What happens if Lieberman becomes president in September 2001?

[MATTROSE94]

It would make a great timeline.

My scenario:

Lieberman gets in with huge approval ratings, equal to those of Bush. The war in Afghanistan will be inevitable. Lieberman will go in even more than Bush did, go after Bin Laden with everything the military has. After all, with a dead president it has become even more personal. They had been close in getting Osama in real life so it's not out of the question that in this scenario they will get for real. That will be some where in late 2001 or early 2002. It will keep his ratings sky high going in to the midterms. Lieberman might use his popularity to get some things done on the domestic front. With Republicans reluctant to oppose a extremely popular president they might work with him on issues like health care and education.

During the midterms the Democrats win the majority in the Senate (the Democrats would never have gained the majority in the scenario because of Lieberman's resignation from the Senate and the Republican governor of Connecticut appointing a Republican to his seat. That seat will be won back a Democrat in 2002, Max Cleland wins his reelection bid. Shaheen wins in New Hampshire and with Jeffords becoming an independent it gives the Democrats a majority. Early in the new year, McCain also leaves the Republican and becomes a Democrat. The Democrats also win enough seats to gain a majority in the House making Dick Gephart the Speaker.

After Gore's death, Lieberman decides to give the Vice Presidency to former Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska. And for the Presidential elections of 2004 this will also be the ticket for the Democratic Party.

Lieberman doesn't go in to Iraq but he starts to undermine Saddam Hussein, trying to get him out of office. The War in Afghanistan stills goes on. Al Qaeda has been hit hard, but the Taliban is still going on. But with the death of Bin Laden the war is seen as more successful. Lieberman hopes to get the troops out by 2006. 2003 Is a good but also difficult year for the President. His ratings start the drop and by the summer they fall below the 60% for the first time. Still, most people approve of his work and most Republicans don't see a reason to jump in the race for the Presidency. The number one candidate, Jeb Bush, decides to stay out, and with McCain having joined the Democrats the party has no real front runner for 2004.

Lieberman wins the nomination for his party's candidacy easily. With the Republicans it's a longer process but ultimately Governor George Pataki of New York gets the nomination. Having won reelection in 2002 in a good year for the Democrats, he is seen as their strongest candidate. But most experts don't give him much change against the popular President.

The campaign is a boring one. The candidates agree for the most part on foreign policy and after 9/11 foreign policy and national security are the number issue with the voters. The Republicans attack Lieberman on domestic spending and the economy (the economy is still recovering from the Dot Com bubble and 9/11) but most voters see in the President a strong and determent leader.

On November 2 Lieberman wins a strong victory. Altough is approval ratings have dropped to around 50%, it is enough to win a majority of the vote, the first for a Democrat in 28 years.

Lieberman - Kerrey: 51% and 325 ECV
Pataki - Alexander: 47% and 213 ECV

His second term and his only elected term start strong for Lieberman. With increased majorities in the House and the Senate and the election behind him, the President starts to build a coalition to fight against Saddam. Still in the power after years of pressure, Lieberman decides to take him out. His newly appointed Secretary of State, John McCain, is all for it and travels the world to get the support from other nations. With the War in Afghanistan slowly winding down, the attention is now focused on Iraq and for months the White House prepares the plans for a invasion and prepares the nation for a new war. However most countries decide to stay out and the US only has a small coalition. It is deemed enough. After Saddam kicks the UN weapons inspectors out in early 2006 the war starts and within weeks the Iraqi army is defeated. Saddam however flees and is nowhere to be found. The approval ratings for the President rise again after the success in Iraq and after ending 2005 with a approval rating of just 43% they are now above 55% again.

On the domestic front things are more difficult. The Republicans, after recovering from losing the fourth presidential election in a row, decide to make life much more difficult for the President. So nothing really is achieved. Katrina hits New Orleans but is far better handled by the administration.
The new year however will not bring better news. With the midterms coming up, the Democrats worry about the backlash. After 14 years of Democratic rule the nation wants fresh blood.

The Iraq War goes in to much of the same problems that it had in real life, but less severe. With Al Qaeda more of less gone, rogue terrorists create havoc in Iraq, but never to a degree as they did in real life. By the elections of 2006 the Democratic Party is in trouble. Divided over the foreign policy of the President and with the President's approval ratings at 45% things look bleak. During the midterms the Republican Party gains a small majority in both houses of Congress, making it almost impossible for Lieberman to get anything done in his last two years. He decides to focus even more on foreign policy. With Iraq becoming more problematic he needs a big success. The peace process is the most obvious and he decides to use his Jewish background to force Israel to make a deal with the Palestinians. In the summer of 2007, after months of negotiations a peace accord is agreed between Abbas and Olmert. A new Palestinian state is founded, consisting of the West Bank and Gaza with Ramallah as it's captital. Israel is allowed to get three major settlements on the West Bank, defended by the Israeli army. Al other settlements will be demolished. Jerusalem is given a special status, neither nation can claim it and make it their capital. The Wall will remain for now but it will be redrawn to place it along the border. The checkpoints will also stay in place.
The accords are seen as a big achievement and after that Lieberman decides he has done enough. The economy however starts to collapse. And 2008 will prove to be a very hard year. With the economic downturn the prospects for the Democrats are dark. Many topcontenders decide to stay out and the nomination goes to Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. The Republicans nominate Jeb Bush and in November he defeats Edwards in a landslide victory 53% - 45%:

On January 20, 2009 Lieberman leaves the White House. The economy is in trouble (altough not as bad as in real life, because no tax cuts and a later Iraq War), and a messy War in Iraq. He does however has is successes and most experts agree that Lieberman was for the most part a good and successful President.

Good scenario overall! I always thought that either Rick Santorum or George Allen would have had been in a good position to run for the Republican Nomination in 2008 in a scenario were Al Gore was elected in 2000, or were the both defeated in 2006 as in RL?