American government under an Australian style political system

[Polkergeist]

Election of 1991

Unlike the previous election there were no hidden traps for Prime Minister Bush with the health care debate diffused by an ascendent foreign policy which was the main focus of the campaign.

With no real protest factor in the election the AL profile was much diminished while Dukakis now on the public stage for 4 years was seen as stale. The election night results were a triumph for the GOP

House
GOP 50.7% 364 seats
Democrats 40.1 % 237 seats
American Liberals 7.9% 15 seats

Two Party Preferred
GOP 54%
Dem 46 %

However the GOP could not regain control of the senate

GOP 150
Democrats 130
American Liberals 22

[Platypus]

yay i like updates

[Platypus]

we know you're online...BUMP

[Polkergeist]

Alright.... Alright... I'll do another post. If you noticed I cleaned up some of the previous posts a few nights ago

[A18]

I've always wondered why not a single state has adopted a parliamentary system. I wouldn't want one for the federal government, though.

[Polkergeist]

PM Bush III

With his election victory and an increased majority Prime Minister Bush believed he had a mandate to push through his agenda on the country, the second half of 1991 was a tumultuous time with the downfall of communism in the USSR. He signalled that he want to tighten Federal criminal law relating to the war on drugs. He further wanted reform of federal income tax to flatten the tax rates and to implement general tax cuts which he pledged in the election campaign. In late 1991 with the Prime Minister of Canada and President of Mexico in tow PM Bush announced that a comprehensive free trade agreement was being negotiated with those 3 nations that would be signed next year.

Democrats – New Leader

Opposition Leader Dukakis on election night said that he would consider his position on continuing on a Democratic Party leader. The Wednesday after the election, Dukakis announced he would be stepping down as leader. The Democratic Party had its leadership vote scheduled for Monday June 17.

Favouritism initially settled on Premier Mario Cuomo of New York, while outside of Federal Parliament it was mooted that he would run for Dukakis’ soon to be vacated seat in a by-election. However June 7 Premier Cuomo ruled himself out from running. That same day newly elected MP Jerry Brown threw his hat in the ring after fellow progressive Jesse Jackson ruled out another leadership bid. Over the weekend on June 8-9 several mid-westerners threw their hat in the ring; Missourian Richard Gephardt Nebraskan Bob Kerry and Iowan Tom Harkin. An already crowded field was joined by Shadow Treasurer Al Gore on June 10 who immediately shot to front-runner.

The field was considered dull by political pundits with the exception of Jerry Brown who was seen as too liberal. This changed on Thursday June 13 with the entry into the race of former Arkansas Premier Bill Clinton. Clinton was immediately seen as a front runner of a crowded pack. However with 6 candidates the race was considered unpredictable.

On the morning of the ballot, Al Gore announced his withdrawal from the race endorsing Bill Clinton. It was this that pushed Clinton over the top. Unsurprisingly Gore was offered the deputy leader’s position.

First Round
Clinton 157
Brown 98
Gephardt 62
Harkin 26
Kerry 24

Second Round
Clinton 167
Brown 99
Gephardt 75
Harkin 26

Third Round
Clinton 187
Brown 102
Gephardt 78

Opposition leader Clinton essential kept the same opposition front bench with the addition of Jerry Brown as Shadow health minister.

[Platypus]

More, more.

Thnks so far. BTW, don't you think you're making it a little bit too easy for premiers to cross over into top level federal politics? I know up in Syudney you have crazy fantasies of PM Carr, but the ALP would be smashed if he got anywhere near the position, just as it would be for Steve Bracks or Peter Beattie, etc.

[Polkergeist]

More, more.

Thnks so far. BTW, don't you think you're making it a little bit too easy for premiers to cross over into top level federal politics? I know up in Syudney you have crazy fantasies of PM Carr, but the ALP would be smashed if he got anywhere near the position, just as it would be for Steve Bracks or Peter Beattie, etc.

Well firstly, I wanted to keep the main politcal players the same in this timeline so that influenced the entry of Premiers Clinton and Dukakis into federal parliament. Secondly remember in this TL we have a house of 600 this means its easier for outsiders to slip into parliament as there is more seats and consequently more by-elections.

Back to Australia though as for Premiers trying to be PM's I find that elections are more leadership based than they used to be. Voters view the election as more Howard v Beazley than Liberal v Labor. Hence oppostion leaders have a harder time in such elections as they have less of a platform in opposition than in government to make their 'mark'. Premier's on the other hand have had a platform to show their leadership that is their state governments. This eases the imbalance but only in their home state. So i don't think that Premier's are on hiding to nothing by transferring to Canberra.

[Platypus]

Maybe it wouldn't effect non-Cockroach Premiers, but if Carr ran the ALP would actually lose seats in Victoria and even Queensland, where they're already basically at bare minimum...we don't like Carr especially, not so much that he's a NSWelshman, but because he's an arrogant Sydney-centric prick. The again, how different is that from Howard or Latham? Still, they don't have the same level of assosiation with the city as Carr has. The rest of AUS really doesn't like Sydney very much; I'm often amused to the blindness some Sydneysiders have to this.

I know not many people like Melbourne terribly much either, but we seem to be better in the eyes of most then Sydney, if only because we're a bit smaller. (To Americans-we've still got 4 million people, so we are hardly a village-I think that's about double the size of Houston )

[KEmperor]

Have you figured in representation for the US territories?  I believe that the Australian territories have slight representation?

[Platypus]

2 senators up at every election (instead of 12, half up each election), and in both cases 2 members of the lower house (although the NT probably only deserves one, and the ACT is close to deserving three)