A More Perfect Union

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The Senate passes the Saving Social Security Act (SSSA) 53 - 47 with full GOP support and two Blue Dogs. No threat of filibuster is vocalised by the Democrats but for one member of their caucus, independent socialist Bernie Sanders. The absence of any serious filbusters will lead to allegations of stealth complicity on behalf of Seante Democrats and will become more of a hot-button issue than ever during the imminent primaries. Obama signs the act into law, for his poll numbers to plummet along with the GOP.

Christ, what have I done?

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The invisible primaries commence when Democrats Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, NYC Mayor Christine Quinn of New York, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano of Arizona, former Speaker Pro Tempore of the House Tammy Baldwin and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia all announce their candidacies in what will be dubbed 'the War of the Women with Tim in'.

 Meanwhile, Republicans former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former Congressman Allen West of Florida and Representative Mia Love of Utah will anounce theirs to pick up the early bounce. Santorum, the 2012 runner-up, leads the pack for most of the Summer, while another Rick, former Governor Perry of Texas, will offer Santorum his endorsemnt after considering a run of his own along with Fmr Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Corbett.

 The ultimate polls still show the prospective candidacies of Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton as the two major party's front runners, but no news is forthcoming.

Americans Elect will begin drafting candidates in the visible primary season for the major parties.

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15/05/15
UK GENERAL ELECTION

Labour
Ed Miliband

Lib Dem
Tim Farron

Conservative
David Cameron

The first election to be instigated under the requirements of the 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act and 2014 Single Transferable Vote Act will see Prime Minister Ed Miliband face his first election as the incumbent party leader with an apparent economic recovery underway.

Labour will stimulate it's working-class base with the passing of living wage legislation, reach out to students with it's lowering of student fees and as-yet-unpassed graduate tax and attract Lib Dem supporters with it's passage of the STV while the Tories will campaign against high taxes and the 'Divided Kingdom', or Britain and Northern Ireland Federalism Act of 2014 as well as implying that a Miliband ministry would not be as ready to retaliate to a national security threat from Iran as well as being a divisive PM.

The election will result in a hung parliament for the second time in the  decade and will see the Lib Dems split between the Farronite centre-left and Cleggish centre in coalescing with the Labour and Conservative parties respectively, over the course of the summer recess becoming the Liberals and New Democrats.

With the full support of the Greens, Respect, Monster Raving Loonies, Plaid Cymru and the SNP a new broad coalition os social progressives and liberals willtake their seats in September with Ed Miliband as PM and Tim Farron as his Deputy.

David cameron, menawhile, will resign, triggering a leadership election immediately. Newly-reinstated MP Boris Johnson, MP Sajid David and MP Fiona Bruce will vie for the leadership.

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Over the summer, the Republican field will widen to a dozen candidates, with the more notable announcements of the presidential candidacies of Senators John Thune of South Dakota, Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas and Congressman  Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Shortly after this, Rick Santorum will announce the suspension of his campaign and the big endorsements will mostly be divvied up between the latter four. GOP rising Hispanic star Governor George P Bush of Texas will decline to run, claiming that he knows the party will "pick a winner for sure this year".
 The Democratic Field will also be shaken with the big announcements of Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Martin O'Malley of Maryland, as well as the shocker that former StateSec and US Senator Hillary Clinton firmly declines to run for President ever again in her lifetime. "Maybe in another life, guys..."
 Several big endorsements will come from former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida for Marco Rubio, former Governor and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney of Massachusetts for Paul Ryan and former Governor Rick Perry of Texas for Sam Brownback while on the Democratic front Vice President Joe Biden will single out Martin O'Malley for his work on immigration and crime, though few formal endorsements are forthcoming from the Obama administration, the liberal party base rallies around Tammy Baldwin.
 

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The Catalonian struggle for independence from Spain will continue unabated, until French President Francois Hollande steps in to call for compromise. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will argue that the autonomous status granted to Catalonia in the early post-Franco years was enough but Hollande, realising that bankrupt Spain can not do without it's major economic engine of Barcelona in the northeast, offers the idea of a power-sharing autonomous region administrated by the French and Spanish governments. Rajoy, very wary of the slim majority his centre-right Partido Popular holds in the parliament, will initially reject the idea before agreeing to terms that Spain receive all revenues generated by the Catalonian state. Hollande accepts.

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Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal will announce his intention to run for President, receiving the endorsement of none other than 2012 nominee former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, who vows to fight for the evangelicalish Roman Catholic Indian-American in states as far away as Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming where the Mormon party leader-of-sorts is still popular, making Jindal the frontunner temporarily.
 Mayor Christine Quinn of New York City will drop out of the race and offer Tammy Baldwin her endorsement, for former Governor Deval Patrick to step into the race and steal centre-leftists away from Cuomo and O'Malley, as well as an endorsement from Secretary of State John Kerry.
 

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The US and South Korea will dissolve the Combined Forces Command, effectively leaving the door open for negotiations between the countries on either side of the 38th parallel. The Panmunjon Accords will be held in the traditional truce village, without US, Chinese or Russian mediation between Premiers Choe Yong-Rim and Lee Myung-bak, from which another hit Psy K-pop sensation will be inspired by - 38th Parallel.
 The negotiations are seen as a positive yet indecisive baby step forward by the international community.

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Chris Christie will make the biggest splash in September when he gives a definite 'YES' to reporters at a press conference with regards to a 2016 run, stealing the Gillibrand-Warner-O'Malley thunder from the Democrats and leading the GOP field immediately. Meanwhile, Jon Huntsman avoids the big question at a press conference and Ron Paul speaks on behalf of his son at a rally in Newport News, Virginia.
 Cheri Honkala, Stewart Alexander and Van Jones all announce for the Green Party nomination; R Lee Wrights, Gary Johnson and Daniel P Gordon contest the Libertarian nomination; while Jim Clymer, Darrell Castle and Susan Ducey will vie for the Constitution Party nomination.

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Senior citizens take to the streets in the immediate and less immediate wake of the SSSA bill's passage to protest it's enactment. Bipartisanship is but a far-off dream to the vast majority of American voters who showed in record lows at the last midterm elections, but hold on... A new Gang of 10 moderate Senators will switch party alliance to the Modern Whig Party or drop it entirely in favour of demonstrating bipartisanship to the American electorate.

They are

Mark Begich
Scott Brown
Susan Collins
Joe Donnelly
Jeff Flake
Mary Landrieu
Joe Manchin
John McCain
Mark Pryor
Brian Schweitzer

They pledge to bridge the divide in the Senate and work with the President regardless of party colour and for "the American people who put us here above all."