From Today On

[SPC]

I've decided to start a new alternative timeline starting with today:

5/8/07: Tom Allen annouces that he will run for Senate next year.
5/9/07: Big news in Virginia: Mark Warner announced that he will be seeking to be the Democatic nominee for Senate next year. Hours later, John Warner announced that he would be retiring from the Senate next year.
5/20/07: Wes Clark announces that he will not be seeking the Democratic nomination for president.
5/22/07: New polling comes out:

Republicans:
Giuliani 30%
McCain 21%
Thompson 15%
Romney 12%
Gingrich 11%
Huckabee 3%
Other/Undecided 8%

Democrats:
Clinton 38%
Obama 31%
Edwards 17%
Richardson 6%
Biden 5%
Other/Undecided 3%

Also, Steve Beshear and Anne Northrup win the KY Primaries.

5/25/07: Tom Davis announces that he will be challenging Mark Warner for Senate next year. An early poll comes out:
Warner 48%
Davis    40%

5/28/07: Chuck Hagel announces that he will not seek the Republican nomination for president, but left the door open to an independent run.


More to come later.

[SPC]

6/2/07: George Allen announces unexpectedly that he will challenge Tom Davis in the Republican primary for Senate.
6/5/07: Polling comes out for Virginia, Maine, and Colorado:

VA Primary:
Davis 47%
Allen  39%

VA General Election:
Warner  50%
Davis     35%

Warner  56%
Allen      31%

ME General Election:
Collins  44%
Allen     44%

CO General Election:
Udall       49%
Schaffer  40%

6/6/07: Polling come out for Minnesota:

MN Primary:
Franken   36%
Ciresi       35%

MN General Election:
Coleman   47%
Franken    34%

Coleman   44%
Ciresi        40%

6/10/07: Bill Clinton announces that he will be a candidate for his wife's Senate seat when she becomes president.
6/17/07: After Senate Democrats tries to set a deadline for troop withdrawal, Joe Lieberman switches caucuses and becomes a Republican.
6/20/07: To the surprise of everyone, Jim Webb forms a presidential exploratory commitee.

To be continued...

[SPC]

6/23/07: New polling comes out for the POTUS race:
Republicans:
Giuliani 28%
McCain 17%
Thompson 16%
Romney 14%
Gingrich 7%
Huckabee 5%
Other/Undecided 13%

Democrats:
Clinton 32%
Obama 32%
Edwards 12%
Webb 7%
Richardson 5%
Biden 5%
Other/Undecided 7%

6/25/07: Due to underfundraising and underperformance in the polls, Sam Brownback drops out of the race. He endorses Mike Huckabee for the nomination.
6/27/07: Mark Warner and Evan Bayh endorse Jim Webb in the race.
7/1/07: Alberto Gonzales resigns as Attorney General. George Bush nominates Orrin Hatch as his replacement.
7/5/07: Fred Thompson announces that he will not run for president.

To be continued (again)

[CPT MikeyMike]

Sounds interesting....how far out are you planning on going?

[SPC]

Sounds interesting....how far out are you planning on going?

I don't know, I will at least make it to the 2010 midterms, but I plan on going as far out as 2014.

[adam]

One question, why would Bill Clinton (who is in rather poor health) be re-entering the political arena again?

[SPC]

7/10/07: Orrin Hatch's conformiation hearing. He performs very well, and is confirmed 90-8, with Tim Johnson, and John McCain not voting.
7/11/07: Pleased by his second quarter fundrasing results ($15 mil), Jim Webb officially announces his candidacy for president. Many national and Virginia Democrats are upset that he is running after serving only 7 months in the Senate.
7/13/07: New poll for Virginia:
GOP Primary:
Allen  44%
Davis 43%

General Election:
Warner 46%
Davis    40%

Warner 44%
Allen     41%

7/15/07: Chris Dodd drops out of the race. He endorses Joe Biden and plans to retire from the Senate in 2008.
7/20/07: New olling comes out for the POTUS race:

Republicans:
Giuliani 31%
McCain 30%
Romney 17%
Huckabee 7%
Gingrich 6%
Other/Undecided 9%

Democrats:
Obama 29%
Clinton 27%
Webb 11%
Edwards 10%
Biden 7%
Richardson 7%
Other/Undecided 9%

7/21/07: Dick Cheney resigns due to poor health. He was diagnosed with cancer, and would not be able to carry out his duties for the rest of his term.
7/22/07: President Bush devises a vice-presidential shortlist:
Mike Pence
Dick Kempthorne
Ben Nelson
John Boehner
Chris Cox


To be continued (again)...

[SPC]

7/23/07: George Bush announces that he will be nominating Ben Nelson to be the VP. Ben Nelson kindly accepts the nomination.
7/30/07: The Nelson confirmation hearing begins. At the end, he is nominated 96-2 in the Senate and 395-40 in the House.
8/1/07: Ben Nelson resigns from the Senate and is sworn in as VP. Dave Heineman appoints Jon Bruning to Nelson's vacant Senate seat. Mitch McConnell celebrates as their party gains a 51-49 majority in the Senate.

Also, the long awaited unofficial Iowa Straw Poll:
Giuliani  27%
McCain  26%
Romney 20%
Gingrich 9%
T. Thompson 6%
Huckabee 6%
Gilmore 2%
Hunter 2%
Paul 1%
Tancredo 1%

8/2/07: Tommy Thompson drops out of the race and endorses Mike Huckabee. Similarly, Tom Tancredo also drops out of the race and endorses Duncan Hunter.
8/5/07: Mike Fahey announces that he will not be seeking Hagel's Senate seat. However, he will consider running against Bruning for the seat Ben Nelson recently vacated.
8/8/07: In what has been considered the "Huckabee Boom", Mike Huckabee more than doubled his standing in the race in a recent poll:
Giuliani  25%
McCain  24%
Romney 18%
Huckabee 15%
Gingrich 6%
Hunter 3%
Gilmore 2%
Paul 2%
Other/Undecided 6%
8/9/07: The Huckabee Boom continues as Huckabee raises $2 million in a fundraiser.

TBC...

[Gabu]

Just a comment... I can't think of any conceivable way Ben Nelson could be enticed to be Bush's VP.  Though a conservative Democrat, he's a Democrat through and through.

[SPC]

Just a comment... I can't think of any conceivable way Ben Nelson could be enticed to be Bush's VP.  Though a conservative Democrat, he's a Democrat through and through.

He reluctantly takes the job to serve his country.

[SPC]

8/11/07: Mike Rounds declares that he will run for Senate next year.
8/12/07: How the Democrats are doing in Iowa:
Clinton                  25%
Edwards               23%
Webb                    20%
Obama                  12%
Richardson              6%
Biden                       6%
Other/Undecided     8%

8/15/07: Earl Blumenhauer declares that he will be running for Senate next year.
8/20/07: Democratic national polls come out:
Clinton 26%
Obama 25%
Webb 15%
Edwards 12%
Biden 9%
Richardson 8%
Other/Undecided 5%
8/24/07: John Edwards meets with Jim Webb today to discuss national issues. Many think that Edwards will be dropping out and supporting Webb within the next few weeks.
8/28/07: Sure enough, Edwards dropped out and endorsed Webb. He believes that his campaign isn't performing well enough to conceivably win the nomination, so he would endorse the next best candidate to improve their chances at the nom.
9/1/07: For the first time ever, both parties' contests are tied:
Republicans:
Huckabee 20%
Romney 20%
Giuliani 20%
McCain 20%
Gingrich 6%
Hunter 3%
Gilmore 2%
Paul 2%
Other/Undecided 7%

Democrats:
Obama 26%
Webb 26%
Clinton 26%
Biden 10%
Richardson 9%
Other/Undecided 3%

To be continued.....

[SPC]

9/6/07: McCain makes a major gaffe on the campaign trail. When holding a fundraiser in NH, he gets booed by Paul supporters prompting him to call the people booing him, "dumbf**ks".
9/7/07: Paul states that McCain should apoligize for the comment, but doesn't think that he should be obligated to apoligize.
9/10/07: All the contenders except Gilmore have called on McCain to apoligize for his remarks. The supporters intend on suing McCain, but Paul tries to distance himself from the lawsuit.
9/15/07: Newt Gingrich makes an early announcement about his plans. He states that he will not run for president, and that he will endorse Huckabee for the nomination.
9/19/07: Due to public disapproval, McCain apoligizes to Paul, his supporters, and the people of NH for the gaffe that he made.
9/23/07: Al Sharpton endorses Obama in the race.
9/27/07: End o' the month polling:
Republicans:
Huckabee 27%
Romney 21%
Giuliani 16%
McCain 7%
Paul 5%
Hunter 4%
Gilmore 2%
Other/Undecided 18%

Democrats:
Obama 30%
Webb 25%
Clinton 24%
Richardson 11%
Biden 10%
Other/Undecided 0% 

To be continued....

[Hashemite]

How does Webb goes to 26% when I don't believe he has much political experience.

[SPC]

How does Webb goes to 26% when I don't believe he has much political experience.

Neither does Obama.

The reason he got that high was because Edwards dropped out and endorsed him because he though Webb could spread the populist message better.

[SPC]

10/1/07: Mike Fahey announces that he will be challenging Jon Bruning next year.
10/3/07: Barney Frank announces that he will be giving Kerry a primary challenge next year.
10/6/07: Chuck Hagel announces that he will not be running for reelection, and that he will run for president as an independent if the Republicans nominate a pro-war candidate.
10/7/07: Ben Nelson opens the door to a Senate run next year.
10/10/07: A look at the Senate races to come next year:
CO: Udall v. Schaffer
ME: Collins v. Allen
NH: Sununu v. Marchland
VA: (Davis v. Allen) v. Warner
SD: Johnson v. Rounds
OR: Smith v. Blumenhauer
MA: (Kerry v. Frank) v. Corsi
NE: Fahey v. Bruning
LA: Landrieu v. (Terell v. Jenkins)
10/13/07: Dick Cheney, who resigned the vice-presidency due to health problems, was diagnosed with lung cancer, and it not expected to live for longer than 8 months.
10/15/07: Days after Ben Nelson opened the door to a Senate run, Mike Johanns announced that he will be seeking Hagel's open seat.
10/17/07: Despite the surge's lack of sucess, Bush states that he will not withdraw troops from Iraq for the remainder of his term.
10/20/07: New polling:
Republicans:
Huckabee 24%
Romney 23%
Giuliani 18%
McCain 8%
Paul 4%
Hunter 3%
Gilmore 3%
Other/Undecided 17%

To be continued...

[SPC]

10/25/07: Chuck Schumer makes a bold move against Ben Nelson. He states that for Nelson's betrayal of national Democrats for accepting a Bush nomination and for flipping the Senate toward the Senate in the process, he will not be funding him if he makes a Senate campaign next year.
10/26/07: In response for Schumer's comments, Nelson states that he will not only vote against any tie-breaker legislation suggested by Democrats, but will run for Senate as an Nebraska Democrat, and will not caucus with the national Democratic party if elected.
10/27/07: Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor, Ken Salazar, and Tim Johnson lend helping hands to their former moderate colleague in the Senate, and announce the formation of the new Centrist Democratic Party. They would still be members of the state Democratic Party, but they would be independent from the National Democratic Party.
10/29/07: Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Arlen Specter commend the actions of the people from the other side of the fence, and announce that they will join them in their formation of a centrist party. Their joining of the new party gives them the swing vote in the Congress. It is now 47-45-8 for the GOP.
11/1/07: The new Centrist Party convenes and elects its new party leaders. Jow Lieberman becomes the new Centrist Leader, Mark Pryor becomes the new Centrist whip, and the new Centrist Party Platform is drafted.
11/3/07: Seeing the disaster he created because of his announcement, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid apologize for the comment he make. They hope that the 4 Democrats that joined the party to come back.
11/5/07: Joe Lieberman states that he and his new party will not accept his former party leader's apology, and that they will continue their new route toward a centrist legislature.
11/7/07: Mitch McConell uses the situation to his advantage, stating that he is proud of the 8 senators who left their party, and that they can feel free to caucus with whoever they want.
11/10/07: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Jim Webb announce their disgust with Joe Lieberman for abandoning the Democrats just because of a comment.
11/13/07: Max Baucus, Tom Carper, Evan Bayh, and Bill Nelson accuse Harry Reid of being too hostile to the center, and call on Reid to step down from his Senate leader status. " We cannot have Harry Reid ruling our party in the Senate when we need to court the center to get legislation passed", as Nelson explained.


To be continued....

[SPC]

11/15/07: New prez polling:
Republicans:
Huckabee 25%
Romney 21%
Giuliani 20%
McCain 13%
Paul 3%
Hunter 2%
Gilmore 1%
Other/Undecided 15%

Democrats:
Clinton 27%
Obama 26%
Webb 24%
Richardson 13%
Biden 7%
Other/Undecided 3%

11/17/07: Chuck Hagel says that he commends the actions of Lieberman and his colleagues, stating that although he won't join Lieberman's new centrist party, he feels that it is good for America, and wished that his colleague is a member, which many consider to be an endorsement for Nelson.
11/20/07: Mike Bloomberg announces the formation of a presidential exploratory commitee, and says that he will run on a national ticket with Hagel if the GOP nominates a pro-war candidate.
11/21/07: Joe Lieberman says that he will endorse the Bloomberg/Hagel ticket, because, although he supports the war, Mike Bloomberg would be better for America than any of the other candidates.
11/25/07: A month after the comment about Ben Nelson, Harry Reid stepped down as minority Leader.
11/26/07: Dick Durbin, Hillary Clinton, Jim Webb, and Bill Nelson announce that they will each seek to become the next minority leader. Of the four, only Bill Nelson is willing to move the Democrats toward a centrist path, and forgive Joe Lieberman.
11/27/07: The tally has been made for the next minority Leader. The results are:
Nelson 19
Durbin 18
Clinton  5
Webb    3

11/30/07: Of all the Democratic candidates, only Richardson said that he was pleased with Nelson's victory.
12/1/07: Joe Lieberman and Mark Pryor said they were pleased with Nelson's victory. As Joe Lieberman put it,"We will not go back to the Democrats because of this victory, but we will certainly be on better terms with them."
12/3/07: In an effort to win the 8 deciding votes in the Senate, Mitch McConell tries to moves more toward the center.
12/4/07: Focusing back on the POTUS race, as the Iowa caucuses are only a month away, here is some recent polling:
IA Republicans:
Giuliani 18%
Huckabee 17%
Romney 14%
McCain 13%
Paul 5%
Gilmore 4%
Hunter 2%
Other/Undecided 27%

IA Democrats:
Webb 30%
Clinton 27%
Obama 21%
Richardson 13%
Biden 5%
Other/Undecided 4%

To be continued....

[SPC]

12/5/07: The IA Caucuses are only a month away, and every single candidate will probably be staying here for the next few weeks. In a Republican debate, McCain again made a gaffe when he referred to his opponents as "challengers to the throne". Paul made the biggest gain during the debate.
12/10/07: Mike Bloomberg proudly announces that he has raised $5 million since he formed his exploratory commitee.
12/12/07: A survey of ten pundits was taken, and all but one predicted that Giuliani would win IA.
12/15/07: As it is right now, Giuliani has the lead in Des Moines and Sioux City, while Huckabee has the lead in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Waterloo.
12/16/07: Steve King and Tom Latham both endorse Giuliani
12/17/07: Going to the Democratic side, we see that Webb leads in Des Moines, Sioux City, and Waterloo, while Clinton leads in Davenport and Cedar Rapids.
12/18/07: Bruce Braley and Leonard Boswell endorse Webb, while David Loebsack endorses Clinton. Chet Culver also endorsed Webb.


To be continued (and who will win the IA Caucuses?)........

[SPC]

12/20/07: Mike Bloomberg officially announces his candidacy for president.
12/21/07: Tom Harkin endorses Jim Webb; Chuck Grassley endorses Rudy Giuliani.
12/24/07: Christmas Eve: Almost every candidate except McCain, Paul, and Obama (who are in NH) can be seen in Iowa shopping malls.
12/29/07: Two weeks before the first primaries, here is how the candidates are doing in the first 5 states:
Republicans:

Blue=Giuliani
Red=Romney
Green=Huckabee

Democrats:

Blue=Clinton
Red=Webb
Green=Obama

1/14/08: I have fast-forwarded it two weeks, and results have come in for Iowa:
Republicans:
Giuliani 29%
Huckabee 27%
Romney 17%
McCain 11%
Paul 8%
Gilmore 3%
Hunter 3%

Democrats:
Webb 31%
Clinton 26%
Obama 19%
Richardson 15%
Biden 5%
Kucinich 1%
Gravel 1%

1/15/08: Gilmore, Hunter, and Biden exit the race. Gilmore endorses Giuliani, Hunter endorses McCain, and Biden endorses Clinton.
1/16/08: Some polling for Nevada in three days:
Republicans:
Giuliani 31%
Romney 14%
Paul 13%
McCain 11%
Huckabee 10%
Other/Undecided 21%

Democrats:
Clinton 21%
Webb 20%
Richardson 16%
Obama 14%
Other/Undecided 29%

To be continued... (with Nevada, New Hampshire, Florida, and South Carolina).

[SPC]

1/19/08: The results for NV come in, and they are wuite surprising:
Republicans:
Giuliani 36%
Paul 17%
Romney 16%
McCain 16%
Huckabee 14%

Democrats:
Richardson 27%
Webb 26%
Clinton 23%
Obama 18%
Kucinich 2%
Gravel 1%

1/20/08: A look at how the candidates are doing on Tradesports:
Republican nomination:
Giuliani 60%
Romney 15%
Paul 14%
Huckabee 7%
McCain 3%

Democratic nomination:
Webb 30%
Richardson 24%
Clinton 21%
Obama 20%

1/20/08: Some polling for NH before I release the results:
Republicans:
Romney 32%
Giuliani 20%
Paul 16%
McCain 7%
Huckabee 5%
Other/Undecided 20%

Democrats:
Obama 28%
Richardson 21%
Webb 15%
Clinton 14%
Other/Undecided 22%

To be continued....

[SPC]

1/22/08: The results are in for NH:
Republicans:
Romney 36%
Paul 19%
Giuliani 17%
McCain 14%
Huckabee 12%

Democrats:
Obama 36%
Richardson 35%
Clinton 16%
Webb 9%
Gravel 1%
Kucinich 1%

1/23/08: Seeing his mediocre performance in NH, McCain drops out of the race. He says that he will endorse whoever wins Arizona.
1/25/08: Given that Tsunami Tuesday is just a couple weeks away, lets focus on national polling:
Republicans:
Giuliani  26%
Romney 21%
Huckabee 11%
Paul 9%
Other/Undecided 33%

Democrats:
Webb 28%
Richardson 24%
Obama 22%
Clinton 14%
Other/Undecided 12%

1/26/08: Some Florida and South Carolina polling for three days from now:
FL Republicans:
Giuliani 27%
Romney 14%
Paul 11%
Huckabee 11%
Other/Undecided 37%

FL Democrats:
Clinton 26%
Richardson 25%
Webb 20%
Obama 12%
Other/Undecided 17%

SC Republicans (2/2):
Huckabee 27%
Giuliani 23%
Romney 18%
Paul 7%
Other/Undecided 23%

SC Democrats:
Clinton 30%
Webb 22%
Obama 22%
Richardson 11%
Other/Undecided 15%

To be continued.......

[DownWithTheLeft]

12/25/07: Christmas Day: Almost every candidate except McCain, Paul, and Obama (who are in NH) can be seen in Iowa shopping malls.

Huh?

[SPC]

12/25/07: Christmas Day: Almost every candidate except McCain, Paul, and Obama (who are in NH) can be seen in Iowa shopping malls.

Huh?

Updated for your convenience.

But, overall, how are you liking it?

[SPC]

1/27/08: BREAKING NEWS: Former Vice-President Dick Cheney, who resigned last year due to health problems, has died at age 66. He will be buried in the Capitol on February 5.
1/28/08: Ben Nelson gave a speech expressing sadness for Cheney and his family. he was widely expected to announce his candidacy for Senate, but did not.
1/29/08: Results for SC and FL:
FL Democrats:
Clinton 30%
Richardson 29%
Webb 19%
Obama 17%
Kucinich 2%
Gravel 1%

FL Republicans:
Giuliani 38%
Romney 26%
Huckabee 18%
Paul 15%

SC Democrats:
Clinton 34%
Obama 26%
Webb 24%
Richardson 12%
Kucinich 1%
Gravel 1%

2/1/08: Although the SC primary is tomorrow, let's focus on Tsunami Tuesday for a moment:
Republicans:

>30%=primary already held
>40%=primary not held, but not on 2/5
>50%=primary on 2/5
B=Giuliani
R=Romney
G=Huckabee


B=Clinton
R=Webb
G=Obama
W=Richardson

2/2/08: The GOP SC primary results are in:
Huckabee 34%
Giuliani 29%
Romney 27%
Paul 8%

To be continued... (with Tsunami Tuesday).

[SPC]

2/3/08: Ben Nelson announces his candidacy for Senate. Meanwhile, Joe Lieberman forms the Centrist Coalition PAC to raise money for the 4 centrists up for reelection.
2/5/08: The moment we have all been waiting for. The party nominees-to-be are.......



Rudy Giuliani and........


Hillary Clinton.

2/6/08: The candidates devise their vice-presidential shortlists:
Giuliani:
Duncan Hunter
Mitt Romney
Mike Huckabee
Sam Brownback
Tommy Thompson
Tim Pawlenty
Jeb Bush
Mark Sanford
Bob Riley

Clinton:
Bill Richardson
Barack Obama
Bill Nelson
Linc Chafee
Phil Bredensen

2/7/08: The candidates' advisors narrow down their lists:

Giuliani:
Duncan Hunter A staunch conservative with foriegn policy experience and federal government experience
Mitt Romney Two northeasterners on the same ticket.
Mike Huckabee No foriegn policy experience
Sam Brownback Two Catholics on the same ticket
Tommy Thompson Has governed effectively and has experience on the federal level
Tim Pawlenty No foreign policy experience
Jeb Bush Too close to W
Mark Sanford No foreign policy experience
Bob Riley No foreign policy experience

Clinton:
Bill Richardson Western Latino with experience at all levels of government
Barack Obama Charismatic senator who can connect with the base
Bill Nelson Too essential in the Senate to be a veep
Linc Chafee Two northeasterners on the same ticket
Phil Bredensen Conservative southern governor

2/7/08: After much thinking on both sides, the tickets are revealed:
Republican:
Rudy Giuliani/Duncan Hunter

Democratic:
Hillary Clinton/Bill Richardson

Centrist/Unity:
Mike Bloomberg/Chuck Hagel

2/9/08: Ben Nelson, Mike Fahey, Mike Johanns, and Jon Bruning each win their respective nominations for U.S. Senate, Meanwhile, Landreiu's opponent is eashablished to be Woody Jenkins.
2/12/08: The moment we have all been waiting for: Mark Warner's challenger for Senate is.....Tom Davis.

To be continued......