Hillary R. Clinton/Evan Bayh --- 270
Bill Frist/Rick Santorum --- 268
In the third consecutively close Presidential election (once more reflecting the polarised state of the country) Hillary Rodham Clinton carries off a narrow victory due to a relentless campaign organised by her husband and DNC Chairman Howard Dean. The presence of the moderate Evan Bayh on the ticket also serves to reassure many voters who might otherwise be scared off by a potential Hillary Clinton presidency.
Despite Santorum's presence on the ticket, Bill Frist fails to gain PA for the Republicans, even though he does manage to win NH. Still, the GOP loses WV, IA, NM and NV and only narrowly holds on to OH and AR (the closest Democratic victories are in MA, IA and WV). Even though choosing Santorum was initially regarded as a coup by many political commentators, serving to revigorate the evangelical vote which won Bush the 2004 election, in hindsight it was seen as undermining Frist's candidacy the same way Quayle undermined Bush41 in 1992.
(And I just know Keystone Phil is gonna kill me for that last sentence.
).
