Gore won, did America lose? Game (Sign Up/Rules thread)

[RGM2609]

January 3rd 2015, Casper, Wyoming

Well, that was a wild ride, Dick thought to himself as he drank his coffee.
5 years after the collapse of his Administration, the Republicans were still deeply unpopular, so much so that they failed to capitalize on a huge opportunity during the midterms and take back Congress. Despite a lackluster economy, growing destablization in foreign policy and a divided incumbent party, they'd failed. And everyone knew why. Because next to each GOP candidate (even down to the state legislature, Dick thought bitterly), the Democrats put his face, and sometimes McConnell's, with the text:

HE ENDORSED CHENEY IN 2008 AND MCCONNELL IN 2012, DOES HE DESERVE YOUR VOTE?

They won the midterms against Cheney and McConnell, despite all of their own shortcomings. Republicans were already giving spiteful statements against him, but he'd stayed quiet for the past 5 years. The New York Times desperately tried to do an interview with him in October, probably to keep Cheney in the headlines, but he'd politely declined. And yet he still got blamed!

Then there was 2016, and God might know what would happen there, but Dick didn't. He wouldn't run, despite some mean-spirited speculation by the media's gaggle of liberals. He could barely walk outside his house without meeting someone pissed at him, in Wyoming! Would Lewis get re-elected? Who knew? Maybe the Republicans would finally be able to get away from him and McConnell and dominate the narratives with the many failures of the Administration? And the Democratic Primary will certainly be contested by both the DINOs and the communists. So maybe his reputation would get rehablitated by the next GOP President, or at least the party.

Well, whatever. He was just a spiteful, universally hated, sick old man. Just ask one of those leftist nuts in the lamestream media, he thought wryly. Whenever he thought about 5 years ago, when he was the leader of the free world, it made his heart beat out of his chest and his vision go red as those clowns who'd put paid to him.

Welcome to the Gore won, did America lose? Game!

The game will start on 1st February 2015 and end with the General Election next November. Candidates may be chosen from the lists provided below or requested by PM if not listed.

Every turn will last a month in-game, and a schedule is expected. It does not have to be extremely specific, just list where your candidate is. 3 turns without a schedule is considered to be a withdrawal. If you want to drop out for personal reasons, you can endorse another candidate but the votes will be distributed between the remaining candidates instead of transferred.

A debate will be organized every 2 turns, and there will be 2 total town halls per turn for individual candidates. They can be reserved by PM.

For endorsements, you can have 3 free endorsements every turn, and one will be added for every 5% in the polls. Sitting Senators or Governors can not endorse candidates under 15% in their states, and major organizations will not endorse candidates under 10% nationwide. Until a list is available, feel free to PM me to ask about who occupies a certain office (the officials are obviously different in many cases from OTL.)

Timeline of events -

December 5 2000 : The media revealed that Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of Republican nominee George W. Bush, has been involved in eliminating Democrats from the voting rolls or Bush campaign staffers attempting to bribe FL Supreme Court officials.

December 13 2000 : The Supreme Court rules in Bush v. Gore, and after those revelations, it sees itself as forced to rule in favor of a statewide recount in Florida. That recount results in a very narrow Gore win in the state and in the election.

The first term of Al Gore :

• President Gore signs into law community investments packages and environmental regulations and small advancements in legislation.
  
• The United States are attacked by Al Qaeda through hijacked planes, committing suicide attacks, notably on the World Trade Center and on the Pentagon, killing around 3000 people.
  

• In the aftermath, President Gore declares the war on terror, launching a US military intervention along with the US' allies in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime supporting Al Qaeda and hunt down Osama Bin Laden.
  
• Thanks to the Democratic majority in Congress, President Gore is able to advance more on climate change legislation, especially on green energy production, carbon tax, green education in schools and expansion of EPA authority.
  

                           

• Tensions between Iraq and the US rise throughout 2002/2003 due to allegations that Saddam Hussein's Iraq may be developping WMDs and may have ties with Osama Bin Laden and 9/11, and the Republicans ask for an invasion, but a resolution to do this fails in February, and the idea goes away for some time. Terrorist attacks happen in July throughout the West.
  
• Due to the increasing terrorist threat and to his narrow defeat in 2000 (he is seen as the rightful winner by many Republicans), George W. Bush once again becomes the front runner in the Republican primaries and wins the Republican nomination. Bush selects John Danfort (who is this?) as his running mate.
  

• An Iraqi revolution (with both more-or-less moderate and islamic elemnts) starts against Saddam Hussein. Concerned that the hypothetical WMDs could end up in the wrong hands, Republicans force an conflict resolution through Congress.
  
• George W. Bush emphasizes his campaign on national security and spends most of the campaign describing Gore as weak on terrorism.
  

• United Nations inspectors reported that there are no WMDs in Iraq. These events went on to make the 2004 presidential campaign more competitive as it changes from Bush +7 to tossup.
  
• In late October, there were new revelations about the 2000 Florida fraud and that George W. Bush was aware of it and knew about it. President Gore is reelected for a second term, defeating George W. Bush with 336 EVs and 50.5% of the vote over Bush's 202 EVs and 46.9% of the vote. The Democrats made a net gain of 3 seats in the House of Representatives and 3 seats in the Senate, thus expanding their majority.
  

Second term of Al Gore -

• In order to reduce conflict abroad, Gore withdrew troops from Iraq and many from Afghanistan as well.
  
• In the context of the Iraqi Civil War, Saddam Hussein is defeated and a failed democracy is imposed in Iraq; it is quickly overthrown, similarly to when Castro imposed another dictatorship in Cuba after toppling Batista.
  

• The Gore Administration continues to push for green energy production and Republicans keep attacking it for going too far, accusing it of wanting to make America more dependent on foreign energy and of seeking to deprive American taxpayers of their hard-earned money.
  
• The economy starts to become sluggish, which the Republicans seize as a tool to promote tax cuts, small government and free enterprise, thus helping them to take control of both houses of Congress in November with a 54-46 GOP senate and a 250-185 GOP House.
  

• In January 2007, an economic crash occurs, leading to a long economic crisis. Emphasizing his experience as CEO of Halliburton (as the economy is becoming this election's top issue) and his hawkish stances, Dick Cheney wins the Republican presidential nomination over Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. He faces Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee who won the Democratic primary over Joe Manchin.
  
• With both nominees being uninspiring to voters, the Greens started to gain momentum with Ralph Nader. Cheney selects Mitch McConnell as his running mate and Hillary Clinton selects Evan Bayh as her VP candidate. After 16 years of Democratic rule in the White House and due to the economic recession, Cheney wins the election with 316 EVs and 50.4 % of the vote over Hillary Clinton's 222 EVs and 44.1 % of the vote and Ralph Nader's 4.2 % of the vote. The GOP strengthened its majority in both houses of Congress (255-180 in the House and 58-42 in the Senate).
  

The term of Dick Cheney -

• Focusing more on foreign affairs than the economy, President Cheney started increasing rhetoric towards Russia, China and Iran, causing a rise in international tensions.
  
• USA and Iran come close to war in mid 2009, when Iran outright refusing to accept US interference in their nuclear development. After two weeks in which war seemed near, and with Cheney seemingly preparing the public for one, the crisis subsided thanks to efforts from diplomats of both countries, and signs of agreement appear.
  

• With the Cheney WH being focused on foreign relations, the economy continues to fare extremely poorly, with no signs of recovery appearing during 2009, even as the Congressional GOP passed some small relief packages. However, there is one domestic policy area in which Cheney seemed very involved - rolling back the green energy production bills passed during the Al Gore Presidency. The Republican Congress cancels out much of it, the EPA seems to drop its own attributions and proposals that seem to favor oil production start passing.
  
• On 23rd November 2009, allegations emerge that President Cheney and many top Republicans in Congress took bribes from oil companies to pass those bills, and the proposals were actually written in the HQs of companies like Exxon.
  

• Democrats start calling for impeachment and protest blow up across the US, with the Occupy Wall Street movement emerging out of them, an organization fighting against corporate money in politics. Bernie Sanders becomes a popular figure within it and even its informal leader.
  
• By 7th February 2010, 15 Congressional Republicans have resigned and Dick Cheney, with approvals in 20s, decides that there is no way forward and resigns as well, leading to Mitch McConnell taking over. Following the resignation, the OWS movement starts to die down, however Sanderist ideas are becoming increasingly parts of the Democratic agenda.
  

The term of Mitch McConnell -

• McConnell, under enormous pressure, starts applying slightly tougher regulations on Wall Street, however most Americans think this actions are just temporary appeasement and are overshadowed anyway by his pardon of Cheney. Rep. Mike Pence is his Vice President.
  
• The Democrats reinforced their majority in Congress in 2010, with now 258 seats over the Republicans' 177 and, on the senate side, 55 seats for the Dems and 45 seats for the GOP.
  

• The Democratic field is very crowded. However, 3 figures emerge as front runners - Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and surprisingly, Representative John Lewis. As Hillary Clinton fails to excite anyone and Bernie Sanders is viewed as risking to re-elect McConnell, John Lewis has surprising success and wins the nomination. He selects Blue Dog Jim Webb as his running mate in order to ensure the votes of moderates and even conservatives.
  
• Pres. McConnell defeats challenges from Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty, due to the full support of the establishment but in the end it does not matter. John Lewis wins the presidential election with 384 EVs and 54.9 % of the vote over President McConnell's 154 EVs and 44 % of the vote.
  

The term of John Lewis -

• President John Lewis went quickly to action, imposing tougher regulations on Wall Street and tax hikes for the wealthy Americans. That combined with a natural recovery created a lackluster economic growth for the first time since 2008. Lewis also cancelled all the anti-environmental actions of the Cheney and McConnell Administrations, getting back on track with the environmental agenda of Al Gore.
• However, the narrow majority in the Senate, combined with constant filibustering by Republicans, prevented him from accomplishing anything on any other bill, causing the former OWS wing of the Party, led by Bernie Sanders to become displeased with the President. His own Vice President, on the other hand, seems to think he went too far, and is forming a coalition of Blue Dogs to challenge his own boss in the primaries. Though deeply divided, the Democrats managed to maintain their Congressional majorities. However their Congressional majorities have been reduced to 240 seats over the Republican Party's 195 in the House and 53 seats over the GOP's 47 in the Senate.
  

(If you have any question about the plot, ask on this thread so everyone can benefit from the answer)

Potential Democratic candidates -

John Lewis, President of the United States

Jim Webb, Vice President of the United States

Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont

Joe Biden, Senator from Delaware (NewYorkExpress)

(I will add more if no one decides to play Lewis)

Potential Republican candidates -

Mike Pence, Former VP of the United States

Mitch McConnell, Former President of the United States

Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina

Marco Rubio, Senator of Florida

Ted Cruz, Senator of Texas

John McCain, Senator of Arizona

Paul Ryan, Representative of Wisconsin (NOTTYLER)

Mike Huckabee, Former Governor of Arkansas

Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey

(others available by request)

Let me know if you are interested in joining!

[NewYorkExpress]

As much as I'd like to play as Lewis (and congrats to him for being the first African American POTUS. He probably deserved it more than Obama did), I have a different Democrat in mind.

I'd actually like to play as Joe Biden (assuming he's still a Senator at this point), given the other election game I signed up for appears dead.

Also, once we get closer to the primaries caucuses (so like, December 2015/January 2016) I'd expect shorter turns (maybe two weeks long/until the next primary/caucus).

[RGM2609]

As much as I'd like to play as Lewis (and congrats to him for being the first African American POTUS. He probably deserved it more than Obama did), I have a different Democrat in mind.

I'd actually like to play as Joe Biden (assuming he's still a Senator at this point), given the other election game I signed up for appears dead.

Also, once we get closer to the primaries caucuses (so like, December 2015/January 2016) I'd expect shorter turns (maybe two weeks long/until the next primary/caucus).

Biden will open up, among others, if Lewis is not taken by anybody. Are you sure you do not want to play as Lewis?

Also, the turns will certainly be shorter by then, but for the start of the game I think that one month is enough.

[NewYorkExpress]

As much as I'd like to play as Lewis (and congrats to him for being the first African American POTUS. He probably deserved it more than Obama did), I have a different Democrat in mind.

I'd actually like to play as Joe Biden (assuming he's still a Senator at this point), given the other election game I signed up for appears dead.

Also, once we get closer to the primaries caucuses (so like, December 2015/January 2016) I'd expect shorter turns (maybe two weeks long/until the next primary/caucus).

Biden will open up, among others, if Lewis is not taken by anybody. Are you sure you do not want to play as Lewis?

Also, the turns will certainly be shorter by then, but for the start of the game I think that one month is enough.

Pretty certain. If I were to play as an African-American candidate, it would be Obama or Cory Booker.

[RGM2609]

As much as I'd like to play as Lewis (and congrats to him for being the first African American POTUS. He probably deserved it more than Obama did), I have a different Democrat in mind.

I'd actually like to play as Joe Biden (assuming he's still a Senator at this point), given the other election game I signed up for appears dead.

Also, once we get closer to the primaries caucuses (so like, December 2015/January 2016) I'd expect shorter turns (maybe two weeks long/until the next primary/caucus).

Biden will open up, among others, if Lewis is not taken by anybody. Are you sure you do not want to play as Lewis?

Also, the turns will certainly be shorter by then, but for the start of the game I think that one month is enough.

Pretty certain. If I were to play as an African-American candidate, it would be Obama or Cory Booker.

Alright. I allow Biden in the game.

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

Mitt Romney?

[RGM2609]

Mitt Romney?

Lost in 2002.

[NewYorkExpress]

Mitt Romney?

Lost in 2002.

Maybe it's just me... but there's plenty of room in this TL for Romney to get elected to something in Massachusetts, Michigan or Utah somewhere (either in one of the two Gore terms or during Lewis's term). I can't tell you how to run your game, but Romney makes sense to me here.

[RGM2609]

Mitt Romney?

Lost in 2002.

Maybe it's just me... but there's plenty of room in this TL for Romney to get elected to something in Massachusetts, Michigan or Utah somewhere (either in one of the two Gore terms or during Lewis's term). I can't tell you how to run your game, but Romney makes sense to me here.

Yes, but I prefer not to get into all of this complicated butterflies lol.

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

What about Bob McDonnell?

[RGM2609]

What about Bob McDonnell?

His career took a similar path to IRL

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

[RGM2609]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

Never got to national notoriety but you can give it to him I guess

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

Never got to national notoriety but you can give it to him I guess

Bloomberg? Weld?

[RGM2609]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

Never got to national notoriety but you can give it to him I guess

Bloomberg? Weld?

Weld - same as IRL
Bloomberg - never ran for Mayor

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

Never got to national notoriety but you can give it to him I guess

Bloomberg? Weld?

Weld - same as IRL
Bloomberg - never ran for Mayor

Omg then who can I play?

[RGM2609]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

Never got to national notoriety but you can give it to him I guess

Bloomberg? Weld?

Weld - same as IRL
Bloomberg - never ran for Mayor

Omg then who can I play?

Yeah, I know. Well there is a list in the opening post of people who have the national notoriety to win the primary

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

Never got to national notoriety but you can give it to him I guess

Bloomberg? Weld?

Weld - same as IRL
Bloomberg - never ran for Mayor

Omg then who can I play?

Yeah, I know. Well there is a list in the opening post of people who have the national notoriety to win the primary

Paul Ryan

[RGM2609]

Yo. What about uhhhh. Herman Cain

Never got to national notoriety but you can give it to him I guess

Bloomberg? Weld?

Weld - same as IRL
Bloomberg - never ran for Mayor

Omg then who can I play?

Yeah, I know. Well there is a list in the opening post of people who have the national notoriety to win the primary

Paul Ryan

Great!