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

[Orwell]

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.

Ahh yes, this would be too unrealistic in a timeline with... checks notes... Bill Clinton becoming Senator from New York in 2009

[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.

Ahh yes, this would be too unrealistic in a timeline with... checks notes... Bill Clinton becoming Senator from New York in 2009

I can only suspend disbelief so many times per TL.

[NewYorkExpress]

New York City Democrats had, at the urging of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, passed legislation that removed term limits for the Mayor's office, Citywide officials and the City Council in December 2008. Unfortunately, for Bloomberg, this decision backfired on him (it didn't really hurt anyone in the City Council, however), as he faced significant opposition from both Republicans and Democrats, with polls showing him in third place behind both a hypothetical Democratic and Republican nominee.

The Democrats had a bitter primary battle ongoing between City Councilman Bill De Blasio and City Comptroller Bill Thompson, while Republicans were set to nominate Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan. With polls showing Bloomberg in third place at around 15% (and almost 20% behind Donovan), the incumbent bowed out of the race in early April.

Over the course of the late winter and early Spring, President Obama received information that Osama Bin Laden was in Abbottabad, Pakistan. On May 18, 2009, Obama authorized an operation, to be conducted by the Navy SEAL's and Army Green Berets to kill Bin Laden and anyone else hiding with him. The mission was a success, as Bin Laden and fourteen others were killed, with no United States casualties, in pre-dawn hours of May 19.

However, this would not be the end of American activity in Pakistan. On June 18, the Washington Post ran an explosive interview with a senior member of Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence, which stated that top members of Pakistan's Government, including President Pervez Musharraf had knowingly provided sanctuary to Bin Laden and other senior members of Al-Qaeda, such as Ayman Al-Zwahiri, upon their flight from Afghanistan, and were continuing to do so.

In the UN, Ambassador Huntsman introduced a sanctions resolution against Pakistan, which got unanimous support in the security council (with China and Russia abstaining), which imposed economic sanctions on Pakistan similar to those the U.S had imposed on Iran after Ayatollah Khomeni came to power in 1979. The United States added to these sanctions by announcing that they would would be prohibiting all but basic humanitarian aid to enter Pakistan from the United States, and that any company that wished to do business in the United States could not do business in Pakistan as well.

Republicans in Congress, led by House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senator Joe Lieberman pushed for military action against Pakistan in hearings with Secretary of State Biden, Secretary of Defense Hamre, Secretary of Homeland Security McCain and CIA Director Leon Panetta, with Lieberman, joined by Senators Lindsey Graham and Norm Coleman, outright called for the Administration to institute a policy of regime change and putting in American puppet state in Pakistan. Hamre and Panetta refused to acknowledge the comments, Biden stated that it was a "bad idea to try and overthrow a state that has nuclear weapons", and McCain stated that while sympathetic to the idea, he believed that overthrowing Pakistan's government would do the opposite of what Congressional Republicans intended and actually embolden terrorists there, rather than neutralize them, based on American experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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

McCain not supporting a Freedom War is ASB.

[NewYorkExpress]

McCain not supporting a Freedom War is ASB.

McCain kind of has to toe the Obama line here as Secretary of Homeland Security, and he's well aware Pakistan already has nuclear weapons and would be perfectly willing to use them on American troops to defend themselves, which neither Iraq or Afghanistan had. He's being a pragmatist and a realist, though he is sympathetic to the Republican position.

[NewYorkExpress]

Early legislation coming out of the Democratic Congress began with financial legislation, sponsored by Barney Frank in the House and Chris Dodd in the Senate, that would eliminate the Office of Thrift Supervision, created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with an agency head appointed for a term of five years, confirrmable by the United States Senate, increased powers and responsibilities for the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission, and a ban on members of Congress, the Executive Branch and the Federal Judiciary from having any outside source of income other than their salaries, with the penalty being expulsion from office and a maximum of eighteen months in prison. (the latter being added as an amendment by Mike Pence in an attempt to sink the bill, which failed). The bill passed the House, 224-201, and a similar version (without the Pence Amendment) made it through the Senate 62-37 on June 9, 2009. (Ted Kennedy did not vote, Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Joe Lieberman voted with the Democrats. Blanche Lincoln voted with the Republicans.) Rather than go through a conference committee, the House simply passed the Senate version, 221-200, on June 11. President Obama signed the legislation on June 24, 2009.

Despite Speculation that Secretary of Health and Human Services Elizabeth Warren would be appointed Chair of the CFBP, as she, along with Treasury Secretary Geithner had taken the lead in promoting the bill to recalcitrant legislators on Capitol Hill, however moderates in both parties, such as Arlen Specter and Blanche Lincoln warned Obama that Warren would not survive a Senate fillibuster for a mostly financial position. Obama instead chose to nominate Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray instead, and he avoided a fillibuster after he promised in his committee hearings in response to a question by Jim DeMint, to not accept renomination if Obama or another Democrat attempted to renominate him in 2014. Cordray was confirmed 72-19 on September 1, 2009.

Meanwhile, the 2010 midterm picture continued to sharpen. In Kentucky, Jim Bunning, under pressure from Senate Republicans announced that he would retire, and in Ohio, George Voinovich announced that he would retire. While both sides, struggled initially to recruit in Kentucky, Ohio was different. Republicans recruited a strong candidate in Auditor Mary Taylor, while Democrats had a difficult primary brewing between Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher.

The 2012 Presidential field also drew the first significant contender, almost two and a half years before the 2012 Iowa Caucuses, as former Representative Rick Lazio filed with the FEC for a Presidential campaign on July 27, 2009. In doing so, Lazio eschewed a Gubernatorial bid, where the incumbent, David Paterson was vulnerable (he would endorse the campaign of Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray in Gubernatorial Race), and a Senate bid, where Bill Clinton was less vulnerable...if he ran for reelection (Lazio would endorse the candidacy of Northern District of New York prosecutor John Katko in the Senate race).

[NewYorkExpress]

On June 20, 2009 a new Osama Bin Laden bombshell erupted, when the Washington Post , led by correspondent Dan Balz and reporter David Nakamura, revealed the existence of a letter, found in Osama Bin Laden's Abbotabad Compound by the United States Navy SEALS, written on June 9, 2001 by the Crown Regent of Saudi Arabia at the time, and future king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which essentially gave the Al-Qaeda leader a green light to organize a "devastating jihad against the Americans and all who support them", and offered suggestions on possible targets, advising Bin Laden not to attack the Pentagon, and instead target The White House instead.

That night, Vice President Clinton, holding a press conference on behalf of the Administration (President Obama was cleaning out the belongings of his late grandmother and had essentially decided to leave Clinton in charge, to the point where he'd scheduled a cabinet meeting and told her by phone from Chicago that she was running it), stated that the administration would do whatever it took to punish Saudi Arabia, but that "we've learned from the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan. There will be no American troops on the ground." When Obama returned on June 22, he reiterated that statement, stating that putting American troops in Mecca would be a disaster.

Even so, Congress attempted to force the issue, as Representative Peter King attempted to spearhead a declaration of war against Saudi Arabia, even without the President asking for one. Said declaration passed in the House, 245-177 on July 17, but on July 19, the proposed declaration of war was blocked in the Senate 38-60 (Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd did not vote, Bob Menendez voted with all Republicans in favor of the declaration of war.).

Instead, President Obama confirmed that the authorization of military force passed after 9/11 covered this, and ordered airstrikes against Riyadh and Jeddah. Obama also personally vetoed plans to drop a nuclear missile on Mecca, which had been proposed by General Michael Flynn, stating that "he didn't want Washington to get nuked if and when the Saudi's recovered and acquired nuclear weapons of their own".

While all of this was going on, there was much more going on elsewhere. The International Olympic Committee had awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics to Sochi, Russia back in 2007, and on July 1, President Obama confirmed that the United States would tentatively boycott the Sochi games citing the ongoing sanctions of Russia. He did leave the door open for the boycott to be reversed if he lost in 2012, but several high-profile Republicans, most notably Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (all of whom were openly being discussed as possible 2012 candidates) praised Obama for this decision.

In terms of 2010, Bill Clinton had been picked to fill the New York Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton because Governor David Paterson thought he could ward off a primary challenger. Unfortunately for the former President and freshman Senator, that was an inaccurate assumption. While Labor Advocate and 2006 candidate Jonathan Tasini was struggling in the polls, that couldn't be said for the other candidate challenging Clinton, Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul. Hochul was running a strong campaign, racking up endorsements, especially from upstate. The most recent polling had Clinton leading by just 41-37 margin, with Tasini way behind at just 2%. Making matters worse for Clinton, former Governor George Pataki announced that he would run for the Senate in mid-June. While Pataki faced nominal opposition from prosecutor John Katko, he was far ahead in the polls, and Katko ultimately chose to switch Senate races in October 2009, switching from challenging Clinton, to challenging incumbent Chuck Schumer, where he would face Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos and retired CIA officer Gary Berntsen in the Republican Primary.

[NewYorkExpress]

House Democrats faced an ugly scandal when on August 2, Representative Anthony Weiner was arrested as he left a meeting with Bill De Blasio (whom he had promised his endorsement to in the New York City Mayoral election) by the New York City Police Department, after a Boston University Student native to the Bronx leaked internet photos of a nude man, who she claimed to be Weiner, sent to her family's computer with her name attached in May of 2005, when she was fourteen. The young woman, identified in court documents as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The New York Times that her mother had tried to go to the local police at the time, but they were unwilling to pursue the case, and that she was coming forward to get justice.

After twisting in the wind for almost a week, with increasing calls to resign, first from House Republicans, then from fellow New York Democrats in the House, then from Democrats outside of New York, then from House Leadership, then finally from President Obama and Vice President Clinton, Weiner resigned on August 9, 2009. Governor David Paterson set a special election for his House Seat for Election Day, to coincide with the Mayoral Election in New York City.

The two candidates who would face each other in that special election were New York City Councilman Michael Chaim Nelson for the Democrats, and Businessman and Two-Time State Assembly nominee Alan Bellone for the Republicans.

Meanwhile, in Iran, Presidential elections took place on June 12. Incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was running for reelection and facing two difficult opponents, from the last Prime Minister of Iran, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and the commander of the Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani. Polling, as unreliable as it was in Iran, showed a tight three-way race, and sources close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated that the Ayatollah suppported Solemani over Ahmadinejad or Mousavi. The results showed Solemani receiving 52% of the vote, to Mousavi's 26% and Ahmadinejad's 22%. Despite scattered protests in Tehran by Mousavi supporters, which ended with 9 dead, 11 injured and 121 arrested, over the next three days, Solemani's victory was largely seen as legitimate, both inside Iran, and by the wider international community.

In Israel, the reaction was shock and fear. On July 9, Benjamin Netanyahu green-lit a plan for Mossad to simultaneously kill President-elect Solemani and Ayatollah Khamenei. Simultaneous to this plan, over 150,000 Israeli troops would be airlifted into Iran to seize key installations and install a pro-Israel government.

The mission, titled Operation Daniel, largely went off without a hitch, as Mossad successfully carried out the assassinations of Solemani and Khamenei, and 235,000 Israeli forces landed in Iran and fanned out across the country, seizing key cities, and installing a pro-Israel government led by Haroun Yashyaei. Among the problems Israel faced was that some portion of it's army was going to be tied down in Iran for years, a problem facing the United States still in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Netanyahu thought it was a small price to pay for freedom from the Iranian threat.

A UN resolution calling for military sanctions against Israel, and a second resolution calling for a UN force to help expel the Israeli Army from Iran were both vetoed by UN Ambassador Huntsman on October 9. The second of these vetoes was against the orders of the White House, and Huntsman resigned under pressure on October 15.

Obama chose to nominate Caroline Kennedy as UN Ambassador to replace Huntsman. Kennedy, whose nomination to become Ambassador to Ireland had stalled after the Irish Government had objected to her nomination, won cloture 70-26 on November 19, and was confirmed by the Senate 73-21 on November 24.

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

House Democrats faced an ugly scandal when on August 2, Representative Anthony Weiner was arrested as he left a meeting with Bill De Blasio (whom he had promised his endorsement to in the New York City Mayoral election) by the New York City Police Department, after a Boston University Student native to the Bronx leaked internet photos of a nude man, who she claimed to be Weiner, sent to her family's computer with her name attached in May of 2005, when she was fourteen. The young woman, identified in court documents as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The New York Times that her mother had tried to go to the local police at the time, but they were unwilling to pursue the case, and that she was coming forward to get justice.

This will of course result in a massive wave of arrests eventually ending in Second Gentleman Bill Clinton being charged with rape and getting a divorce.

[NewYorkExpress]

House Democrats faced an ugly scandal when on August 2, Representative Anthony Weiner was arrested as he left a meeting with Bill De Blasio (whom he had promised his endorsement to in the New York City Mayoral election) by the New York City Police Department, after a Boston University Student native to the Bronx leaked internet photos of a nude man, who she claimed to be Weiner, sent to her family's computer with her name attached in May of 2005, when she was fourteen. The young woman, identified in court documents as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The New York Times that her mother had tried to go to the local police at the time, but they were unwilling to pursue the case, and that she was coming forward to get justice.

This will of course result in a massive wave of arrests eventually ending in Second Gentleman Bill Clinton being charged with rape and getting a divorce.

Sorry, but the only the involvement the Clinton's have here is that Huma Abedin is dating Wiener right now (and she quickly broke up with him after that). Bill has nothing to do with this, and Hillary is only tangentially involved.

[NewYorkExpress]

On September 10, another scandal erupted when CNN broke the news of classified information being found on Bill Clinton's unsecured Blackberry. The information, which originated from the State and Defense Departments, raised new questions about the power sharing agreement between President Obama and Vice President Clinton. While Obama defended his Vice President, who was not the source of the classified intelligence, which instead seemed to come from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, and Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, he and the media piled onto Bill. While Hillary largely got off scot-free, Bill, who was up for reelection in New York, saw his numbers suffer. He was already in a tight race in the Democratic Primary against Kathy Hochul, and was only just outside of the margin of error against George Pataki. For Clinton, who was not on the Senate Intelligence Committee, where this indiscretion might have been forgiven (He was instead on Foreign Affairs, Judiciary and Rules and Administration), this was a major problem. He resigned his position as Democratic Caucus Secretary, and was replaced by Ken Salazar of Colorado on September 25. On October 30, with polls now showing him trailing Hochul in the primary by double digits, Clinton announced he would not run for a full term. Still, the pressure on him to resign mounted, however, intervention from Governor Paterson, who made it clear he would leave the Senate seat vacant until after the special election if Clinton resigned, caused the pressure on him to die down.

Meanwhile, the other big 2010 news took place in San Francisco on September 3, as Senator Dianne Feinstein announced that she would run to succeed term-limited Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Feinstein's announcement essentially locked up the Democratic field (the only other Democrats who had declared, former Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante and former Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke had either dropped out-Brathwaite Burke, or chosen to run for another office-Bustamante, who had chosen to run in California's 21st Congressional District against Devin Nunes). Feinstein's announcement had also scared off several prominent Republicans, as Representatives Darrell Issa, Devin Nunes, and Kevin McCarthy had already passed on the race, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina both passed on the race each preferring to run against Barbara Boxer in the Senate race, and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poinzer also soon passed on the race as well, in favor of running for reelection, leaving a Republican field as of Election Day 2009, that consisted of former Representative Tom Campbell, State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, and former State Assemblyman Jim Morrissey. If Feinstein won, there would need to be an appointment ahead of her seat being up in 2012, and Governor Schwarzenegger confirmed that regardless of when Feinstein resigned, he would allow her to make the appointment. Feinstein, for her part, indicated that she preferred to appoint a Southern California based politician if she won, specifically name dropping Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Diego City Councilwoman Toni Atkins, State Assemblywoman Karen Bass and Representative Hilda Solis in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Internationally, the German Parliamentary Elections on September 27, returned Chancellor Angela Merkel back to office at the head of a coalition featuring her CDU and sister CSU (Bavaria only), which won 225 seats in the Bundestag and the FDP, led by Guido Westerwelle, which won 92 seats, for a total of 317, five more than the majority required. The SPD's Frank Walter-Stein-Meier, which won 132 seats, was named the Bundestag's opposition leader. Notably, both Germany's Pirate Party, and Centre Party entered the Bundestag, each with one seat. For the Centre Party, this was their first seat in the Bundestag since 1957, and for the Pirate Party, this was their first seat in the Bundestag ever, in the first Federal Election they contested.

[NewYorkExpress]

2009 Off-Year Elections

Governors and other Statewide officials

New Jersey-Governor

Chris Christie defeats Jon Corzine (R Gain)

Virginia-Governor

Terry McAuliffe defeats Jim Gilmore (D Hold)

Virginia-Lieutenant Governor

Bill Bolling defeats Brian Moran (R Hold)

Virginia-Attorney General

Steve Shannon defeats Ken Cuccinelli (D Gain)

Mayors

New York City

Bill De Blasio defeats Dan Donovan (D Gain)

Atlanta

Kasim Reed defeats Mary Norwood (Non-Partisan office, Reed is a registered Democrat- D Hold)

Boston (Thomas Menino resigned on June 9, 2009 to become Ambassador to the Holy See).

Marty Walsh defeats Maureen Feeney (D Hold)

Charlotte

Anthony Foxx defeats John Lassiter (D Hold)

Detroit

James Craig defeats Kwame Kilpatrick (D Hold, however Craig has not committed to remaining a Democrat during his Mayoral term)

Houston

George P. Bush defeats Annise Parker (R Gain)

Los Angeles

Antonio Villaraigosa defeats Walter Moore (D Hold)

Seattle

Kshama Sawant defeats Greg Nickles (Socialist Alternative gain)

House of Representatives

NY-9

Michael Chaim Nelson (D) defeats Alan Bellone (R) (D Hold)

CA-10 (Ellen Tauscher resigned after being appointed Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security)

John Garamendi defeats David Harmer (D Hold)

HI-2

Tulsi Gabbard defeats Charles Djou (D Hold)

NY-23 (John McHugh resigned after being appointed Secretary of the Army)

Dede Scozzafava defeats Bill Owens and Doug Hoffman (Soczzafava, a Republican received a Wilson Pakula from the Democrats to run as their nominee. Owens, a Democrat, received a Wilson Pakula from the Working Families Party to run as their nominee, Hoffman, a Conservative, received a Wilson Pakula to run as a Republican and also ran on the Conservative ballot line) (Technically an R hold, but Scozzafava is not expected to caucus with the Republicans in Congress.)

[NewYorkExpress]

Both Democrats and Republicans could look at the 2009 off year elections with some level of confidence for the future. Republicans could take pride in Chris Christie's upset victory over Jon Corzine in New Jersey, and George P. Bush's easy win over Annise Parker in Houston, while Democrats could point to Terry McAuliffe's victory over Jim Gilmore in Virginia, and Bill de Blasio's easy victory over Dan Donovan in New York City. Even more fringe groups had a banner day, as Kshama Sawant's shock victory over an unpopular Greg Nickles in Seattle provided the far-left of the Democratic Party momentum heading into the midterms.

Election-wise, attention domestically turned to the Special Senate election in Massachusetts in January, with the primary a month earlier in December, with appointed incumbent Martha Coakley and Michael Capuano neck-and-neck and the third candidate, Michael Ross well behind in the Democratic Primary.

Much of the speculation over the first few days of November was which party soon to be sworn in Representative Dede Scozzafava, would caucus with. Scozzafava had been one of the most moderate Republicans in the New York State Assembly, and had chosen to petition for a Wilson Pakula to get on the Democratic Party ballot line in the special election, rather than run on the Republican line. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor even suggested that Scozzafava wouldn't recieve any committee assignments if she caucused as a Republican. On the other hand, she was essentially a Moderate Democrat in terms of voting record in the State Assembly, but many House Democrats were resentful of her past as a Republican, to the point where House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn admitted that if Scozzafava caucused with the Democrats, finding a committee where her fellow Democrats would be willing to work with her would be difficult. In the end, on her swearing in day, the same day as the swearing in of Michael Chaim Nelson, Tulsi Gabbard and John Garamendi, Scozzafava announced that she would caucus with the Democratic Party in the House, and joined the Blue Dog Caucus. She was assigned by leadership to the Agriculture Committee and Ethics Committee. (Gabbard ended up on Armed Services and Veteran's Affairs, Chaim Nelson ended up on Homeland Security, and Garamendi joined the Rules Committee).

Meanwhile, despite Likud being able to govern alone, the Israeli government fell apart as the Likud Majority in the Knesset failed to pass a budget for 2010 and for 2011, forcing new elections, which would be held in January. In those elections, Likud remained the largest party, but they would no longer be able to govern by themselves, earning 49 seats, to Kadima's 27 (up from 15) and Labor's 25 (up from 9). Kadima's Tzipi Livni and Labor's Ehud Barak reached a coalition agreement, and added Meretz (led by Haim Oron, they won four seats), and Gil, led by Rafi Eitan (which won five seats) for a total of sixty-one seats, one more than the needed majority. The coalition government would have Livni as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and Barak as Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister.

Meanwhile, after a largely quiet 2008-2009 term, the Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion on right out of the gate on December 12 in Google v. United Artists, when, in a 6-3 majority (Souter, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts) the court found the Digital Millennium Copyright Act unconstitutional. The Majority Opinion, written by Anthony Kennedy, found the act overly broad, and too easy for someone to violate. Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion, argued that copyright laws should be the domain of the states, not the federal government to uphold, and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Massachusetts Senate special election's Democratic Primary reached a climactic conclusion in mid-January. By this point, all three Democrats had jumped out to a significant lead over the lone Republican running, State Senator, Scott Brown.

United States Senate Special Election-Massachusetts: Democratic Primary

Representative Michael Capuano 41%
Incumbent Martha Coakley 32%
Former Mayor of Boston Michael Ross 27%

Assuming Capuano performed as the polls were suggesting (the polling average showed him with a ten to fourteen point lead over Brown), a special election would be held for his House seat, likely in June or July.

In New York, Governor David Paterson's sinking popularity had earned him primary challenges from Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi (who had won reelection in 2009, defeating Nassau County Legislator Ed Mangano), and State Assemblyman Rory Lancman in the past month. With the incumbent in a tight three-way race, and his poll numbers continuing to slide, the final nail in Paterson's coffin was a scandal, revealed by the New York Times on January 7, 2010, that alleged that Paterson had solicited free New York Yankees tickets unlawfully in 2008. On January 11, Paterson announced that he would not run for a full term as Governor.

In Florida, Representative Robert Wexler announced a campaign for Governor, where the incumbent Charlie Crist was running for reelection. Crist was facing a primary challenge from former State Representative Marco Rubio, over his acceptance of stimulus funds destined for Florida (Governors Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, and Rick Perry had all rejected the stimulus funds back in 2009.).

Meanwhile, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell found himself and the league in a major lawsuit after former University of Washington Head Coach Tyrone Willingham, who had interviewed with the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans and Washington Redskins, and failed to get hired by any team, sued the NFL, Commissioner Goodell, and thirty teams, alleging racist hiring practices by team ownership. The case, heard by District Court Judge Richard Holwell of the Southern District of New York ultimately found in March that there was intentional discrimination against Willingham and awarded him $10 million. In addition, Holwell ruled that the NFL's newly enacted Rooney Rule, which mandated that at least one minority must be interviewed for all vacancies was insufficient, and ruled that for every three job openings (including players) in the NFL, at least one opening had to be filled by a minority. This ruling's popularity broke down on racial lines, with whites largely opposing it (9-81), and African-Americans largely supporting it (88-4).

On December 29, 2009 the Republican field for President gained a second notable contender, as former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced a campaign in Detroit. Abraham, who served one term as Senator, and four years as Secretary of Energy in the Bush Administration, based his campaign on building energy independence by drilling for oil and natural gas in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

[NewYorkExpress]

In International news, the Ukrainian Presidential Election, led to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, backed by the United States and European Union, facing incumbent Victor Yuschenko, backed by Russia, after the first round, on January 17.
'
Ukrainian Presidential Election-First Round

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko 44.54%
Incumbent Viktor Yuschenko 22.13%
Former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukvych 8.33%
Mayor of Uzohorod Serhiy Ratushiak 7%
Former Minister of Defense Anatoily Hrytsenko 7%
Former CEO of the National Bank of Ukranie Serhiy Thipiko 6%
Former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz 5%

Unwilling to chance a Tymoshenko victory in the second round, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev ordered 300,000 Russian soldiers into Ukraine on January 20. The objective was capture the Crimea and give Russia a Black Sea port, and if possible, ensure and Yuschenko victory, up to and including killing Tymoshenko. The Russian soldiers were able to successfully capture Sevastopol on January 21, Kharkiv on January 22, and Dnipro on January 26. Tymoshenko was able to escape to Poland, however, Russia demanded she be extradited to Moscow, or there would be, according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "Russian troops rolling into Warsaw". After almost a week of hesitation, the Polish Government handed her over, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk telling reporters that he "did not trust other NATO countries, especially those in Europe to defend us if Russia invaded". On February 16, Tymoshenko was executed by firing squad in Moscow.

UN Ambassador Kennedy attempted to organize sanctions against Russia, which were vetoed by Russia, attempted to pass a resolution stripping Russia of their permanent vote on the Security Council, which was vetoed by Russia and China, and even attempted to have Russia thrown out of the UN altogether (which never even got to a vote, as Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon made it clear he would ignore any attempt to kick a member state out of the UN entirely).

The Supreme Court delivered it's second major ruling of the cycle in Atlantic League of Professional Baseball v. Major League Baseball, ruling 5-4 (Sotomayor, Breyer, Kennedy, Ginsburg and Souter compromising the majority), that Major League Baseball did not have an antitrust exemption, overturning Federal Baseball Club v. National League and Flood v. Kuhn. Justice Sotomayor's majority opinion, a ode to baseball's history, and how it could be made richer if there more leagues and more competition, was viewed by court-watchers as a better version Harry Blackmun's majority opinion in Flood v. Kuhn, while the Minority Opinion, written by Justice John Roberts, stated that while the majority was right that Federal Baseball Club v. Major League Baseball was ruled on incorrectly, the time do anything about it was when case was before the court back then. His line "we are not here to correct hundred year old errors in judgement by idiots" drew raised eyebrows from legal analysts, especially regarding his positions on Roe v. Wade and Griswold v. Connecticut, both of which conservatives hoped the court would overturn.

[NewYorkExpress]

Shortly before Christmas 2009, House Democratic Leaders proposed an ambitious tax plan that would raise income taxes on the top 10% of Americans by 25%, raise the corporate tax rate by 20%, reduce tax rates on the bottom 75% of Americans by 10%, and make tax evasion a felony punishable by a maximum of twenty-five years to life in Federal Prison. The legislation, sponsored in the House in by Jerrod Nadler, and in the Senate by Bernie Sanders, passed the House, 235-154 on February 7, 2010. On March 10, after a fillibuster led by Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn and Sam Brownback was broken, 62-36 (Robert Byrd was absent, Arlen Specter and Joe Lieberman voted with the Democrats), the Senate passed the legislation, 55-43 (Byrd was absent, Bruce Lunsford, Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu, Kay Hagan and Ruth Ann Minner voted against the legislation). President Obama signed it on March 12, 2010.

The 2010 picture continued to develop. In Kansas, despite speculation about Gubernatorial bid (and a term limits pledge), surrounding Sam Brownback, the incumbent announced he would forgo a campaign for Governor and would run for reelection. He faced a nominal primary challenge from radiologist Milton Wolf, and a more serious general election threat from Former Representative Jim Slattery, who had been the nominee in 2008, losing decisively to Pat Roberts.

Meanwhile, in the Gubernatorial race, where the incumbent, Kathleen Sebelius was term-limited, and considering the Senate race (she would ultimately decide not to run on February 1, instead choosing to launch an exploratory committee for a Senate campaign in 2014 against Pat Roberts), Republicans had largely cleared the field for Representative Todd Tiahart. He faced former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman in the General Election, in a race that was already attracting major outside attention, especially after Brownback had decided not to run. By January 2010, over $4 million had been spent by the two candidates and their affiliated groups already, making this the second most expensive Gubernatorial race in the country (after New York, where $11.23 million had been spent total to this point).

Meanwhile, at a Kanye West concert at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on January 27, a crowd crush occurred when concertgoers attempted to surge past barricades leading from front row seats onto the field, leading to the deaths of sixteen concertgoers, including two teenagers, one of whom was thirteen. The Tarrant County District Attorney's office announced that they would be pursuing felony murder charges against West, and on March 4, they announced that they would pursue the Death Penalty. Ultimately, however, West reached a plea bargain with prosecutors, pleading guilty and receiving a sentence of life in prison without parole.

[NewYorkExpress]

At the end of February, the special Senate election in Massachusetts, reached it's conclusion. Despite the gap narrowing between Michael Capuano and Scott Brown, Capuano was able to hang on and preserve the filibuster-proof majority Democrats held.

United States Senate-Special Election: Massachusetts

Representative Michael Capuano (D) 49.747%
State Senator Scott Brown (R) 46.989%
Former Lexington Town Selectwoman Jill Stein (Green-Rainbow) 2.754%
Joseph L. Kennedy (Libertarian) 0.51%

While Democrats were pleased with Capuano's victory, they were concerned with the fact that he had almost blown a sizable lead with less than a month to before the special election, and worried about what that could portend for 2010.

Meanwhile, the 2010 election season truly kicked off, as the primaries in Texas and Illinois were held in February.

Texas's primaries, held on February 2, provided several notable results.

In the governor's race, Rick Perry was renominated unopposed for the Republicans, while State Senator Juan Hinojosa defeated former Ambassador to Japan and Ambassador to Australia Tom Scheiffer and Businessman Farouk Shami in the Democratic Primary.

Further down ballot in Texas, several notable House Primaries concluded.

In the Fourth Congressional District, Representative Ralph Hall was defeated in the Republican Primary by State Representative Ken Paxton.

In the Fourteenth Congressional District, Representative Ron Paul, who was openly eyeing another run for President in 2012, was defeated in the Republican Primary by State Representative Lois Kolkhorst.

Illinois's primaries, meanwhile, which were also held on February 2 also featured several notable incumbents going down to defeat.

In the Governor's race, the incumbent, Pat Quinn, turned back a primary challenge from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, while Republicans nominated the former chairman of state party, who had resigned to run for Governor, Andrew McKenna, without opposition.

In the Senate race, incumbent Sheila Simon avoided a primary challenge, while Republicans nominated lawyer Ethan Hastert, the son of former Representative Dennis Hastert.

In House races, multiple incumbents lost their primaries.

In the Second Congressional District, Jesse Jackson Jr, lost the Democratic Primary to Chicago Alderwoman Toni Preckwinkle after several civil rights organizations endorsed Preckwinkle in the primary.

In the Eighteenth District, Aaron Schock was defeated in the Republican Primary by State Representative Jil Tracy after an explosive expose in August 2009 by Time Magazine that outed Schock as a gay man. After losing the primary, Schock would sue for damages in federal court.