2008: Hope, Change, and a dash of Clintonia.

[NewYorkExpress]

It was the final week of July, 2008. Barack Obama had a major problem. While he was now the Democratic nominee, he was having trouble finding a running mate, and someone he could feel comfortable with as Vice President. Evan Bayh and Kathleen Sebelius didn't poll well with focus groups. Tim Kaine had indicated that he preferred the position of Chair of the Democratic National Committee instead. Joe Biden also had expressed non-interest in being Vice President, telling Obama that he preferred the position of Secretary of State in an Obama Administration.

Frustrated, Obama arrived in Washington for a quick round of Senate votes on some non-controversial legislation on July 24, and ran into Hillary Clinton. Asking for a private meeting in his office, he point-blank offered her the Vice Presidency, no vetting required. He told her that his top pick (Biden) had turned the job down, and the other names on his short-list (Bayh, Sebelius, Kaine) either performed poorly with focus groups or weren't interested. He told her that she needed to accept, for the good of the Democratic Party, and to have a chance to rebuild her reputation after the quarrelsome primary campaign.

Hillary's only response was "when and where do we announce this".

Obama suggested that her nomination be announced at the convention itself, and asked her team to keep the news secret.

Within the Obama camp, the only real opposition was Michelle, who had never really forgiven Hillary for the bitter primary campaign. Everyone else was more frustrated that Obama had declined to even attempt to vet her formally (though David Axelrod suggested that she'd be no less risky a Vice Presidential nominee than Geraldine Ferraro, a comment that caused massive protests within the Democratic Party when it was revealed as part of a book in 2010).

Within the Clinton camp, opinions were divided on how to proceed. Mark Penn and Bill Clinton hadn't wanted Clinton to accept the offer at all (they had a rather strong dislike for Obama as a result of the primary), while Maggie Williams and Geoff Garin both thought that waiting until the convention to announce was doomed to fail, especially since Clinton techincally had not released her delegates from the primary (as part of the deal with Obama for becoming his running mate, Clinton would not be required to release her delegates, with Michigan and Florida being seated with an even split of delegates for Obama and Clinton, and in exchange Bill Clinton would not speak at the convention, which, while Obama didn't personally support, Michelle insisted he include in subsequent negotiations, and Hillary agreed to those terms. )

Surprisingly, the media never caught on. Some said it was the speculation around John McCain's running mate, which was growing by the day, others said that Clintonworld's ability to keep secrets was unmatched within the Democratic Party, and Obama didn't wish to leak it either.

Whatever the case may be, the first Day of the Democratic Convention dawned, and neither nominee officially had their running mates.

[NewYorkExpress]

The First Night of the Democratic Convention was strong.

The featured speakers were three of Obama's defeated rivals, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Joe Biden, and Senator Chris Dodd, each of whom offered praise to Obama's ability to bring change to Washington.

Then came the two keynote speakers. First was Senator Ted Kennedy. Making the last convention speech of his life, Kennedy stated that Obama would "bring a new season of hope to America".

The second was Michelle Obama. Michelle was doing double duty, as her speech would serve as the nominating speech for Obama's Vice Presidential nominee, which against all odds remained  unknown to the convention audience.

We ask America to make history, not just by electing the first African-American President, but the female Vice President this November. I'm proud to nominate as the Democratic Party's Vice Presidential nominee, a trailblazer and leader for women everywhere, Hillary Rodham Clinton!

Day Two of the Convention was the votes for President and Vice President. Obama was nominated by Clinton, who made a show of formally moving that Obama be nominated by acclimation when the balloting reached New York.

Clinton was nominated by acclimation for Vice President.

That night's convention speeches were headlined by former Vice President Al Gore, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, each of whom praised the selection of Hillary Clinton.

Night Three featured two a keynote speech from Representative Nita Lowey, introducing Clinton, and Hillary Clinton accepting the nomination as Vice President.

Clinton's speech tore into John McCain stating that "In my almost eight years as a Senator, I have yet to see a single instance of him actually being a maverick", calling his policy on Iraq "unhelpful and wrong", stating that his policies would worsen the emerging financial crisis (Bear Stearns had gone bankrupt back in March), and simply asking America "are you better off than you were on January 20, 2001?".

The fourth and final night featured one keynote speech, by Representative Bobby Rush, introducing Obama, and then the speech from Obama himself.

Obama's speech called for Americans to make history in electing himself and Clinton, stating quite simply that "to fulfill these impossible dreams is the cornerstone of what Dr. King believed". He hit McCain on Iraq, calling his policies "dangerous", but otherwise was mostly positive in his speech.

Now, all eyes turned to the Republicans, where John McCain was about to announce his running mate. Still, Obama's convention bounce was sizable, with polls showing him ahead by as much as twenty points nationally (though the average was about seven to eleven points). Not only was he putting states that he was already targeting, like Missouri, Indiana, Alaska, Georgia, the Dakotas, North Carolina and Montana in play, polls were suddenly showing a close race in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and South Carolina. McCain suddenly needed to swing for the fences just to avoid getting completely blown out.

[NewYorkExpress]

For John McCain, the plan had been, knowing that he already needed a miracle to catch Obama, to pick his good friend Joe Lieberman, who had all but been drummed out of the Democratic Party over his position on Iraq (Lieberman would ultimately accept an offer after the election from Mitch McConnell to formally caucus with the Republicans and get better committee assignments from them, in exchange for agreeing not to run for reelection in 2012)

Unfortunately, Lieberman being pro-choice, pro-same-sex marriage, and a bunch of other positions where he opposed Republican dogma made him a non-starter with the McCain team, and making matters worse McCain faced a larger than usual deficit among African-American voters, and a larger than usual in early polling deficit among female voters.

Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt told McCain that while he would have to cede the African American vote to Obama, he needed to make up ground with the female vote and that meant a female running mate. (Like pretty much everyone else, he had no clue that Obama was picking Hillary Clinton).

And so, McCain spent the final two of July, and the first three weeks of August meeting with and vetting prospective running mates at his Sedona ranch.

He met with:

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

 Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle

Representative Kay Granger (R-TX)

Former Representative Susan Molinari (R-NY)

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice

McCain held a personal attachment towards Palin, as he saw a fellow reformer in her. Unfortunately, she'd struggled with the questions asked of her in vetting. Hutchison, Granger and Molinari had done well, but McCain had no connection to any of them. He was personally turned off by Murkowski.

Rice had similar problems to Lieberman in that she was technically pro-abortion and pro Civil-Union, both positions opposed by the Republican base, but polls of the convention delegates of her, Lieberman and Tom Ridge showed her being nominated as Vice President without much difficulty. Rice's bigger problem was that she was tied to a very unpopular Bush Administration, and McCain tying himself even further to that Administration, even though Rice was one of the more popular members of said Administration (her approval ratings were above water at 43-39 as of the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention, of everyone else in the administration, including Bush and Cheney, only Education Secretary Margaret Spellings had more positive approval ratings at this point, at 24-10). Still, her selection meant that McCain wasn't conceding African-Americans to Obama, and that he'd be attempting to wipe out the deficit with female voters (unfortunately, Obama's pick of Hillary Clinton completely reversed this). McCain scheduled a formal announcement with Rice for Friday, August 29, 2008, in Rice's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Republican Convention began on a rocky note, as Hurricane Gustav wiped out the first day entirely, and reduced the second day to merely being the formal roll call votes for McCain and Rice.

The First day being eliminated, and the second day being reduced in scope was a blessing in disguise for McCain, as President Bush and Vice President Cheney, both of whom were scheduled to speak on that day, were no longer able to do so. It also had the unfortunate problem of eliminating Cindy McCain's keynote address, but according her speechwriter, her speech didn't look good at all.

McCain was nominated by acclimation.

Rice, who had formally resigned as Secretary of State the day before the convention, both to comply with the Hatch Act, and because she really didn't want to be an absentee Secretary of State, faced a move for a roll call vote on her nomination from the delegations of Mississippi and South Carolina.

Both states (as well as three Georgia and one Florida delegates) instead voted for Jim DeMint as the Vice Presidential nominee, but this was far from the number required to nominate DeMint instead, or even put Rice's nomination in any real danger.

The third day featured speeches by four of McCain's defeated rivals, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback and Mitt Romney. The last of these speeches, by Romney, served as the nominating speech for Rice, and was followed by Rice's acceptance speech, promising that a McCain administration "would change both the Republican Party, and America".

The Fourth and Final day, featured speeches from McCain's primary rivals in 2000, as Orrin Hatch, Steve Forbes, Elizabeth Dole, John Kasich and Lamar Alexander each spoke in praise of McCain, followed by Joe Lieberman formally introducing McCain as the nominee.

McCain's speech hit Obama as inexperienced, and Clinton as a corrupt creature of Washington, and stated that "only I can bring true change to America".

McCain made up some ground in polling, with polls now showing him trailing anywhere from 5-12 points, with outliers showing a tied race, or Obama ahead by as much as eighteen to twenty points.

Post-Convention Electoral map

[NewYorkExpress]

While much of the drama on the domestic front had been focused on the conventions, and the selection of the running mates, it was easy to forget that quite a bit had been going on outside of this.

Russia invaded Georgia at the beginning of August, and despite non-action from the West (with the exception of French President Nicholas Sarkozy), the invasion received wide condemnation from Western Media. Russia still reached it's military and political objectives (keeping Georgia from joining NATO, stopping the EU sponsored Nabucco Pipeline, and warning off former Soviet Republics from breaking with Russia). The House and Senate passed extensive military and diplomatic sanctions on Russia on August 15, with the sanctions passing the House 386-32, and the Senate 91-7 (Barack Obama and John McCain did not vote, Jeff Sessions, Bernie Sanders, Jim Bunning, George Voinovich, Jim DeMint, Russ Feingold and Tom Coburn all voted against sanctions).

The sanctions would prohibit the sale of any military parts to Russia, the sale of any equipment that could be used for a military purpose to Russia, any equipment that could be used for dual usage military purposes, such as civilian airliners to Russia, prohibited all food and fuel exports to Russia, including humanitarian exports, prohibited currency exchanges of dollars to Russian Rubles by American Nationals and Rubles to dollars by Russian Nationals, and froze the American assets of Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, the economy was quickly melting down, culminating in the Federal Government failing to bail out Lehman Brothers on September 15, and taking control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac later that day.

A bailout to the banking and auto industries, totaling $4 trillion was proposed by the Bush Administration (the amount was doubled in exchange for Obama and Clinton's support and agreement to whip House and Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the bill). On September 29, 2008, two days after the First Presidential debate, the House passed the bailout by a 235-198 vote (Mike Ross, Vic Snyder, Marion Berry, Ben Chandler, Gene Taylor, Ike Skelton, Earl Pomeroy, Dan Boren and John Spratt voted with the Republicans, while Mike Castle, Don Young, Chris Shays, Mark Kirk, Fred Upton, Candice Miller, Vern Ehlers, Dave Reichert and Mike Rogers voted with the Democrats). The next day, the bailout passed in the Senate, 94-5 (John McCain was not present though his campaign indicated in a press release that he would have voted against the bailout, and Jim DeMint, Jim Bunning, Sam Brownback, Jeff Sessions and Tom Coburn all voted against the bailout). On October 2, 2008, President Bush signed the massive bailout into law.

[John King wannabe]

She always comes back.

[NewYorkExpress]

The First Presidential Debate, held at the University of Mississippi, had almost been postponed because of Obama's work whipping House and Senate Democrats into voting for the banking and auto bailout. It was only thanks to Speaker Pelosi confirming that she had the votes to pass the bill that Obama was able to attend on the scheduled date.

Even then, his mind didn't seem to be on the debate, as he struggled on national security questions, though he did well with questions relating to the economy.

As poorly as Obama did, McCain did even worse. He refused to look at or acknowledge Obama, failed to defend his own or the Administration's policies on Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the worst blunder, managed to compare the country's economic meltdown to a management crisis at Home Depot, which was later panned by the media.

While the public generally did not think that Obama had done well, they also felt that McCain had done significantly worse, with undecided voters saying Obama had won the debate by a 50-23 margin.

The Vice Presidential debate was held on October 2, at Washington University in St. Louis, and was widely expected to be a more defining affair than usual, as many observers believed the two nominees for Vice President, in Clinton and Rice, were more qualified than Obama and McCain to serve as President. Both Clinton and Rice aimed their fire at the top at the ticket, and avoided personal attacks. Both Clinton and Rice praised the choices of each other as the other campaign's running mate, and both Clinton and Rice argued their nominee was the one who could bring change to America. Rice, surprisingly was judged to have won the debate when undecided voters were polled, 41-37, but Clinton had significantly helped out the Obama campaign, and in most Obama partisan's eyes, completely erased any lingering doubts about how hard she'd work to get him elected after the bitter primary.

The Second Presidential Debate, held at Belmont University, in Nashville on October 7, was in the Town Hall format, McCain's strength. McCain used this to his advantage, proving to be at ease with the audience questioners, and answering every question just like he was bantering with the press on the Straight Talk Express. Obama by contrast, was stiff and uncomfortable with the audience questioners. Polls of undecided voters picked up on this, with McCain winning 49-27.

The Third Presidential Debate, held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on October 15, made a star out Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, or Joe the Plumber, who was repeatedly referenced by both McCain and Obama in regards to their tax plans, and featured a dramatically improved performance from Obama. McCain meanwhile, struggled under attacks from Obama about his opposition to the bank and auto bailout that had been signed earlier in the month, and Obama also again flatly stating that he (McCain) was not the maverick he claimed to be. When undecided voters were polled, Obama won easily, 58-25.

[NewYorkExpress]

While the debates and the economic collapse were what dominated the headlines throughout the first half of October, there was plenty going on elsewhere.

In New York, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was accused by two women, Karen Hinton and Valerie Bauman of sexual harassment in late September. Governor David Paterson and New York State legislators called for Cuomo to resign, and when Cuomo refused, he was impeached and removed from office (unanimously by the New York State Assembly, with only Serphin Maltese voting against in the Senate/Court of Impeachments for reasons unknown). With Cuomo removed from office, the New York State Legislature had to choose a replacement, and they ultimately chose Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice to succeed Cuomo.

On the Presidential Campaign trail, both the McCain and Obama campaigns had to deal with repeated protesters calling Obama an "Arab", and "not born here" at McCain events, which both McCain and Rice repeatedly tried to tamp down, if not stop altogether. (when Rice tried she was occasionally accussed of not being American as well). Finally, in frustration, McCain and Rice, canceled all of their remaining rallies and fundraisers for the rest of October, and in a bombastic and fiery press conference from Phoenix, told the Republican Party the news they didn't want to hear "that you've brought this loss upon yourselves". He went further, calling many in his party's base "dyed in the wool racists" and that "this week, I'm ashamed to be a Republican".

Colin Powell, who had been leaning towards endorsing Obama, was impressed by McCain's response, and decided to endorse him instead, largely because he liked the selection of Condoleeza Rice as opposed to Hillary Clinton for Vice President, and because McCain's repudiation of the Republican base reminded him strongly of Bill Clinton's repudiation of Sister Souljah and Jesse Jackson in 1992, which he had more or less approved of at the time.

In other news, the already close Senate race in Minnesota was thrown into chaos when the Democratic nominee, comedian Al Franken, was accused of sexual assault on a USO tour in 2006 by radio host Leann Tweeden. The DSCC, responded by cutting Franken off from financial resources, and most politicians who had endorsed him withdrew their endorsements. Hillary Clinton went as far to state that if Franken won, the Senate should immediately expel him, leading to Claire McCaskill to call her a f***ing hypocrite on the Senate floor, and get reprimanded by majority leader Harry Reid for foul language.

Under heavy pressure from Russia (including threats of shutting off all resources, including vital natural gas from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov), Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania announced that they were beginning the procedures to leave NATO on October 3. Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis stated that his country needed to deepen ties with it's more immediate neighbors, Lithuanian Prime Minister Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, (whose minority government was trailing in the polls with elections upcoming on October 12) stated that Russia was a more natural ally, while Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, bluntly stated that the Russian Government had threatened all three Baltic States, and that they were still resisting a Russian demand to also leave the European Union.

Meanwhile, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was arrested in a hotel in London's Chelsea area and charged with raping a desk receptionist. Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director, and by early December he was replaced by the former head of the Bundesbank, Ernst Welteke.

[NewYorkExpress]

The end of October brought largely quiet silence on the campaign trail from McCain and Rice. Obama and Clinton sought to win as large a margin in the electoral college as possible, running ads in all fifty states.

Even so, both Obama and Clinton were impressed by McCain's repudiation of the Republican base, and Obama even suggested to his Presidential transition team offering McCain a cabinet position (he was thinking of either Secretary of Homeland Security or Secretary of Veteran's Affairs).

Meanwhile, President Bush had declined to nominate a formal replacement for Rice back in August, both because he felt that Senate wouldn't confirm someone (he was wrong) and because he felt it was pointless with so little time left in his term. Instead, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was named Acting Secretary of State in lieu of Bush actually nominating anyone, and now had run into a diplomatic crisis with the forced withdrawals of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia from NATO by Russia. Already, Congress had passed massive sanctions on Russia, but now, with the assistance of Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, and with the approval of President Bush new sanctions were passed on Russia, which instituted a complete embargo on Russia by the United States, beyond what Congress had already approved, as well as sanctions on any multinational corporation doing business in Russia.

Meanwhile, the final piece of legislation Congress passed before the election was legislation to withdraw all American troops from Iraq (which was going through ongoing sectarian violence, 1,035 people had died, including 68 United States soldiers and 13 British soldiers in terrorist attacks or other sectarian violence.). The legislation introduced in the House by Dennis Kucinich and John Lewis, which mandated that all United States troops be withdrawn by January 1, 2010, passed there by a party-line 235-198 vote on October 10. In the Senate, the same legislation was sponsored by Bernie Sanders and Russ Feingold, and passed 50-49 (Ted Stevens was not present, and Joe Lieberman voted with the Republicans) on October 14. President Bush however, vetoed the legislation on October 16, and the attempt in the House to override the veto failed.

In Alaska, an already close Senate was upended when Ted Stevens was convicted on corruption charges relating to the VECO scandal on October 27. Stevens, who was in a close race with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, suspended active campaigning, and many Republican operatives now expected him to lose the Senate race.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

NYE Timeline checklist:

-Al Franken scandal comes out early (COMPLETED)

-Something partisanship would never allow (Republicans signing a $4T bill, 2012 GOP ticket promising to resign to allow the speaker to take charge) (COMPLETED)

Curious how the Clinton divorce will go.

[NewYorkExpress]

Election Results 2008


Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton (D) 57%
John McCain/Condoleezza Rice (R) 41%

House of Representatives

AL-2: Bobby Bright defeats Jay Love (D Gain)

AK-At-Large: Ethan Berkowitz defeats Don Young (D Gain)

AZ-1: Ann Kirkpatrick defeats Sydney Hay (D Gain)

CO-4: Betsy Markey defeats Marylin Musgrave (D Gain)

CT-4: Jim Himes defeats Chris Shays (D-Gain)

FL-8: Alan Grayson defeats Ric Keller (D Gain)

FL-13: Christine Jennings defeats Vern Buchanan (D Gain)

FL-16 Tom Rooney defeats Tim Mahoney (R Gain)

FL-24: Suzanne Kosmas defeats Tom Feeney (D Gain)

ID-1: Walt Minnick defeats Bill Sali (D Gain)

IL-10: Dan Seals defeats Mark Kirk (D Gain)

IL-11: Debbie Halvorson defeats Marty Ozinga (D Gain)

KS-2: Nancy Boyda defeats Lynn Jenkins (D Hold)

LA-2: Anh "Joseph" Cao defeats Bill Jefferson (R Gain)

LA-6: Bill Cassidy defeats Don Cazayoux (R Gain)

MD-1: Frank Kratovil defeats Andy Harris (D Gain)

MI-7: Mark Schauer defeats Tim Walberg (D Gain)

MI-9: Gary Peters defeats Joe Knollenberg (D Gain)

MI-6: Elwyn Tinkleberg defeats Michelle Bachmann (D Gain)

NV-3: Dina Titus defeats Jon Porter (D Gain)

NJ-3: Chris Meyer defeats John Adler (R Hold)

NM-1: Martin Heinrich defeats Darren White (D Gain)

NM-2: Harry Teague defeats Edward Tinsley (D Gain)

NY-13: Michael McMahon defeats Robert Strainere (D Gain)

NY-25: Dan Maffei defeats Dale Sweetland (D Gain)

NY-29: Randy Kuhl defeats Eric Massa (R Hold)

NC-8: Larry Kissell defeats Robin Hayes (D Gain)

OH-1: Steven Dreihaus defeats Steve Chabot (D Gain)

OH-15: Steve Stivers defeats Mary Jo Kilroy (R Hold)

OH-16: John Boccieri defeats Kirk Schuring (D Gain)

PA-3: Kathy Dahlkemper defeats Phil English (D Gain)

TX-22: Nick Lampson defeats Pete Olson (D Hold)

VA-2: Glenn Nye defeats Thelma Drake (D Gain)

VA-5: Vergil Goode defeats Tom Perellio (R Hold)

VA-11: Gerry Connolly defeats Keith Fimian (D Gain)

WA-8: Darcy Burner defeats Dave Reichert (D Gain)

Governors

Delaware: Jack Markell defeats William Swain Lee (D Hold)

Indiana: Mitch Daniels defeats Jill Long Thompson (R Hold)

Missouri: Kenny Hulshof defeats Jay Nixon (R Gain)

Montana: Brian Schweitzer defeats Roy Brown (D Hold)

New Hampshire: John Lynch defeats Joseph Kenney (D Hold)

North Carolina: Bev Purdue defeats Pat McCrory (D Hold)

North Dakota: John Hoeven defeats Tim Mathern (R Hold)

Utah: John Huntsman Jr. defeats Bob Springmayer (R Hold)

Vermont: Jim Douglas defeats Anthony Pollina and Gaye Symington (R Hold)

Washington Dino Rossi defeats Christine Gergiore (R Gain)

West Virginia: Joe Manchin defeats Russ Weeks (D Hold)

Senate

Alabama: Jeff Sessions defeats Vivian Davis Figures (R Hold)

Alaska: Mark Begich defeats Ted Stevens (D Gain)

Arkansas: Mark Pryor defeats Rebekah Kennedy (D Hold)

Colorado Mark Udall defeats Bob Schaffer (D Gain)

Delaware: Joe Biden defeats Christine O'Donnell (D Hold)

Georgia: Saxby Chambilss defeats Jim Martin (R Hold)

Idaho: Jim Risch defeats Larry LaRocco (R Hold)

Illinois: Dick Durbin defeats Steve Sauerberg (D Hold)

Iowa Tom Harkin defeats Christopher Reed (D Hold)

Kansas: Pat Roberts defeats Jim Slattery (R Hold)

Kentucky: Bruce Lunsford defeats Mitch McConnell (D Gain)

Louisiana Mary Landrieu defeats John Kennedy (D Hold)

Maine: Tom Allen defeats Susan Collins (D Gain)

Massachusetts John Kerry defeats Jeff Beatty (D Hold)

Michigan: Carl Levin defeats Jack Hoogendyk (D Hold)

Minnesota: Norm Coleman defeats Al Franken and Dean Barkley (R Hold)

Mississippi: Thad Cochran defeats Erik Fleming (R Hold)

Montana: Max Baucus defeats Bob Kelleher (D Hold)

Nebraska: Mike Johanns defeats Scott Kleeb (R Hold)

New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen defeats John Sununnu (D Gain)

New Jersey: Frank Lautenberg defeats Dick Zimmer (D Hold)

New Mexico: Tom Udall defeats Steve Pearce (D Gain)

North Carolina: Kay Hagan defeats Elizabeth Dole (D Gain)

Oklahoma: Jim Inhofe defeats Andrew Rice  (R Hold)

Oregon: Jeff Merkely defeats Gordon Smith (D Gain)

Rhode Island: Jack Reed defeats Robert Tingle (D Hold)

South Carolina: Lindsey Graham defeats Bob Conley (R Hold)

South Dakota: Tim Johnson defeats Joel Dykstra (D Hold)

Tennessee: Lamar Alexander defeats Bob Tuke (R Hold)

Texas: John Cornyn defeats Rick Noriega (R Hold)

Virginia: Mark Warner defeats Jim Gilmore (D Gain)

West Virginia: Jay Rockefeller defeats Jay Wolfe (D Hold)

Wyoming: Mike Enzi defeats Chris Rothfuss (R Hold)

[NewYorkExpress]

NYE Timeline checklist:

-Al Franken scandal comes out early (COMPLETED)

-Something partisanship would never allow (Republicans signing a $4T bill, 2012 GOP ticket promising to resign to allow the speaker to take charge) (COMPLETED)

Curious how the Clinton divorce will go.

McCain didn't, for the record, promise to resign if he won.

No comment on whether Hillary's getting divorced any time soon, but I will say her continued marriage to Bill has the potential to be a massive source of friction between her and Michelle Obama....

[NewYorkExpress]

Almost as soon as McCain conceded the election, which happened as the polls closed on the West Coast, Obama was in the transition office discussing cabinet picks. He hoped to have a full cabinet, plus several other high profile positions, nominated by New Year's Day (though Mid-December was an even better goal).

Obama named Clinton's former campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, as the incoming White House Chief of Staff.

As he'd promised Joe Biden, the Delaware Senator was nominated for Secretary of State, and was the first announced nominee by Obama team.

Next to be announced was were the remaining picks for Obama's foreign and Defense policy team.  For Ambassador to the United Nations, Obama nominated Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. For the position of Trade Representative, Obama chose former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk. For the position of Secretary of Defense, Obama nominated former General and 2004 Presidential candidate Wesley Clark. For Director of National Intelligence, Obama nominated former Representative and White House Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, and for Secretary of Homeland Security, Obama elected to nominate his 2008 opponent, Senator John McCain.

Meanwhile, on the more Domestic Policy front, the remaining big two cabinet positions, at the Department of Justice and the Secretary of the Treasury were the next two to be filled. Obama nominated the Dean of the Harvard of Law School, Elena Kagan to the position of Attorney General, while for Secretary of the Treasury, Obama chose the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy Geithner.

The remainder of the President's cabinet and cabinet level officials were gradually filled in. Economist Austan Goolsbee was named Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, businesswoman Karen Mills was nominated to be head of the Small Business Adminstration, a position that would be elevated to Cabinet level.

The Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Peter Orszag, was nominated to be Director of the Office of Management and budget. In a major coup, former Vice President Al Gore was nominated to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter became the nominee for Secretary of Agriculture, California State Senator Carole Migden ended up being a surprise nominee for Secretary of the Interior (apparently on recommendation from Nancy Pelosi), Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren became the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney became the nominee for Secretary of Commerce, the President of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney became the nominee for Secretary of Labor, Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale became the nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Former Chairman of the MTA Richard Ravitch became the nominee for Secretary of Transportation, physicist Steven Chu became the nominee for Secretary of Energy, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein became the nominee for Secretary of Education, and the Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, Tammy Duckworth, became the nominee for Secretary of Veterans's affairs.

As he'd promised, Obama had all of his major nominees lined up by the middle of December (with the exception of Migden, who wasn't announced until Christmas Eve.).

[NewYorkExpress]

The nuts and bolts of who would replace Obama, Clinton, Biden and McCain in the Senate became the major storyline, of a quiet lame duck session on Capitol Hill.

In Illinois, a major scandal erupted when Governor Rod Blagojevich, already under investigation for various scandals, was arrested in late November on charges of attempting to sell President-elect Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder and violating Illinois campaign financing laws , after being caught on a wiretap discussing with his Chief of Staff John Harris how he was going to ask for a minimum donation of $500,000 dollars to his 2010 reelection campaign account, with the highest donor being appointed to the Senate seat. If no one met the threshold, then Blagojevich would simply appoint himself to the Senate seat. The Illinois legislature moved quickly to remove Blagojevich from office, impeaching him in the House of Representatives on December 5, in a unanimous vote, and voting to convict him in the State Senate by a 58-0 margin (Carole Pankau did not vote, and was absent during the entire impeachment trial). After Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn was sworn in, he appointed former Carbondale City Councilwoman Sheila Simon as Obama's replacement in the Senate, pending Obama's resignation.

In New York, Governor David Paterson had the problem of pretty much every ambitious New York politician wanting to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate. He needed someone who could scare off any possible primary challenger in 2010, and scare off a serious Republican opponent (not that the Senate seat was likely to be in play, but one never knew). Andrew Cuomo had been his first choice before the election, but his career had gone up in flames following the allegations of multiple sexual assaults. Despite speculation surrounding Caroline Kennedy, Kathleen Rice, Christine Quinn, Nita Lowey and others, one name stood out to Paterson. The question was whether he was interested. Luckily for Paterson, he was, and so, on December 19, Paterson announced that former President of the United States Bill Clinton would be his pick to succeed his wife Hillary Clinton in the United States Senate.

In Delaware, outgoing Governor Ruth Ann Minner had decided to appoint a placeholder to the Senate to replace Joe Biden. Depending on when Biden resigned, she thought she could even appoint herself. However, it was clear that Biden likely wouldn't be confirmed until after inauguration day. So, on December 10, in a press conference with Governor-Elect Jack Markell, Minner confirmed that she would be appointed to the Senate seat being vacated by Biden. She also confirmed that she would not run for reelection in 2010.

In Arizona, Governor Janet Napolitano was required to appoint a Republican to replace McCain. She took the longest amount of time to make her decision, largely because she wasn't sure McCain would be confirmed by the Senate, and because she wasn't sure what type of Republican she wanted to appoint to replace him. Napolitano was interested in running for the Senate in her own right in 2010, and wasn't sure if she wanted to appoint a weak possible opponent, or someone who wouldn't run at all. Finally, she reached a decision, and announced it the same day as McCain was confirmed by the full Senate. Her choice was former Representative Jim Kolbe. Kolbe would neither confirm or deny his interest in running for a full term in 2010, only stating briefly that he "didn't expect to win a primary if he did run."

[NewYorkExpress]

Obama's Cabinet nominees largely sailed through their confirmation hearings, with the new Senate taking most of January and the beginning of February to confirm most of the Cabinet. Only a few nominees ran into any real difficulty.

John McCain's nomination for Secretary of Homeland Security ran into a brief spot of trouble, not because of any actual opposition to the concept of McCain in the Cabinet, but because some Republicans were accusing Obama of installing a weak Republican for Janet Napolitano to defeat in 2010. As such, McCain faced a fillibuster, led by Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint. However, on January 25, 2009, the fillibuster was broken, 81-15, and later that day McCain was confirmed by the Senate, 95-3 (Coburn, DeMint and John Ensign were the three no votes).

Al Gore's nomination as EPA Administrator faced almost united opposition, as most Republicans denied climate science, and a unanimous filibuster by Senate Republicans kept Gore's nomination off of the Senate floor deep into the Spring. Frustrated, Gore withdrew his nomination on May 21, 2009, and lambasted the Republican Party for "being out of touch with reality on climate science". Obama now nominated enviornmental scientist Jane Lubchenco, who had been the nominee for the position of Administrator of NOAA, and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere. Again Republicans attempted to fillibuster the nomination, with John Cornyn and David Vitter leading the charge, and threatening to fillibuster any nominee to the position, and demanding the abolition of the EPA. However, this time, Democrats had enough votes to break the fillibuster, which they did on July 12, 2009 by a 66-32 margin, and Lubchenco was confirmed on July 13, 70-27.

Wesley Clark's nomination as Secretary of Defense ran into extended trouble as well, as he faced opposition from Senators of both parties about the circumstances of his leaving his post as Commander of European Command, his actions during the Kosovo War and NATO bombing campaign, and his general abrasive personality, had left him with many enemies in the Senate.  Indeed, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, tried to keep Clark from getting a hearing, only to be told by Majority Leader Harry Reid and newly sworn in New York Senator Bill Clinton (who had been named Democratic Caucus Secretary, the number four position in Senate leadership upon being sworn in) that Clark had to get a hearing. Clark did, and got out of the hearing, and a vote on Clark's nomination on May 5, 2009, led to the nomination being defeated in the Senate, 31-68. Obama now nominated former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre. Hamre sailed through his committee hearings, and was confirmed by a voice vote on May 15, 2009.

[NewYorkExpress]

President Obama and the Democratic Congress's first priority was getting a stimulus passed to get shovel ready jobs going. On January 23, a $1.1 Trillion stimulus package full of infrastructure and other building projects was introduced in the House. The stimulus passed there, 256-165 on February 5. However, in the Senate, it was fillibustered by Jim DeMint, who pointed out that after the $4 trillion bailout of banks and automakers, American taxpayers could not reasonably expect to spend such an "obscene" amount of money on a stimulus that would "do nothing for the economy". The fillibuster was broken on March 1, in a 69-29 vote, and on March 3, the stimulus passed, 72-28.

President Obama's first inclination was to present a healthcare plan, presumably similar to Romneycare to Congress by the end of 2009, fulfilling a promise to Ted Kennedy. However, Vice President Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Reid counseled him to wait, telling him that presenting any healthcare legislation would likely cost Democrats the majority in the midterms.
Instead, Obama threw his support behind legislation that had been introduced by Representative Dennis Kucinich in January, before he had been sworn in, that would fully repeal the Patriot Act, and encouraged House and Senate Democrats to come up with replacement legislation.

Russ Feingold, however, threatened to fillibuster any replacement for the Patriot Act in the Senate, and a Patriot Act repeal did not have the votes to pass in either the House or the Senate, and it's repeal generally was divisive with the public, and as a result, Obama's approval ratings declined.

The 2010 Midterm picture also slowly began taking shape as well. In Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner had already announced that she would not run to complete the term of Joe Biden, now Secretary of State, and in early February popular Attorney General Beau Biden announced that he would run for the seat.

In Arizona, appointed Senator Jim Kolbe announced in early February, that he would not run for a full term, surprising no one. Within days, top candidates on both sides, in Governor Janet Napolitano for the Democrats, and Secretary of State Jan Brewer for the Republicans.

In Governor's races, the focus was on the Governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey.

In New Jersey, Governor Jon Corzine faced a stiff challenge from U.S Attorney Chris Christie, while in the open seat race in Virginia, former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe led a crowded Democratic primary field ahead of the June Primary, buoyed by endorsements from Bill and Hillary Clinton. Republicans in Virginia, meanwhile were pinning their hopes on the late entry of former Governor Jim Gilmore, after Attorney General Bob McDonnell dropped out, and instead elected to run for reelection, and prepare for a Senate campaign in 2012.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Early months of 2009 were not just filled with Domestic policy challenges for President Obama, but also foreign policy difficulties as well.

Chinese President Hu Jintao announced on January 27, that the "One Party, Two Systems" form of government that had governed Hong Kong and Macau since their handover by the United Kingdom and Portugal respectively, would come to an end on June 4, 2009 with the formal replacement of the governments there with a Party Secretary appointed by Beijing. On February 15, the day he arrived at the UN, Ambassador Jon Huntsman put forward a resolution, co-sponsored by the United Kingdom and Japan, to issue formal UN backed sanctions against China. China and Russia each issued vetoes against the sanctions resolution.

On February 16, following the failure of the sanctions resolution, and the deaths of 1,116 residents of Hong Kong and Macau after violent protests over the change in their status (892 of them in Hong Kong alone), United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced that they were severing relations with China, and that they would, in the coming days, reestablish relations with Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch got into trouble during this crisis, when The Sun a British Tabloid he owned called for "several hundred thousand soldiers to land in Hong Kong, and maybe a few nukes to fall on Beijing and Shanghai", leading to Secretary of State for Defence, John Hutton to call for Murdoch's media assets in Britain to be shut down because they were "dangerous to world peace".

In North Korea, Kim Jong-il, the leader of the country since 1997, died at 67 of a heart attack in Pyongyang. on February 2. Almost immediately, his son, Kim Jong-un was declared the new leader of North Korea. In a statement in early March, Kim Jong-un stated that North Korea would be willing to give up their nuclear weapons in exchange for an "eternal guarantee" of his and the Worker's Party of Korea's rule of North Korea's, and the abandonment of South Korea, by the United States and all other countries. This was summarily rejected by Secretary of State Biden, speaking on behalf of the Administration, who said in a speech in Seoul on March 11, that the United States will "never abandon South Korea".

In Israel, early elections in February were held following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation, and new Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni's failure to form a coalition government. Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, and running on a campaign of "Muslims are the enemy, stop them before they kill us" won an outright majority in the Knesset, with 63 seats, enabling it to form a government without needing to create a coalition.

Meanwhile, the United States for the first time, took part in proceedings at International Criminal Court, despite never formally joining the court, when Attorney General Kagan announced she was forwarding a request to that court to prosecute Saudi Arabia for it's involvement in the terror attacks on 9/11/01. In America, this was both viewed as a political stunt (especially since the United States never joined the International Criminal Court), and enormously popular with the public (a December 2008 poll by Rasmussen stated that 81% of those polled believed that the Saudi Arabian Government, or individuals in the Saudi Government were intimately involved in planning the 9/11 attacks), and Kagan quickly became the most popular member of the Administration.

[NewYorkExpress]

In late April, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement from the Supreme Court at the conclusion of the Court's term in June, telling the Washington Post that he'd "grown too old to fulfill the duties of a Supreme Court Justice with the vigor required of me". Shortly before Memorial Day, President Obama announced the nomination of appellate court judge Sonia Sotomayor, to replace Stevens. Sotomayor did well at her confirmation hearings, which took place in Late June, but Senate Republicans (with the exceptions of Olympia Snowe and Joe Lieberman) were united in opposition to her, and attempted to block her nomination, however Democrats had the votes to defeat the fillibuster, and after the fillibuster was broken on August 3, 60-38 (all Democrats except for Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd, plus Olympia Snowe and Joe Lieberman), Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate on the same day by a 58-40 vote (Bruce Lunsford and Byron Dorgan voting against Sotomayor after voting for cloture).

Meanwhile, the Gubernatorial primaries in New Jersey featured no surprises, as Governor Jon Corzine turned back perennial opponent and conspiracy theorist Jeff Boss in the Democratic Primary, while former U.S Attorney Chris Christie turned aside a primary challenge from from former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan. Christie also managed to clear a rival out of the primary by offering the newly created position of Lieutenant Governor to a candidate that was challenging him, Assemblyman Rick Merkt, while Corzine's running mate for the election was Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healey.

In Virginia, former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe defeated State Senator Creigh Deeds in the Democratic Primary, while a third opponent, State Delegate Brian Moran, dropped out and chose to run for Lieutenant Governor instead.

On the Republican side, former Governor Jim Gilmore won the Republican primary with no opposition.

In the Virginia Lieutenant Governor's race, State Delegate Brian Moran defeated former Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner, while incumbent Bill Bolling was renominated without opposition.

In the Attorney General's race in Virginia, State Delegate Steve Shannon won the nomination without opposition, while the Republicans had a major upset when State Senator Ken Cuccinelli defeated the incumbent, Bob McDonnell in the Republican Primary, putting an end to the latter's hopes of running for the Senate in 2012.

[NewYorkExpress]

The picture for control of the Senate continued to develop as the Spring of 2010 dawned. In Hawaii, the race was thrown into early turmoil when longtime Senator Daniel Inouye, who had served since 1962, was accused of sexual assault by Vice President Clinton's Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin at a press conference on April 10, 2009. Clinton, later that day, corroborated Abedin's story, stating that she'd been trying to get her longtime aide to go public for years after the assault, which happened in 2005, and called for Inouye's resignation, or failing that, for the Senate to expel him. Inouye initially refused to resign, and it was only after Majority Leader Reid, and Minority Leader John Cornyn announced on August 2, that the Senate would take expulsion hearings on Inouye after any final vote on Sonia Sotomayor to be an associate justice for the Supreme Court, and that expulsion vote was set for August 10, did Inouye resign, effective as of August 9, 2009.

As Governor, Linda Lingle was restricted to appointing Inouye's replacement from a list of three  names provided by the Hawaii Democratic Party. Lingle requested that Hawaii Democrats choose individuals who would not run for a full term (she was interested in running for the seat herself in 2010, and there was speculation that she would have challenged Inouye). Hawaii Democrats responded by sending Lingle with the names of Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, State Senator, Colleen Hanabusa and Representative Mazie Hirono. On August 17, Lingle announced the appointment of Representative Hirono to succeed Inouye in the Senate, and set a special election for Hirono's House seat for November 3, Election Day, with primaries (if necessary) to take place on October 6.

In Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy announced on April 31, that he would resign, effective on September 1, to spend his final months at home with his family. Unfortunately for Kennedy, he didn't quite live that long, dying on August 25. After Kennedy's speculation about who would be appointed to fill the seat, and who run in the special election, which would be scheduled for January 2010, filled the air. Despite speculation that a placeholder, such as Michael Dukakis (who expressed interest in a placeholder appointment to the Senate) would be appointed until the special election, Governor Deval Patrick stated that any appointee needed to be willing to run in the special election. On September 9, Patrick appointed Attorney General Martha Coakley. Almost immediatley, Coakley drew two primary challenges, from Representative Mike Capuano and Boston Mayor Michael Ross, who had succeeded to the Mayoralty when Thomas Menino resigned to become Ambassador to the Holy See.

On the Republican side, State Senator Scott Brown entered the race, and faced no serious opposition.

In Florida, incumbent Senator Mel Martinez announced in May that he was retiring. Despite speculation that popular Governor Charlie Crist would run for the seat, Crist chose to run for reelection. Republicans still ended up with a strong (at least in their minds) candidate when former Governor Jeb Bush shocked political observers on June 6, by announcing that he would run for the newly open seat. Democrats meanwhile, had to deal with a potentially ugly three way primary battle between Representative Kendrick Meek, former Secretary of Health and Human Services (and President of the University of Miami) Donna Shahala and Businessman Jeff Greene, which had devolved into personal attacks on a regular basis, especially between the Meek and Shahala campaign teams.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Did Inouye have any sexual assault cases IOTL?

[NewYorkExpress]

Did Inouye have any sexual assault cases IOTL?

There have been rumors going around about him, but nothing proven.

The actual story is taken from Huma Abedin's recent book, where the Senator in question was unnamed IOTL. I just assumed it was Inouye she was talking about.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Did Inouye have any sexual assault cases IOTL?

There have been rumors going around about him, but nothing proven.

The actual story is taken from Huma Abedin's recent book, where the Senator in question was unnamed IOTL. I just assumed it was Inouye she was talking about.

Is there anything in her book that suggests him?

[NewYorkExpress]

Did Inouye have any sexual assault cases IOTL?

There have been rumors going around about him, but nothing proven.

The actual story is taken from Huma Abedin's recent book, where the Senator in question was unnamed IOTL. I just assumed it was Inouye she was talking about.

Is there anything in her book that suggests him?

I haven't read the book, but she left the Senator in question unnamed, but also stated that the event occurred in 2005.

I could have made it Obama and had him resign and had Hillary elevated to the White House, but that would have been too unrealistic in my opinion. He's way too faithful to Michelle to go around sexually assaulting other Senators's staffers.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Did Inouye have any sexual assault cases IOTL?

There have been rumors going around about him, but nothing proven.

The actual story is taken from Huma Abedin's recent book, where the Senator in question was unnamed IOTL. I just assumed it was Inouye she was talking about.

Is there anything in her book that suggests him?

I haven't read the book, but she left the Senator in question unnamed, but also stated that the event occurred in 2005.

I could have made it Obama and had him resign and had Hillary elevated to the White House, but that would have been too unrealistic in my opinion. He's way too faithful to Michelle to go around sexually assaulting other Senators's staffers.

Not to mention that if a Clinton staffer did this against Obama it would immediately be assumed as a power play since Clinton is next in line and people distrust her.

[NewYorkExpress]

Did Inouye have any sexual assault cases IOTL?

There have been rumors going around about him, but nothing proven.

The actual story is taken from Huma Abedin's recent book, where the Senator in question was unnamed IOTL. I just assumed it was Inouye she was talking about.

Is there anything in her book that suggests him?

I haven't read the book, but she left the Senator in question unnamed, but also stated that the event occurred in 2005.

I could have made it Obama and had him resign and had Hillary elevated to the White House, but that would have been too unrealistic in my opinion. He's way too faithful to Michelle to go around sexually assaulting other Senators's staffers.

Not to mention that if a Clinton staffer did this against Obama it would immediately be assumed as a power play since Clinton is next in line and people distrust her.

Also true, but Clinton and Obama currently have a very good working relationship at the moment.