Steve Welch was the Governor of Oregon between 1999 and 2004.
As Governor of Oregon, Steve Welch:
- Reformed healthcare by expanding Medicaid, protecting patients with preexisting conditions, creating a $50,000 tax credit, providing a reinsurance pool for employers, requiring healthcare providers to properly compensate patients injured by medical malpractice, and unsuccessfully trying to create a public option while providing full healthcare coverage for children under 12.
- Banned high-capacity magazines, while requiring trigger locks for firearms.
- Increased public school teachers' salaries across the board.
- Declared his "conditional" support for the 1999 anti-WTO protests, saying "Globalization should be fair".
- Raised the state minimum wage to 5.30 dollars per hour, while allowing small businesses to opt out of it.
- Increased funding for contraception.
- Implemented mandatory rehabilitation for drug criminals, while pardoning some of them for good behavior.
- Unsuccessfully tried to make preschool free.
- Made secondary education publicly funded.
- Provided grants to homeless shelters providing a place for homeless individuals to sleep.
- Created a program to connect every school and library in Oregon to the internet by 2000.
After being reelected, Steve Welch set his sights on the Presidency.
Steve Welch announced his campaign for President on January 5, 2003 with a rally in Portland. In the rally, Welch excoriated the Bush Administration for its plans to invade Iraq, "bigoted" policies on women and gays, and tax cuts for the wealthy, while promising to be a President "for the people". He ended the speech with the phrase "We all win with Welch" which has been associated with his 2004 campaign ever since.
On March 19 2003 (one day after the United States invaded Iraq), Welch released his presidential campaign platform. It consisted of:
- Comprehensive healthcare reform: Expanded Medicaid, full Medicare coverage for eligible children, a reinsurance pool for employers, a $50,000 tax credit, protections for those with preexisting conditions, abolishing premiums, extending sick leave, increasing pay for nurses and hospital staff across the board, an individual mandate, investing $1 billion into modernizing health equipment, and working with the private sector to create 5,000,000 private health insurance plans.
- Raising taxes on the wealthy and closing corporate tax loopholes to reduce the deficit.
- Gradually phasing out Common Core, and instead focusing on increasing teachers' wages, and trade schools – which would become tuition-free.
- Renegotiating NAFTA and opposing CAFTA.
- Safe, legal and rare abortions, while implementing comprehensive sex ed and greater funding for contraception.
- Making the Assault Weapons Ban permanent, while closing the gun show loophole, outlawing high-capacity magazines, and requiring trigger locks.
- Slowly withdrawing American troops from Iraq once Saddam Hussein had been overthrow.
- Raising the federal minimum wage to 6.5 dollars per hour, while allowing small businesses to opt out of it.
- Repealing the Patriot Act, while investigating cases of torture against detainees.
- Legalizing same-sex civil unions.
- Ending China's most favored nation status.
- Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, and cutting subsidies for the fossil fuel industry; while creating a federal program of renewable energy development.
Welch began the campaign by polling a distant third, but slowly rose in the polls, picking up endorsements (such as Al Gore, Barbara Boxer, Tom Vilsack and Debbie Stabenow) which helped legitimize his campaign. He developed a strong field infrastructure in Iowa and New Hampshire, while creating a campaign website allowing donations of less than $2,000 and the sale of t-shirts, coffee mugs, baseball caps, bumper stickers, backpacks and posters themed after his campaign.
By October 2003, Welch was a major contender for the Democratic nomination; in spite of his nonaggression pact with Howard Dean, Dean was polling a distant fourth nationwide.
Welch started out by defeating John Kerry in the Iowa Caucus, winning 12 delegates to Kerry's 10, John Edwards' 8 and Howard Dean's 4; Dean then suspended his campaign and endorsed Welch.
A poor debate performance caused John Kerry to narrowly beat Welch in neighboring New Hampshire, but this was only a temporary setback; Welch won all Mini Tuesday primaries except Delaware, South Carolina and Oklahoma (Arizona was the closest).
Welch and Kerry began to attack eachother, with the Senator for Massachusetts calling Welch an inexperienced extremist, and the Governor of Oregon accusing Kerry of being a flip-flopper; this attack stuck with voters.
Welch's momentum continued with handy victories in Michigan and neighboring Washington, but it took a small hit when Edwards won Tennessee and Kerry carried Maine and Virginia, as shown by him easy carrying DC, Nevada, Wisconsin, Utah, Idaho and Utah.
During Super Tuesday, Steve Welch won California, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Vermont, while John Kerry only carried Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland (popular vote), his home state of Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Governor Welch was the unstoppable frontrunner.
Welch won all contests afterwards by large margins, with the exception of Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. After sweeping Indiana and Pennsylvania, Welch personally reached out to John Kerry, asking if he would drop out to keep the Democratic Party united; Kerry agreed.
Steve Welch resigned from the governorship of Oregon on August 3 2004, to focus on his presidential campaign.
Welch gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention, where he mentioned his record as Governor of Oregon: healthcare reform, gun control, better education, protections for women's rights, and a higher minimum wage, saying he'd accomplish these on a national scale. He also attacked Bush for invading a country without UN authorization, saying that in spite of Saddam's brutality, "Two wrongs never make a right". His running mate was Dick Gephardt, whose choice was meant to help Welch in the Midwest.
Welch focused on his domestic policies of repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, gradually phasing out Common Core, making the Assault Weapons Ban permanent while outlawing high-capacity magazines, closing the gun show loophole, and requiring trigger locks on firearms, and comprehensive healthcare reform (Medicaid expansion, full Medicare coverage for eligible children, a reinsurance pool for employers, protections for people with preexisting conditions, new private health insurance plans, $50,000 tax credit). He also promised to renegotiate NAFTA with greater protection for American manufacturing, and "reject" CAFTA. As to the War on Terror, Welch promised to withdraw American troops from Iraq by 2007, while continuing to support the country's new government, and to defeat the Taliban while finding and catching Osama bin Laden. Welch mantained and expanded his comprehensive campaign website, while creating a social media website for his supporters.
The Bush campaign focused on the War on Terror, promising to stabilize Iraq and win the war in Afghanistan, while portraying the President as a moderate and Welch as an extremist liberal, especially on his support for gun control. Given this, George W. Bush had a good lead in the polls, until Welch won the first debate.
On October 2, the retired nurse who claimed to have aborted Steve Welch's third child appeared on MSNBC'S Morning Joe, saying that with one of her patients having the chance of becoming first lady, it was time to speak out on the matter. This damaged Welch's credibility among Southern and Catholic voters, but helped him in pro-choice states such as Nevada; Welch tried to deflect by pointing out how Bush killed innocent people in Iraq.
Dick Cheney won the vice-presidential debate against his Missourian namesake.
In the end, Welch was narrowly elected by winning Ohio, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico by less than 2%.
This was the first time the winner lost the popular vote two elections in a row, which damaged the Electoral College's credibility. George W. Bush became the second president to lose the popular vote twice, after Benjamin Harrison, and this was the first election where both major party nominees disavowed federal matching funds.
