This is a bit of a long shot, but bear with me and see how it goes.
This is an alternate future election, where you can create your own character --however; you must include a detailed background of that character/person. It can be an up and coming person or a completely fictional person --however; I must approve of all characters in order to be in it. There will be room for flexibility but if its absurd I will shoot it down and I reserve the right to edit your character's background. I will be especially hard on fictional people.
You can assume that anyone born before or in the year of 1945 is no longer in office (or dead...) and not eligible to run for the Presidency (for all intents and purposes of this timeline).
Background:
2010:Republicans gain in the House (233 seats for Dems) and Senate, no other major bills are passed this year.
Notes:
Charlie Crist wins as an Independent (-1 Rep +1 Independent)
Democrats
lose seats in Indiana, Nevada, Delaware, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Arkansas
but hold Colorado, Nevada, Illinois Pennsylvania, Washington, California and Connecticut (-5 Dem)
Senate Composition 2011-2013:
3 Independent
52 Democrat
45 Republican
2011:
Obama's approval improves ranging from 50% to 55% for this year. Senator Chuck Schumer becomes majority leader. Rand Paul tries to oust Mitch McConnell as minority leader but is unsuccessful. Charlie Crist says he caucuses with the Republicans but more often than not votes with the Democrats.
Senator Byrd dies having lived through the administrations of Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama (17). He appointed replacement is Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates steps down and is replaced by former Senator Chuck Hagel who serves until 2017.
Immigration reform swarms to the forefront again as Governor Rick Perry tries to pass a even more restricting law in Texas. The law never makes it to the full Texas legislature because the Senate and House pass immigration reform, which by the 2020 election will be seen as positive and a moderate reform. This is seen as a huge legislative victory for the President and the new majority leader. Rick Perry becomes one of the main faces of the Obama opposition.
Republican "Tea Party" Senators Rand Paul and Sharron Angle call for the ouster of any Republicans supporting the Obama agenda citing the usual Tea Party mantra. They, will Sarah Palin, will become an even more formidable force in 2012.
The rest of the year Obama's approvals drop to 40% after a mishandling of a small oil liner exploding in the Gulf of Mexico (due to some weird technicality that the public doesn't understand). The FEMA director gets the blame after. Obama's approvals recover by the end of the year back to 50% after the passage of a weak cap & trade bill.
The deficit is even larger by the end of 2011.
2012:
The year gets off to a bumpy start after a surge in violence following the removal of all American combat forces. Obama's approvals plummet to 38% which will be the lowest of his time in office.
Senator John McCain passes away soon after, only making things worse for Obama.
Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Gary Johnson, Mitch Daniels and Rick Perry all throw their hats in the ring for the Republican nomination.
Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee rule out a Presidential run. Huckabee is happy to have a TV show. No one reads Newts newest book.
Sarah Palin and Romney lead in funds initially, but Daniels pulls out a slim victory over Romney in Iowa and Romney goes onto win New Hampshire. Johnson and Santorum both drop out after a Perry win in South Carolina. Palin drops out blaming other people for her loss. Super Tuesday comes around and its still a 3 way race between Daniels, Romney, Perry and Palin. Romney walks away the winner of Super Tuesday with Daniels coming in second. Perry concedes the next day, and Daniels a week later. Romney selects Senator John Thune as his running mate.
Sarah Palin announces a third party run for the White House and selects Congresswoman Michele Bachmann as her running mate. They run under the Tea Party banner. Grassroots have already begun to make the Tea Party a legitimate political party.
By June, Obama's approvals have recovered to the 48-52% range. Polls show Obama would be vulnerable to Romney/Thune but not to both Romney/Thune and Palin/Bachmann. Conservatives begin calling for Palin to get out of the way.
By the summer Iraq gets its country in control and with positive reports coming out of Afghanistan and Iraq Obama gets a bump in the polls to 53-57% range.
Nothing exciting happens but the deficit, cybersecurity and
education become the center issues of the election.
Palin is allowed in the debates but doesn't surprise anyone.
Obama/Biden - 401 Electoral Votes - 54% of the popular vote
Romney/Thune - 136 Electoral Votes - 36% of the popular vote
Palin/Bachmann - 1 Electoral Vote (Faithless elector) - 10% of the popular vote
Obama's win is unsurprising to most pundits and Republicans blame Palin for Romney's defeat. Tea Party registration which had been growing before the election, levels off.
Senate Composition 2013-2015:1 Independent (-1) (Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders don't run)
54 Democrat (+2)
43 Republican (No change)
2 Tea Party (Caucus with Republicans)
House:Democrat: 240 (+7)
Republican: 180
Tea Party: 15 (Caucus with Republicans)
---
2013 - 2015
President Obama's second term gets off to a good start with his approvals jumping to 65-70%. Over his second term the low will be 40% and the high will be 73%. On the day of his inauguration unemployment is 8% and the deficit has not been reduced at all.
Hillary Clinton steps down as Secretary of State before the inauguration. Senator Jim Webb is appointed to be the next Secretary of State, Governor Bill Richardson is appointed to Secretary of Commerce.
Within a few months of Obama's second term, Iran tests a nuclear weapon and Israel destroys all of Irans nuclear facilities backed by the United States, NATO and the EU. An all out war is avoided in the Middle East when Saudi Arabia and Egypt intervene in defense of Israel's actions. Obama's approval are highest at this point having sent carriers into the Mediterranean to defend Israel if needed. US forces go on high alert in Kuwait and Iraq (the remaining ones there).
Economic growth continues at a slow pace.
2014 midterm election results:
Senate Composition 2015-2017:Charlie Crist caucuses with the Democrats and with Vice President Biden's vote they hold the majority.
1 Independent
49 Democrat (-5)
45 Republican (+2)
5 Tea Party (+3)
House:The House flips Republican. Eric Cantor becomes the Speaker.
Democrat: 205 (-35)
Republican: 205 (+25)
Tea Party: 25 (+10) (Caucus with Republicans)
2015:
Osama Bin Laden is confirmed dead and most of al-Qaeda is on the run by now.
Eric Cantor proves to be a tough Speaker shooting down much more left legislation nearly forcing a shutdown of the government but Obama gives in (when his approval drops to the lowest of his second term). Obama's approvals won't recover for the rest of 2015.
Obama's approvals recover to the 50% threshold but not much happens this year. Eric Cantor is proving to be the Newt Gingrich of the Obama Presidency. Cantor is being mentioned often as Presidential material in 2016.
2016:
Eric Cantor, John Thune and Bobby Jindal are the major candidates for the Republican nomination.
Jim Webb, Bill Richardson and Andrew Cuomo are the major candidates for the Democratic nomination.
Rand Paul has no major opposition for the Tea Party nomination.
Jindal wins Iowa and goes onto win New Hampshire and seals the nomination early. Richardson performs well in Iowa coming in 2nd. Cuomo comes in 3rd who was seen as the frontrunner is beaten by Webb. Cuomo goes onto win New Hampshire while Webb seals South Carolina and Richardson drops out. Cuomo seals the nomination after winning Super Tuesday. Cuomo, unexpectedly due to what the media thought was a very tense relationship, picks Jim Webb as his running mate.
Jindal picks Senator Scott Brown as his running mate.
The economy goes into a recession making this the main issue. Unemployment rises from 6% to 7%.
Jindal/Brown - 278 Electoral Votes - 47% Popular Vote
Cuomo/Webb - 260 Electoral Votes - 46% Popular Vote
Paul/Angle - 0 Electoral Votes - 7% Popular Vote
Senate Composition 2017-2019:Republican control.
1 Independent (Crist causes with the Democrats)
46 Democrat (-3)
49 Republican (+4)
4 Tea Party (-1) (Caucuses with the Republicans)
House:Repbulican control.
Democrat: 203 (-2)
Republican: 213 (+8)
Tea Party: 19 (-7) (Caucus with Republicans)