The Death of a Strategist: 1988 and Beyond Altered.

[SirNick]

Spoiler - Blank wins I always felt we had better candidates than Senator Blank of Ambiguous State

[retromike22]

6:30pm November 3, 1992
ELECTION 1992“Hello and welcome to Election 1992 coverage. I’ll be your host, Retro Mike, here with Patty Flatbottom and together we will see if President Dukakis wins reelection, or if our next President will be Bob Dole.”
“The first polls to close were an hour ago, but were only part of Indiana and Kentucky. Now all of Indiana and Kentucky will have ceased to vote in 30 minutes, along with Virginia, Vermont, South Carolina, and Georgia.”
“Please note that a majority of Florida will have stopped voting, but up in the panhandle they won’t, so Florida will not be in until later.”
“Here is our election map, a red state will indicate a vote for Dukakis, and a blue will be for Dole. States that are too close to call will be green, and states that are still voting will be gray.”
“Please remember to stay tuned (refresh your page) until midnight, (midnight timeline time) as we will wrap up and have full results of today’s elections, Including which party will control the House and the Senate.”

[retromike22]

7:00 November 3, 1992
FIRST STATES IN, 4 FOR DOLE, 1 FOR DUKAKIS“The first results are in, and we can confirm that Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia will all vote for Dole! We can also confirm that Vermont has gone for Dukakis, and Kentucky is too close to call.”
“Most of this was expected, wasn’t it?”
“It was, the South and Indiana are definitely not Dukakis’ territory.”
“But Kentucky is interesting. It was thought it might go for Dole quick in the event of a Dole landslide.”
“Well Kentucky is an interesting state. It’s culturally conservative, which would give Dole and advantage, but it has a lot of Democrats.”
“I guess the question is, how loyal will these conservative Democrats be”
“So, right now Dole has 46 electoral votes, and Dukakis has 3. But it’s still early folks.”

[retromike22]

7:30 November 3, 1992
OHIO, KENTUCKY, AND WEST VIRGINIA TOO CLOSE TO CALL“Ohio and West Virginia are in and they are.. too close to call!”
“Yea this is the same story as it was with Kentucky, they are culturally conservative but have lots of Democrats in them”
“But remember, most of these early votes are coming from the cities, there are still a lot of rural votes to come in and they will not favor Dukakis.”

[retromike22]

8:00 November 3, 1992
NORTHEAST IS GOING DUKAKIS, SOUTH GOING DOLE, FLORIDA AND PENNSYLVANIA TOO CLOSE.“A bunch of states coming in now and a bunch of projections”
“Massachusetts, the President’s home state will go for him, as will Connecticut, DC, and Delaware!”
“Senator Dole has won Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi.”
“Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri are all too close to call.”
“Florida has all its votes in but is also too close to call.”
“Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia are still too close to call.”
“No wait!”
“No?”
“No! I’m getting word; yes we can now confirm that Kentucky has voted for Dole.”
“Alright, you heard it, Kentucky has gone for Dole.”
“Okay, that means Dole has 89 electoral votes, and the President has 29.”

[retromike22]

8:15 November 3, 1992
FLORIDA TO DOLE!“Okay, we can now confirm that Florida, Florida has gone for Dole!”
“That was surprising that it went to Dole before Ohio, all those seniors and veterans must have really turned out”
“And now we can also confirm that Maryland and Maine have gone for Dukakis!”
“Alright, that’s 114 electoral votes for Dole; 43 for Dukakis.”
“It’s not looking good for Dukakis is it?”
“Well he’s doing badly in the South, but better in the Appalachian area than expected. We’re not going to be seeing a landslide for either candidate though.”

[retromike22]

8:30 November 3, 1992
DOLE GAINS TWO MORE STATES.“North Carolina and Arkansas have both voted for Dole as expected.”
“Dole now has 134 electoral votes”

[retromike22]

9:00 November 3, 1992
WEST AND SOUTH GO FOR DOLE, NORTHEAST AND UPPER MIDWEST GOES FOR DUKAKIS.“More states coming in, New York with its 33 electoral votes will go to Dukakis, as will Rhode Island, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.”
“Also, we can confirm that New Jersey has also gone for Dukakis.”
“Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, South Dakota, and Wyoming will all go to Senator Dole”

DOLE WINS OHIO!
“Add Ohio to that list Patty!”
“Yes, Ohio has also gone to Dole.”
“Wow, Dole already has 234 electoral votes, how many does Dukakis have?”
“116.”
“Wow. That’s going to be a tough climb.”
“Yea, but remember California is likely to go for Dukakis and he may catch up in the west coast.”
“We can also confirm that Republican Jim Kolbe will be elected to John McCain’s Senate seat, and Pat Roberts will be elected to Bob Dole’s Senate seat.”

[retromike22]

9:15 November 3, 1992
MISSOURI GOES FOR DOLE!“Okay we are now confirming that Missouri, the home state of Vice President Gephardt has gone to Dole!”
“And West Virginia as well! The conservative Democrats are not, I repeat are not holding for Dukakis. They have just put Dole up to 250 electoral votes!”

[retromike22]

9:30 November 3, 1992
REPUBLICANS CAPTURE HOUSE!“We can now project that the Republican Party has captured the House of Representatives!”
“Wow, it’s been years since they held that chamber!”
“Decades!”
“Robert Michel will be the next Speaker of the House, and Dick Cheney will be the Majority Leader.”
“We should be getting a report late this night about the fate of the Senate.”
“So, no matter who becomes President, they will have to deal with a Republican House of Representatives.”
“That’s right Mike, and American politics will take a definite shift to the right.”

DUKAKIS WINS ILLINOIS!
 “We can also confirm that Illinois and New Hampshire will go to Dukakis, bringing him up to 142 electoral votes.”

[retromike22]

10:00 November 3, 1992
DOLE WINS MOUNTAIN STATES, ONLY 4 EV FROM VICTORY“A few more states coming in.”
“We can now confirm that Dole has won Montana, Utah, Nevada, North Dakota, and he is now only 4 electoral votes away from becoming the next President of the United States.”
“Iowa is too close to call at this point, along with Pennsylvania and Michigan.”
“A strong map for Dole, isn’t it?”
“Yes it did, all those moderate Democrats who voted for Casey in the primary are not holding out for the President.”

Dole: 266
Dukakis: 142

[retromike22]

10:25 November 3, 1992
DOLE ELECTED PRESIDENT!“We are now ready to make a big projection. Bob Dole has been elected as the next President of the United States!”
“Yes, he has won Michigan and so he is now above the 270 electoral votes necessary to be President!”
“President Dukakis has been defeated for reelection. Bob Dole will be the next President, and John McCain the next Vice President.”
“Stay tuned for the results of the rest of the states, as well as who will control the Senate.”


Dole: 283
Dukakis: 142
Undecided: 30
Yet to Report: 83

[retromike22]

11:00 November 3, 1992
DUKAKIS WINS WEST COAST AND PENNSYLVANIA, CONTROL OF SENATE UNCERTAIN“The last states coming in. We can confirm that California, Oregon, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Washington will go for Dukakis, bringing his total to 241.”
“Dole will win Idaho and Alaska, his total is 290.”
“Well now only the state of Iowa is left, although it isn’t relevant now.”
“It was at the beginning of this year though.”
“Oh yes. It was the state that gave Dukakis a scare, showing him that he didn’t have enough support with conservative and moderate Democrats. He had all year to move to the center, but only doubled down on his own positions.”
“And with Dole, he came in third in Iowa!”
“He did, didn’t he! He also had problems on his conservative side, similar to Dukakis’ problems with conservatives!”
“It’s interesting that although conservatives were the most angry, they had candidates in each party who were not.”
“I think the difference is that Dukakis was a liberal and did not change his principles, and Dole was moderate and also did not change his principles. But the reason Dole won was because America is a moderate country, and after all the news of Democrats being corrupt, America wanted a Republican. Not a conservative Republican, but a moderate Republican.”
“Indeed, and we should have the result of Iowa soon, as well as control of the Senate, which is looking more uncertain by the hour.”

[retromike22]

11:30 November 3, 1992
SPEAKER FOLEY LOSES SEAT! ONLY IOWA LEFT UNDECIDED“We can now confirm that Speaker Foley, or should I say former Speaker Tom Foley has lost his race for reelection.”
“Wow. So it looks like Majority Leader, I’m sorry, former Majority Leader William Gray will likely be the next Minority Leader of the House.”
“I think, yes, that would make him the first African-American to lead either party in Congress.”
“Hmm. Interesting.”
“The House numbers are in and, before the election, the Democrats had 232 seats, and the Republicans had 203. But now, the Republicans have 228 and the Democrats have 207. Which is a good gain of 25 seats.”
“We also can now confirm that Iowa, the state which gave President Dukakis trouble on his right flank, which gave Dole a third place finish, has voted for President Elect Dole.
“The fate of the Senate is unclear, but we should have an answer by midnight.”



Electoral Votes:
Dole: 297
Dukakis: 241

Popular Vote:
Dole: 53%
Dukakis: 46%

[retromike22]

12:00 November 3, 1992
SENATE OUTCOME UNCLEAR, LIKELY DEMOCRATS KEEP CONTROL“It’s 12 midnight, and with the all but one of the results of the Senate races in, we have a very, very disturbing report.”
“Before this election, the Democrats held 54 seats, the Republicans held 45 seats, and Senator David Duke of Louisiana was an Independent, having been refused by both parties to include him in their caucus.”
“In California Democrat Barbara Boxer was defeated by Republican Tom Campbell.”
“In Georgia, Democrat Wyche Fowler lost reelection to Republican Paul Coverdell.”
“In Illinois, Republican Richard Williamson captured the Democratic seat held by Alan Dixon, by defeating Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun.”
“In North Carolina Democrat Terry Sanford lost re-election to Republican Lauch Faircloth.”
“In South Carolina, Democrat Ernest Hollings was defeated by Republican Thomas F. Hartnett.”
“There is only one Senate race left to call and it is in California."
"So far the Republicans have gained 5 seats, bringing their total to 50, which would give them control of the Senate simply because, even if the Democrats insanely allow Senator David Duke to join them, there will be a tie, and because the Vice President breaks the tie, control of the Senate would go to the Republican Party because Vice President Elect John McCain is a Republican.”
“Exactly, so there would be no way the Republicans would not have control of the chamber if they have 50 seats. The Democrats would have had 49, and the one Independent.”

REPUBLICANS CAPTURE SENATE!
 “No wait! There are two Senate elections in California! We are waiting for the results of the other one!”
“That’s right, one for a retiring incumbent, and one that is a special election to fill the term of Pete Wilson, who resigned to become Governor.”
“But, oh crap, it’s happening, we can project it now.”
“Okay, we can now confirm that in California, Democrat Dianne Feinstein has defeated Republican John Seymour.”
“This means since the Democrats captured 1 Republican seat and the Republicans have captured 5, then overall the Republicans have captured 4 seats and not 5.”
“So how many seats do the Republicans control?”
“49. And the Democrats have 50.”
“So the Democrats have the majority then. They have control of the chamber.”

DEMOCRATS KEEP SENATE!
“No! No! Damn these tech people suck!"
"What's wrong? The Democrats have 50, the Republicans have 49, they have 1 more than the Republicans!”
“Yes, but, should the Republican caucus include Independent Senator Duke, then they would have 50.”
“A 50-50 tie, which means, Republican control.”
“Exactly.”
“Will the Republicans actually do that? Include Senator Duke in their caucus, just to have control of the chamber?”
“I have no idea. But that’s if Senator Duke even decides to caucus with them. He could decline, which would give control to the Democrats.”
“Oh great! So it’s up to him?!”
“Yes. Tomorrow, most of America will wake up to the news that the control of the Senate will likely be determined by Former Grand Wizard of the KKK, and Senator of Louisiana, David Duke.”

CONTROL OF SENATE UNKNOWN, SENATOR DAVID DUKE KEY TO OUTCOME

[retromike22]

Well that's it. The 1992 Election. I hope you liked it. I'll post the resolution of the cliffhanger in a few days

[ChairmanSanchez]

Oh God....Duke controls the Senate.

[CathKhan]

Cool presidential result! Glad to see Dole get it.

[Jerseyrules]

Oh God....Duke controls the Senate.

[retromike22]

November 4, 1992: Control of Senate Unknown After Election, Duke Asks to Join GOP.
After the results of yesterday’s Senate elections, the Democrats have 50 seats, the Republicans have 49, and David Duke holds the Independent seat. David Duke has requested that the Republican Party include him in their caucus, so that they will have 50 seats and therefore a majority. President Elect Bob Dole has stated that he would rather have a Senate minority than Duke in the Republican caucus. Other senators are uncertain.

November 5, 1992: Senator Howell Heflin Joins the GOP, Giving Them Senate Majority.
In a move that was a surprising and easy solution to the Senator Duke drama, Democratic Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama has decided to switch parties to the GOP. The very conservative Democrat Heflin stated that his ideology fits in more with the Republicans, and that the election showed that the majority of Americans wanted a Republican Congress. This changes the Senate from 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and 1 Independent, to 50 Republicans, 49 Democrats, and 1 Independent. The Republicans now control the Presidency and the Congress.

November 15, 1992: President Elect Bob Dole Will Ask Congress to Abolish Several Departments.
In one of his first proposals, President Elect Bob Dole will ask Congress to introduce bills which would abolish the departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Energy. "Hopefully, we're going to get rid of the Department of Education," he said to cheers. "I didn't vote for it in the first place." He also stated that when he announces his Cabinet next week, he will only announce for the departments which will stay. If the Congress does not abolish a department, he will name the Secretary for it immediately.

[Mister Mets]

November 4, 1992: Control of Senate Unknown After Election, Duke Asks to Join GOP.
After the results of yesterday’s Senate elections, the Democrats have 50 seats, the Republicans have 49, and David Duke holds the Independent seat. David Duke has requested that the Republican Party include him in their caucus, so that they will have 50 seats and therefore a majority. President Elect Bob Dole has stated that he would rather have a Senate majority than Duke in the Republican caucus. Other senators are uncertain.

November 5, 1992: Senator Howell Heflin Joins the GOP, Giving Them Senate Majority.
In a move that was a surprising and easy solution to the Senator Duke drama, Democratic Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama has decided to switch parties to the GOP. The very conservative Democrat Heflin stated that his ideology fits in more with the Republicans, and that the election showed that the majority of Americans wanted a Republican Congress. This changes the Senate from 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and 1 Independent, to 50 Republicans, 49 Democrats, and 1 Independent. The Republicans now control the Presidency and the Congress.

November 15, 1992: President Elect Bob Dole Will Ask Congress to Abolish Several Departments.
In one of his first proposals, President Elect Bob Dole will ask Congress to introduce bills which would abolish the departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Energy. "Hopefully, we're going to get rid of the Department of Education," he said to cheers. "I didn't vote for it in the first place." He also stated that when he announces his Cabinet next week, he will only announce for the departments which will stay. If the Congress does not abolish a department, he will name the Secretary for it immediately.

I love the political drama here, and the solution to it.

[MorningInAmerica]

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see where you posted the final electoral college result and popular vote numbers.

This was excellent, btw. Whether you continue this one or start a new one, I hope you keep it up.

[ChairmanSanchez]

I love how such a potentially drawn out political crisis was so quickly solved. That was unexpected.

[Mister Mets]

I don't know what plans you have for the seat, but Jim Kolbe would make an interesting replacement for McCain in the Senate.

He was elected to the House in 1987, and would come out of the closet in 1996, after divorcing his wife in 1992.

In real life, he served in Congress until his retirement in 2007. He was then followed by Gabrielle Giffords. But it would be interesting to have a gay Senator in any What If?

[retromike22]

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see where you posted the final electoral college result and popular vote numbers.

This was excellent, btw. Whether you continue this one or start a new one, I hope you keep it up.

Thanks, I completely forgot to include that, so I edited a previous post, the one that had the last map.

I don't know what plans you have for the seat, but Jim Kolbe would make an interesting replacement for McCain in the Senate.

He was elected to the House in 1987, and would come out of the closet in 1996, after divorcing his wife in 1992.

In real life, he served in Congress until his retirement in 2007. He was then followed by Gabrielle Giffords. But it would be interesting to have a gay Senator in any What If?

I knew Kolbe was gay, I selected him to make things more interesting later on. He's not especially significant to an event, but he's a minor factor in part of a larger story.

One thing I have trouble with, is coming up with legislation. If anyone has any ideas on what a President Dole and Republican Congress would sign into law, feel free to send me a message if you have any good ideas.

When dealing with historical events that happen, I may make minor tweaks, not eliminating them but changing them just slightly, but I'm going to credit that to the "butterfly effect."