2000 Primaries

The 1996 election would be among the more controversial elections that the United States experienced, both for its extreme competitiveness and the underwhelming performance of Richard Lugar, who would only win by a couple of points over the DA's Bill Bradley and Ralph Nader, the insurgent left-wing independent. Without much of a mandate to start off his tenure, President Lugar would be careful in working with the divided Congress to establish credibility. One significant accomplishment in the first year of Lugar's presidency was the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), earning bipartisan approval but with vocal detractors from the left and right. Lugar also was hailed by civil liberties advocates early on for rolling back the expansive federal surveillance powers ordered by Newt Gingrich during the height of the national race war.

Lugar would continue on to rack up plenty of achievements despite early pessimistic outlooks from political analysts, and not just ones which would please his party's base. In an effort to deter crime, the president successfully pushed through an assault weapons ban in Congress, earning the scorn of many conservatives but also endearing himself to more people in the DA along the way. In another example of outreach, Lugar was able to liberalize the nation's immigration laws and granted amnesty to five million illegal immigrants who were not causing trouble. One notable win for conservatives would be the expansion of school vouchers, but on the whole, the centrist Lugar made a play to reach out to the other side and did quite well using his relationships built in Congress over the years.

Despite these achievements, it would really be foreign policy where President Lugar focused his energy and which would drive his presidency. After years of domestic turmoil, the president sought to broaden the influence of the US across the globe again now that things had calmed down. Lugar's signature issue of reducing WMDs while in the Senate was acted upon as president, landing a major agreement with Russia to cooperatively dismantle the supply of weapons for both nations by more than half over the next decade. Air strikes were announced against Serbia for atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, actions supported by the UN. Another multilateral effort that would begin in 1999 was the deployment of troops in Iraq with the aim of bringing down Saddam Hussein from power over human rights abuses and allegations of WMDs. Saddam would be toppled after a month of bombardment by coalition forces, and President Lugar's approval ratings shot up to over 80% following the news. While peacekeeping troops remain in the region, some fear that a power vacuum will lead to more instability in the near future.

Though Lugar's approvals dipped down in the months to come, they still remained in the high 60s to low 70s, showing his staying power with voters across the political spectrum. The president is popular and a formidable force for the general election, but he has problems with the conservative base of the AU that may prove troublesome for him. Vice President Ron Paul, troubled by Lugar's concessions on domestic policy and his interventionism, has caused stirs in the Cabinet and appears likely to not be on the ticket again. 1992 VP nominee Pat Buchanan and activist Herman Cain have jumped in, hoping to exploit the incumbent president's vulnerabilities. President Lugar and his popularity scared off natural DA frontrunner Paul Wellstone from running, but other candidates are in the mix and are hoping to potentially be the next leader of the free world, from Joe Biden to Dick Gephardt to Howard Dean. In the past few years, the Reform Party has significantly grown and has prominent politicians currently in office. Notable names include the bombastic Jesse Ventura and noted attention whore Donald Trump, with others running as well. There are also draft movements for Ron Paul and Ralph Nader.

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