Hail, Columbia! (The Election of 1908)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

From the outset of his administration, President Manuel Mendez was constrained by the reality of partisan divisions within the Continental Congress. While his Concordite Party controlled a large plurality in the House of Commons and a smaller advantage in the Senate, in both houses the party was far short of a functioning majority, necessitating an uneasy coalition with the Powderly wing of the Democratic Party. This alliance meant that certain dearly-held Concordite initiatives, namely a return to the gold standard, were outside the realm of possibility. On other issues, the two factions worked in greater concert: the Tariff of 1905 effected the greatest reduction in nearly two decades, while the Harding-Bryan Act cracked down on corruption in the Commonwealth Reserve; and while efforts to repeal the National Railway Act failed narrowly in the House of Commons, the bill cleared the Senate by a wide, where Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge waged a valiant crusade for its passage - and thus sparked speculation that he himself might be a president in the making.

But in the spring of 1907, all domestic concerns were driven from the forefront of the national consciousness as the long shadow of war fell once more across Europe. It was the last April of what would later be recognized as the last morning of the old world; Georges Benjamin Clemenceau, the beloved President of France, departed his official residence and traveled the six blocks to the hall where the National Assembly sat waiting for his address. As he emerged from his car, two young men - both, as it would later turn out, German nationalists from Bavaria - stepped towards the president and fired two shots in quick succession. Within the hour, Clemenceau was dead; when the North German Confederation refused to apologize for the death of the French head of state, the continent was plunged into war.

France had good reason to believe the Prussians were behind the assassination. For decades, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had been struggling to unite the states of Southern Germany with their sisters to the North - a move that France had long opposed. Bismarck had lost his first chance during the Franco-Prussian War, which had ended a humiliating defeat for Prussia. Bismarck had been working towards redemption ever since.

The complicated nature of the European alliance system meant that the French declaration of war against Germany threw the whole continent into turmoil. The French knew they could count on the support of Russia and Italy, both of whom declared war on Germany within a week of Clemenceau's death; no sooner had they done so did Britain and Austria rush to Germany's aid. By 1908, all of Europe was caught up in a desperate struggle for supremacy, with aspiring powers in Asia and the Middle East casting their lot with whichever alliance they felt would bring them power and glory.

Ever since the eruption of hostilities, President Mendez has endeavored to keep his country out of the  fighting, causing those Americans calling for the Commonwealth to join forces with her old ally, France, to attack the president as a coward. With the presidential contest fast approaching, the great question - war or peace - dominates the internal struggle of a divided nation.


Senator John Calhoun Bell of Kansas [Democratic]
After pulling his party back from the brink of collapse four years earlier, Kansan Senator John Calhoun Bell has once more been nominated as his party's candidate for president. Bell is staunchly isolationist and opposes intervening on either side of the ongoing "Great War." As the leader of the radical wing of the Democratic Party, Bell opposed the passage of the 1905 Tariff, though he supported the reforms to the Commonwealth Reserve enacted by the Harding-Bryan Act. He is opposed to the nationalization of the coal and steel industries, but equally against the gold standard, and thus inhabits a middle ground between the Concordites and the ASWI.


Former Vice President Victor Luitpold Berger of Winnebago [ASWI]
Berger was the muscle behind the socialist initiatives of the MacDonald Administration, and is widely respected as an instinctive parliamentarian and political organizer. From 1901 to 1905, he operated as de facto Chancellor of the Commonwealth, marshaling the government's forces in Congress and building up the ASWI from a loose coalition of labor unions and intellectuals to an effective political machine. Following MacDonald's narrow defeat in 1904, Berger became the presumptive Socialist nominee for president in 1908, and was formally nominated at the party's convention that year. Unsurprisingly, he has denounced the accomplishments of the Mendez Administration, calling for high tariffs, the nationalization of the oil and steel industries, national health and unemployment insurance, and wants to see the Commonwealth Reserve purchase government bonds as a check against inflation. He is opposed to intervention in the Great War, but has expressed sympathy for the French cause.


Anarchist Leon Czolgosz of Huron [Communist]
Czolgosz leads a fringe party of anarchists and communists who broke off from the ASWI following the election of 1904. He has denounced Mendez as an illegitimate president and was at the forefront of those calling for a recount of that historically-close election, even threating riots in the street if Mendez were not removed from office. The riots did not materialize, but Czolgosz remains a leading voice on the far left. Considered unlikely to make the runoff, let alone win the election, a strong showing by the Communists would nevertheless bode ill for the ASWI. Czolgosz opposes the Great War as the creation of the "robber-barrons" and has called for the workers of Europe to rise instead against their capitalist masters.


President Manuel Mendez of Nuevo Leon [Concordite]
The leading voice against American involvement in the Great War, Mendez has earned the enmity of the war hawks within his party but has steadfastly stayed the course. Though he signed legislation strengthening the Continental Navy, Mendez continues to draw a distinction between preparedness and provocation, and has gone so far to offer himself as a mediator between the warring powers. On the home front, he has called for a continuation of the financial reforms passed during the previous term: a hard money policy, repeal of the National Railway Act, opposition to further nationalization schemes, and preference for the "free market" over the "command economy" proposed by the ASWI.


Governor Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. of New York [National Liberal]
Roosevelt leads the pro-war wing of the Concordite Party that split from the main caucus following their unsuccessful challenge to Mendez's renomination. He strongly favors entering the Great War as an ally of France, and has publicly attacked the Administration's policy of neutrality as "treacherous and cowardly." On the home front, he supports a strong protective tariff, a system of national health insurance, repeal of the National Railway Act and blanket opposition to further nationalization schemes, and a two-fronted strategy to combat inflation by reducing the amount of silver currency in circulation and allowing the Commonwealth Reserve to purchase Treasury Bonds.

[White Trash]

Boycotting this election since the last one was stolen from the hands of the working man!

[Mr. Smith]

Bell.

[Murica!]

Communist!

[Kingpoleon]

1. John Calhoun Bell
2. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

[Arturo Belano]

CZOLGOSZ!

[Intell]

Boycotting this election since the last one was stolen from the hands of the working man!

No! No! Comrade, vote against capitalists, and class traitors of the socialist party, and vote for the true working man, Czolgosz! For a true democracy, in where the elite, capitalists cannot manipulate such horrendous election results.

[White Trash]

Boycotting this election since the last one was stolen from the hands of the working man!

No! No! Comrade, vote against capitalists, and class traitors of the socialist party, and vote for the true working man, Czolgosz! For a true democracy, in where the elite, capitalists cannot manipulate such horrendous election results.

Czolgosz is an anarchist who will hand our nation over to the European devils.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Fascinating results so far.

[Murica!]

Boycotting this election since the last one was stolen from the hands of the working man!

No! No! Comrade, vote against capitalists, and class traitors of the socialist party, and vote for the true working man, Czolgosz! For a true democracy, in where the elite, capitalists cannot manipulate such horrendous election results.

Czolgosz is an anarchist who will hand our nation over to the European devils.

Us anarchists won't hand anything over to the capitalist parasites!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Roosevelt finally presents a right-wing candidate I can stand behind. Failing that, Mendez may be our only security from atheist radicals.

[White Trash]

He has denounced Mendez as an illegitimate president and was at the forefront of those calling for a recount of that historically-close election, even threating riots in the street if Mendez were not removed from office.

Am I Czolgosz o.0

[Intell]

He has denounced Mendez as an illegitimate president and was at the forefront of those calling for a recount of that historically-close election, even threating riots in the street if Mendez were not removed from office.

Am I Czolgosz o.0

Keep the Concordite's and Roosevelt from power, vote accordingly, for who'll stop them, comeon Gothic, your vote matters, in keeping an illegitimate robber Barron president out of power, and the Europe's war-mongerer from power.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

He has denounced Mendez as an illegitimate president and was at the forefront of those calling for a recount of that historically-close election, even threating riots in the street if Mendez were not removed from office.

Am I Czolgosz o.0

Well, the Communist Party/Czolgosz candidacy was inspired by the protests in the 1904 thread, so in a way... yes.

[White Trash]

He has denounced Mendez as an illegitimate president and was at the forefront of those calling for a recount of that historically-close election, even threating riots in the street if Mendez were not removed from office.

Am I Czolgosz o.0

Keep the Concordite's and Roosevelt from power, vote accordingly, for who'll stop them, comeon Gothic, your vote matters, in keeping an illegitimate robber Barron president out of power, and the Europe's war-mongerer from power.

It looks like the split in the vote has cost the working man this election. We ought to rally behind the Concordites to keep that war-monger Roosevelt out of office in the run-off.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I'm just happy this didn't end in a five-way tie.

The runoff election between Mendez and Roosevelt will be up shortly.

[Mr. Smith]

He has denounced Mendez as an illegitimate president and was at the forefront of those calling for a recount of that historically-close election, even threating riots in the street if Mendez were not removed from office.

Am I Czolgosz o.0

Keep the Concordite's and Roosevelt from power, vote accordingly, for who'll stop them, comeon Gothic, your vote matters, in keeping an illegitimate robber Barron president out of power, and the Europe's war-mongerer from power.

It looks like the split in the vote has cost the working man this election. We ought to rally behind the Concordites to keep that war-monger Roosevelt out of office in the run-off.

No, let the man have his war, keep free-silver and  good healthcare is much more important.