Hail, Columbia! (The Election of 1912)

The harrowing campaign of 1908 was fought against the backdrop of the Great War, and the reelection of President Manuel Mendez on a peace platform was read as a decisive popular mandate for sustained neutrality. The question of intervention had wrought strange and unforeseen changes on the political landscape, dividing the Concordite Party between "doves" whose loyalties lay with the president and "hawks" led by New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. After the Concordite's quadrennial caucus voted to renominate Mendez ahead of the 1908 election, the hawks bolted the party; their efforts to elect Roosevelt on a dissident "National Liberal" ticket very nearly succeeded, and were it not for the support of pacifist Democrats and Socialists, Mendez would very likely have gone down to defeat.

In Europe, the war raged on. With hopes for American intervention dashed until at least 1913, the French Republic and her allies were increasingly hard pressed. Fighting on the Western Front devolved into brutal trench warfare, claiming millions of lives for very little tangible gain on either side. While nearly every combatant is worse for the wear, the war's toll is seen most clearly in France's ally, Russia, whose position grows increasingly unstable with each passing day. As the war enters its sixth year, France is desperate for some deus ex machina to end the war quickly before the Russians loose their grip and France is forced to bear the full wrath of the Prussian-British alliance alone.

President Mendez has not swerved from his policy of total neutrality since winning reelection four years ago, nor have the dissident war hawks been silenced by their defeat. The situation is further compounded by party standings in Congress, where the hawk-dove split had grave consequences for the Concordites. The 1908 congressional elections were brutal for the administration, who saw their plurality decimated across the country. While the National Liberals faired poorly overall, winning just 43 of the 577 seats in the House of Commons, they won enough votes to cost the administration nearly one hundred seats. Democrats and the ASWI were more than happy to fill the void, handing the Socialists a plurality in Congress for the first time since the presidency of Charles MacDonald.

All in all, things could have been worse for Mendez, who used the loss of Congress as an opportunity to strengthen the peace coalition. He was able to kill two birds with one stone when Congressional Democrats joined the Concordites to elect Missouri Democrat J. "Champ" Clark to the vice presidency, whose appointment served the double purpose of extending an olive branch to Congress and ridding Mendez of Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge, who had supported Roosevelt in 1908. Over the next four years, Mendez would work stoically to avoid issues that might rupture this uneasy cease-fire with the left. Setting aside the debate between hard and soft money, the president prioritized initiatives on which he could be sure of Congressional support: infrastructure projects, anti-corruption measures, and a series of "neutrality bills" prohibiting the sale of arms to Europe, strengthening the Commonwealth Navy, and reaffirming the president's earlier offer to act as a mediator between the warring camps. Mendez even went so far as to sign a mildly protectionist Tariff Act in 1910, on the grounds that it would prevent Americans from indirectly supporting the war.

Congressman William Green of Ohio [ASWI]
At the outset of the 1912 campaign, most assumed that Victor L. Berger - former vice president and Socialist candidate for president in 1908 - would be the nominee of the ASWI. These expectations were turned on their heads when, in December 1911, Berger declined to seek the presidency again, explaining privately that he feared his nomination would rupture the party as it had in 1908. Berger's withdraw sparked a chaotic free-for-all at the 1912 Socialist caucus that resulted in the nomination of Ohio Congressman William Green as a compromise candidate. Like MacDonald before him, Green has put forward a forceful platform of social and economic reforms, calling for the nationalization of the coal, steel, and oil industries; national health and unemployment insurance; a national minimum wage; and the passage of new anti-trust measures. He is steadfast in his opposition to entering the Great War and has criticized the president's efforts to strengthen the navy, ridiculing what he terms a policy of "gunboat neutrality."

Former Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts [National Liberal]
An old friend and ally of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Lodge was nominated by the National Liberals after TR declined to run again. His platform is very similar to Roosevelt's 1908 campaign: he supports instituting a system of national health insurance; reducing the amount of silver currency in circulation and allowing the Commonwealth Reserve to purchase treasury bonds as anti-inflationary measures; fidelity to existing anti-trust legislation; the creation of a national university system; opposition to any and all nationalization schemes; and, first and foremost, immediate intervention in the Great War on behalf of France.

President Manuel Mendez of Nuevo Leon [Concordite]
In spite of a tumultuous eight years in la Maison Blanchet, President Manuel Mendez has taken the unusual step of running for a third term, something that only one previous president has ever done successfully. Declaring himself the only man who can lead the country through such trying times, Mendez is striking a more moderate tone than in past campaigns. While still supportive of a hard money policy and a fervent opponent of nationalization schemes, he has softened his position on silver and free trade in hopes of attracting moderate Democrats. He is, as always, a passionate advocate for peace and has promised to focus his energies on facilitating peace negotiations between the warring powers.

Governor Thomas James Walsh of Montana [Democratic]
Though it has been over a decade since one of their own held the presidency, the Democrats have not given up hope of reclaiming la Maison Blanchet. Their candidate is popular Montana Governor Thomas J. Walsh, who first gained prominence as a prolific Congressman during the Spies Administration. Walsh occupies the middle ground between the ASWI and Mendez's Concordites: while opposed to nationalization schemes and socialistic government programs, he supports allowing the Commonwealth Reserve to purchase treasury bonds, the protective tariff, and a modest minimum wage. Like virtually all Democrats, he is firmly in against intervention, though he would consider the possibility of war if American neutrality is not respected.

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