). Compare that to the past 4 years where we have made progress in cleaning up Washington by passing campaign finance reform , tightened restrictions on lobbyists, banned pork-barrel spending and got rid of deductions in our tax code that special interests took advantage of(Applause). We have also passed legislation which would cover prescription drugs under Medicare as well so the fact is in the past 4 years we have made progress on major issues and we will continue to make them for another 4.

Thank you may god Bless You and May God Bless America


McCain surges back to a 6 point lead post convention

McCain/Danforth 239
Biden/Rockefeller 158

[OSR stands with Israel]

State of Race Before the First Debate:

McCain/Danforth 247 52%
Biden/Rockefeller 158 45%


King: With the first debate taking place tommorow , with us today on Larry King is Republican Strategist Mary Matalin and Democratic Strategist James Carville. So James you have seen this map, and how stable it has seemed to be throughout the election cylce with the exception of the convention bounce after the DNC, so what does Senator Biden have to do in these debates to tighten these poll numbers.


Carville: Well first things first, is Senator Biden must at the very least hold his own in the foreign policy debate because the fact is the best chance he has of winning is if the public judges both candidates as good on this issue and then decide the election on domestic issues where I think he can make a case. The only way he can do that is if he at the very least holds his own though I think he needs to win it and the way he can do that is by emphasizing his experience in the senate on the foreign affairs committe, and talk about the importance of working with the global community more in a concrete way to win the war on terror. I definitely think he can but it won't be easy

King: If he is able to do well in the debate, do you think this election will be a tossup

Carville: No because the fact is in our system incumbents do have an advantage but it will give him a chance of winning which is something Bob Dole did not have in 1996. On the other hand if Senator Biden loses this debate, he will not have a chance of winning this election at all which is what makes this debate critical because while having an unlikely chance of winning isn't great its much better than have no chance.

King: So Mary do you agree Senator McCain can finish the election of tomorrow and if so what can he do

Matalin: Yes i absolutely do think he can, and some ways he can do that is by talking over and over about the progress we have made in the war on terror, and in Afghanistan and Iraq. I do think though the other debates are still very important as if Senator McCain can win the Domestic policy debate he could help greatly in increasing our majorites in both houses of congress.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Battleground Senate and Gubernatorial Races:

Woodruff: Along with the Presidential race, also at stake is control of both chambers of Congress and for many states the gubernatorial office as well. So Bill how do the battlegrounds look so far

Schnider: Well in the Senate there are 10 seats we believe are vulnerable to switching sides, 7 of which are controlled by the Democrats and 3 by the Republicans.  Ok lets look at those seats, first the Democrats

Vulnerable Democratic Seats:

Florida: Former State Education Commissioner Betty Castor(D) vs Florida Governor Jeb Bush(R)- Likely Republican Gain

Georgia: Represenative Denise Majette(D) vs Former State Representative Alveda King(R)- Likely Republican Gain

Lousiana: Representative Chris John(D) vs State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy(D) vs Mr. Bobby Jindal(R) - Lean Republican Gain

North Carolina: Senator John Edwards(D) vs Representative Richard Burr(R) - Tossup

South Carolina: Mr. Ben Fraiser(D) vs Former Attorney General Lindsey Graham(R)- Safe Republican Gain

South Dakota: Senate Minority Leader Tom Dashale(D) vs Former Representative John Thune(R)- Tossup

Wisconsin: Senator Russ Feingold(D) vs Former Lieutenant Governor Margaret Farrow(R)- Lean Democratic Hold

Schnider: Now lets look at the vulnerable Republican seats

Vulnerable Republican Seats

Colorado: Businessman Pete Coors(R) vs State Attorney General Ken Salazar(D) - Tossup

Illinois: Senator Peter Fitzgerald(R) vs State Senator Barack Obama(D) - Tossup

Kentucky- Senator Jim Bunning(R) vs State Senator Daniel Mongiardo(D) - Tossup


Schnider: The ultimate goal for Senate Republicans this whole year has been to get to that elusive 60 seat number in the senate and the reason for that is if they get that it will mean they will have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and will have the ability to pass their agenda with pretty much no roadblocks. The question has been can they get there and the answer is yes they do have a path to get to 60 but it is a very narrow one. The reason for that is they will need to win 9 of these 10 races to get to 60 and if you assume Wisconsin will go to the Democrats given it leans Senator Feingold way and the momentum seems to be in his camp, then Republicans will need to sweep the remaining seats on here to get to 60. The problem with that is in Illionis , the momentum seems to be with the Democrat Mr.Obama and if the polls dont change here within the next 10 to 14 days , that race most likely will be considered Leaning Democratic as well, meaning the Republicans no longer will have the ability to get to 60.


Woodruff: What about the other seats , how are they going

Schnider: Well in Kentucky current Republican Senator Jim Bunning is unpopular , in North Carolina Senator John Edwards is leading and in South Dakota it will be very difficult to knock of the Senate Minorty Leader so at this moment id say it is pretty unlikely Republicans get to 60 seats this November.


Woodruff: What about the Battleground Gubernatorial races


Vulenrable Gubernatorial Seats:

Deleware: Governor Ruth Minner(D) vs State Justice Bob Lee(R)- Tossup

Indiana: Governor Joe Kernan(D) vs Former State Secretary of State Sue Gilroy (R)- Lean Republican Gain

Missouri: State Auditor Claire McCaskill(D) vs State Secretary of State Matt Blunt(R)- Tossup

Montana: State Secretary of State Bob Brown(R) vs State Senator Jon Tester(D) - Tossup

Washington: State Attorney General Christine Gregoire(D) vs State Senator Dino Rossi(R)- Tossup

Schnider: Democrats hoped to potentially put New Hampshire in play to but they pretty much triaged that race given that Governor Gordon Humphrey seems too popular to beat. Republicans though are hoping to make gains this cycle after a disappointing gubernatorial cycle 4 years ago where they only won 3 of the 11 races up .

[OSR stands with Israel]

Summary of the First Presidential Debate:



Source: https://apnews.com/article/f8aeb6fc3fc76ef11bca1d6368afb4f9

Key Moment 1:

Lehrer: Senator Biden while you have pointed to the fact you authorized the war in Iraq , you were quoted in the leadup of the war that we shouldnt go in until the UN authorizes it . So do you think in hindsight you were wrong with that call or would you stick by it

Biden: Jim it is not about whether it was correct or wrong in the instant but what our overall policy is gonna be. The fact is in this overall global war on terror to win we need to work with the United Nations as the fact is we cant do everything alone. That is why I have proposed creating a seperate international body similar to NATO to deal with decisions relating to the War on Terror so we can work together on that area to win this war.

McCain: Well the fact is each situation is different and in the case of Iraq we didnt have time to wait for the UN. They had been blatantly violating the cease fire agreement for 12 years and refusing to work with the international community on the War on Terror at all so we had no choice but to go in without the UN . If we had taken the Senator's advice , Suddam Hussains till would be in power today because the fact is we never were going to get Russia's or China's approval in the United Nations which is why it would have been a mistake to wait for their approval.

Biden: Which is why I believe there should be a new body like NATO where we could have dealt with Iraq together and rebuilt it together like we did with Germany after WW2, and also our military wouldnt have to be spread so thin . Currently, if we say have to send troops elsewhere, we may have to withdraw some troops from Iraq and Afghanistan to accomplish that mission which could risk stability in Iraq and Afghanistan which is why I believe we need to be careful the next time a similar debate comes up because we cannot afford to have our military be spread so thin.

McCain: In all due respect to the Senator, I can say he is completely wrong with our military being spread too thin and you can check with every general saying the same thing. The fact is we have successfully managed to remove Suddam Hussain from power, stabilize the nation after a brief period of instability , and now Iraq is on a path to being a democracy so Id say the Senator was wrong about Iraq and he should admit it.

Lehrer: Moving on:

Key Moment 2:

Lehrer: President McCain , in your state of the union speech in 2002 you identified Iraq, Syria and Iran as 3 states most responsible for abetting terrorism. If you are reelected what will you do to deal with those threats, if they are still threats in your mind

McCain: Jim they are still threats and what we will do is what we are already doing which is we have rached up sanctions against both regimes and have reformed our intelligence agencies to counter operations made by both regimes.  We will also be doing whatever we can to make sure neither regime can ever get nuclear capabilities as if they get one the damage they can do to us or any nation on this planet would be far worse than 9/11.

Lehrer: Does this include military options

McCain: An invasion is an option we will not use until it is the last resort but there different types of military options you can use that doesnt involve an invasion and depending on the situation it may have to be used .

Biden: This is again why I believe we need to create a NATO-style organization to deal with regimes such as the Iranian regime and the Syrian regime. The reason this is important is because currently other than US only the UK is really putting pressure on the Iranians while if we had a NATO-style organization we could have many more nations pool our resources together to put much more pressure on the Iranians and Syrians to either stop their nuclear options or face massive consequences.

McCain: The problem once again with the Senator's strategy is the Russians or Chinese will not go along with this so again just like with Iraq, we cant afford punting this vital issue to a global organization that again will do nothing of significance.

Biden: The problem is not that we havent been able to get the Russians or Chinese on board, but the fact we have unable to get nations such as Canada, France or Germany which by the way are 3 of the 11 largest economies in the world on board which would help greatly in putting the pressure on Iran and Syria. Also President McCain is wrong when he says I would punt the issue because I favor also strictly sanctioning Iraq and Syria , its just that I think we need more nations on board which would critically help.

Lehrer: Moving On


Important Point 3:

Lehrer: Senator Biden as you may know the President is currently negotiating a trade deal with Latin America and is looking to get a basic framework of it passed by next year so what is your opinion of a potential trade deal with Latin America and if elected what would you about it

Biden: Jim, as you know I am a supporter of Free Trade but at the same time I have not been in support of every single free trade deal that has come up in the past because this issue very much depends on the deal or situation itself and since I am not the President or not in this administration I cant tell you what I think of the current state of the deal. What I can tell you is if I am President and I am negotiating such a deal there are 3 things I would require from any deal: 1. It benefits the working men and women of this nation, 2. does not hurt our ability to build critical infrastructure in the future and 3. ensuring everyone plays by the same rules in the trade deal.


McCain: Well , the fact is I think it is critical to pass this trade deal as one it will mean we will have closer relations with nations across both American continents not only economically but diplomatically and culturally as well, two most experts believe that it will benefit both consumers and our farmers in our nation, and three I believe it will help reduce illegal immigration as well because it will strengthen the economies in Latin America thus reduce the incentive for people to illegally come here

Biden: Well one reason the President and his party forget to mention when talking about illegal immigration is the fact that many corporations in America use illegal immigrants to undercut wages and use cheap labor here in the United States and when I am President we will crack down heavily on such activity cause it not only violated the law but is immoral as well.

McCain: Under my administration, we have created tools that would enable the labor department to fine corporations that hire illegal immigrants and we have used it

Biden: Well looks like they havent been used enough then or the penalties haven't been stringent enough and that will change if I am elected President

McCain: Keep in mind we have taken more action in 4 years than the previous administration took in 8

Lehrer: Moving on



Debate viewed as a draw by pundits , which helps Biden move up 1 point in the polls

Blitzer : Last night debate which was viewed as a Draw has helped Senator Biden move one electoral vote in Maine into the Lean column and according to CNN we are also moving Hawaii and Connecticut to states previously considered Lean Biden into the Safe Biden category. As for California Senator Biden has consistently held a lead in the upper single digits here throughout the campaign and if the same remains true after the next Presidential debate we will move California also into the Safe Biden category but it is too early as of this moment to do so.

McCain/Danforth 247 52%
Biden/Rockefeller 159 46%

[OSR stands with Israel]

Summary of the Vice Presidential Debate:



Key Moment 1:

Ifill: Senator Rockefeller if you are elected Vice President what would be your role in a potential Biden administration over the next 4 years

Rockefeller: Well as all Vice Presidents I will be the President's top advisor and be in there in the important meetings with his cabinet and policy-based meetings. I also will be working closely with the senate to ensure the President's policy agenda can pass on issues such as helping keep our nation safe, and in strangething our middle class. I do not believe the Vice President of the United States should deal with a specific issue because that is the job of Cabinet members, but rather work with the President to help our nation on a wide variety on ones and that is what I will do as Vice President

Danforth: As Vice President yes I have been the top advisor to President McCain and helped ensure his policy agenda can pass as well but I disagree on not getting invovled in one specific issue. The fact is the President doesnt have the time to put the attention needed on a specfic issue given the fact he is dealing with larger issues at times, so the Vice President can ensure that issue is getting the attention needed because just cause it isnt as big as the other issues doesn't mean they need to be solved. For example an issue I have worked on over the past 4 years is education where I as the Vice President have traveled across the nation to ensure states and municipalities are getting the resources needed and two help them make the changes needed to improve their systems and so far we have been very successful at that.

Rockefeller: Well if President Biden is busy say a week dealing with one issue then yes as Vice President I would step in and deal with the other issue as well but I dont think that should be decided from day 1. Different issues come up throughout the 4 years and it can be decided what to work on from there.

Ifill: Moving on


Important Point 2:

Ifill: Vice President Danforth as you may know many Americans despite supporting the administration decision to invade Iraq are skeptical about whether the fact you can create a fully democratic state in the middle east, so what do you say to Americans who are skeptical about that?

Danforth: Gwen, the main thing to understand is that a transition to becoming a stable democracy takes time and effort for that process to take place. Remember after WW2 it took 7 years after the end of the war for us to be able to leave Japan and also remember the ratification of our constitution ddint take place until 7 years after the Battle of Yorktown and 12 years after the Declaration of Independence so it is important to remember these things take time. Currently, in Iraq we have so far spent the past year and a half ensuring first the conditions to creating a democracy such as stability, institutions required to govern a nation work well and our helping the Iraqis facilitate a process where they can come up with their own constitution as well. So I definitely believe we are succeeding

Rockefeller: I do think Americans have the right to ask this question on whether our current approach is the best approach to ensure a transition to democracy for Iraq is the best approach. Senator Biden and I believe that we should invite the UN to help us achieve this goal in Iraq as remember in the aftermath of World War Two we did exactly that to help rebuild Germany and Japan and turn them into stable Democracies as well. That also would show the people of Iraq that this effort is not done for the interests of one nation but that we really want to help them

Danforth: Senator Rockefeller I don't know where you got the talking point that the people dont like us there. Our troops in Baghdad have been thanked countless times by the people of Iraq for freeing them from the tyranny of Suddam Hussain and working to ensure their people can remain free. Again though this statement by my opponent shows the problem with the Democratic party over the past few years where instead of focusing on core policy decisions they are focusing on tactics and yes tactics are important but policy should come first and that is something Senator Biden and the Democratic Party have lost sight on the past few years .

Rockefeller: Working more with the UN and these international institutions is a policy decision and not just a tactic as that gives us more goodwill and means we don’t have to spread our resources out so thin either

Danforth : I believe it is tactical as decisions such as whether we should have gone into Iraq or not is the real policy decision while how we went in is tactical. Listen we also wanted the UN to join in but they didn’t so should we have not gone in in that case . My answer to that is no we still should have gone in and the results show we were correct too

Ifill: Moving on


Ifill : Senator Rockefeller, education is an issue that is a concern to Americans like it always has been. If elected what will Senator Biden and you do to improve our educational system in the US

Rockefeller: Senator Biden and I believe that the number 1 thing we can do to improve our educational system is by incentivizing the best and brightest among us to go in the profession of teaching and one way to do that is by increasing teacher pay and benefits. Number 2 is we need to give more funding to schools to reduce class sizes so students get more individual attention from teachers and that is critical and we will implement that as well.

Danforth: What we have done for the past 4 years and will continue for another 4 is continue to work with states to expand school choice, and to give parents a better idea of how their child is doing in school as well.  The way we have done that is by block granting education funding to the states and having the department of education work with each state's department of education to introduce stuff like school vouchers, create more standards that apply for all public schools in a state , and increase after school services for struggling kids .


Rockefeller: One of the problems we have seen over the past 4 years with vouchers is we have seen a push to privatize education which undermines our public schools . I believe rather than pushing for more privatization of education we push to improve the quality of our Public schools which is what we will do if you elect us to the White House next month .


Danforth : The problem is that kids have limited time to get their public education and we can’t afford them to fall behind so what we have done is simultaneously give parents of kids going to failing schools to have the opportunity to go to a better school while same time improve public schools so parents in the upcoming years wouldn’t have to send their kids to a private school .

Ifill: Moving on

Battleground Map remains unchanged after VP Debate

[OSR stands with Israel]

Summary of the 2nd Presidential Debate:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdmGBGkOKU4

Important Moment 1:

Gibson: Our first question of the night will be on the issue about terrorism and President McCain you will be the first person to answer it

Audience Member 1: Throughout this campaign both of you have spoken about your plans to win the war on terror, but what are your plans to keep Americans safe from terrorists who are already here in the US and are planning attacks either with domestic terrorist groups or by themselves

McCain: After the September 11th attacks , we put in place measures not only to protect ourselves from terrorist groups abroad but here at home as well. Some of those measures were giving our intelligence agencies more tools to intercept and stop plans made by both domestic and foreign terrorist groups, put in place more security checks at places like Airports, Train Stations, and in areas that generally attract a large crowd to ensure that no dangerous items used to carry out such attacks can be used in places terrorist groups most likely would likely to attack in the first place.

Biden: When it came to those measures the President just talked about , it is something I support and would keep in place if I am president but I do think there are some areas where the President and I disagree and that is when it comes to the decision made by the President to let the Assualt Weapon Ban expire a month ago. Those types of weapons can be used by members of terrorist groups, gang members , and deeply sick individuals in general to committ terrorist attacks which is why we banned it 10 years ago and it should not have been left to expire.


McCain: The problem with the assault weapon ban is it violated the constitution by infringing on Americans 2nd amendment right and I dont think generally the solution should be to disarm legally armed citizens but rather  to increase the penalties for any sort of crimes committed with a gun.


Biden: If you remember, President Reagan back in 1986 signed a bill that banned fully automatic weapons and it was a bill both of us voted for back then,  so the person who disagrees with your argument that the assault weapon ban is unconstitutional is only me but John McCain as well.

Gibson: Moving on

Important Point 2:

Gibson: The next question will be about the economy and it will be for you Senator Biden

Audience Member 2: As someone who grew up in Detroit, it has been really sad to see so many former factories close down due to outsourcing. If you are elected President what will you do to revive American manufacturing

Biden: As someone who grew up in Scranton , Pennslyvania I can tell you that it is really saddening to see what has happened to so many cities across our nation and I believe it has to change. Ways we will do that is by 1 eliminating tax breaks that incentivize companies to ship overseas, rebuild our infrastructure to help build back industrialization as well. I also will negotiate trade deals to make sure they not only help corporations but the workers as well and I believe doing these policies are critical to reviving American manufacturing. Like I have said multiple times on this campaign the soul of our nation isnt those at the top but the working class and thats what my administration will fcous on.

McCain: Senator Biden over the past 4 years we have already gotten rid of tax breaks that incentivize outsourcing such as Offshore Tax Deferral , and we have gotten rid of the unnecessary regulations that were disincentivizing companies from creating jobs here in the US. Our record has shown this has worked as we have brought the unemployment rate back under 5% and over the next 4 years we plan on implementing policies such as tax credits and getting rid of bad regulations to stimulate job growth in struggling areas.

Biden: The unemployment rate does not tell the whole story Mr.President as yes the unemployment rate is dropping but one at a slower rate than it has historically and second many of those laid of factory workers now work in jobs that pay less and offer less benefits than they had before which in my opinion is not a good trade-off. We need to work to implement a policy that not only creates job but decent-paying jobs as well.

McCain: What lower unemployment does Senator Biden is it forces companies to have to raise wages of workers in order to keep them as their employee and that is exactly what has happened over the past few years and will continue to happen over the next 4.


Gibson : Moving On


Important Moment 3:

Gibson : Our next question will be about the environment and it will be for you President McCain

Audience Member 3 : President McCain as you know many know scientists are warming us about the potential consequences of global warming if we fail to act , so What have you done over the past 4 years to deal with this issue and what will you do for the next 4 if you are re-elected.


McCain : Thanks  for asking the question as the issue of global warming is an important issue we will have to confront and it is something we have taken action on over the past 4 years . In the past 4 years we have increased funding for R&D for alternative energy sources , and currently are advocating for a cap and trade system to be put in place so we can start to significantly reduce legislation. As a westerner, I can tell you we love our climate and we will protect it .

Biden : President McCain the problem is you claim that you are in supportive of all these things while you took us out of the Kyoto protocol which was an agreement that would have reduced emissions and would have showed the world that we are willing to work with them in solving this issue which is critical. The issue of global warming is a global problem and by definition we need a global solution to that and while Kyoto wasnt perfect it was a start.

McCain: I didnt take us out of Kyoto , the senate did which voted 95 to 0 to oppose the treaty and from what i remember my opponent also voted to oppose the treaty so it is hypocritical for Senator Biden to say it was bad for the US to be out of Kyoto when he himself voted against it.


Biden: That senate bill happened before Kyoto and was advisory, not binding so we werent required to leave Kyoto based on that and if I were president I would have sent Kyoto to the senate for potential ratification and if it then failed then I agree we would have no choice but to leave it. That did not happen though, and I believe you should have tried to get Kyoto ratified in the senate before taking us out.


Gibson: Moving on


Biden within 3 points in National Polls after Debate Win:

Blitzer: Since the Debate , Senator Biden has pulled within 3 points of President McCain in the polls and we have also been able to move 3 states into different categories all in favor of Mr. Biden: In California CNN is moving the state from Lean Biden to Safe Biden, in Michigan CNN is moving the state from a Tossup to Lean Biden and in Kentucky, we are moving the state from Lean McCain back to tossup. While President McCain has an easier path to 270 , the path has become less narrow for Senator Biden than at any time since the DNC

McCain/Danforth 239 50%
Biden/Rockefeller 176 47%

[OSR stands with Israel]

Summary of the Final Presidential Debate:

Important Moment 1:

Schieffer : President McCain , while you on this campaign trail have touted your economic policies many critics have responded by saying how can it be good if we are on track to have the slowest job creation in any 4 year period since the 1950s.

McCain : the reason is cause that number is misleading as it does not take into account that our economy went into recession just 2 months after we took office due to a crash in the technology bubble that took place a year before I even became president  and then 6 months our economy  later took another hit due to the September 11th attacks and both incidents really hampered our economy for some time . What is important though is that we have managed  to bring our economy back to under 5% unemployment in less than 2 years since we bottomed out and I believe if we continue on this path for the next 4 years we can have an even stronger economy than we did in the late 1990s.


Biden : The problem Mr.President with quoting that unemployment stat is it doenst account for the fact that many Americans have lost good paying jobs due to the fact that it was shipped overseas and due to that had to take a job at a place that pays less than before . It doesn’t take into account that recent college graduates are more and more talking about their struggles to find good paying jobs which was certainly not the case in the late 1990s . Our nation is in worse shape than it was 4 years ago and the reason for that is Republican policies just don’t work as good as our policies .

McCain : if you want to wonder whether or not America  is better off that it was 4 years ago , just as Americans if they think they are safer or less safe than they were 4 years ago knowing that Bin Laden is dead , ask Americans do they think they are more or less worried about the future knowing that we recovered from a recession we were on the brink of facing 4 years ago in one of the quickest periods in history and ask Americans if they think our government represents the people more instead of special interests than it did 4 years ago given the fact we passed campaign finance reform , limited pork barrel spending and got rid of loopholes from the tax for only these special interests benefited from .

Can we  do better than we are doing right now , absolutely and that is why I am running for re-election but it is absolutely inaccurate to say we are worse of than we were 4 years ago

Schiffer: Moving on

Important Moment 2:

Schieffer: Senator Biden , you have criticized the President on the issue of healthcare over and over in campaign rallies of yours but the question is what would be your plan to make healthcare more affordable for Americans who cant currently afford it

Biden: The first thing we need to do in my opinion is to expand the accessibility of medicare to also include lower middle class Americans in our nation as over the past 40 years the cost of healthcare has gone up so much from where many working class Americans cannot afford the healthcare they would in the past and that is something this solution would fix. I also believe kids should be able to stay on their parent's health insurance plan till their 25 as studies have shown that even if graduates are able to land a job in a field that pays a lot of money, at first those jobs wont pay a lot of money and I believe instead of making it harder for our next generation, we should make it easier.


McCain: While expanding Medicaid could in the short run help increase the amount of Americans who are insured in our nation, it will not in the medium or long term because it does not address the core issue of healthcare and that is costs keep going up and up so 5 to 10 years from now we could be having this same debate again. My belief is we instead should implement policies that focus on controlling overall prices and one way to do that is by: one reforming our tort system as many studies have shown lawsuits have resulted in prices in healthcare to go up, two encouraging more competition by giving incentivizes for providers to enter areas where they are only one provider and by letting people purchase insurance across state lines, three by getting rid of regulations that have contributed to prices going up as well.  Doing these 3 things will lower healthcare costs which will lead to more Americans being able to buy health insurance.


Biden: The problem with the President's plan is one it does not address the huge profit margins these insurance companies make so even if you do lower healthcare costs, they still have no incentive to reduce their prices. Number two where was the President with this plan for the past 4 years because his party has been in control of the White House and both houses of congress for the past 4 years and we haven't seen this plan be debated seriously even once so how do we know this isnt just campaign rhetoric by the President .

McCain: We have cracked down on price gouging and we will continue to do so but again the problem with your plan is it doesn't fix the broken system , rather it bails it out for a few years and that is wrong . Second on the issue of healthcare, in January of this year I signed Medicare Part D into law that covers prescription drugs under medicare so while we havent done everything we wanted yet on the issue of healthcare we have already made some reforms, and the reason I am running for reelection is so we can not only continue what we have done over the past 4 years but to expand upon it.

Schiffer: Moving on


Important Moment 3:


Schiffer:  President McCain over this camapign you have talked multiple times about how you have taken on special interest influence on politics and public policy but many say while you have done that you have failed to take on those influences when it comes to a nongovernmental level. What is your response to that

McCain: Well Bob that is not true because remember we passed Sarbanes-Oxley into law which increased transparency in our financial system and reformed accounting standards so we have taken on special interest influence across the board. We though are not done on that front cause over the next 4 years we plan to reform our tort system that has given too much power to special interest groups through our legal system and we intend to fix that over the next 4 years


Biden: Well you are correct Bob in the fact that the President has not taken on the fact that Corporations have behaved more irresponsibly over the past 4 years according to many reports, we have seen huge deficits which again favor special interests and that is something I intend to take on as President of the United States. Ways I plan to do so is by 1 raising the minimum wage, getting rid of tax incentives that incentive outsourcing and do nothing but add to the defict. Doing these things will reduce power of special interest groups and thats what I intend to do


McCain: The reason we have a deficit is not due to more power to special interests but rather cause we are fighting a war and still recovering from a recession that bottomed out just two years ago and infact we have reduced their power in that case by getting rid of Pork Barrell spending. We have also gone after irresponsible behavior by cracking down on stuff like price gouging so again what the Senator is saying is false.


Biden: It is absoutely not false Mr.President, over the past 4 years we have seen increases in irresponsibility from CEOS and executives and that is not me saying but multiple studies  saying that. Second on the deficit, a large part of it is casue of the tax cuts that were passed by this administration which was not something Id so


Schiffer: Moving on


McCain jumps back up to 6 point lead in polls after debate win:

Blitzer: After a debate win , President McCain has jumped back to a 6 point lead and due to that we can move Kentucky and New Mexico from Tossup to Lean McCain and Michigan from Lean Biden back to tossup.

McCain/Danforth 252 52%
Biden/Rockefeller 159 46%

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2004 Election Night Preview:


Blitzer: With less than 24 hours until the first poll closing lets go over to Jeff Greenfield and Bill Schnider to see what the keys will be for both candidates tommorow

Greenfield: First lets pull up our battleground map

McCain/Danforth 252 52%
Biden/Rockefeller 159 47%


Greenfield: As you can see from there that while President McCain definitely has an advantage and Senator Biden as a pretty uphill climb to make , he is still in better position then Bob Dole was in 1996 where by this point it was clear he had no path left to 270.  So the strategy for the Biden camp to get back into the game is a strategy we are calling 3-2-1 meaning he first must win the 3 rust belt states of Pennslyvania, Ohio and Michigan as a loss in any of these states would mean President McCain would be reelected as remember since the Republicans are almost certainly going to retain control of the house, the President only needs 269 Electoral votes to win.

Then as you can see on the map , Senator Biden cannot afford to lose both states in the Pacific Northwest or both Wisconsin and Minnesota as doing so will mean the President gets re-elected so he must win at least one state each to stay in the game, in this case we will say Washington and Minnesota since they are more Democratic than their neighboring states. Then the last state we will say Senator Biden will almost certianly need is New Jersey as while he mathematically may not need it , if he loses that state he almost certianly will have lost one of these other battlegrounds meaning he will have lost the election .


Now doing this 3-2-1 Strategy as you can see gives Senator Biden 253 electoral votes to President McCain's 252 meaning both are 17 electoral votes away from the magic number and the states of Maine, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Iowa and Oregon would be deciding the election.

Blitzer: So Schinder lets focus on those 3 critical states in the rust belt and what we should be looking for tommorow

Schnider: Well to go through each states polling right now we can see that in Michigan right now Senator Biden as the slight edge, in Ohio President McCain does and in Pennslyvania its a dead heat , but as you stated President McCain only needs 1 of those 3 states to be reelected. So some things we will be looking for in each state is:


In Pennsylvania- Democrats usually win big in the cities of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Scranton while Republicans usually win big in Rural areas with the key generally being the suburban areas of all 3 . Democrats traditionally do well in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Scranton and in recent years the inner suburbs of Philadelphia while Republicans generally do well in the more outer suburbs of Phildelphia so they key is what will be the margins in these suburbs for both candidates. Can President Biden do better in Scranton suburbs than a average Democrat and President McCain do better in the inner suburbs.  We will see


In Ohio- Democrats usually do good in places like Cleveland, Youngstown, Toledo while Republicans do well in Cincinnati and in the Central rural parts of the state. So the question is again what the margins will be in the strongeholds and in the Swing areas of Columbus and South East Ohio . Right now the Polls show Senator McCain having a slight advantage but that can change


In Michigan- Democrats usually do good in Detriot, Ann Arbor and the Northern Areas of the state while Republicans usually do good in Grand Rapids and the central rural areas of the state while the swing areas are once again the suburban areas of Detriot along with some rural areas in the North though not the very north. Currently Polls show Senator Biden having a slight advantage but that can change


Blitzer: Ok thanks for both your analysis, and we hope all of you at home join us tomorrow for our coverage for the 2004 election.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Feel free to post your maps

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Keep in mind since the Florida 2000 fiasco didn’t happen in this TL , states will be projected faster than OTL as 2000 really made the networks much more careful about making these projections

[OSR stands with Israel]

Feel free to post your maps

I am not posting a Map but I'll say this: McCain will win easily.
 
However having Washinton & Oregon as Toss Ups is a little bit too optimistic on your behalf.

Biden will win PA, NJ, McCain will win OH. McCain will also win Iowa, Michigan & Wisconsin and Biden will win Minnesota. McCain also wins Arkansas while Biden will win the Overall State of Maine + 1st Congressional District.

Curious what happens in the Washington Governor Race assuming Gregoire and Rossi are running against each other like in the OTL.

I also think that the Wisconsin Senate Race will be a lot closer compared to the OTL due to McCain carrying the State.

On the flip side , Arkansas is also a tossup, West Virginia is Lean D and even before Rockefeller was picked was a tossup, and KY is Lean R instead of Safe R so some of the trends that happened in the OTL Bush years are different here.

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CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Exit Polls)



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

Blitzer: Welcome to CNN's coverage of the 2004 election , I am Wolf Blitzer and thank you for joining us in what is shaping up to be an exciting night. We are a little more than 10 minutes away from the 7 PM poll closings and before we reveal our exit poll we can report that President McCain will carry the state of Indiana where most of its precients closed its polls at 6 PM tonight and Kentucky at this moment is too early to call

McCain 11
Biden 0


Blitzer: Now lets go over to Bill Schnider to see what our exit poll is saying

Schnider: Before we reveal our exit poll I want to remind folks that before you take your calculator out to see what its saying, that these are still polls meaning there is a margin of error in them, and also just cause you win the National vote doesnt neccessarly mean you will win the election as you need to win the electoral college for that. So here are the exit polls


Detailed Exit Poll Results:

Race:

White: 77% ; McCain 59% Biden 40%
African American: 11% ; Biden 87% McCain 12%
Hispanic: 8% ; Biden 55% McCain 44%
Asian 2% ; McCain 51% Biden 48%
Other 2% ; Biden 56% McCain 43%

Gender:

Male: 47% ; McCain 54% Biden 45%
Female: 53% ; McCain 50% Biden 49%

Age:
 
18-29: 17% ; McCain 51% Biden 48%
30-44: 29% ; McCain 54% Biden 45%
45-59: 30% ; McCain 52% Biden 47%
60+: 24% ; McCain 51% Biden 48%

Income:

0-30k : 22% ; Biden 58% McCain 41%
30k-50k : 22% ; McCain 52% Biden 47%
50k -100k : 38% ; McCain 56% Biden 43%
100k+ : 18% ; McCain 58% Biden 41%

Schinder: What we see from this exit poll is that race, or gender has played significantly less of a role in this election than it did in previous, and age looks like has almost no role either. For example the gender gap which for the past 20 years seemingly had become worse and worse , significantly narrowed this year with the President only doing 4 points better with Men than he did with women.


Blitzer: Ok we will be taking a break right now but will come back at the top of the 7 PM poll closing

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CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Part 1)



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

Blitzer: If you are just joining us, we are about to get through our first round of poll closings and CNN now can now project President McCain will carry the states of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and New Hampshire while Senator Biden will carry the New England state of Vermont. We are currently unable to make projections in Kentucky and Florida

McCain 51
Biden 3

Blitzer: None of these were any surprise and were expected but at this very early hour President McCain has a 51 to 3 lead in the electoral vote. Now lets go over to Anderson Cooper to get some projections in key races for the Senate

Cooper: CNN can currently project that Florida Governor Jeb Bush will be the winner in Florida Senate Race, Former Attorney General Lindsey Graham will be the winner in the South Carolina senate race and Former State Representative and Niece to Martin Luther King Jr, Alveda King will be the winner in the Georgia Senate race. That win will make her only the 3rd African American elected to the Senate since reconstruction and also gives the Republicans so far a net gain of 3 seats .

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky

Cooper: Now it is very possible these are the only 3 seats the Republicans pick up tonight because the rest of the seats on the battleground board will be much tougher and these 3 wins again have been expected for a long time .

Blitzer: So Jeff any surprises so far

Greenfield: No but it will be interesting to see in Virginia if Democrats can manage to pull out a win in Fairfax county or not because if they can it could put some more house seats in play in the future and potentially a decade from now be able to seriously contest the state in Presidential races.



7:30

Blitzer: The polls have closed in 3 states and right now we are unable to make projects in Ohio , North Carolina or in West Virginia but we are able to project Kentucky and it’s 8 electoral votes will be won tonight by John McCain

McCain 59
Biden 3

Blitzer: In Florida currently President McCain holds a lead which is good news for him in that state given the Republican areas in the panhandle dont close their polls until 8 PM. Now lets go to Anderson for senate results

Cooper: Yes and that is in Kentucky , the Republican Senator Jim Bunning is currently trailing his Democratic rival by 3 points with a little more than 80% of the precincts in which is definitely bad news for him there.

King: A win in that senate seat would also probably put 60 completely out of reach given the Republican candidates are trailing in the polls in Illinois or Wisconsin states that are less Republican than Kentucky.

7:52:

Blitzer: CNN now is able to make a projection in two more states and that is the  President  will carry North Carolina as expected while Senator Biden will carry his running mate's home state of West Virginia and its 5 electoral votes

McCain 74
Biden 8

King: So far nothing has been surprising but we have a long way to go

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CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Part 2)



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

Blitzer: Its 8 PM in the East and we can project the President will carry the states of Alabama, Mississippi,  Missouri, Kansas , Oklahoma, and a huge one in Texas while Senator Biden will carry the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Deleware, Maryland , the District of Columbia , and a big one in Illinois . We are currently unable to make projections in the states of Maine,  New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Tennessee. With these projections, this is how the map currently looks

McCain: 147
Biden: 64

Blitzer: In Florida right now the President is extending his lead but we are still waiting for more of South Florida to come in before we make a projection there. Now lets give it Anderson for some updates about the congressional races

Cooper: First we have some breaking news to report to you

Breaking News: Republicans to retain the House of Representatives

Cooper: We also believe Republicans will at the end of the night have between 237 and 250 house seats and before any Democrats panic , remember top Democratic strategists expected to lose a couple house seats even in the case where Joe Biden wins tonight and this projection means Democrats lose between 0 to 13 seats which is what the experts going into election day expected the range to be around.

Now in the Senate the polls have closed in Illinois and we are unable to project a winner though the exit polls do show the Democrat, Barack Obama having the advantage but we will wait an hour or so before making a judgement here as we believe thats when key precincts will come in . In Kentucky, the Republican Senator Jim Bunning is trailing with now 85% in so its getting less likely for him to comeback though its not all over just yet. Heres the key senate races board before we send it back to Wolf

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky

Blitzer: So the polls have closed in the Big 4 , so Jeff what do you make

Greenfield: Well there isnt much to make right now as the polls just closed in 3 of them and in Ohio really only the Democratic areas have come in yet so its not representative but Id like the audience to remember these Big 4 states are critical for Senator Biden as he must win all 4 of those states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan to have any realistic path at the White House while the President still has a pathways he can take while losing all 4 of them albeit very narrow as no Republican has ever won without Ohio going back all the way to 1856.


8:30:


Blitzer: CNN can now project that President McCain will carry Florida and all its 27 electoral votes as well as Tennessee . We are unable to make a project in Arkansas at the moment

McCain: 185
Biden: 64

Blitzer: Now lets head over to our guests James Carville and Mary Matalin for their analysis of the night so far. So James what is your reaction so far


Carville: Well right now the results have pretty much confirmed what the polls have been saying but at the same time its predominantly been in the South and North East so I dont think its over at this moment although the path is narrowing

Matalin: Well I think even in the midwest the results are confirming the pre election polls , as just look at Indiana and while Indiana is more Republican than the rest of the Midwest its still Midwestern

Carville: Well Democrats didnt put much into Indiana but what I can say I am liking is the numbers so far in places like West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky as if he can put up those numbers in Western Pennsylvania I think he is in good shape there and if he can do the same in South East Ohio I think Senator Biden has a chance of an upset there.

Matalin: South East Ohio has shown a history of being more Republican than the rest of the region though and so far the numbers in Ohio show that as well although its very early


8:47:


Cooper : We are now able to make a projection in the Kentucky senate race and that is the Democrat Daniel Mongiardo will defeat incumbent Republican senator Jim Bunning to become the next senator of that state . As you can see on the key  senate races board , the Republicans can’t afford to lose a single seat now if they want to get to 60 and as you can see they currently Trail in Illinois and North Carolina .

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky


King : I don’t think republicans will get to 60 at this point . One thing I want to point out is in Texas the Democrats seem to be winning Dallas County which democrats are hoping is a sign that the slide that state party has being going through for the past decade has finally bottomed out and they can then win back a few state legislative seats and potentially win some state wide races if the Republican candidate is very unpopular.

Greenfield : yes it’s not gonna be competitive at the federal level for the forseeable future but Texas democrats are hoping that if someone like a Chet Edwards runs for governor in 2006 they can defeat a Republican in Rick Perry who can be potentially vulnerable given he isn’t that popular and Mr.Edwards by all means would he considered a very strong candidate:

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CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Part 3)



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

Blitzer: Its 9 PM in the east and we can project the President will carry the states of Lousiana, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Wyoming and his home state of Arizona while Senator Biden will carry the states of New York and Rhode Island along with getting 1 electoral vote in Maine . We are currently unable to make projections in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado or New Mexico.

So far in the battlegrounds , Senator Biden currently holds a pretty big lead in Pennsylvania though thats with not much Republican areas in, is slightly trailing in Michigan though not much is yet in Wayne , while Senator McCain leads currently by 3 points in Ohio, and its basically a tie in New Jersey.

McCain: 218
Biden: 100

Now lets give it to Anderson for some senate calls

Cooper: Yes CNN at the moment is able to project that the Democrat Barack Obama will defeat Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerlad and will be the next Senator of that state. Currently we are unable to make a projection in Lousiana, South Dakota, or Wiscosnin though we do know that Republican Bobby Jindal will win a plurality in Lousiana and the only question is will he win a majority as that is what you need to avoid a runoff in December.

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky

Cooper: This means the Republicans will not be able to hit the elusive 60 senate seat number tonight and the way these races are looking 58 likely will be the maximum they can hit tonight which is still impressive though bills can still be theoretically filibustered with that majority although it will be hard to do so.


King: What this does mean is tonight we will have elected two African Americans to the senate and that is huge cause if you remember prior to tonight we only had two African Americans elected to the senate in total since reconstruction so tonight we are breaking all sorts of barriers. As for the Presidential race , at this point Id say at this point if Senator Biden wins it would be an even bigger comeback than the Red Sox coming back from 3-0 down.

Shaw: Even if Senator Biden does lose though and its not over yet given none of the big 4 have been projected yet, it does look like hed do better than any losing opponent to an incumbent president than anyone in the past 100 years other than Charles Hughes in 1916 and maybe Thomas Dewey in 1948 .

Schnieder: Keep in mind that beating an elected president is very tough espicially after only one term for their as in the past 100 years the only time a party was ejected from the white house after one term was the Democrats in 1980 so that shows you how tough of a hill Senator Biden would have to climb to win and it does look like he is on track of doing better than all but one or maybe two candidates.


9:27:

Blitzer: CNN can now project Senator Biden will win the state of Maine but that the President will win one of the states 4 electoral votes as well.

McCain: 219
Biden: 102

Blitzer: Bill what are we seeing in key areas in the Big 4 right now

Schnider: If you pull up the state of Pennsylvania, while you can see that the President is winning places like Bucks county and is within 4 points in Montogmery county, Senator Biden as made that up due to much stronger performance in places like Lackawanna County, Luzerne County which was a county the President won 4 years ago and in the Southwestern part in Allegheny and all across SW PA so as of this moment id definitely say Senator Biden is favored in his birth state of Pennslyvania. In Ohio if you look at the swing map you can see the President is actually doing better than he did 4 years ago in the central and southwest part of the state which is making up , and isnt doing that much worse in Eastern Ohio and if this holds its hard to see him losing the state.


9:48:

Cooper: We have another senate call we can make and that is Democratic Senator and the runner up in this years primaries Russ Feingold has been reelected in Wisconsin.

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky

Cooper: In the other races up Senator Edwards is still leading in North Carolina though his lead is been dropping with more Republican areas coming in, while in Colorado the Republican Pete Coors is ahead though in that state the more Democratic areas are yet to come in , and lastly in South Dakota the Senate Leader for the Democrats, Tom Dashale is basically tied with Republican John Thune.

Blitzer: Hold we have major projection to make right now and that is that the President of the United States will carry Ohio and its 20 major electoral votes . A sigh of relief for the Democrats though is CNN now is also able to project that Senator Joe Biden will carry his birth state of Pennslyvania and its 21 major electoral votes

McCain: 239
Biden: 123

So Bill why were we able to call these two states

Schinder: According to someone in the Decision Desk due to the fact that while Senator Biden has improved in Eastern Ohio its not by much as remember this is a state the President won by over 5 points in 2000 and the huge swings required to flip that state just werent there. On the other hand in Pennsylvania, we are seeing Senator Biden is getting the swings required in both the Scranton and Pittsburgh areas and not losing that much from Al Gore in the Philadelphia suburbs to flip that state and win it by around 2 points when all the ballots are counted.


Blitzer: Ok Jeff is the win though in Pennsylvania all for moot due to the loss in Ohio or can Senator Biden still win.


Greenfield: Well if we pull of the what if worksheet, and for the sake of argument assign the President all the rest of these interior Western states and the state of Alaska we can see that President McCain would be reelected with 273 but remember Nevada and New Mexico were states we are only leaning McCain so if Senator Biden can flip either of those states it would drop the President below 270 to 268 and then if he runs the table Senator Biden would win 270 to 268 so no its not fully over but he cannot win without winning one of these lean South Western states at this point.

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CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Part 4)



10:00

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

Blitzer: Its 10 PM in the east and CNN can now project the President will carry the states of Utah, Idaho , Montana and also carry the state of Colorado. The polls have also just closed in Iowa and Nevada but we are currently unable to make a projection in either state so far

McCain: 260
Biden: 123

Blitzer: Currently the President holds a lead in New Jersey though as you can see its basically a tie, holds a lead in Michigan but again large parts of Wayne still are to come in and his lead is continuing to drop there, holds a 4 point lead in Wisconsin though much of Milwaukee still has yet to report and holds a narrow lead in Minnesota. In Arkansas currently Senator Biden leads by 1 point with 80% in but there is still, of course, a long way to go there and in New Mexico the President currently holds a 6 point lead but less than 50% of the vote has come in so we cant make a projection there yet. Now lets so over to Anderson for a major call


Breaking News: Republicans Retain Control of the United States Senate

Cooper: CNN is now able to project that the Republicans will indeed retain control of the Senate as we can now project Republicans will hold senate seats in Iowa, Idaho and Utah which will mean at the very least they will have at least 53 seats in the senate next year which is more than enough for a majority. In our key senate race battleground we are unable to still make projections but as we can see not much as changed with Mr.Coors still holding a narrow lead in Colorado, Senate Minority Leader Dashale basically tied and Senator Edwards narrowly ahead. 


Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky

King: Now joining are two former rivals of the President : Former Vice President Gore and Senator George W Bush. Before we get your thoughts on the presidential races, what are your thoughts on your brother now becoming your collegue in the Senate and are their any differences between the two of you


Bush: I am very excited that I will have the opportunity to work with my Brother in the Senate and I know he will make the state of Florida proud . While we aren’t exactly alike , we both are strong supporters of the president’s agenda of a strong defense , taking the fight to the enemy , and making our government more efficient and less fat and look forward to working with the president the next 4 years .


King : Vice President Gore , what are your thoughts on the election so far

Gore: I am obviously disappointed about the results so far but I am not surprised given how difficult is is to defeat incumbent presidents and given that Americans dont like to change leadership in times like this. I think though Senator Biden did a fantastic job in this campaign as he was able to bring many important issues that have not been discussed for many years into the spotlight which is important because just cause those issues have not been discussed over the past few years does not mean they dont exist. This means even if the results go as they are trending which is President McCain gets reelected, he will have to address the issues brought up by Senator Biden in the campaign so even though it does look like Senator Biden will lose , I believe he has done a great job as an opposing candidate which is to bring up issues that have not been addressed over the past 4 years.

King: Senator Bush do you agree with the Former Vice President here that if President McCain gets reelected, both him and Republicans in congress have to adresses the issues brought up in the campaign.

Bush: I agree with Vice President Gore than Senator Biden ran an honorable campaign and if indeed the President gets reelected, I also do look forward with working with Senator Biden in a biparitisan way of addressing some of the issues he brought up in the camapign.

King: Ok Final Question do the both of you plan to run 4 years from now

Bush: Well it is way to early to say and I when the time comes I will have to discuss that question with my family and that includes my brother cause I can promise you that you wont see a field 3 years from now that includes both of us together as candidates.


Gore: It is too early to say but all I have to say is it would definitely be amusing to see you up on stage with your brother in a Republican primary debate

Bush: I can tell you Mr Vice President that it Wont Happen


10:42

Blitzer: CNN Can now project that President McCain will carry the state of New Mexico and its 5 electoral votes. As you can see the President just needs one of these outstandings states to win the Presidency and he currently holds leads in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and over a 5 point lead in Nevada while Senator Biden has a lead in Iowa though not much has come in, just taken the lead in Michigan, and is tied with the president in Arkansas.

McCain: 265
Biden: 123


Schnider: People in the audience may be asking why we havent called Nevada yet, and the reason is a win in Nevada would not only be a projection for one state but for the whole presidential race and for those reason we want to be slightly more cautious here but if things hold up, someone at our decision desk said we should be able to call it the top of next hour, but lets wait for now.


Greenfield: I think thats defintely smart to do and also polls are still open in the west coast so waiting till the top of the hour gives people the full time needed to vote. I do think though this is a huge night for the President and the Republican party as not only are they almost certainly going to win the White House and expand their majorities in both houses of congress meaning they can get a lot done from : education to tort reform to immigration and many other pieces of legislation


Woodruff: The Republicans though will not have more than 58 seats , so Democrats will retain the ability to filibuster certian legislation but I agree that its a huge night


Greenfield: It depends in my opinion on what they try to do cause if they try to go after entitlements like many conservatives want to do , then yes they wont have the numbers to pass it because the Democrats no matter what wing they are from: Conservative, Liberal , Moderate, Populist they all oppose conservative Republicans on this issue and would fight them tooth and nail so if the President tries that it probably would fail. I dont think he will though


Blizer: Ok we will be back after a short break

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Part 4)



11:00

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

Blitzer: Its 11 in the East and stand by as we have a major projection to make

Breaking News: John McCain Reelected President of the United States


Blitzer: CNN Can Now Project that John McCain will be Reelected as President of the United States and will be in the White House for another 4 years. The reason we can make that projection is CNN can now project that the President will carry the state of Nevada which will bump his electoral vote tally from 265 to 270 which is exactly the number a candidate needs to win an election. Now polls have also closed in the West and we can now project that Senator Biden will carry the states of California and Hawaii while we cant make a projection currently in the pacific northwest states of Oregon and Washington.

McCain: 270
Biden: 182

Blitzer: So Mary what is your reaction to this result

Matalin: It is a great result and about what I expected with the President getting reelected and with the Republicans gaining seats in both houses of congress where it looks like we are on track to have the most house seats we have had since 1946 and potentially 1928 and with the senate the most we have had since 1928 so I think this is a huge win for us and the Democrats will have to reasses things as this result didnt appear our of no where as the party has really been falling since 1980.

Carville: Well I am disappointed with the result but I am not surprised by this at all but I think we should be quick before overreacting. Senator Biden is on track to win not only more electoral votes than Bob Dole did but also Thomas Dewey did back in 1948 which is an election everyone calls close. I think the fact is it is very difficult to unseat an incumbent in times like this and thats what this election showed.

Matalin: The Democrats are in denial when they make comments like this cause while yes Joe Biden will win more electoral votes than Bob Dole did, remember in 1996 our party won both houses of congress and actually made gains in the senate so I think for the party as a whole this is the worse for them then 1996 was for us . Also Democrats have been making excuses for failure seems like every time they lose a election:  back in 1972 they claimed while yes we lost we still won both houses of congress, in 1984 they said yes while we lost the White House and Senate at least we won the house and tonight they are saying while yes we lost everything , Joe Biden at least won more electoral votes than other losers. I want to point out one fact and that is since the end of WW2 , there has been only won period where a party had the trifecta for longer than the Republicans will have it now and that is the Democrats from 1961-1969 and id say we probably will at least match it

Carville: I am not saying our party doenst have some problems but Im just saying it cant be blamed on Senator Biden as I think he ran a pretty good campaign in just a year that would be extremely difficult for everyone to win. As for the state of our party I believe the party will have to reassess things given we very likely will be in the worst shape we have been in congress since 1946 and maybe 1928 so that does call for some reassessments.

Cooper: Hold on cause we have a couple of senate calls we can make and that is CNN can now project Senator John Edwards will be reelected in North Carolina and in Colorado we can project the Republican Pete Coors will be the next senator of that state. This means Republicans will hold anywhere from 55 to 57 senate seats next year , and in the two outstanding battlegrounds the Republicans are winning so far. In the House we believe Republicans will win anywhere from 244 to 248 seats tonight

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky

Woodruff: Hold on as we have some breaking news and that is Senator Biden has called President McCain to concede the election.

Greenfield: Its not a surprise as there is pretty much no mathematical chance that would put them in recount territory in any of the states won by the President so far .


11:47:

Blitzer: CNN can now project that President McCain will carry the state of Wisconsin while Senator Biden will carry the state of Michigan

McCain: 280
Biden: 199

Blitzer: So Bill would you say this election has changed the nature of politics in anyway

Schnider: Well one major thing Id say that has changed is the fact that Republicans have basically doubled there share among Hispanic voters in the past 8 years which has once again put states like Nevada and New Mexico that had become swing states in the Clinton years back to Republican states , but another thing is the dramatic narrowing of the gender gap and the narrowing of the age gap. Usually in most elections, Democrats do well with young and old voters while Republicans do well with middle aged voters and while thats true to a certian extent in this election, its clear that gap as clearly declined. So I would say a Democratic path to victory in 2008 might have to put together a different coalition than they traditionally do, and what that path is we cant really say yet


Blitzer: Senator Biden is about to give his concession speech so lets give you an update on the outstanding states before we head to Deleware: first in Arkansas the Senator has just taken a slight lead there , in New Jersey the President leads by half a percentage point, in Minnesota leads by 1 point , in Iowa has just taken the lead. Oregon and Washington are way to early to make any judgement at this moment so now lets go over to Deleware to here Senator Biden concession speech

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Part 5)



Biden's Concession Speech:



Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/happened-times-joe-biden-deciding-run-president/story?id=34605046

Biden: A short while ago I called President McCain to congratulate him on his reelection victory and told him I look forward to working with him to unify our nation after a hard fought campaign and then work with him over the next 4 years to address the issues facing our nation(Applause). Losing an election is never easy but we must respect the verdict of the American people and that means rooting for the person they elected to be successfull which is why I ask all of us to root for President McCain's success over the next 4 years because his success will be all our country's success and that if more important than whether your party won or lost an election(Applause).

I want to thank all of you for your hard work during the campaign both in the primaries and general election as I wouldnt have come nearly as close as this without all of your hard work(Applause). I also want to thank my running mate Jay Rockefeller for running a great camapign and I look forward to working with my good friend over the next 4 years in the senate to help make our nation a better place(Applause) . Also I want to advise whoever our 2008 nominee is , you should pick Jay Rockefeller as your running mate cause hed make a great Vice President(Applause) unless of course he himself is our nominee(Laughing) in which case he would be a great President(Applause). Anyway thank all of you again for your support and may god Bless You and May God Bless America(Applause).


Blitzer: As Senator Biden was giving his concession speech the polls closed in Alaska and we can project the state of Alaska will be won by the President.

McCain: 283
Biden: 199


Blitzer : So what did you think of Senator Biden’s concession speech


Greenfield: I thought it was gracious and also a type of speech that fit his personality really well . To me though the question is if assuming Senate Minority leader Tom Dashale goes down to defeat , could democrats name Joe Biden as their Senate leader given he has 32 years of experience in the senate plus he now is the most high profile democratic senator in the country with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton . The reason for that is Senator Biden did bring up issues regarding the economy that helped the democrats in this election and making him their senate leader could give the party the ability to potentially force the president and the republicans to address those issues .


Schneider : It’s hard to say as Biden has always fit the committee chair position better than senate majority leader but if he wants to run for it , it would be hard for me to see how he wouldn’t be elected to the position. The question again though is would he want it cause it’s not a really policy shaping role as  people think and instead you could potentially see him become the democratic leader of the budget committee or something.


Shaw: I think it was definitely a gracious speech and maybe getting over 200 electoral votes could mean he could make the case that he should be able to run again in 2008. While it’s unlikely , senator Biden definitely has a case to make to democrats next time that he should be the nominee again .


Blitzer : Ok now let’s head over to Phoenix where President McCain will be giving his victory speech


McCain’s Victory Speech




McCain : A short while ago , I spoke with senator Biden who congratulated us on our victory and I congratulated him for running a great campaign and let him know that I look forward to working with him over the next 4 years to make our nation a better place(Applause). We may not agree on how to fix many of the issues discussed in the campaign but we agree that they do need to be fixed and as President, it is my responsibility to do so and I will try my best every day for the next 4 years to do so(Applause). There is nothing we cant do when we tackle issues as a united nation as we have shown throughout our history and over the past few years and will continue to show for the foreseeable future(Applause).

I want to thank all the people who have worked on this campaign and those who supported me as tonight would not have been possible without your hard work and support(Applause). I want to thank my family who this would not be possible with as well for their support throughout my tenure in the senate and through all the difficult moments in the white house for the next 4 years(Applause) as you really helped me get through them(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You, May God Bless our Troops and may God Bless America(Applause).

Blitzer: The President tried to stress the unity theme a lot in his acceptance speech, do you think that was what was needed

Schnider: Absolutely as if you think about it even in the greatest landslides in our history 38% of the nation voted for the losing candidate which is a lot of Americans so it is very important for the winning candidate to try to stress the unity theme especially in a time of war when its needed

Woodruff : I agree cause if you look at it, if you want the other side to give you a chance then you need to show that you can be humble and gracious and the President did in fact do that tonight.

Blitzer: Ok we will be back after a short break


12:48:

Blitzer: CNN Can now project that President McCain will carry the state of Minnesota and its 10 electoral votes while Senator Biden will carry the state of Arkansas and its 6 electoral votes. In the 4 outstanding states the President currently holds a lead in New Jersey by half a point, Iowa by a point and a half, Oregon by over 4 points but remember much of Portland has to come in so that number will likely drop and the same is true in Washington where the President is up by less than a point but remember a good deal of Seattle is yet to come in.

McCain: 293
Biden: 205

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2004(Rest of Results)



1:00:

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

Cooper: In the gubernatorial races so far CNN can project that the Republicans will pick up seats in Deleware where Republican candidate Bob Lee will defeat the Democratic Ruth Minner, in Indiana where Republican Sue Gilroy will defeat the Democratic Governor Joe Kernan and now in Washington where Republican Dino Rossi will defeat Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire while Democrats will pick up a seat in Montana where Democratic candidate Jon Tester will defeat Republican Bob Brown and will hold the seat in Missouri as Democratic Candidate  Claire McCaskil will defeat Republican candidate Matt Blunt.

This means the Republicans will pick up two gubernatorial seats tonight.


1:33:

Blitzer: We can now project President John McCain will carry the state of Oregon and its 7 electoral votes just like he did 4 years ago and he will also carry the state of Iowa and its 7 electoral votes again which means he now will go above the 300 electoral vote mark tonight.

McCain: 307
Biden: 205


Greenfield: So the President has reached his goal of getting to the over 300 mark and at this point looks like will probably get over 320 as well


2:35:

Cooper: CNN can now project that Republican Bobby Jindal will get over the 50% mark in Lousiana thus avoiding to runoff and will be the next senator of that state as well as the first Indian-American to be elected to the senate as well. Also this means the Republicans will for certain have their largest Senate Majority since 1928 and if they win the last outstanding house race will have their last majority in that chamber too.

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky


Woodruff : This election has broken all sorts of barriers in terms of the senate with two African Americans elected to the senate given the fact that we only had elected two prior African American senator since reconstruction and now the first Indian American senator

Schneider : Yes it has and it looks like more and more barriers will be broken over the upcoming years which will further show how open our nation has become and how far we have come since the days of Jim Crow .


3:37

Blitzer: We are now able to project the state of New Jersey will be won by President McCain while the state of Washington will be won by Senator Biden both marking flips from four years ago . As you can see the  final electoral count for this election will be President John McCain who will win 322 electoral votes vs Senator Joe Biden who will win 216 electoral votes .

McCain: 322
Biden: 216


Blitzer: now let’s go over to Anderson for our final senate call

Cooper  : CNN can now project in South Dakota that Senate Minority Leader Tom Dashale will go down to defeat to Republican John Thune making it the first time since 1952 a party leader will be defeated in a re-election bid . This means the Republicans will pick up a net of 3 seats in the senate and will control 57 senate seats in the next congress

Seats Currently Held By Democrats:

Florida
Georgia
Lousiana
North Carolina
South Carolina
South Dakota
Wisconsin

Seats Currently Held By Republicans:

Colorado
Illinois
Kentucky

Cooper : Also in the house we can project the republicans will win the last outstanding seat meaning they will win a total of 247 House seats tonight meaning they will have Their largest house majority since 1928 as well .


Blitzer : Ok that does it for CNN’s coverage of the 2004 election and we shall see you at our regular scheduled programming for analysis of this years election . 

[OSR stands with Israel]

My only nitpick is Minnesota, I just feel like if McCain isn’t winning Michigan he won’t win Minnesota either otherwise it’s fine

MI barely voted to the right of MN in OTL and I feel that McCain is a better fit for MN than Bush was due to being more socially moderate while in MI I think its more of a mixed bag plus MI was already struggling a lot economically even while the rest of the nation was doing alright.

That is why I decided here to have McCain win MN but not MI

[OSR stands with Israel]

The senate definitely doesn’t look too great for Dems, going into 2006, even if they flip all the seats they did IOTL, that’s still a 50/50 split, so they’d probably have to pick up the seat in Tennessee as well, possible but definitely a tall order considering McCain is more popular than Bush.

Actually, its a 51-49 R split if the 2006 Senate elections in this timeline are the same as irl.

Jim Jeffords didn’t switch here though iirc, so if Sanders wins that seat it’s a flip, unless there’s another discrepancy I’m missing.

They flipped 6 seats in OTL so if they flip those seats along with VT it would be a 50-50 senate.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Changes from OTL in Class I:
Going into 2006, Republicans hold MI (Abraham), NJ (Franks), WA (Gorton) and Democrats hold MT (Schweitzer). I forget if anything different happened with MO and VT.

MO is the same as OTL while in VT Jeffords stayed a Republican.

[OSR stands with Israel]

2004 Election Results:

Presidential Election Results:

President John McCain(R-AZ)/Vice President John Danforth(R-MO) 322 52%
Senator Joe Biden(D-DE)/Senator Jay Rockefeller(D-WV) 216 47.1%


States decided by Less than 5 Points:

New Jersey: McCain 49.7% Biden 49.4%
Arkansas: Biden 49.9% McCain 49.4%
Washington: Biden 49.8% McCain 49.1%
Minnesota: McCain 50% Biden 49.1%
Michigan: Biden 50.1% McCain 48.9%
Pennsylvania: Biden 50.5% McCain 48.6%
Oregon: McCain 50.5% Biden 48.3%
Iowa: McCain 50.7% Biden 48.2%
Wisconsin:McCain 50.9% Biden 48.2%
Maine: Biden 51.3% McCain 47.6%
Ohio: McCain 51.8% Biden 47.5% - Tipping Point

States Decided by 5-10 Points:

New Mexico: McCain 52.1% Biden 47%
Nevada: McCain 52.5% Biden 46.7%
Hawaii: Biden 52.4% McCain 46.5%
Kentucky: McCain 52.8% Biden 46.4%
California: Biden 52.7% McCain 46.2%
West Virginia: Biden 53.1% McCain 46.1%
Florida: McCain 53.2% Biden 45.9%
Illionis: Biden 53.5% McCain 45.6%
Connecticut: Biden 54.2% McCain 44.9%
Tenneesse: McCain 54.4% Biden 44.6%

Senate Election Results:

Republicans: 57(+3)
Democrats: 43(-3)


House of Representatives:

Republicans: 247(+10)
Democrats: 188(-10)

Note: Bernie Sanders included in Dem number despite being an independent


Gubernatorial Results:

Republicans pickup 2 seats



What does this election mean for President McCain and the Republican agenda over the next 4 years:

Woodruff: With the President getting reelected and Republicans increasing their majorities in both houses, what does this mean for their agenda over the next few years.

Schnider: With an increased majority the President and the Republicans will try to push through parts of their agenda they didnt over the past 4 such as Tort Reform, Tax Reform for Businesses and Corporations, and School Vouchers at a national level but they also have to be careful cause while yes they have large majorities they dont have filibuster-proof ones meaning if they try to do something that is deeply opposed by every faction of the Democratic party such as Entitlement reform it likely will fail.

Also one of the test the President will face is the fact that he very likely will have to replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist sometime in the next two years and given how regarded the Chief Justice he is with Conservatives, the President will need to pick someone who is viewed as living up to his legacy while at the same time pick someone who is qualified for Chief Justice which may not be an easy take

Woodruff: Will the President need to still work in a bipartisan fasion or will that decrease given these results

Schinder: He absolutely does given that one the Republicans dont have a filibuster proof majority and two some of his agenda such as immigration and energy are issues that the party is divided on so if he wants to get stuff done on those issues he will have to get probably at least 15 to 20 democrats on board which requires bipartisanship.


Where do Democrats go from here:

Woodruff: So where do the Democrats go from here after last night's defeat

Greenfield: At the congressional level they have to completely reasses their strategy because they have been defeated consistently there since 1994 and if they dont want to have a chance at getting back power in either chamber sometime in the near future they will have to reasses their strategy or they will face the same problems the Republicans did in the 40 years before 1994 where the Democrats held the house for that entire span, and the senate for 34 of those years.

At the Presidential level they need to find ways to appeal more to either the south or west because currently the problem is say you give the Republicans the entire south other than Arkansas and West Virginia, the interior West , Indiana and New Hampshire the Republicans pretty much start with 252 electoral votes meaning the Democrats have to run the table to even have a chance of winning the white house. So over the next 4 year they either need to improve brands in some of those southern states or western states and that doesnt start with the next campaign but from today.


Any Early 2008 predictions:

Woodruff: Now just for fun , who do you guys think will be the contenders for each party's nomination 4 years from now

Schnider: For the Republicans, I think you will see the establishment probably coalesce around one of the Bush brothers, the moderates around Governor Guiliani, and the Conservatives around someone like Senator George Allen. While people like Tom Ridge will run I dont think they will go far. As for the Vice President, he has said multiple times he will not run for President but if he does he would be a contender as well and maybe the favorite. 

Greenfield: I think for the Democrats you will probably see the establishment coalesce around Hillary Clinton, the progressives around Russ Feingold again and some wildcards will be potentially Don Siegelman or maybe Joe Biden again.

[OSR stands with Israel]

McCain names Campaign Manager Rick Davis as new Chief of Staff after Mark Salter announces he will step down at the end of the current term



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Davis_(political_consultant)

Shaw: After Chief of Staff Mark Salter announced he will be stepping down on January 20th of next year, President McCain quickly named his campaign manager Rick Davis to be his chief of staff for the upcoming term. In the meanwhile, Mr.Davis will be tasked with leading the effort to help form the new cabinet for the upcoming term and which we are told will have a mix of retentions, some reshuffling and many members from the current cabinet leaving as well.

It is already confirmed that Secretary Powell, Ambassador Rice, Secretary Thompson, and Director Kasich will be stepping down at the end of the term and we expect a few more to be stepping down as well.

Schnider: I want people to remind people who are wondering why so many high profile figures are leaving, it is because it is very commonplace for large parts of the cabinet to see changes when a new term begins to signify in many ways a beginning of a new term. Also this is especially true of high profile picks as many probably wouldnt want to take a different job in the adminstration as it would be a step down from the current position as it would be for Secretary Powell if he were given a job. We are told though that he is leaving on high terms with the President and that decision has been expected for many months now.

List of Cabinet Members who will be retained in current position

Secretary of Defense: Secretary of Defense Tom Ridge



Secretary of Treasury: Secretary of Treasury  Robert Lucas Jr



Attorney General: Attorney General James Comey




Secretary of Commerce: Secretary of Commerce George Pataki




Secretary of Education: Secretary of Education Lisa Keegan




Secretary of Homeland Security: Secretary of Homeland Security Robert Gates




Woodruff: Just so there isnt any confusion here these arent the only members of the cabinet who will be staying on in the administration but rather the ones who will stay on in their current roles. We are also told that while Secretary Ridge is staying on it likely will be for another year at most and he likely will step down after the Iraqi constitutional elections next fall.  




Note: Images of Lucas, Pataki, and Keegan come from Youtube

[OSR stands with Israel]

How are healthcare costs doing?

Prescription Drug costs are lower as unlike the OTL Medicare Part D Bill, the Federal Government wont be prohibited from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies .


As for others it is slightly lower than OTL but still high which is one reason why President McCain is attempting to pass Tort Reform in his next term.