2004: Governor of Oregon Steve Welch the Democratic nominee
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  2004: Governor of Oregon Steve Welch the Democratic nominee
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Author Topic: 2004: Governor of Oregon Steve Welch the Democratic nominee  (Read 397 times)
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LeonelBrizola
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« on: July 09, 2022, 08:38:49 PM »

Stephen Peterson Welch was born on May 17, 1952, in a lower middle-class family in Portland, to Jane Peterson, a teacher, and John Welch, a waiter at a suburban restaurant. Welch was named after his uncle, who had died fighting in World War II.

Steve (as he was called) had one brother and another sister.

Stephen Welch grew up religious, but became an atheist by age 16. He was described by classmates as mediocre but pleasant, focusing on math – he was known as a fan of Pythagoras, an admiration that remained for the rest of his life.

Welch decided to become a math teacher; he started teaching mathematics for middle school students in 1975. Watergate aroused his interest in politics, and the young man became known as an excellent teacher and staunch liberal.

One year after becoming a teacher, Welch married Sally Richardson, a nurse; they had two sons and one abortion in 1978.

In 1981, Welch ran for school board in Portland, promising to focus on trade schools and extracurricular activities. He was elected with 53% of the vote. In the Portland School Board, Welch successfully implemented free textbooks and the policy that one fifth of school hours had to be allocated to music, dance or theater.

Welch continued his political rise, becoming a councillor in 1988. As a member of the Portland City Council, he successfully proposed a citywide minimum wage of 5 dollars per hour; paid family leave; the transformation of schools and parks into gun-free zones; and a reduction in the property tax. He was popular in his ward, and became leader of the Democrat aldermen by 1991.

One year later, Welch ran for Mayor of Portland, narrowly winning the Democratic primary against a New Democrat, and easily winning the general election. As Mayor of Portland, Welch created a citywide program of renewable energy development, constructed 6 trade schools, made secondary education publicly funded, banned high-capacity magazines for firearms, lowered the vehicle registration tax, and reformed zoning laws to favor residences. He was easily reelected in 1996, and set his eyes on the state government.

On May 27, 1997, Welch announced his gubernatorial campaign, against Governor of Oregon Danny Smith. He supported a statewide healthcare system, gun control, waiving the estate and vehicle registration taxes, connecting every school and library in the state to the Internet by 2002, free preschool and trade schools, and paid family leave. He easily won the Democratic primary, and defeated Smith in the general election by 347 votes; without the abortion scandal, it would be more.

As Governor of Oregon, Steve Welch expanded Medicaid while creating a $50,000 tax credit and reinsurance pool for employers, lowered the property tax and vehicle registration tax, made pre-K and secondary education publicly funded, raised the state minimum wage to 5.80 dollars per hour, created a program connecting community centers to the Internet, provided grants to city police departments, implemented mandatory rehabilitation for drug criminals, and banned high-capacity magazines and clips for firearms while closing the gun show loophole. During the anti-globalization protests, the Governor sent the state police to observe the protesters, but they were not repressed.

In 2002, Welch was reelected by 13 percentage points. The Governor attracted national attention given his opposition to the Iraq War, refusing to commit Oregon National Guard troops to it. On October 2002, the Governor was already courting donors and big-name politicians, prepping himself for a presidential campaign.

On January 5 2003, Welch announced his campaign for President with a rally in Portland. In the rally, the Governor gave a speech where he criticized George W. Bush for his tax cuts on the wealthy and announcing a war based on lies. Welch promised comprehensive healthcare reform, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy while closing corporate tax loopholes, renegotiating NAFTA while strengthening labor and enviromental protections, restoring the assault weapons ban while making it permanent, and doubling pay for teachers while increasing funding for the Department of Education.

In the beginning of the Democratic primaries, Welch and John Kerry swinged in national opinion polls, with Howard Dean in a distant third; nevertheless, the Governor had a strong field infrastructure, and a campaign website which included the sale of T-shirts, coffee mugs, baseball caps, bumper stickers, posters, campaign buttons and backpacks.

On October 6 2003, Howard Dean suspended his campaign and endorsed Welch, who experienced a surge in the polls, getting a narrow lead over Kerry.

The Democratic primaries started with Welch defeating Kerry in the Iowa Caucus with 36% of the vote to Kerry's 33% and John Edwards' 21%. Kerry rebounded with a four-point win over Welch in New Hampshire.

During the Mini Tuesday primaries, Welch won Arizona, Missouri and New Mexico, Kerry won Delaware and North Dakota, John Edwards won South Carolina, and Wesley Clark carried Oklahoma.

Kerry and Welch began to attack eachother, with the Governor being called an inconsistent extremist, while Welch accused John Kerry of being a flip-flopper. This attack worked, and Steve Welch became the frontrunner after Super Tuesday. After losing moderate voters, Kerry suspended his campaign and endorsed Steve Welch.

The Governor of Oregon gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention where he attacked George H. W. Bush on the war in Iraq and tax cuts, while highlighting his record as Governor of Oregon: gun control, healthcare reform, better education,  and criminal justice reform, promising to do the same nationwide. He chose former House Minority Leader from Missouri Dick Gephardt as a running mate, with the goal of appealing to Midwestern voters and adding experience to the ticket.

On the general election, Welch promised to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy while closing corporate tax loopholes, expand Medicaid while creating a public option, reinsurance pool for employers, $50,000 tax credit and full Medicare coverage for eligible children, withdraw American troops from Iraq by 2007 while providing strong support for the country's new government, legalize same-sex civil unions nationwide, making the Assault Weapons Ban permanent while implementing trigger locks and a ban on high-capacity magazines, ratify the Kyoto Protocol while redirecting subsidies from the oil and gas industry to renewable energy, create a federal drug court program for drug criminals, keep abortion safe, legal and rare, legalize embryonic stem cell research, raise the minimum wage, pass guaranteed employment, renegotiate NAFTA with greater protection for American workers and businesses, formally declare China a currency manipulator, repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, and double pay for public school teachers across the board while boosting funding for the Department of Education and repealing NCLB. He created a social media website for his supporters, while producing several videos about the Welch-Gephardt Champaign.

When asked about the Killian documents in an interview with Howard Stern, Welch said "Something from 1973 doesn't matter. What if Bush regrets it?"

On October 4, 2004, a retired gynecologist who claimed to have performed Sally Welch's abortion spoke to the Morning Joe on MSNBC, saying that with her patient's wife running for President, it was time to "tell the truth". Republican operatives began to attack the Governor; he decided not to address the attacks, deflecting by pointing out how George H. W. Bush killed innocent people in Iraq.

During the first presidential debate, Welch was seen as the winner due to his strong criticism of the Bush tax cuts and Iraq war; but in the second, in spite of defending his economic plans with strong arguments, he failed to effectively defend himself from the abortion scandal, causing Bush to make significant inroads with Catholic voters.

During the final stretch, Welch focused on his plan to withdraw from Iraq; however, the Osama Bin Laden video caused Bush to rise in the polls.

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HillGoose
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« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2022, 01:16:42 AM »

lol this person sucks hopefully he'd lose all 50 states + DC
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LeonelBrizola
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« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2022, 08:16:10 AM »

lol this person sucks hopefully he'd lose all 50 states + DC
He's a pretty bad person
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MATTROSE94
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« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2022, 09:27:52 AM »

lol this person sucks hopefully he'd lose all 50 states + DC
I think Steve Welch could win narrowly, maybe with around 283 Electoral Votes. Steve Welch would definitely be the popular vote loser however. As President, I think that Steve Welch will be pretty ineffective and will lose big to Mitt Romney in 2008 due to the financial crisis, maybe only winning 144 Electoral Votes and 47% of the popular vote. I don’t even think he would win his home state after the financial crisis in this scenario.
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LeonelBrizola
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« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2022, 02:16:41 PM »

He'd probably lose narrowly due to the abortion scandal and Bin Laden video
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MATTROSE94
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« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2022, 03:49:27 PM »

He'd probably lose narrowly due to the abortion scandal and Bin Laden video
Steve Welch I think would do well in some pro choice states like Nevada and also in the Rust Belt due to his running mate Dick Gephardt. 
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LeonelBrizola
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« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2022, 04:45:15 PM »

I can see Nevada narrowly flipping
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MATTROSE94
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« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2022, 04:15:47 PM »

Yeah. Nevada was a very pro-choice state prior to 2021 with the exception of the areas of the state with a high population of Basque-Americans, so it likely flips to Steve Welch by a 51-48 margin ITTL’s 2004 election.
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LeonelBrizola
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« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2022, 07:56:44 PM »

Welch would probably not run for president again
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