America's Maverick Part 2: Madame President

[OSR stands with Israel]

Israel and other nations across middle east ramp up security in wake of the Iranian and Syrian Invasion of Iraq

Amanpour: The Israeli Government since the Iranian and Syrian Invasion of Iraq have raised their security levels to the highest levels and have put their military on full preparedness mode just in case the war in the Gulf spreads into Israel. This is also the case with nations around the region such as Tukey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan all of whom have increased military preparedness in reaction to the invasion as many nations in the region are increasingly worried about the possibility of a war that could span the entire middle east. With us now is Former Secretary of State Joe Lieberman who will explain us more about this possibility. So Secretary Lieberman how likely is the war to spread

Lieberman: I do think it is a worry that it could spread which is why nations across the middle east and especially Israel and Turkey are preparing for such an event to happen as its always better to be overprepared then underprepared. I also think the best way to stop it from spreading is too stop the Iranian and Syrian invasion of Iraq dead in its track as a lesson we learned from history, is imperialistic forces only learn to stop when they suffer consequences from such actions.

Amanpour: An interesting thing that apparently has come out is that Turkey will not be used as a launching pad for the fight back against Iran and Syria, why is that

Lieberman: Well number 1 , that is prepping a potential launch pad would take months and in that time period we would likely see the war expanded to Turkey and potentially Israel and that is something that we don't want to see happen. Number two and that is due to that, Turkey very likely made it part of their condition to invoke article 5, that Turkey isnt used as a staging ground and I think the US agreed to that point which is why we are not gonna use it as a staging ground


Breaking News: Northern Front not going well for Iraqis as enemy troops enter Kirkuk and Mosul. Central Front going much better as Iraqi troops are holding off enemy advances .

Blitzer : We are just getting news that Iranian forces have entered the city of Kirkuk and the Syrians have entered Mosul , two major cities in the Northern part of Iraq . Now with us is a military expert who will tell us more about how the war is going so far

Military Expert: Well Wolf if you look at the map, the Iraqis do have a lot to worry about in the North given two of the five largest cities in the country are in that region and right now with enemy forces in both cities you are likely gonna see a lot of bloodshed and an extremely fierce fight as if these cities fall, then all of Northern Iraq will be likely controlled by the the Iranians or Syrians

Blitzer: What about in the Central front and southern front.

Military Expert: Well those areas are going much better for the Iraqis as keep in mind Baghdad is situated in the center so it made more sense for the Iraqis to keep most of their resources in the center as a loss in Baghdad would be completely catastrophic so stopping the advance there is critical. Right now what we can see is that Iranian troops are so far having struggles capturing cities like Kut and Amara , both of which are critical on the pathway to Baghdad.

Blitzer: How long do you think those two cities can hold

Military Expert: Well it will be difficult for the Iraqis to hold them , but the longer they can the better as one it will deplete the resources Iranians have for their war effort, slow them down on their path to Baghdad and also give us time to help prepare the counter offensive and end this war as soon as possible.

Blitzer: What will the US military be able to do in the short run

Military Expert: Well while we only have at this moment limited air forces in Iraq , it is still enough to slow down the advance of the Iranians and Syrians and like I pointed out earlier, that is very important.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Excerpts of President Clinton's 2011 State of the Union Address



Souce: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/app/uploads/2019/02/RTX6LFXE-1024x683-e1549455385158.jpg

Speaker Boehner: Ladies and Gentleman , its my high honor to welcome to you , the President of the United States!!(Standing Ovation)

Clinton: Speaker Boehner, Vice President Rockefeller , newly elected members of Congress , distinguished guests and my fellow Americans: when I was first preparing this speech , I had first well planned to give this speech a little later(laughter) and talk about the list of priorities that I had come up with Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Schumer but of course those priorities have changed.  The invasion of Iraq , a sovereign democratic nation, by the governments of Iran and Syria show that once again that freedom is once again under attack by the enemies of freedom and the number one priority of the United States just like it has many times in the past has to be to defend freedom when it is under attack(Standing Ovation). I have ordered the full capabilities of our military to be used to defend the Iraqi people from this attack and I can tell you that the Iranians and Syrians will be defeated and even if it may not be easy, we will defeat them(Standing Ovation). I also want to commend the bravery of the Iraqi military who have stood up against the forces of evil, to defend their people from tyranny and their courage has been an inspiration to the rest of the world(Applause) which is why I am more confident then ever that Iraq will remain a free and democratic nation(Standing Ovation).

Now while our struggle currently is against the forces of Iran and Syria we must realize that they aren't the only enemies of freedom out there and we must continue the work of my predecessor President John McCain along with many Presidents before him in making the world safe for liberty(Applause). This means not only do we need to defend freedom militarily like we are doing now , but create incentives for nations to liberalize their societies(Applause). Such incentives include a better or worse trade relationship with us based on their record on basic individual liberty , and promoting our democratic values in developing nations(Applause). This isn’t a new fight as throughout our history we have been a beacon of democracy against absolute monarchies , militarily dictatorships , fascists and communists and today many of those nations that once were those things are thriving democracies(Applause) and our close friends and we will continue to be that beacon(Standing ovation).

To achieve this though we must not only strengthen our relations with nations across the world but also keep our economy at home strong(Applause) because without a strong economy none of this would be possible(Applause). Due to this crises , oil prices are expected to go up which is why I have asked you in Congress to pass a piece of legislation that would make it easier to the United States to produce oil, while at the same time balancing concerns of our environment(applause) We also must invest money into Infrastructure, along with Research and Development that will help our nation remain the leaders in innovation and ensure that role does not go to autocratic nations(Applause). The same is true of our financial system, a system that is a key part in helping keep our economy moving and as you may know a bipartisan report about weaknesses in our financial system is about to be released as well, and it is our job to use that report to take our actions to deal with those weaknesses to ensure it does not risk our economy(Applause).

Last but not least, due to the fact we will be asking hundreds of thousands of our brave men and women in our military to go and put their lives at risk in defense of freedom, we must ensure that when they come home they are treated with the gratitude of all of us. This means we must put more effort into helping our veterans deal with Post Traumatic Stress disorder as well as any war related issues to help them adjust back to civilian life when they come home(Standing Ovation). These men and women are our nation's heroes and it is on the rest of us to make sure they are treated as heroes which is why I believe we must increase funding to the VA, to PTSD treatment, job retraining,  and to help create more generous VA loans to make it easier for them to buy homes when they come back from overseas(Applause) . That is our responsibility to them and I look forward to working with you all to achieve this.

Thank You, May God Bless You and May God Bless our Troops(Standing Ovation).

[BigVic]

John Boehner becomes speaker as in OTL

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking News: Mosul shaping up to be deadliest US battle since Korea as fatalities could cross Hue City



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y468y6AyGaQ

Blitzer: As fighting intensifies in Mosul , the 2nd largest city in Iraq, US troops have been more and more involved in the fighting and sadly that has resulted in many American troops losing their lives as well. Now with us is our military correspondent who will explain to us why this battle has been so costly for American troops

Military Correspondent: The main issue here is that is given how close Mosul is to the Syrian Border, by the time US troops started to go in to Mosul, the Syrian troops were already there and that has resulted in heavy casualties as close in urban battles are very deadly. Second given how big the city is, the fact is we cannot afford a strategy of just falling back to avoid casualties as if Mosul falls, it would have to be taken by force anyway for the war to be won, so its better to defend it at the moment then it is to allow it to fall.

Blitzer: How bad have American fatalities have been

Military Correspondent: Well right now this battle has been the deadliest for US troops since the Battle of Hue City in Vietnam and it likely will surpass it given that Mosul likely will turn into a meatgrinder. Also the fact is it is much harder to use air power in urban battles than it is in the open desert given how many civilians live in urban areas, so Mosul will likely become a meat grinder for a few months.

Now I will like to add , that  the Iraqi's doing as well in the Central and Southern Front as they have has been bad, imagine how bad this type of urban warfare would have been in Baghdad if Iranian troops entered before the city was able to become fortified. So I will say that yes what is happening in Mosul is terrible, but that does not mean focusing more on the Central and Southern Front was a mistake, as otherwise we would be seeing this happen in Baghdad instead and that would be far far worse.

Vice President Rockefeller and Energy Secretary Ed Rendell meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to talk about joint US-Canada energy strategy:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd2B1rkscTMeWdSFFyA74yw/videos?app=desktop

Cooper: Vice President Rockefeller and Energy Secretary Ed Rendell met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss a joint US-Canada energy strategy to deal with skyrocketing energy costs due to the war. The Vice President before boarding Air Force Two to fly back to Washington said this

Rockefeller: I along with Secretary Rendell had an very productive meeting with Prime Minister Harper along with his team about how we can work together to help both our nations deal with skyrocketing energy costs. One thing that we both agreed on almost immediately  is increasing our energy production and also find efficient ways to transport different types of energy between our nations.

We also spoke of many other ways to boost energy production such as increasing funding for alternative energies such as solar, wind, and nuclear while also making it easier to produce our own oil and natural gas and we really need to do all of the above in order to really stop a potential energy crises

[OSR stands with Israel]

Congressman Ron Paul becomes first Republican to Announce Presidential Bid:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOv1K8ikz5E

Paul: Thank You Thank You. While many believe that now is not the type of announcements such as this, I disagree as now is the time more than ever for someone to stand up against the conventional wisdom in Washington that has gotten involved in this brutal war in the Middle East and propose to the American people a change to this failed foreign policy that is getting thousands of our men and women killed(Applause). The reason we are in this position today is instead of staying out of affairs that don't involve us, we decided to Invade Iraq in 2003 and then even after we completed our mission , decided to keep what the establishment called a residual force in Iraq in order to police the region while at the same time we were imposing brutal sanctions on Iran and Syria(Applause). The fact is the reason the Iranians and Syrians attacked us is because our presence in Iraq made it clear to them that we would intent to use it to bring on regime change to their nations so they viewed us to be a threat to them(Applause). Now that the war has begun, there is only one way to end it and that is to tell the Iranians and Syrians that we will withdraw fully from the region and end the brutal sanctions that we have imposed on them and that is something I implore the President to do right now(Applause). Doing this along with closing our bases in Europe and Asia will finally allow us to bring back a sensible and non interventionist foreign policy and that is why I have decided to run for President of the United States(Applause).

I have also decided to run for President because the fact is we need a President to stand up against an economic system that devalues our currency every year by abolishing the unconstitutional federal reserve system(Applause). We also need a President who stands up against our growing debt and we can make a start by immediately getting rid of the Departments of Commerce, Education, Interior, Energy and Housing and Urban Development as all 5 departments are unnecessary waste of taxpayer money and also clear examples of encroachment of federal power in areas that once belonged to the states and private enterprise(Applause). I then will immediately propose a budget that will eliminate the deficit if enacted at once because the fact is we cannot afford to keep growing our national debt, and If elected we will immediately begin the process of paying down the debt rather than adding to it(Applause).

Now we will face a lot of opposition from the forces of the status quo if we want to bring these changes which is why a new movement must be built to take them on and that is why I am running for President of the United States(Applause). Thank You, May God Bless You and May God Bless America.

Former President George HW Bush talks about similarities between current war in the Gulf and the one in 1991



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCPLpP6NI-w

Amanpour: Many have compared this war to the Gulf War fought against Saddam Hussain's Iraq back in 1991. As the commander in chief of the military that won that war, do you see any similarities between that war and this one

Bush: I do see some similarities Christiane, as today as in the early 1990s you see an hostile autocratic power try to assert its power in the gulf region by invasion a neighboring country , and like in the early 1990s much of the world community has come to the defense of the attacked nation  but there are a few differences as well

Amanpour: Like what

Bush: Well for one , in the early 1990s it was just one power that attacked while this time there is two and most importantly the fundamentals and timing of the conflict are different. First of all Iraq is way larger than Kuwait so the battlefield is very different than it was in 1991, second by the time the war against Saddam started we had already fully were able to build up the military strength needed to win the war , while this time we have been forced to fight and build up at the same time which can lead to a lot of causalities.

Amanpour: Is that why there was no major urban battles in 1991 unlike today

Bush: It played a huge part Christiane but I want to point out that our military today just like our military back then has done an admirable job fighting back aggression and I am fully sure that aggression will be defeated just like it was back then.

Amanpour: Thanks for coming on President Bush

Bush: Anytime Christiane

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking: Iranian Troops enter outskirts of Baghdad

Blitzer: We have some breaking news to report and that is Iranian Troops have reached the outskirts of Baghdad after taking the city of Kut. Now joining us is our military correspondent who will tell us more about what is happening

Military Correspondent: Well before people worry, I want people to know that this was always expected by US intelligence to happen, and in fact its happened later than many thought it would. Due to that Baghdad has now become extremely fortified and that justs not the core of the city but the outskirts as well which is why they faced a lot of resitance there from Allied troops today. Pretty much every street corner in Iraq is being defended by troops and tanks so taking the city is gonna be extremely difficult espicially given that fact that places like Karbala and Hillah are still in control of Iraqi forces meaning the allies will have the ability to resupply troops to Baghdad as well and break through Iranian lines.

Blitzer: What about attacks from different directions

Correspondent: Well the issue with that is that the Iranians and Syrians are still fighting in major cities across Iraq which would be in path to Baghdad such as Mosul, Fallujah, Samarra which means they still wont be able to attack Baghdad from all areas like they hoped to do

Blitzer: How have the causalities been

Correspondent : Mosul has been extremely deadly for US troops as it has become the deadliest US battle since World War Two and approaching the deadliest operation as well surpassing even the deaths the US had in the Chinese Invasion of South Korea. One piece of good news is the rate of causalities for the US has dropped as the war has progressed as US and NATO forces have been able to increase their presence.

Blitzer: What is taking so long to get to full strength

Correspondent: Well the fact is we just cannot move troops at will into areas of Iraq and stuff like tanks and air force jets has to be brought in from other nations. So this is just a logistics issue that likely was unavoidable given the invasion.


House and Senate pass bill that increases spending for Veterans Care and President Clinton signs it into law



Source: https://www.youtube.com/c/VAVetBenefits/videos

Cooper: The House and Senate passed a bill earlier today that increases spending to the VA by 250 billion over the next 10 years. This will be how the 250 billion be allocated :

50 Billion- Help Veterans Deal with PTSD
80 Billion- Building new VA hospitals and hiring new doctors
50 billion - more funding for VA scholarships as well as job retraining
30 billion - will go to housing aid
40 billion - will be able to be spent on the discretion of the VA itself.

The President when singing the bill called it a great win for not only our troops currently fighting in Iraq against the Syrians and Iranians but also for veterans of all prior wars as well. Joining her at the signing ceremony was Former President McCain who called the bill a great win for our troops and veterans and thanked Congress for passing it.

[OSR stands with Israel]

How New Census Changes the electoral map

Blitzer: With the new census out, a question we all are wondering is how does it change the electoral math for this upcoming decade. To get that answer lets now go over to John King and the Magic Wall

King: Well lets first start with the map of the 2008 election where we all know ended in a 269-269 which caused the election to be thrown in the House which ended up electing Hillary Clinton President. One major piece of news that came out from this census , is the states that were won by George W Bush grew relatively more than the states won by Hillary Clinton. Due to this fact , if the 2008 election were held with the current map , George W Bush not Hillary Clinton would be President right now.



King: So due to this President Clinton will be in the rare position of an incumbent where she rather than the challenger will have to flip states to win the presidency. Usually its the challenger who has to flip states but not this time. Now of course many analysts would tell you that without Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton almost certainly would have won Oregon , New Mexico and that district in Maine and if you flip those 3 to the President than she would be indeed reelected 274-264.

Blitzer: Though this map does make it very possible that we could have another 269-269 scenario

King: Oh absolutely and let me show you, and that is say the President isnt able to win New Mexico which would drop her total from 274 back to 269 meaning yet another election would be thrown to congress. Now of course there is a long way to go to election day so there really isnt much of a serious point in discussing this other than showing how the math has changed .

Despite High Casualties, Vast Majority of Americans approve of War though are more skeptical of the strategy:

Cooper: Throughout this conflict there has been many polls down regarding this conflict , here are some more recent ones so lets go through each one

What should the US do in the War against Iran and Syria:

Fight Till Iran and Syria withdraw from Iraq: 43%
Fight Till Iran and Syria Unconditionally Surrender: 24%
Negotiate an Peace Deal Right Now: 32%

Cooper: The vast majority of Americans still support the War but now only to the extent it takes to get the Iranians and Syrians out of Iraq rather than support regime change to them like they did in the beginning of the conflict.

Do you have confidence that the current US strategy in the War will lead to Victory:

Yes: 38%
No: 26%
Unsure: 34%

Cooper: This is no surprise given the casualties we are taking right now but also the fact that we have been able to stop them from taking Mosul has helped keep this number from being lower

Should Defense Secretary John Hamre stay on as Defense Secretary:

Yes: 48%
No: 40%
Undecided: 12%

Cooper: Many Americans believe former Secretary of State Colin Powell should take over but he has rejected any interest in the position and so far a plurality of Americans still believe Secretary Hamre should stay on

Do you approve or disapprove of the job President Hillary Clinton has done as President:

Approve: 58%
Disapprove: 34%
Undecided: 8%

Cooper: Despite the war having mixed results so far, the President is still benefiting from a rally around the flag effect and while those numbers are less than they were a month ago, they still could go up if things start to get better like most experts expect it too..

[2016]

Blitzer and King can talk all they want about the Map.

The fact though remains that between 2008 and 2012 the Country experienced Major Demographic Changes particularly among Hispanics (Romney only won 27 % Nationally in the OTL in 2012) and these changes alone could ensure Clintons Re-Election.

Oregon (7), Nevada (6), Colorado (9) and New Mexico (5) alone will get Hillary reelected not to mention that she could win Virginia (13) and Florida (29).

Things ain't looking very rosy for Republicans.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Is the War Against Iran and Syria causing the US to do premature troop cutbacks in Afghanistan:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3twWTFF0hQ

Amanpour: With the War Against Iran and Syria ramping up more and more, the US has withdrawn more than 85 to 90% of US troops from Afghanistan which has made many people worried whether it has caused the US to do premature cutbacks in troops from Afghanistan given many experts believing Afghanistan is neither as stable as Iraq was pre invasion and its Democratic institutions are weaker. Now with us is the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee , Senator Joe Biden to talk to us more about this topic. So Senator Biden what are your thoughts on this

Biden: I do not think its premature Christine, given that one we have already spent nearly 10 years in Afghanistan where we took out the perpetrators of 9/11 a few months into the war so the fact is we have to ask ourselves at some point if keeping a lot of troops in Afghanistan is working cause if its not then if its not worked 10 years in, I see now reason that it would be working 10 years later. Second, and most importantly Afghanistan is currently not under threat of foreign invasion like Iraq is so it makes all the sense in my opinion for us to prioritize Iraq over Afghanistan.

Amanpour: Some people say though if you cut back forces too much, you could risk a potential return of a radical Islamist government there like the Taliban that was disposed in 2001

Biden: My answer to that would be Christine, is if 10 years with the amount of troops we had was not enough to help create stability how does spending 10 more years get us any more. That is not to say we should not have a role in Afghanistan though cause I think that keeping a limited amount of troops like the President is doing now, and using our air power should be enough to help the Afghan Government keep the radical islamists at bay.

NATO and Iraqi Troops launch huge counterattack in Mosul to push Syrians out

Blitzer: We have breaking news to report and that is NATO and Iraqi troops have launched a huge counterattack in Mosul to push the Syrians out . The Syrians who had captured nearly 85% of Mosul now are facing a massive counterattack which began with a massive air attack by NATO Troops which allowed NATO and Iraqi troops on the ground and due to this they have been pushing the Syrians back and are continuing to do so

CNN Military Expert: Dont forget that this attack began with a surprise attack by NATO troops North of Mosul which was area Syria believed they had captured which had weakened the Syrian flank in that region and made this counterattack easier to pull off. Now due to this not only are Syrian Troops facing attacking in the 15% of Mosul that they still have to fight but now from all directions due to weaking flanks.

Blitzer: So in terms for our viewers to understand what would the consequences of such a counterattack be

CNN Military Expert: Well one thing to keep in mind is that if you are attempting to take a major center, the most important thing to defend is not only your troops fighting to take it but also the surrounding areas which we call flanks because if they break then your entire fighting force will be at major risk at being encircled and once that happens, thats pretty much it for any divisions you have fighting in the city. So at this point I think you very much could see Syrian troops try to withdraw out of Mosul to avoid being encircled because with their flanks breaking, I only see two results for them and that is they lose the battle or they lost the battle and they lose whatever divisions they have had fighting in Mosul.

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

What is the debt/deficit and the gdp compared to OTL?

[OSR stands with Israel]

What is the debt/deficit and the gdp compared to OTL?

Less than OTL given the fact that the Iraq War went way better, McCain's 2001/2006 tax cut were not as large as Bush's 2001/2003 tax cuts and the recession here was no where near as severe as the Great Recession.

So while I have not done the overall calculation of debt/deficit per year , I would say the debt at the end of the 2010 fiscal year is around 9.5 trillion rather than 13.5 trillion. Keep in mind the Great Recession alone caused the annual increase in debt to go from around half a trillion dollars a year to nearly 1.2 trillion a year in OTL .

Couple that in with a more stable Iraq from 2004-2010 , and tax cuts that were no where near as expensive as Bush's I would say the national debt is around 4 trillion dollars less than OTL.

https://www.thebalancemoney.com/national-debt-by-year-compared-to-gdp-and-major-events-3306287

[OSR stands with Israel]

President Hillary Clinton irks environmentalists with signing of the bill that approves Keystone XL pipeline but avoids their wrath due to inclusions alternative energy provisions:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK8KhiSLcH8

Blitzer: The President earlier today signed a bill that would approve the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline despite opposition from many environmental groups but avoided their wrath due to the fact the bill also includes many provisions that will promote alternative energy. Some of the provisions that do so include a new $7,500 tax credit for Americans who purchase electric cars, increase in block grants to install solar panels on buildings, increases in funding for clean energy and grid related investments as well as an increase in R&D funding for alternative energy research.

An interesting thing about this bill is it has both bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition with the opposition coming from both the right wing of the gop and left wing of the democrats with Bernie Sanders and Jeff Sessions both voting no on this bill while senators from the leadership of both parties: Chuck Schumer and Jon Kyl both voting for the bill.

NATO/Iraqi troops move into Kirkuik as entire enemy Northern Front on verge of collapse:

Amanpour: After the liberation of Mosul that resulted in the encirclement of the entire Syrian army there, NATO and US troops have gone on the offensive in the north and have now moved into Kirkurik , a currently  held Iranian City . Now with us is our military correspondent who will tell us how important this is

CNN military Expert: It is very important Christine as if the Iraqis and NATO are able to liberate Kirkuk then that would put the entire Iranian northern front at risk and you could see a similar thing happen to them as what happened to Syria with Mosul .

Amanpour: How important is the northern front for the Iranians

CNN military Expert : Very as a loss there allows the Allies to have full ability to launch offenses into Samarra and from there begin to potentially be able to stop any potential move from the North and the West into Baghdad . It also allows of course would let them attack Syrian forces in Fallujah and begun and offensive to fully push Syria out of Iraq, which would leave the Iranians all alone in the fight.

Amanpour: How is the battle on the outskirts of Baghdad going

CNN Military Expert: So far its going well as the Iranians have not been able to penetrate past them and right now fighting over their has sort of gotten less intense as both sides wait for potential help, the Iranians from the Syrians from the West and the Iraqis from the Allies in the North.

Amanpour: Why don't the allies push for an offensive from Baghdad then

CNN Military Expert: Well right now the allies are doing 3 things : 1. Keeping Baghdad fortified and to do that you cannot remove troops from there especially if an attack comes from the west however unlikely it is, 2. Keep that attack from the West from happening in the first place by keeping Fallujah in the hands of the Iraqis, 3. Win decisively in the Northern Front as if that happens then it will be easier to launch a full on counter offensive

Amanpour: Thanks for coming on

[Tron1993]

What’s happening here?  Keep this going

[OSR stands with Israel]

What’s happening here?  Keep this going

Just been really busy lately with work to have time to write up a TL update. Once busy season is over , I’ll have more time again to make some updates here

[OSR stands with Israel]

Former Dallas Mayor and Interim Senator Tom Leppert wins Texas Senate Special Election:

Cooper: As all of you know polls closed in the Texas Special election and CNN has already projected Interim Senator Tom Leppert has won by by a huge margin like expected and will now finish out the term of former Senator George W Bush who left the senate to become Governor of Texas once again. Let's go over to John King to see how he won by such large margins

King: Well as you can see Senator Leppert won Dallas County a county that in recent years has become democratic but given that he was just recently the mayor of Dallas it isnt much of a surprise and that played a part in his landslide win. Another reason is turnout is much lower in these special elections than general elections and the voters who tend to turn out no matter what the election is in Texas turn out to be even more Republican than the general electorate in Texas is so for that reason Republicans tend to usually overperform in Texas special elections.

Cooper: Ok thanks John, and lets take one final look at the results before moving on

Texas Special Senate Election:
Senator Tom Leppert 62.1%
Former State Rep Paul Sadler 37.7%

Insider Sources: While Republican field looks empty, many Republicans are quietly laying groundwork for Presidential Bid:

King: With the exception of Congressman Ron Paul the Republican field looks unusually empty right now but as many will tell you looks can be deceiving. Keep in mind that while no candidates have officially declared, many have quietly done the behind the scenes work such as hiring staff and consultants.

Our insider sources tell us that many of these candidates do expect to declare sometime in late August or early September as they think the Iraq phase of the war will end . So while now only Congressman Paul is in the race , 3 months from now we could see candidates such as Governor Rudy Giuliani, former Governor Mitt Romney, Former Governor Mike Huckabee , Former Governor Tim Pawlenty , Senator Bobby Jindal, Senator George Allen, Senator Michael Steele and others join the race.

NATO/Iraqi troops launch surprise attack in the South at same time as troops Enter Samarra from the North



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y468y6AyGaQ

Blitzer: Allied troops have launched a major surprise attack earlier today in the south and have already retaken significant ground there. Now with us is our military correspondent who will tell us most and first if this attack was really a surprise

Military Correspondent: While it was not a surprise that there was an attack, few could have predicted the scale. As you can see on this map NATO and Iraqi troops launched major offenses in both Syrian Controlled Najaf and Iranian Controlled Al Amarah and successfully liberated both and now are heading to Karbala and Al Kut.

Blitzer: How big is this offensive

Military Correspondent: This is massive as if you pair this in with the fact that in the North the allies have taken entered Samarra from the North and you can see that the Iranians and Syrians could soon be encircled if Karbala and Al Kut get taken as well. Reason is this allows the allies to attack Iranian and Syrian forces in the outskirts of Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi from all directions

Blitzer: So is the war all but over

Military Correspondent: I will say the war in Iraq likely will come to an end soon by either the Iranian and Syrian Armies being encircled or they will retreat but that does not mean the war will end. For the war to end there will have to be some type of agreement and that may require American troops to go into Syria or Iran to accomplish and its possible that the world community may decide its to dangerous to let either the Syrian or Iranian governments remain in power and then decide to fully launch full scales invasions ourselves.

So the war isnt over yet but I am confident to say the Iraq part of it will end soon.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Meeting in G8 Summit in France dominated by conversations of what should be done about Iran and Syria after they are expelled from Iraq

Amanpour: This year's G8 summit in France was dominated by conversations of what should be done about Iran and Syria after they are expelled from Iraq. The Russians unsurprisingly believed that an immediate ceasefire should be declared with all new sanctions that have been imposed since the war to be dropped as well and while no other nation has gone that far their are others who believe a ceasefire should be declared. On the other hand their are other leaders we are told such as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown believe that allied forces should push on to guarantee that the Iranian and Syrian regimes are significantly weakened as well .  The rest of the non US leaders we are told are somewhere in the middle of those two positions and it will be interesting to see what the stand of the US will be. For more information with us is CNN's White Correspondent Jessica Yellin who has been at the meeting and can tell us more. So Jessica what is the US position

Yellin: President Clinton pretty much from what we are told entertained the position of all 7 other leaders but we are told that her position most aligned with Prime Ministers Harper and Brown who believe that NATO forces should move into Iran and Syria to force them to accept a surrender agreement that significantly weakens both regimes but the President also prefers if at least the Germans and French also get on board as it would make such a mission easier.

Amanpour: Thanks Jessica, and one interesting point to point out David is that Canada is expected to hold an election this fall , France goes to the polls next Spring so could this play a role into how much support the US gets in such an action.

Frum: In the case of France , I would say absolutely which is why President Sarkozy is probably taking a more cautious role than he otherwise would as the French public is generally more skeptical of such actions and if he goes to far it could cost him reelection. As for Canada, I would say no as Prime Minister Harper is definitely taking a more hawkish stance than Canadian Prime Ministers usually take but the fact is over the past 10 years the Canadian public has been more receptive to American foreign policy actions than they were in the past so I think he is able to do so because of that reason. You can see this in the polls as the Prime Minister has gotten a pretty big bump since the beginning of the war and if they hold up hed win a pretty decisive electoral victory.

What is interesting though is Prime Minister Gordon Brown has seen an even bigger bump than Prime Minister Harper and has actually wiped out a double digit deficit and now leads in the polls but the fact is thanks to a change in UK election law he cant call a snap election to benefit from it.

Amanpour : What is the new law for our viewers to know

Frum: Basically up until 2008 the Prime Ministers effectively had the power to call early elections any time they wanted but as part of the coalition agreement they made with the Liberal Democrats after the most recent election they no longer can. Now they must get the permission of 2/3 of parliament to call an early election and there is no way the Conservatives would grant that permission so due to that the Prime Minister won't be able to make such a call.


Divisions of Iranian and Syrian Militaries retreat from Iraq in attempt to avoid being encircled:

Blitzer : We have breaking news to report and that is that many divisions of the Iranian and Syrian militaries are conducting a full scale retreat from Iraq to avoid an encirclement from allied troops. With us now is now our military correspondent who will explain us what the strategy by Iran and Syria is

CNN Military Correspondent: Well one thing to keep in mind is with the liberation of Karbala , Samarra and Al Kut there is absolutely no way the Iranians and Syrians had a chance of winning the war so the smart option was to retreat. Second if they didnt you would have seen the destruction of their entire militaries that are deployed in Iraq and the fact is if that happened, its very likely either regime would fall as well so the regimes had an incentive to withdraw

Blitzer: Hold on as the President is about to give a statement

President Clinton Rules out Ceasefire at current moment in statement:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZa66K0vB5Y

Clinton: A short while ago, our military leaders informed me that NATO and Iraqi military troops are on track to fully liberating all of Iraq within the next 24 to 48 hours as both the Iranian and Syrian militaries have begun to fully retreat from Iraq . Due to this news , I can confidently proclaim that we have indeed accomplished the core of our mission which was to expel the Iranians and Syrians from Iraq but the overall mission has not been accomplished yet as the fact is we cannot allow the Iranians and Syrians to regroup and attack Iraq again a few years later or any of their other neighbors. No, we must remove the capability of the Iranians and Syrians to ever wage war again and for that reason , I have ordered General Petraeus to launch full scale offensives into Iran or Syria  and to not stop until the Iranians and Syrians agree to acceptable terms .

Such terms are one they cap the size of their military and two they destroy all of their weapons of mass destruction and never again build such weapons. These terms are not up to negotiation and any ceasefire agreement will require these terms to be met and enforced  and given neither Iran or Syria are willing to accept those terms , there will not be a ceasefire at the moment although we all are hoping that there can be one soon.

God Bless Our Troops and May God Bless the United States of America.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking News: Iran and Syria agree to Armistice just one week after beginning of Allied Offenses.  



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y468y6AyGaQ


Blitzer : We have breaking news to report to you and that is that the Iranian and Syrians have agreed to an armistice and according to General Petraeus have done so by meeting all the demands set by President Hillary Clinton a week ago . This means that both nations will have to downsize their militaries to a level that neither have the ability to wage offensive war ever again , and also agree to not only destroy all the Weapons of Mass Destruction they currently have but to never again build such weapons .  Lets now head over to Secretary of Defense Hamre for more information

Secretary of Defense Hamre: A short while ago General Petraeus called to inform the Commander in Chief that the governments of Iran and Syria have agreed to all the terms that she had set forth and as a result an armistice was agreed . The terms they have agreed to involve:

- To reduce the size of their military in which it can only be used for defense and not offense

- To destroy all their Weapons of Mass Destruction and to never again build them

- To allow inspectors from a neutral third party verify whether or not they are meeting both terms

- To use the money they no longer will be spending on their militaries as reparations to Iraq for the next 5 years

In exchange we have agreed to not impose any no fly zones and to withdraw all our troops currently in Iran and Syria . Thank You, May God Bless you and May God Bless America

Blitzer : Secretary Hamre announcement will mark the end of what was been the deadliest war for the US since Vietnam and the deadliest year since at least Korea and potentially World War 2.

Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal announces Presidential Bid



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEA9hcuWo-E

Jindal: Thank You Thank You. I want to start of by thanking the men and women in uniform who fought bravely in Iraq and prevented Iraq from falling into tyranny and letting them know that our nation will forever be thankful for their efforts as well . Unfortunately though I fear that the way this war ended May set the stage for another war in the future as I do not think the armistice deal the president signed as adequate punishment at all . The fact is just like Saddam Hussain did in the 1990s , Iran and Syria will do their best to not follow through on this agreement and the fact is we cannot afford for this to happen which is why we need a new commander in chief (Applause) and it is exactly why I have decided to run for that job (Applause ).

Just as it is critical we have a president who understands the importance of defending freedom abroad we need one who understands the importance of defending our economic liberties as well which I why as president I will take aim at the burdensome tax and regulatory system that slow economic growth and unleash the beast of our private economy(Applause). We will do this by showing respect and promoting our traditional values such as god, family, hard work as the fact is these values helped make our nation the greatest nation in the world and it is important we preserve those values(Applause).

Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America  

[OSR stands with Israel]

New York Governor Rudy Giuliani announces Presidential Bid:



Attribution : 1DmkIIN, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Giuliani: Thank You Thank You. It truly is a great day today in New York which is truly the greatest city in the world and its been my honor being able to serve you for past 16 and a half years as first your mayor and now your govenor(Applause). It also is great to be back in New York as that means I can go watch a Yankees game and let me tell you this, the Yankees will win the world series this year(Applause). Baseball is actually a good analogy for a a country because the best teams win baseball and not the best individual players and the best run organizations are those who plan for the future and develop their farm teams rather than trade those players away to get a star in the short run . Similarly for a nation we do the best when we come together as a nation rather than as democrats and republicans and our future success will come from planning for the long term instead of now(Applause) . We just saw it recently when our military was able to work with the militaries of Iraq and all our allies who joined us to help defeat tyranny and restore freedom to all Iraqis(Applause) and the men and women who fought in uniform to accomplish that mission deserve our forever thanks(Applause).

These are principles though we must apply to solving other issues we face to and that is why I am running for President(Applause). As mayor I was in charge of one of the most democratic cities in America and as Governor I am in charge of one of the most democratic states in America, and despite that I was able to work in a bipartisan manner to help restore law and order, help New York recover after 9/11, and grow our economy and that is what I intend to do as President(Applause). By bipartisan too, I dont mean the type of fake bipartisanship you see in Washington where neither party addresses the major issues but the type where we actually address the major issues facing our nation and I intend to bring my experience to Washington. Thank You, May God Bless You and May God Bless America(Applause).


Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney announces Presidential Bid:



Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/patchwork-nation-romney

Romney: Thank You Thank You. Our nation over the past decade has shown multiple times why we are truly the beacon for freedom and liberty around the world and has shown that we are willing to fight for it and I can tell you nothing makes me more prouder to be an American than when our men and women in our military have shown how hard they are willing defend it(Applause). It is now our job as leaders of our nation to defend our nation not only from nations who pose a military threat to the global order but those who also pose an economic one like the one posed by China. Over the past many years, despite the fact that many have believed the inclusion of China into the WTO and a policy of relatively free trade with them would lead to China becoming a responsible global stakeholder have not materialized. China is a nation that has shown disregard for all types of trading rules , and recently was one of the biggest enablers of the invasion of Iraq by Syria and Iran and I can tell you that it is time for the United States to stopping enabling China and that is one major reason I have decided to run for President(Applause). As President, I will on day 1 label the Chinese Government as currency manipulators and will launch a full scale effort to crack down on all of their illegal trade practices(Applause).

While it may seem like a huge break from our current policies , the fact is we do need fundamental change when it comes to our relationship with China and I will pursue such changes as President. Same reason we need someone who can bring fundamental change to our energy policies so we can become energy independent within the next 5 years, reform our regulatory system to help unleash the potential of our economy and I as President will do everything I can do bring upon those changes(Applause). Both in Business and as Governor I have had experience in helping bring upon change and I will do the same as President(Applause). I will also like to point out the last 3 times the Republicans proudly flew the banner of change, was in 1980 with Ronald Reagan and he ended up winning 44 states in November, in 1994 and we ended up taking congress for the first time in 40 years and in 2000 where John McCain brough upon the first Republican trifecta for 48 years so the fact is Republicans who run on change win and end up successful(Applause). Thank You, May God Bless You, May God Bless America

Senator Michael Steele and Former Governor Mike Huckabee Announce they will not be running for President:

Blitzer: Two potential major presidential contenders announced today that they would not be running for President. First Maryland Michael Steele and he released this statement

Steele: Over the past few weeks and months, I thought hard about running for President and the encouragement to run from so many people was a great honor but after much thought I have decided not to run for President. I believe at this time I can help do a better job helping our nation out by continuing to help bring common ground between the parties in the senate than I can do in a long Presidential campaign. I do intend to run for re-election as Senator of the great state of Maryland the upcoming fall and look forward to that campaign

Blitzer: Former Arkansas Mike Huckabee also released this statement

Huckabee: Over the past many months, many have speculated whether I will run for President which is why I wanted to announce that no I will not in 2012. One reason for that is it would be a longshot for me to win a primary let alone win the Presidency and I do not think it is a good use of my time or anyone's time to wage such a campaign that would only end up bringing down other Republicans so for that reason I have decided not to run.

Blitzer: So David how surprised are you

Gergen: I am not really surprised that Senator Steele decided not to run as the fact is he wouldn't have much of a realistic chance at the nomination and running in a national primary could make him take positions that would make him unelectable for his reelection bid in Maryland. As for Governor Huckabee, I will say he too has a long shot and given his new contract with Fox News, its not really a surprise he does not want to give that up for a bid that likely goes no where.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Virginia Senator George Allen announces Presidential Bid



Source : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sgyunmmEJHU

Allen: Thank You Thank You. Earlier today I visited the Arlington National Cemetery where hundreds of thousands of Americans who fought hard for our freedom were buried and it is a reminder that being a free and prosperous country is not something that just naturally happens but something that we need to continue to fight for(Applause) just like our troops recently did in Iraq(Applause). It is now critical in my opinion that we create an economy that is good enough so our troops who fought so hard for freedom can have the opportunity to get good jobs when they return home(Applause). Doing so requires the work of both the executive branch and the legislative branch and in this important time, we need someone who has the experience in both which is why I am running for President.

I will take axe to the regulatory state that has stiffled our economy just like I did here in Virginia and we will appoint good competent conservatives to run these agencies because let me tell you this , as the head of the executive branch one of the most important things you do is appoint people to head up these agencies in the executive branch and it is important we have a president who has the experience in doing so (Applause). I have also had the experience of being a senator from the great state of Virginia and let me tell you over the past 11 years I have had a record of being able to work with anyone regardless of party affiliation to pass the type of legislation our country needs to help make our economy stronger , strengthen our national security and preserve the values that made our country the greatest nation the world has ever seen (Applause). Thank You , May God Bless you and May god Bless America

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announces Bid:



Source : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HS_9qYweeoc

Pawlenty : Thank You Thank You . It is great being back here in Saint Paul where I had the honor of serving as the governor of the great state of Minnesota for 8 years where we were able to balance our state's budget without raising taxes, improve our education system ,  improving our infrastructure and making this state a better place for all our residents(Applause) . It is my belief that we need strong and experienced leadership in the White House who has the ability to make the changes we need to improve our great country of ours and that is why I am running for President (Applause). We need someone who can make the necessary cuts we need to balance the budget without needing to raise a dime in taxes , bring accountability to our nation’s schools  so we can truly improve our education system , improve the help we give to our veterans to Ensure our heroes who fought hard for freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan know that our country truly thanks them for their service and much more (Applause ).

None of these things are easy to accomplish which but neither will winning this election and I believe we truly can accomplish anything we want (Applause). Now some of the doubters claim that we have no chance but let me remind you everyone said the same thing about John McCain back in 1999 and let me tell you something, he ended up being one of the best presidents in the modern history of our nation (Applause ) . I believe that we will win and if we do have the ability to bring the changes needed to improve our nation(Applause). Thank You , May God Bless You and May God Bless America


Conservative Commentator John Bolton Announces Run on Fox News:



Source : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aPIYiqNBJjw

Kelly: Now with us is Fox News Contributor and former member of the McCain Administration John Bolton. Now John I hear you have an announcement to make

Kelly: Yes I do Megyn and that is I will be running for President of the United States and the reason is we are currently in a dangerous world and not one candidate running for President has had the direct foreign policy experience needed to help deal with it.

Kelly: So what would you bring to the table policy wise that nobody else would

Bolton: That a recognition that Iran still remains the biggest threat to peace in the middle east and will be as long as the current regime remains in power. I will not tolerate such a regime and will put in place policies to directly undermine the Iranian and Syrian Governments to ensure that both nations can one day truly be put on the path to freedom as well .

Also we have to put heavy sanctions on Russia and China for enabling this war and I am the only candidate in the race who will do that

Kelly : Given that the few polls that include you have you at 1% , how do you plan to not only improve your numbers but improve them enough to win

Bolton: The fact is that there is no other candidate in the race who has foreign policy or national security interests and that is the number 1 job for the president and I believe when I get on that debate stage with the other candidates, that will make this point clear . Secondly the fact is in my lifetime every Republican who won did so by making foreign policy a core part of their message . That is true for Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon , Reagan , Bush and McCain so the fact is we cannot afford even for electability reasons letting President Clinton come in with an advantage on the issue .

Kelly : Some may argue there was a different reason why they won but that’s a conversation for a different day . Good luck John on your campaign

Bolton : Thanks Megyn

[President Johnson]

Predicting a Clinton vs. Romney race which becomes another nailbiter. Or Romney narrowly loses to someone like Rudy who gets blown out before Mitt has a comeback in 2016.

[2016]

Hillary Clinton gets Re-Elected I think based on the Demographic Changes that occured between 2008-2012.

Republicans learn their lesson and Florida Governor Marco Rubio runs after winning Re-Election in 2014.

Ironically I predict the GE in 2016 will be Rubio (Republican) versus Trump (Democratic).

[OSR stands with Israel]

Former President McCain to stump for electoral reform

Blitzer: The Electoral Reform Amendment which so far has been ratified by 28 states still faces and uphill climb for ratification given that the majority of states that have yet to ratify the amendment are swing states who currently benefit from the current system which is why Former President John McCain is stumping for its ratification. Here’s a part of a speech he gave in Wisconsin

McCain : My friends , as the president who had to manage the transition after the last election, I can tell you that we absolutely need reform . While we did our best to ensure stability with both candidates naming people to head up important posts ahead of time , this type of uncertainty we faced is not good for the stability of our nation . I can tell you that we were very lucky it went as smoothly as it did and I do not think we should be put in this situation again .

This reform amendment will do exactly that and do so without compromising the benefits of the electoral college and importance of swing states so I implore all of you regardless of party to call or write to your legislators and tell them to ratify this amendment

Blitzer: So John how correct is the former president about the last point

King : He is 100% about that point and the reason is the national popular vote winner according to this proposal will only give you 15 electoral votes . So even in a scenario where the candidate A has say 277 electoral votes and candidate B has 261 , those 15 electoral votes won’t be enough to change the outcome of the election .

In fact since the modern Democratic vs Republican Party system began in 1856 , there have only been two elections which the margin between the two candidates was less than 15 electoral votes and that is 1876 and 2008 , and only in 1876 would it have changed the election outcome . Keep in mind that many historians believe that Tilden the loser of that election had the election stolen from him  so the only outcome where this new amendment would change is an election that many historians believe was stolen to begin with . So I’d say it is a myth to say this change would really change things .

So that is not really the case and there are very other important changes these make

Blitzer: Like what

King : One it makes the requirement to win a contingent to win a majority of the house and not a majority of state delegations and given that number is off unlike the number of states , that means we would not be subject to multiple ballots there . We frankly would know the winner of such an election as soon as we know House control is decided as this new change makes it so only the top 2 candidates in the electoral college can be considered as well .

Blitzer : Can’t the third party candidate who gets enough electoral votes to throw it to his house use his pledged EV as a bargaining chip to force one of the candidates to make concessions.

King : No this requires the electors to vote as they are pledged to do so that removes that possibility as well . That change is important as well as keep in mind in 1968 , the segregationist candidate, George Wallace , planned to use his electoral votes as a bargaining chip to Nixon or Humphrey to force either of them to roll back civil rights advances . Thankfully that didn’t happen but it was very close to happening and it is good this reform would make that type of play impossible.

Blitzer : Thanks John

Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu gets elected in Round 1 of Gubernatorial Election as he narrowly crosses 50% mark



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csMbjG0-6Ak

Cooper: Lets go over to Wolf for a an important update

Blitzer: Yes Anderson and that is with 99% of the precients in Louisiana, we can project that Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu will win over 50% of the vote meaning he will avoid a runoff and will be elected as the next governor of the state of Louisiana. Lets go over to James Carville for his reaction

Carville: I am very excited to have someone like Mitch Landrieu win and while this result is no surprise, I am happy we are not heading to a runoff. The fact is while Louisiana has become more of a Republican state at a Federal level, its still Democratic at a state level and add in the fact that Governor-Elect Landrieu is a strong candidate, I don't think this result is much of a surprise.

Gergen: No, but I think this is why a bench is important because having a strong bench is important in winning state and local elections and in Louisiana , the Democrats bench is clearly stronger than the Democrats. So the fact is if the Republicans want to really want to make the gains they have made federally trickle down at a state level, they need to improve their bench first and that will take 2-3 cycles.

Blitzer: Before we send it back, we want to show the results one last time

Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu 50.4%
Representative Bill Cassidy 40.1%
Former State Representative Tom Perkins 7.7%
Others 2.2

[OSR stands with Israel]

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper wins another majority



Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-2011-election-anniversary-1.6007145

Conservative Party(Stephen Harper) : 176 Seats(+19)
New Democratic Party(Tom Mulcair): 88 Seats(+51)
Liberal Party(Michael Ignatieff): 37 Seats(-32)
Bloc Québécois(Gilles Duceppe): 6 Seats(-40)
Green(Elizabeth May): 1 Seat(+1)

Amanpour: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last night was re-elected with yet another majority government which was not much of a surprise but a huge surprise was to see the New Democratic party, a typical third party finish ahead of the once dominant Liberal Party to finish in 2nd. David how did this happen

Frum: Well there are 3 reasons:

- One the liberal party has been in disarray ever since losing power in 2005, and thus have seen many of their more centrist supporters vote Conservative which has helped the conservatives out in many key suburban seats and their more progressive support vote NDP which is why the NDP is now in the official opposition

- Two the war which squeezed the liberal party a good deal because the fact is you have really two options when it comes to opinion about a war which is support it or oppose it. So people who supported sending the Canadian Air Force to help the US out, voted conservative and people who opposed it voted NDP. Now this decision turned out to benefit the conservatives because of the fact the war was successful and the fact is over the past 10 years, opinion of the US have gone up.

 - Three the death of previous NDP leader Jack Layton did create a sympathy effect and while yes they had to rush through a leadership election , the NDP did benefit from that .

Amanpour: So what will 4 more years of Prime Minster Harper mean for US relations with Canada

Frum : Prime Minister Harper is known to be pro America so it should be well

Amanpour : Thanks David for coming on

Frum : Anytime

2011 Election Preview:

Blitzer: With Louisiana's Gubernatorial race having been decided, we will not have any exciting gubernatorial race up but we do have a very very exciting mayoral race in San Francisco up . It will pit the current DA of San Franciso Kamala Harris, who is trying to salve a career in California politics up against Democratic Party mega donor Tom Steyer. Its been a very close race and we will be following it. Here again is the list of races we will be following tomorrow

Kentucky: Governor Bruce Lunford(D) vs State Sente President David Williams(R)- Safe Democratic Hold

Mississippi: Lieutenant Governor Phill Bryant(R) vs Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree (D)- Safe Republican Hold

San Francisco Mayoral: San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris(D) vs Businessman Tom Steyer(D) - Tossup


Blitzer: So John we may not know of the winner tomorrow of the mayoral race

King: Nope because San Franciso uses a system of ranked choice voting where the votes of the lowest ranking candidate gets transferred over to the other candidates until a candidate gets over 50%. Now Mrs. Harris and Mr. Steyer have so dominated the airwaves that it may not take as many rounds but its likely we wont know the winner tomorrow night.

We will be doing exit polls though and in those exit polls we will be asking the voters to rank the candidates like they did in the polling booth so we should be able to use that to be able to predict who will win.

Blitzer: It will be exciting as the winner of this race likely positions themselves up for Governor in 2018 if Governor Schwarzenegger gets reelected

King: Yup

[Sir Mohamed]

I'd support Harris for SF mayor at the time. I wouldn't be bothered by Steyer though.

I hope to find the time reading the last few posts after having lost track over the past weeks. This is still one of the best TLs here.

[OSR stands with Israel]

CNN: Election Night in America 2011



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haRo8uLQNok

7:00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_U0FyRwvU

Blitzer : It is 7 PM in the East and the polls have closed in Kentucky and to no one’s surprise we can now project that Governor Bruce Lunford will be re-elected as governor in that state. As you can see on the map democrats have so far won two of the three gubernatorial races up this year given that they had already won in Louisiana a couple weeks back . So we will send it back to normal programming and will be back at 8 eastern .




8:00

Blitzer : It’s 8 in the East and CNN can now project that Governor Phil Bryant has won reelection In Mississippi which again is no surprise. With that win, officially no gubernatorial seat will have changed hands this year. Ok we will send it to your regular programing and be back at 11 for coverage of the very exciting San Francisco Mayoral rac



11:00:

Blitzer: It is 11 in the East and the polls have closed in San Francisco and currently we are unable to make a projection in that City's Mayoral Race but we can release the results of our first exit poll and that is that Businessman Steyer currently leads Attorney Harris 43% to 41%. Now lets go over to John King for more on this race

King: Yes Wolf , and given our exit poll shows both Steyer and Harris well below 50%, the fact is we almost certainly will not have a winner tonight. What we will be able to do though once the results of round 1 are in, is use our exit poll results in relation with the actual relate to predict who will be favored.

Blitzer: Many believe the winner of this race could be a huge player in statewide elections in the future so Gloria do you buy that

Borger: I am not sure I do given that bay area candidates were generally defeated in statewide races last November and the reason for this is pretty simple and that is there are far more voters who live in Southern California so they generally have advantage in these types of elections

King: I will like to add that while California is safely a Democratic state at the presidential level , and at a congressional and a legislative level , it is not at a statewide level so who the different parties add to their bench is still important .

Gergen : Yes but I’d like to add that I’d say Tom Steyer probably has a better future in statewide races , given that he doesn’t have the record of losing one already and the fact he can self fund to such a great extent .

Blitzer: Ok so let’s take a break and send it back to regular programming and we will be back when we can give you an update on this race a couple hours from now

1:15

Blitzer : CNN can now project that in the mayoral race in San Francisco, Mr Tom Steyer will finish round one with around 43% to 44% and Mrs. Kamala Harris with 41%-42% so it will be very close . So John how are our exit polls showing the voters for other candidates going for these other rounds

King : Well our exit polls is showing that the rest of the candidates supporters go basically 50-50 once you take into account those who didn’t rank either Mr. Steyer or Mrs Harris so going off that we could assume that Mr. Steyer is favored but the final result will be within the margin of error so we will not be projecting a winner tonight

Blitzer: Thanks John , and yes CNN will be back to cover the announcement of who will win the mayoral race in San Francisco


Breaking News : Tom Steyer Wins Mayoral Race :



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otw6Oxm20dQ

Blitzer : The 5th and final round of the San Francisco runoff is being announced so let’s head to San Francisco for the announcement

SF election official : The results of the 5th round of the San Francisco Mayoral election are as followed . The total non exhausted votes cast for round 5 is 213,456 of which 108,649 votes have been casted for Tom Steyer and 104807 votes have been casted for Kamala Harris . Having won a majority of votes casted , I can certify that Thomas Fahr Steyer has won the mayoral election and that he will be sworn in for the position on the term beginning on January 8th of the following year.

Blitzer : So there you have it, Businessman Tom Steyer will be the next mayor of San Francisco and we will be interested to see where his political career goes from there

Borger: Yes we will