The '92 Vote: An Interactive Timeline [Gameplay]

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I have decided to start the game a few days earlier, and allow late candidates until Tuesday.

In the summer of 1991, after the successful performance by U.S. and coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush enjoys record high approval ratings.  His re-election is considered a shoe-in, and as a result, top Democrat figures such as Governor Mario Cuomo and Douglas Wilder have refused to seek the Democratic nomination.

But in spite of the president's record success, he is encountered with some opposition from the right for having alienated his base by breaking his 1988 campaign pledge against raising taxes.  The president's main Republican contenders, former presidential adviser Pat Buchanan, LA State Representative David Duke, and former Congressman Ron Paul, are expected to launch their campaigns soon.  But with 89% of the nation rating their president so highly, they are unlikely to put a dent in his reelection bid.

Anticipated Republican Candidates:

President George H.W. Bush of Texas: Oldiesfreak1854
Former Presidential Advisor Pat Buchanan of Virginia: ChairmanSanchez
State Representative David Duke of Louisiana: Spiral
Former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas: Bmotley

Anticipated Democratic Candidates:

Governor Jerry Brown of California: Maxwell
Senator Al Gore of Tennessee: Clinton1996
Governor Bob Kerrey of Nebraska: Superique
Senator Joe Biden of Delaware: LumineVonReuental
Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas: JerryArkansas
Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa: Matt from VT
Former Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts: IBDD
Governor Evan Bayh of Indiana: Tmthforu94 (Jayhawker)


Anticipated Independent Candidates:

Businessman Ross Perot of Texas: SJoyce
Governor Jerry Brown of California: Maxwell

Rules
Rules are very similar to the ones in this timeline:

- Unlike past timelines, where you would request endorsements, that won't be the case this time. I make the final call. How well your candidate is doing determines what endorsements you'll get.  However, all candidates will be guaranteed a "crusader," or an endorser who will automatically campaign for them.
- Every few days, I'll post an update, with national polling as well as polling in leadoff states. If there is a certain state you'd like to see polled, please contact me via pm.
- This thread is for "in-game" posting only. If you have something else to say, please use it in the Sign-Up/Discussion thread.
- You can make historical posts if you want (Ex: Posting a transcript of your announcement speech)

Start Day: July 1st, 1991

Delegate Tracker
2,286 in total
1,144 for majority

Democratic Primary

Jerry Brown: 18/1144

Al Gore: 769/1144

Bob Kerrey: 463/1144

Joe Biden: 825/1144

Uncommitted: 105/1144

Republican Primary

George Bush: 451/1144

 David Duke: 1484/1144

Uncommitted: 244/1144

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Endorsement Tracker

Republican Candidates:

George H.W. Bush
Crusader: Barbara Bush
Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO)
David Duke
Crusader: William Pierce
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC)
Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC)
Ron Paul
Crusader: Harry Browne
Pat Buchanan (R-VA)

Democratic Candidates:

Joe Biden
Crusader: Ted Kaufman
Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Governor Bruce Babbit (D-AZ)
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Former Governor Richard Wilson Riley (D-SC)
Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
Senator Richard Bryan (D-NV)
Governor Bob Miller (D-NV)
Al Gore
Crusader: Tipper Gore
Governor Bill Clinton (D-AR)
Actor Tommy Lee Jones
Congressman Neal Edward Smith (D-IA)
Fmr. Secretary of State Edmund Muskie (D-ME)
Senator John Culver (D-IA)
Former Congressman Berkley Bedell (D-IA)
Des Moines Register
Former Governor Robert McNair (D-SC)
Governor Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Mayor Ed Koch (D-NY)
Reverend Jesse Jackson (D-SC)
Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Governor Mario Cuomo (D-NY)
Bob Kerrey
Crusader: James Webb
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
Former Mayor Ted Wilson (D-UT)
Mayor Palmer DePaulis (D-UT)
Former Governor John V. Evans (D-ID)
Governor Cecil Andrus (D-ID)
Congressman Wayne Owens (D-UT)
Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD)
Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
Fmr. Sen/Presidential Candidate George McGovern (D-SD)
Congressman Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Senator John Glenn (D-OH)

Independent Candidates:

Ross Perot
Crusader: Pat Choate
Jerry Brown
Crusader: Pat Brown
Senator George J. Mitchell (D-ME)
Former Governor Dick Lamm (D-CO)
Governor Roy Romer (D-CO)
Former Senator Gary Hart (D-CO)
Congressman Richard Swett (D-NH)
Governor Howard Dean (D-VT)
Businessman Ross Perot (I-TX)
Activist Ralph Nader (G-CT)

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Gallup Poll (National)
President George H.W. Bush: 87%
Generic Democrat: 5%

Analysis: President Bush starts off his quest for a second term with a large lead over a 'generic Democrat.'  Though Gallup has not yet polled the president against specific Democratic candidates, it is clear that he is, at this moment, the clear favorite of this election.

[Incipimus iterum]

                      
            Fmr Senator Paul Tsongas Announces candidacy for President of the United States
July 1st: Former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas 1979-1985, after winning his Fight with Cancer annouces he will be running For the Nomination of the Democratic Party in 1992 for President, with his Wife Nikki, and his three daughters, Ashley, Katina, and Molly
 
PAUL E. TSONGAS ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH
Lowell, Massachusetts
Excerpt
             "Two hundred years ago, our Founding Fathers gave us a democracy. It was based upon the simple, yet noble, idea that government derives its validity from the consent of the governed.

That consent must be constantly renewed.

And it can only be renewed by a full and vigorous debate on the issues that confront our nation.

Today that search for renewal begins.

Today that search for consent proceeds as the Constitution has provided.

Today the national debate will commence.

It begins here in this city.

Lowell is my home. It is where I drew my first breath. It is where I will always derive a sense of place and a sense of belonging.

It is what I am. And you, my neighbors and friends, are what I am as well.

I am an American. I love this country.

You are Americans. You love this country. Together we are entrusted with the principles that represent mankind's greatest political and social achievement.

America is hope. It is compassion. It is excellence. It is valor.

It is humanity. Its values have drawn us from every corner of the globe.

These values are our manifest destiny.

The leadership in Washington has squandered that promise.

We were never meant to be the world's greatest debtor nation. We were never meant to have our ancestors' patrimony sold to the highest foreign bidder.

We were never meant to have American workers rank ninth in the world in wage scales.

We were never meant to have dysfunctional schools or imploding cities or racial disharmony or an environment at risk.

America is more than this. We are more than this. Our destiny is greatness and we must return to its fulfillment.

Enough of this is Washington avoidance.

Enough of this is Washington mediocrity.

We must return to the glory of our forebearers by unleashing the greatness of our people. We need leadership that calls upon the best of what we are. We need leadership that embraces a higher vision.

Today that leadership is not in Washington.

That leadership is here and across America. It is in the hearts and minds and souls of the American people.  
I want to deploy the leadership to meet the challenges that face us and to restore America's greatness.

That is why I declare today my candidacy for the President of the United States.

Today I begin a journey of purpose. I ask you to come with me.

On this journey we will reaffirm the values of our ancestors -- hard work, determination, will, thrift, productivity, perseverance. And through that affirmation we will again be the greatest economic power on earth.

On this journey we will rediscover the caring and compassing for one another that has been dishonored during the Reagan-Bush years. And in that discovery we will look upon each other as brothers and sisters, as a community which nurtures its young and its ailing and its less fortunate.

On this journey we will reach into the future and commit ourselves to thinking in generations.
We are a continuum. Just as we reach back to our ancestors for our fundamental values, so we, as guardians of that legacy, must reach ahead to our children and their children. And we do so with a sense of sacredness in that reaching.

That sense of sacredness, that thinking in generations, must begin with reverence for this earth. This land, this water, this air, this planet-this is our legacy to our young. Yet the Reagan-Bush years have been a time of cynical avoidance of one environmental issue after another -- acid rain to energy conservation to depletion of the ozone layer to global warming to uncontrolled world population.

Journey with me to a true commitment to our environment. Journey with me to the serenity of leaving to our children a planet in equilibrium.

Thinking in generations also means enabling our young to have a decent standard of living.

Not the Reagan-Bush legacy to our children of an additional $3 trillion of debt. That debt will forever burden and handicap them.

George Bush promised "Read my lips, no new taxes." It won an election. But what he meant was "Read my lips, add more debt." That is generationally immoral.

Our children deserve better. On this journey of purpose, I commit myself to making this country a thriving, striving, triumphant competitor in the world marketplace. I commit myself to an America where our standard of living, our educational and health care systems and our industrial output are second to none. I commit myself to economic security for this generation and those that follow.

This obligation to our young is as old as civilization. In the Apache tongue the world for grandfather and grandson is the same. They understood linkage. They understood honor.

They understood mutual obligation.

In Washington there is no such wisdom. It is all here and now. It is all polling data. The vision extends only to the next election.

It is time to look to our children and feel our responsibility to then.

That is my journey of purpose. I want to meet that responsibility so that we can rest easy in our guardianship of this time and this place.

From a viable economy to the full funding of Headstart, from a clean environment to true equality for women, from a strong military to a commitment to racial brotherhood, from schools that are honored to streets free of excessive violence.

These are our responsibilities to them. I will devote myself to the search for their fulfillment.

Finally, this journey of purpose must be a journey of choice. We must choose action.

We must choose commitment.

I offer a different path: harder but more hopeful. Longer but more compelling. Steeper but more worthy.

Seven and half years ago I began my own journey. For me and my family it was a time of adversity. But during that adversity I derived a deeper faith. And born out of that adversity was a commitment to devote myself to those people and to those issues that truly matter to me.

Today, together with Niki and Ashley and Katina and Molly, I pledge to fulfill that commitment.

We all journey in this world. It is our calling. America is the sum of all our journeys as we search for our national community and our national culture.
Come with me.

We are a great nation.

We are a great people.

May God give us strength to be worthy of this greatness."

[Lumine]

Joe Biden to enter the Presidential Race!

July 1st: Delaware Senator Joe Biden, a former Presidential candidate in 1988, announced that he will try to win the Presidency a second time. It remains to be seen whether he can become a strong challenger this time, but at least he got a warm and enthusiastic response from the crowd and the reporters. Senator Biden spoke to the crowd and he later answered questions with his three top advisers: His sister, Valerie Owens, his campaign manager, Ted Kaufman, and John Martilla, his strategist.

Excerpts from the announcement speech:

"George Bush and the Republicans speak of victory, of triumph, of a new America. It's true, this country won a victory in Iraq, and everybody speaks about it. But it seems that we often forget that the concerns of the President are more domestic than foreign policy, and the President is the one guy who has forgotten about that the most.

America looks strong thanks to Iraq, but at what price? Our economy seems stable, but then again, at what cost? We have regained the faith in our country that many lost after Watergate, and I'm going to ask again: What is the price we paid for that? In 1988 I spoke against "seft interest" and the fact that the only real legacy of President Reagan was the question: "What's in it for me?". After four more years of President Bush, more and more idealism has been lost. Emotions are useless for the Republicans, and now the end justifies the means.

But I think it is not too late for a change. We can regain all the things we have lost in these 12 years of GOP control, and in doing so we will create a stronger America, an America which cares. George Bush won't inspire you, and he won't really lead you, because he doesn't have a true reason to stay in the White House. He cares only about looking pragmatic and passionless, and the things he had achieved in these years will not remain forever.

Perhaps the President does not care about this, but I do. I care! I want to be in the White House because I want a different America, and because I'm willing to work to achieve that. No matter the effort, no matter the cost, I want to return America the ideals it lost. So I am going to ask for your support, since I can't do it only by myself. As long as there are people interested in regaining what Reagan and Bush took away from us, this campaign will have strength, and there won't we any withdrawals now. I failed to convey my message in 1988, but that won't happen a second time!

Ladies and Gentlemen, our journey has begun, let us get aboard the Biden Express*!"

[MadmanMotley]

Ron Paul, Galveston, TX
"The president has failed us! When the president first took office he promised a continuation of the Reagan years, and NO MORE TAXES! He promised to bring deficits down, but yet they are still skyrocketing! He has involved us in wars we don't need to be in! I am here to offer a true conservative choice! Lets bring our troops home! Lets stop these rampant deficits! Lets bring true conservative leadership back to the white house! I am hereby announcing my run for president as a republican! Lets take America back!(cheers)

[Maxwell]

Jerry Brown to Run for President!

July 1st: "Ladies and Gentleman, we need real change! If these four years of Bush are what we see for the road ahead, we should turn it around! President Bush continues with Reagan's policies of trickle down tyranny that have destroyed America's middle class. He and his buddy Reagan have skyrocketed the debt to irresponsible levels. Our monetary policy is in complete shambles, certainly on the domestic front it's time for something different.

And what about with crony capitalism? There is nothing more wrong today than the way that money interests control our politics. Certainly, they control President Bush. That's why, when I am running for President, I will only accept donations from individuals! And only up to $100 per individual!

Washington is corrupt, and likes to benefit their friends. We need a candidate who has spent his whole career outside of Washington, and has the courage to do the right thing. I think I am that candidate. That's why I am announcing my run for the office of President of the United States!"

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Round 2 will begin once all candidates have posted their announcement speeches.

[Senator Spiral]

LA Rep. David Duke announces run for president



I'm running for the Republican nomination because I'm absolutely dismayed at how this country is going. We have total Zionist control of the government and the media, and President Bush and his lackeys are all part of it. Invading Iraq and putting sanctions on them, resulting in thousands of deaths, was all Israel's wishing, and we totally complied with them. Washington does anything these Jewish extremists will tell us, in fact; just look at how powerful groups like AIPAC are.

We're also seeing tensions between races not seen since the '60s, with riots becoming more commonplace again. This type of behavior is unacceptable, and the fact that there hasn't yet been a strong response from our leaders to crack down on this is unfortunate. As president, I will do whatever I can to preserve law and order in this nation, lest the hooligans take over.

Beyond this, my campaign is really about the simple matters of life. It's about leaving you with money in your pocket to spare. It's about preserving the traditional family structure. It's about making sure that you can live out your culture to your fullest ability. No one else will stand up for these basic principles, and so this is why I'm running. Together, we can restore America's glory.

[JerryArkansas]

Announcement Speech
Old State House, Little Rock, Arkansas
October 3, 1991

Thank you all for being here today, for your friendship and support, for giving me the opportunity to serve as your Governor for 11 years, for filling my life full of blessings beyond anything I ever deserved.
 
I want to thank especially Hillary and Chelsea for taking this big step in our life's journey together. Hillary, for being my wife, my friend, and my partner in our efforts to build a better future for the children and families of Arkansas and America. Chelsea, in ways she is only now coming to understand, has been our constant joy and reminder of what our public efforts are really all about: a better life for all who will work for it, a better future for the next generation.
 
All of you, in different ways, have brought me here today, to step beyond a life and a job I love, to make a commitment to a larger cause: Preserving the American Dream ... Restoring the hopes of the forgotten middle class... Reclaiming the future for our children.
 
I refuse to be part of a generation that celebrates the death of Communism abroad with the loss of the American Dream at home.
 
I refuse to be part of a generation that fails to compete in the global economy and so condemns hard-working Americans to a life of struggle without reward or security.
 
That is why I stand here today...because I refuse to stand by and let our children become part of the first generation to do worse than their parents. I don't want my child or your child to be part of a country that's coming apart instead of coming together.
 
Over 25 years ago, I had a professor at Georgetown who taught me that America was the greatest country in history because our people believed in and acted on two simple ideas: first, that the future can be better than the present; and second, that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.
 
That fundamental truth has guided my public career, and brings me here today. It is what we've devoted ourselves to here in Arkansas. I'm proud of what we've done here in Arkansas together. Proud of the work we've done to become a laboratory of democracy and innovation. And proud that we've done it without giving up the things we cherish and honor most about our way of life. Solid, middle-class values of work, Will, family, individual responsibility, and community.
 
As I’ve traveled across our state, I've found that everything we believe in, everything we've fought for, is threatened by an administration that refuses to take care of our own, has turned its back on the middle class, and is afraid to change while the world is changing.
 
The historic events In the Soviet Union in recent months teach us an important lesson: National security begins at home. For the Soviet Empire never lost to us on the field of battle. Their system rotted from the inside out, from economic, political and spiritual failure.
 
To be sure, the collapse of communism requires a new national security policy. I applaud the President's recent initiative in reducing nuclear weapons. It is an important beginning. But make no mistake - the end of the Cold War is not the end of threats to America. The world is still a dangerous and uncertain place. The first and most solemn obligation of the president is to keep America strong and safe from foreign dangers, and promote democracy around the world.
 
But we cannot build a safe and secure world unless we can first make America strong at home. It is our ability to take care of our own at home that gives us the strength to stand up for what we believe around the world.
 
As governor for 11 years, working to preserve and create jobs in a global economy, I know our competition for the future is Germany and the rest of Europe, Japan and the rest of Asia. And I know that we are losing America's leadership in the world because we're losing the American dream right here at home.
 
Middle class people are spending more hours on the job, spending less time with their children, bringing home a smaller paycheck to pay more for health care and housing and education. Our streets are meaner, our families are broken, our health care is the costliest in the world and we get less for it.
 
The country is headed in the wrong direction fast, slipping behind, losing our way...and all we have out of Washington is status quo paralysis. No vision, no action. Just neglect, selfishness, and division.
 
For 12 years, Republicans have tried to divide us - race against race - so we get mad at each other and not at them. They want us to look at each other across a racial divide so we don't turn and look to the White House and ask, why are all of our incomes going down, why are all of us losing jobs? Why are we losing our future?
 
Where I come from we know about race-baiting. They've used it to divide us for years. I know this tactic well and I'm not going to let them get away with it.
 
For 12 years, the Republicans have talked about choice without really believing in it. George Bush says he wants school choice even if it bankrupts the public schools, and yet he's more than willing to make it a crime for the women of America to exercise their individual right to choose.
 
For 12 years, the Republicans have been telling us chat America's problems aren't their problem. They washed their hands of responsibility for the economy and education and health care and social policy and turned it over to fifty states and a thousand points of light. Well, here in Arkansas we've done our best to create jobs and educate our people. And each of us has tried to be one of those thousand points of light But I can tell you, where there is no national vision, no national partnership, no national leadership, a thousand points of light leaves a lot of darkness.
 
We must provide the answers...the solutions. And we will. We're going to turn this country around and get it moving again, and we're going to fight for the hard-working middle-class families of America for a change.
 
Make no mistake - this election is about change: in our party, in our national leadership, and in our country.
 
And we're not going to get positive change just by Bush-bashing. We have to do a better job of the old-fashioned work of confronting the real problems of real people and pointing the way to a better future. That is our challenge in 1992.
 
Today, as we stand on the threshold of a new era, a new millennium, I believe we need a new kind of leadership, leadership committed to change. Leadership not mired in the politics of the past, not limited by old ideologies...Proven leadership that knows how to reinvent government to help solve the real problem of real people.
 
That is why today I am declaring my candidacy for President of the United States. Together I believe we can provide leadership that will restore the American dream - that will fight for the forgotten middle class - that will provide more opportunity, Insist on more responsibility and create a greater sense of community for this great country.
 
The change we must make isn't liberal or conservative. It’s both, and it's different. The small towns and main streets of America aren't like the corridors and backrooms of Washington. People out here don't care about the idle rhetoric of "left" and "right" and "liberal" and "conservative" and all the other words that have made our politics a substitute for action. These families are crying out desperately for someone who believes the promise of America is to help them with their struggle to get ahead, to offer them a green light instead of a pink slip.
 
This must be a campaign of ideas, not slogans. We don't need another President who doesn't know what he wants to do for America. I'm going to tell you in plain language what I intend to do as President. How we can meet the challenges we face - that's the test for all the Democratic candidates in this campaign. Americans know what we're against Let's show them what we're for.
 
We need a new covenant to rebuild America. It's just common sense. Government's responsibility is to create more opportunity. The people's responsibility is to make the most of it.
 
In a Clinton Administration, we are going to create opportunity for all. We've got to grow this economy, not shrink it. We need to give people Incentives to make long-term investment in America and reward people who produce goods and services, not those who speculate with other people's money. We've got to invest more money in emerging technologies to help keep high-paying jobs here at home. We've got to convert from a defense to a domestic economy.
 
We've got to expand world trade, tear down barriers, but demand fair trade policies if we're going to provide good jobs for our people. The American people don't want to run from the world. We must meet the competition and win.
 
0pportunity for all means world-class skills and world-class education. We need more than photo ops and empty rhetoric - we need standards and accountability and excellence in education. On this issue, I'm proud to say that Arkansas has led the way.
 

Part 2 in Next Post

[JerryArkansas]

Part Two of Clinton Speech

In a Clinton Administration, students and parents and teachers will get a real education President.
 
Opportunity for all means pre-school for every child who needs it, and an apprenticeship program for kids who don't want to go to college but do want good jobs. It means teaching everybody with a job to read, and passing a domestic GI Bill that would give every young American the chance to borrow the money necessary to go to college and ask them to pay it back either as a small percentage of their income over time, or through national service as teachers or policemen or nurses or child care workers.
 
In. a Clinton Administration, everyone will be able to get a college loan as long as they're willing to give something back to their country In return.
 
Opportunity for all means reforming the health care system to control costs, improve quality, expand preventive and long-term care, maintain consumer choice, and cover everybody. And we don't have to bankrupt the taxpayers to do it. We do have to take on the big insurance companies and health care bureaucracies and get some real cost control into the system. I pledge to the American people that in the first year of a Clinton Administration, we will present a plan to Congress and the American people to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans.
 
Opportunity for all means making our cities and our streets safe from crime and drugs. Across America, citizens are banding together to take their streets and neighborhoods back. In a Clinton Administration, we'll be on their side with new initiatives like community policing, drug treatment for those who need it, and boot camps for first-time offenders.
 
Opportunity for all means making taxes fair. I'm not out to soak the rich. I wouldn't mind being rich. But I do believe the rich should pay their fair share. For 12 years, the Republicans have raised taxes on the middle class. It's time to give the middle class tax relief.
 
Finally, opportunity for all means we must protect our environment and develop an energy policy that relies more on conservation and clean natural gas so all our children will inherit a world that is cleaner, safer, and more beautiful.
 
But hear me now. I honestly believe that if we try to do these things, we will still not solve the problems of today or move into the next century with confidence unless we do what President Kennedy did and ask every American citizen to assume personal responsibility for the future of our country.
 
The government owes our people more opportunity, but we all have to make the most of it through responsible citizenship.
 
We should insist that people move off welfare rolls and onto work rolls. We should give people on welfare the skills they need to succeed, but we should demand that everybody who can work and become a productive member of society.
 
We should insist on the toughest possible child support enforcement. Governments don't raise children, parents do. And when they don't, their children pay forever and so do we.
 
And we have got to say, as we've tried to do in Arkansas, that students have a responsibility to stay in school. If you drop out for no good reason, you should lose your driver's license. But its important to remember that the most irresponsible people of all in the 1980s were those at the top...not those who were doing worse, not the hard-working middle class, but those who sold out our savings and loans with bad deals and spent billions on wasteful takeovers and mergers - money that could have been spent to create better products and new jobs.
 
Do you know that in the 1980s, while middle-class income went down, charitable giving by working people went up? And while rich peoples incomes went up, charitable giving by the wealthy went down. Why? Because our leaders had an ethic of get it while you can and to heck with everybody else.
 
How can you ask people who work or who are poor to behave responsibly, when they know that the heads of our biggest companies raised their own pay in the last decade by four times the percentage their workers' pay went up? Three times as much as their profits went up. When they ran their companies into the ground and their employees were on the street, what did they do? They bailed out with golden parachutes to a cushy life. That's just wrong.
 
Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman and John Kennedy didn't hesitate to use the bully pulpit of the Presidency. They changed America by standing up for what’s right. When Salomon Brothers abused the Treasury markets, the President was silent. When the
rip-off artists looted our S&L's the President Was Silent. In a Clinton Administration, when people sell their companies and their workers and their country down the river, they'll get called on the carpet. We're going to insist that they invest In this country and create jobs for our people.
 
In the 1980s, Washington failed us too. We spent more money on the present and the past and less on the future. We spent $500 billion to recycle assets in the S&L mess, but we couldn't afford $5 billion for unemployed workers or to give every kid in this country the chance to be in Head Start. We can do better than that, and we will.
 
A Clinton Administration won't spend our money on programs that don't solve problems and a government that doesn't work. I want to reinvent government to make it more efficient and more effective. I want to give citizens more choices in the services they get, and empower them to make those choices. That's what we've tried to do in Arkansas. We've balanced the budget every year and improved services. We've treated taxpayers like our customers and our bosses, because they are.
 
I want the American people to know that a Clinton Administration will defend our national interests abroad, put their values into our social policy at home, and spend their tax money with discipline. Well put government back on the side of the hard-working middle-class families of America who think most of the help goes to those at the top of the ladder, some goes to the bottom, and no one speaks for them.
 
But we need more than new laws, new promises, or new program. We need a new spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community the American dream will continue to wither. Our destiny is bound up with the destiny of every other American. Were all in this together, and we will rise or fail together.
 
A few years ago, Hillary and I visited a classroom in Los Angeles, in an area plagued by drugs and gangs. We talked to a dozen sixth graders, whose number one concern was being shot going to and from school. Their second worry was turning 12 or 13 and being forced to join a gang or be beaten. And finally, they were worried about their own parents' drug abuse.
 
Newly half a century ago, I was born not far from here in Hope, Arkansas. My mother had been widowed three months before I was born. I was raised for four years by my grandparents, while she went back to nursing school. They didn't have much money. I spent a lot of time with my great-grandparents. By any standard, they were poor. But we didn't blame other people. We took responsibility for ourselves and for each other because we knew we could do better. I was raised to believe In the American dream, in family values, in individual responsibility, and in the obligation of government to help people who were doing the best they could.
 
Its a long way in America from that loving family which is embodied today in a picture on my wall in the Governor's office of me at the age of six holding my great-grandfather's hand to an America where children on the streets of our cities don't know who their grandparents are and have to worry about their own parents' drug abuse.
 
I tell you, by making common cause with those children, we give new life to the American dream. And that is our generation's responsibility - to form a new covenant... more opportunity for all, more responsibility from everyone, and a greater sense of common purpose.
 
I believe with all my heart that together, we can make this happen. We can usher in a new era of progress, prosperity and renewal. We can – we must. This is not just a campaign for the Presidency – it is a campaign for the future, for the forgotten hard-working middle class families of America who deserve a government that fights for them. A campaign to keep America strong at home and around the world. Join with us. I ask for your prayers, your help, your hands, and your hearts. Together we can make America great again, and build a community of hope that will inspire the world.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

OOC: I decided I'd actually right my speech instead of copying it.

Things Ain't Right, So I'm In

"I am a different kind of Democrat than you've seen before. A New Democrat. One who will fight for simple solutions to he complex issues that plague working families.

There's been talk of George Bush being "unbeatable". I applaud what he's done in Iraq, but what has he done at home? It's the economy.

Americans care about dinner table issues, how they'll afford to pay their bills, or send their kids to school. I offer a new vision for our country, different than we've seen over the past 12 years. A better future for those that do the work, pay the taxes, raise the kids, and play by the rules. A restoration of our forgotten Middle Class.

It is for this reason, that I announce my candidacy for President of the United States. To restore the foundation of our country, racked by out of control spending, and favorable of the wealthy.

George Bush has followed the same failed policies, Voodoo Economics as he put it, that have led working class families to the ditch. I offer a plan that will cut taxes for working families. But to lower the rapidly increasing deficit, I'll raise rates on those that can most afford it, the hedge funders, and cut unnecessary spending.

And if you believe what I and most Americans believe, that there is a future for our children. That we can provide jobs to he unemployed, cut taxes for working families, provide affordable Health Insurance, and cut the ever expanding deficit, then make this journey with me. My philosophy is clear. Government is here to provide the tools and conditions to allow he people themselves to make the bet of their lives. I do not guarantee equal outcome, but I can try to give you equal access.

Now how many of you work two jobs, just to have enough money to be broke? That Ain't Right! How many work at hospitals, that insurance companies say is too expensive for you to stay in? That Ain't Right! I'm running to fix these problems. I'm running to help you make what's wrong, right again. I'm running because Bush Ain't Right. Our Economy Ain't Right. And the way they've been treating the Middle Class sure as heck Ain't Right!

I'm Al Gore, and I'm running for President.'

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Pat Buchanan announcement!

My friends, we come to New Hampshire at a crossroads in our country's history.

The long Cold War between Communism and freedom, in which many of us invested lives and careers, is ending. Some of us thought we would never see the day that Communism was defeated, and the empire of Lenin and Stalin dismantled. By the grace of God, America won the Cold War.

But victory has not brought with it an end to history.

Beyond these shores, a new world is being born for which our government is unprepared, and we are unprepared. The dynamic force shaping that world is nationalism.

From Ukraine to Croatia, old nations are breaking up, new nations are being born. And as we Americans have always stood for freedom and self-determination, we should not fear the future. We should be the first to welcome them into the family of nations. For they all look to America as the ideal of what they too might one day become.

In the Far East, however, nationalism has taken on a different and harder aspect. The rising economic power of Japan has filed a claim to displace the United States as the dominant power of the 21st Century. In Europe, many of the ancient states are signing up to exchange their national birthright for a limited partnership in an economic co-op called the EC. In Holland, a conservative prime minister is today being pressed to lead the Mother of Parliaments into yielding up to bureaucrats in Brussels what generations of British soldiers fought to preserve.

We Americans must not let that happen here.

We must not trade in our sovereignty for a cushioned seat at the head table of anyone's New World Order.

The first challenge we face, then, is economic, presented by the rise of a European super state and a dynamic Asia led by Japan. The 20th Century was the American Century, but they intend to make the 21st, the century of Europe or the Century of Asia.

So, as we Americans congratulate one another on the victory for freedom that we, first and foremost, won, and won together for all mankind in the Cold War, we must begin to prepare for the new struggles already underway.

All the institutions of the Cold War, from vast permanent U.S. armies on foreign soil, to old alliances against Communist enemies that no longer exist, to billions in foreign aid, must be re-examined. With a $4 trillion debt, with a U.S. budget chronically out of balance, should the United States be required to carry indefinitely the burden of defending rich and prosperous allies who take America's generosity for granted as they invade our markets?

Whenever there is a natural disaster, anywhere, from Armenia to Kurdistan to Bangladesh, we Americans will be there, first, with aid and relief. That is our tradition, a tradition that will never change. But it is time to end these routinized annual transfers of our national wealth to global bureaucrats, who ship it off to regimes that pay us back in compound ingratitude. It is time to phase out foreign aid, and start looking out for the needs of the forgotten Americans right here in the United States.

So, today, we call for a new patriotism, where Americans begin to put the needs of Americans first, for a new nationalism where in every negotiation, be it arms control or trade, the American side seeks advantage and victory for the United States.

The people of this country need to recapture our capital city from an occupying army of lobbyists, and registered agents of foreign powers hired to look out for everybody and everything except the national interest of the United States.

It is time also to take a hard look at the welfare state.

Over a quarter century we have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into Great Society programs. Whatever the motives of those who built this mammoth state enterprise, our financial loss has been exceeded only by the social catastrophe it created. High school test scores drop almost every year, as the levels of violent crime reach new heights. Narcotics have ravaged a generation. Our popular culture of books, movies and films is as polluted as Lake Eerie once was. The welfare state has bred a generation of children and youth with no fathers, no faith and no dreams - other than the lure of the streets.

To our economic crisis, however, we Americans know the answer.

It is to end the steadily rising drain of wealth and resources to Washington; to ease up on - not add to, Mr. President - the tax burden on American business; to unleash, not tie down, the genius and energy of American enterprise. As for the predatory traders of Europe or Asia, who have targeted this or that American industry for dumping and destruction, if I am elected, they will find themselves on a collision course with the President of the United States.

When we say we will put America first, we mean also that our Judeo-Christian values are going to be preserved, and our Western heritage is going to be handed down to future generations, not dumped onto some land fill called multi-culturalism.

At the root of America's social crisis - be it AIDS, ethnic hatred, crime or the social decomposition of our cities - lies a spiritual crisis. Solzhenitsyn was right. Men have forgotten God. Not in the redistribution of wealth, but in the words of the Old and New Testament will be found not only salvation, but the cure for a society suffering a chronic moral sickness.

But as we search for the answers we all used to know, we need to take back our streets from the criminals. We need to persuade pastors and preachers to return to their pulpits to reinstruct us in the Commandments and the truths of our traditional faiths, and to leave government to the politicians. We must do what we can to reconstruct the old conscience-forming and character-forming institutions of society - family and church, home and school.

We need God's help, and we need your help.

Why am I running? Because we Republicans can no longer say it is all the liberals' fault. It was not some liberal Democrat who declared, "Read my lips! No new taxes!," then broke his word to cut a back room budget deal with the big spenders. It was not Edward Kennedy who railed against a quota bill, then embraced its twin. It was not Congress alone who set off on the greatest social spending spree in 60 years, running up the largest deficits in modern history. No, that was done by men in whom we placed our confidence and our trust, and who turned their backs, and walked away from us.

What is the White House answer to the recession caused by its own breach of faith? It is to deny we even have a recession.

Well, let them come to New Hampshire.

My friends, we are the sons and daughters of the men and women who brought America through the Depression and crushed fascism on two sides of the world. We ourselves are the men and women who won the Cold War with Communism. We can win the future and we can hand down to those who come after us a country as great and grand and good as the one that was given to us. But first we must take America back.

So we are taking this campaign not just to Republicans, and not just to conservatives. Every American is invited to join, the middle-class of both parties, and of no party. For the establishment that has dominated Congress for four decades is as ossified and out-of-touch with America as the establishment that resides in the White House.

This race will not be about personality; and this campaign will not get into personalities.

George Bush served bravely in America's great war. He is a man of graciousness, honor, and integrity, who has given half a lifetime to his nation's service. But the differences between us now are too deep.

He is yesterday and we are tomorrow. He is a globalist and we are nationalists. He believes in some Pax Universalis; we believe in the Old Republic. He would put American's wealth and power at the service of some vague New World Order; we will put America first. So, to take my party back and take our country back, I am today declaring my candidacy for the Republican nomination for the President of the United States.

[Donerail]

Interview on Larry King Live with entrepreneur H. Ross Perot

[Begin Excerpt]

Larry King: A friend's told me they thought you would be interested in running for president. Are you?

H. Ross Perot: It's important in this old world to play your strengths, so...

King: Your strength would not be as president?

Perot: My strength is creating jobs and fixing things.

King: Well, isn't that what a president could do?

Perot: Well, I'm not sure, in our present system.

King: Can you give me a scenario in which you'd say, OK, I'm in?

Perot: Number one, I will not run as either a Democrat or Republican, because I will not sell out to anybody, but to the American people, and I will sell out to them.

King: So you'd run as an independent?

Perot: Number two, if you're that serious, you register me in 50 states, and if you're not willing to organize and do that, then this is all...

King: Wait a minute. Are you saying...

Perot: ... just talk.

King: Hold, hold. Wait a minute.

Perot: Stay with me, Larry.

[End excerpt]

[tmthforu94]

Evan Bayh: Believe in America

Evan Bayh announces his candidacy for the Democratic Nomination on May 17th, 1991

When I swore in as Governor of Indiana, I made a vow to always act in the best interests of my constituents.

I ran for Governor in 1988, right when then Vice President Bush was seeking the White House. Both of us made a similar promise - no new taxes. Honoring my commitment, I am proud to report that as Governor, we haven't raised taxes. Instead, we've lowered them, all while creating one of the largest budget surpluses in Indiana history. We've implemented "welfare-to-work" policies, increased funding for our schools, and created more opportunities for those less fortunate to attend a public university at no cost.

Our economy is booming in Indiana, and it's because of our investment in Hoosiers, not the government or corporations. President Bush has forgotten about the Middle Class - as Governor, the Middle Class was my main focus. America needs a President who will strengthen our middle class and find more opportunities for those with less income, rather than give tax breaks for the wealthiest. America needs a President who will be a fighter and a pragmatist, someone who will always have the best interests of the American people at heart.

For these reasons, I announce today that I will be seeking the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. I believe I have a lot to offer in this race, and I believe the vision I have for this country greatly differs from the version President Bush is leading us down. I look forward to meeting Americans from all walks of life over the coming months, and I look forward to pitching my case to all voters, whether Republican, Democrat, or Independent.

Thank you, God Bless, and God Bless America.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Statement from President George H. W. Bush

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Sec. of State Superique]

Bob Kerrey running for President?
Senator from Nebraska is founding an exploratory committee to take a look at his chances in order to become President.


 

July 6th

Senator Bob Kerrey is considering to run for the presidency next year. That is why he opened an exploratory committee in Lincoln, Nebraska, yesterday. During the event, Kerrey stated that after working as Governor and Senator for Nebraska, he believes that now is time to have an eye on the Presidential Office.

"This is nothing permanent yet, we are taking a look at our chances in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Dakota and then we will see how are our prospects nationally. I'm quite optimistic to be honest with you" told Kerrey to our correspondent in Nebraska.

Political Analysts, when questioned about Kerrey chances to get the the Democratic Nomination, told that although Kerrey stakes are not high, he may have a reasonable chance of winning. "Kerrey has a base, some fundraisers, if he is able to get momentum, he can get the nomination. I would try to get a few delegates up in Iowa and then go all the way down to New Hampshire!"

 The path to victory for Bob won't be easy to find and Tom Devine, chief of Kerrey Exploratory Committee acknowledges that. " It won't be easy but his message of fiscal discipline will be very appealing to the south and on the midwest while his ideas on the war on poverty and his liberal record could give him the necessary bump on the other parts of the country."

Kerrey told at the Press Conference that his campaign is all about solving the poverty and debt crisis while strongly bringing optimism to the country. The last will be crucial if he really wants to be elected, there is no way to beat Biden, Gore, Clinton, Bayh,  Tsongas and Brown together and then highly popular President Bush without optimism and tons of good luck.

[Sopranos Republican]

A Vote for the Working Class: Harkin for President

Are you ready?

Are you ready for a new direction in this country?

Are you ready for a president who will declare a peace dividend and turn Star Wars into Star Schools?

Are you ready for a president who will give the middle class a break instead of tax breaks to the rich?

Are you ready for a president who will make America our most favored nation and educated children our most important product?

If that's the kind of leader you want, let me introduce myself: I'm Tom Harkin. And I'm running for President.

There are those who say that we're a long shot, that we can't win, that George Herbert Walker Bush is too powerful, and can't be beat. Well I'm here to tell you that George Herbert Walker Bush has feet of clay and I intend to take a hammer to them.

I'm running for president because I believe the American people are hungry for a New Vision of America. A New Vision of America based on strong, fundamental, enduring values.

But for the last four years, we've been led by a different vision of America and we've seen a different set of values coming out of the White House.

For the last four years, their message has been that you should "get as much as you can in the shortest amount of time, take what you can, and to hell with everybody else."

Their vision is to pit race against race, class against class, sex against sex, and old against young.

Their values say that those on the top are privileged and deserve special treatment and favors.

And for the last four years, the hardworking men and women, the farmers, the small business owners, the people who pull the load and pay the taxes in this country have been getting hit below the belt by Bush/Quayle economic policies.

I see an America challenged to be better, to work together, an America where those fundamental values serve as a bridge between the America we are and the promise of the America we can be.

I see an America where people are working well-paying, secure jobs where they can raise their families, educate their kids, buy a home, buy a car, take a nice vacation, and retire in dignity with good health care.

I see an America where our schools are second to none.

I see an America where health care is available and affordable to all.

I see an America where our streets are safe, our water is clean, and our nation is strong.

I see an America that has the physical infrastructure that will allow private business to be more effective, more efficient, and more competitive.

And I see an America where people of different races and creeds can live together in peace and harmony and have an equal chance to achieve the American Dream.

But we're not going to get there if we have a president who thinks that the real threats to our national security are half way around the world, when they're really half way down our streets.

That's the America I see. That's my New Vision of America.

President Bush seems to think that we should reelect him simply because of happenings oversees, without actually spelling out a real plan to help the poor in our country, or a plan to help the working class.

The Republicans only economic answer always seems to be the same: more tax breaks for the rich.
Well Mr. President, how about We The People? Or The great People of the state of Iowa, who I have served as Senator, what about the hard working families that I have represented for 7 years?

How about the families across the United States of America, that are struggling and need a little assistance?

The only answer that the Republicans seem to give is, more tax cuts for the top 1%. This certainly isn't Abraham Lincoln's or Dwight Eisenhower's party.

Abraham Lincoln, right toward the end of the Civil War, had a meeting with his economic advisors. They were planning to finish the transcontinental railroad. And Lincoln's economic advisors advised him to buy the rails from England because we could get them cheaper than we could get them in America.

Lincoln thought about this for a minute, and he replied, "You know, it seems to me that if we buy the rails from England, then we've got the rails, and they've got our money. But if we build the rails here, we've got our rails, and we've got our money."

Now that's one Republican I like. He knew what it meant to create real wealth in this country.

I say it's time for We The People to take back government from the privileged few and the special interests and make it work for us for a change.

Twelve years ago, the Republicans went to the American people and asked if you were better off then than you were four years before. Well, it's time we turned the tables on them.

It's time for Republicans to be measured by their own yardstick.

It's time we go to the American people and say: Okay, you've had four years of George Herbert Walker Bush.

After 8 years of a Harkin presidency leading that kind of investment in America, you'll see that flag flying beside the best highways and freeways and railroads in the world.

You'll see that flag -- that red, white, and blue -- flying outside the best schools anywhere in the world.

You'll see that flag flying outside houses that are owned by the people who live inside them.

You'll see that flag flying outside of hospitals and health care clinics where all people can get care and everyone can pay their medical bills.

And after 8 years of a Harkin presidency, you'll see that flag flying over a White House that is fighting to make this a better country and standing up for the ordinary people of America.

Can you say anything even close to that after 4 years of a Bush presidency?

I believe there are people in every city and town who share that New Vision, who are ready to roll up their sleeves, put the ax to the grindstone, and make it happen.

If you're ready for that kind of America, then give me your support, and together, we'll put a good, common sense, progressive Democrat in the White House.

Thank you.

[Sec. of State Superique]

Round 2 will begin once all candidates have posted their announcement speeches.

My announcement will come tomorrow!

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Round 2: Fast forward to October 4th, 1991

All candidates have declared.

Iowa caucuses begin on February 10th.

This round will run for two days.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Please see this website for a calendar of the caucuses and primaries.  This timeline will go in the order of the calendar.

[Maxwell]

Round 2: Fast forward to October 4th, 1991

All candidates have declared.

Iowa caucuses begin on February 10th.

This round will run for two days.

So are we posting two days of campaign, or are you cutting off the round after two days?

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Also, what do the polls look like in Iowa, New Hampshire, Maine, & South Dakota. We gotta know where to campaign.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Round 2: Fast forward to October 4th, 1991

All candidates have declared.

Iowa caucuses begin on February 10th.

This round will run for two days.

So are we posting two days of campaign, or are you cutting off the round after two days?

The round ends after two days.  You guys can use this time to post speeches, campaign schedules, interviews, etc., which will influence your poll numbers.

Also, what do the polls look like in Iowa, New Hampshire, Maine, & South Dakota. We gotta know where to campaign.

Polls will be released at the end of this round.

(Hint: For now, it would be best to plan your campaigns based on the order of the primaries/caucuses.)

[Donerail]

Ross Perot '92

October 4, 1991: Setting up a volunteer phone bank in Plano, TX, to tell ordinary people how to help Ross achieve ballot status.

October 5-10, 1991: Phone banking, managing Perot Systems.