1996 Presidential Election

[Senator Spiral]

As expected, the horrendously unpopular President Newt Gingrich was trounced in the AU primaries by other candidates and would leave the office in shame. It ultimately came down to Senator Dick Lugar and Congressman Ron Paul, locked in a tight battle all the way to the convention. President Gingrich pledged his few delegates to Lugar, giving Lugar the narrowest edge when the vote was counted. To appease the more conservative base of the party, Lugar selected Paul as his running mate. Over at the DA, early wins in Iowa and New Hampshire gave many fear that Lyndon LaRouche could take over another party. However, the party establishment quickly rallied around Bill Bradley, who would eventually win the nomination over LaRouche and Bob Casey.

With the general election now in sight, there are four tickets running for the White House. Dick Lugar is running on a platform of "common sense conservatism" that would scrub away the excesses of the Gingrich years. Bill Bradley is running as a progressive concentrated on issues like healthcare and poverty. We also have the fiery Ross Perot, a populist with views scattered all over the spectrum who is in favor of balanced budgets and fair trade. One more candidate who has entered the race is consumer advocate and former Interior Secretary Ralph Nader, focused on reducing corporate power and promoting environmentalism.

Two days!

[Senator Spiral]

Something I realized: all of the candidates for president support gun control.

[Senator Spiral]

In a controversial election full of twists and turns, Dick Lugar managed to just barely go over 270 electoral votes despite having only a little more than 30% of the popular vote. The four-way race bled support from both of the two major parties, but it would be the AU that kept more of its base and benefited in the end. While Ross Perot was seen as draining more support from Lugar, Ralph Nader did much better nationwide and was widely credited as having a majority of voters that would have otherwise gone to Bill Bradley. Bradley supporters vilified Nader after the election for squandering what should have been an easy victory with President Gingrich's deep unpopularity and the DA gaining control of the House. President-elect Lugar would have to tread carefully for the next four years.

[Senator Spiral]

I'd estimate this goes to the House:
AU: 238
DA: 196
Nader: 98    

Not to contradict MormDem or to dismiss you, but this was what I had in mind (ignore the colors and shades, I did this in a rush):

Lugar - 271
Bradley - 207
Nader - 60

This was a tough decision for me. I basically flipped a coin to settle on what to do for this election. I feel like it's the best thing to do for two reasons: The first is that the left will likely win most if not all of the remaining elections since that always happens, and a Lugar victory would also fit better for the path I want to take the timeline. Keep in mind many, many of these states are decided in nailbiters.