American government under an Australian style political system

[Polkergeist]

For those not schooled about the Australian constitution, it was drafted as a composite of the British and American constitution. It combined the system of British parliamentary government with American Federalism.
This gives us the following features:

- A Prime Minister that requires the support of a majority of members of the House of Represenatives.

- A Monarch that is represented by the Governor-General.

- A Senate that equally represents the states.

- A Federal division of powers

- A speration of powers between the legislative/executive branches and the judical branches.

So how would American politics look like if it ran under the Australian system. Here are a few ground rules:

- The Prime Minister is elected as the leader of the party that can obtain a majority in the House of Representatives. This also entails  the leader having to win a vote of his parties reps to become leader in the first place.

- Elections to the House of Reps are held in single member electorates and use a preferential voting system otherwise known as Instant Runoff Voting.

- Terms for the house of reps are for 3 years but they may expire sooner upon the Prime Minister's request to the Governor General

- The Amount of reps each state gets is allocated proportiontely but each state must have at least 5 reps. Generally when calculating the membership of the house of reps it is to have twice as many members of the Senate

-Each state has 12 senators with half up for re-election every 3 years. Elections for the Senate are held by proportional representation.

- For the Prime Minister to govern he or she needs his budget bills to pass the senate. If this doesn't occur then the  PM can't govern.

- If the Senate won't pass the PM's bill then the PM can request a double dissolution of Parliament where all MP's and Senator's are up for election.

If you want any more info check out this link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Australian_electoral_system

So what I'm going to do now is write a TL starting from 1980 with American politics under Australian rules.

[Platypus]

Yay!

I'd also add a mentionj of the AEC, Australian Electoral Commission, which runs elections, and most importantly, defines the seats so that there is no gerrymandering-meaning that both parties do have a better chance. at each individual seat.

[Polkergeist]

Also to note for this scenario I'll keep each state at the original 6 senators as 12 senators per state will make the house 1200 members ! 600 is more realistic

[Platypus]

well, thats probably a good idea

will DC get the same treatment as the ACT? As in, the same amount of seats as they deserve, and 2 senators? (I think the territories ech have two sentors, anyway.)

[Polkergeist]

yep

[Polkergeist]

Election of 1980

Prime Minister Carter called an election for the House and half the Senate for Saturday November 8. unlike most Prime Ministers Carter called an election because his time was up, the term of the House had expired. But in a political sense this was also true. After the hostages had been kidnapped in Iran 12 months earlier Carter had lurched from one crisis to another. Constant undermining of his leadership by Edward Kennedy had also given his government the stench of death.

Conversely the Leader of the Opposition Ronald Reagan had a full term on the opposition benches without any trouble and the advantage of a Senate that had a GOP majority which Reagan had used wisely and not obstructed the government.

However Reagan was not without troubles. Illinois congressman John Anderson had broken away from the Republican party in protest of its ever increasing conservatism. Anderson ran a nationwide ticket of Liberal Republicans which had polled in the mid 20's for a time in 1980 and looked like it may gain the balance of power in both houses.

However once the election was called Anderson faded away under the strong campaigning ability of Reagan and Carter was still consumed with the hostage crisis. The election result indicative of a desire for change.

House of Representatives
GOP 423 seats, 50.8 %
Democrats 193 seats, 41 %
Liberal GOP 0 seats, 6.6%

Two-Party Preferred
GOP 55.3 %
Dem 44.7 %

Carter Southern background help prevented a rout in the South but the rest of the nation was a severe loss for the Democrats.

In the Senate the GOP maintained its majority by winning 43 states 2-1. in Utah the GOP won 3-0 While in Vermont and Rhode Island the Liberal GOP picked up one senate seat each. Leaving the senate as....

GOP 172
Democrats 126
Liberal GOP 2

The next day after visiting church in the morning Jimmy Carter flew in Air Force one to Washington for the last time to hand in his resignation in to Governor-General Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin quickly called upon Ronald Reagan to form a new Government.

[Polkergeist]

Reagan's first term

On Monday 10th November 1980 Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the Prime Minister of the United States. His first cabinet included George Bush as Deputy PM and Treasurer. Reagan got to work on his legislative program which included an emergency budget, labor reform laws  and a bill to out law abortion. With a GOP majority in the senate it seemed that Reagan would achieve his aims easily.

Democratic Leadership

On election night Jimmy Carter announced he would also resign as leader of the Democrats. Jockeying for position  took place even before this announcement with Jesse Jackson telling a nationwide TV audience he would contest any leadership ballot after he claimed victory in his Chicago house seat.
However the main challengers were considered to be forder Deputy PM and Treasurer Walter Mondale and leadership aspirant Edward Kennedy who both announced their candidacy on Monday night after the election.

However events also propelled two other candidates into the race. The remanining democratic house caucus had a signifcant southern contingent  which felt the both Mondale and Kennedy as too liberal for their electorates. This prompted Ernest Hollings to delacre his candidacy.

Reagan's determination to push through legislation banning abortion also motivated a Geraldine Ferraro to run.

The ballot was scheduled to occur on Thursday 13 November. After intense lobbying the Democratic Congressmen and women met in Washington to cast their ballots.

First round
Hollings 81
Mondale 79
Kennedy 69
Ferraro 51
Jackson 39

Upon the first round result  Jesse Jackson cited the abortion issue for draining his support to Ferraro. But said he would accept a position in shadow cabinet if offered.

Second Round
Hollings 87
Mondale 84
Kennedy 80
Ferraro 68

Upon the second round result Geraldine Ferraro said she hoped that whoever the new leader was they would be prepared to strongly defend a woman's right to choose

Third Round
Kennedy 123
Mondale 107
Hollings 89

Upon the third round result Ernest Hollings declared that Ted Kennedy was too liberal and advised that he supported Walter Mondale

Fourth Round
Mondale 184
Kennedy 135

Upon the final result  Kennedy congratulated Walter Mondale on his victory but declined a shadow cabinet position and went to the backbench.

Mondale did appoint all other leadership contestents to the shadow cabinet. Hollings as Deputy leader, Ferraro as Secretary for Women's issues and Jackson as Secretary of the Interior.

[Polkergeist]

Reagan's First Term cont...

In late 1980 the Reagan government was able to push its labor reform laws  and its bill to ban abortion through the house. However the latter  involved a long debate in the house from Liberal GOP members who were opposed to banning abortion. In all 29 crossed the floor in a taste of things to come in the senate. However 15 Southern Democrats also crossed the floor to support the bill.

On Christmas 1980 Iran released the hostages.

In 1981 George Bush introduced the emergency budget which slashed social spending and increased defence spending. The bill passed both houses as did the labor laws. However the Abortion bill came under fire in the senate. Liberal GOP senators objected to the bill and for a time it seemed that the vote may be close.  However as in the house Southern Democratic senators ensured the bills safe passage.
This prompted Ted Kennedy to launch a stinging attack from the back bench upon the southern democrats that crossed the floor. Under pressure from Southern Democrats Opposition leader Mondale rebuked Kennedy.

The Air Controllers strike  also aided Reagan who took tough action under the new labor laws. Mondale supported the president's action which incited Jesse Jackson to walk out of shadow cabinet claiming that Mondale did not support the rights of organised labor.

In 1983 Reagan faced the trouble of terrorism when he sent American forces as part of a multinational force into Lebanon. The American troops came under constant attack from local Islamic fundamentalists and forced a US withdrawal. This caused a slump in the opinion polls for the GOP.

Furthermore the abortion debate continued on in late 1982 and early 1983 when several state GOP conventions in the North east broke out into fist fights over the GOP reps and senators who crossed the floor on abortion bills and moves to disendorse them. This caused some to quit the party for the Liberal GOP.

As the term neared the end Reagan was looking to break out of his slump in the polls before his term expired. Polls had him 50-50 with Mondale.

However global events intervened. The Soviet dowing of a Korean Airline in August brought international condemnation.

In October US forces invaded Grenada to oust a Communist government.

With the polls now in the high 50's for the GOP Prime Minister Reagan called an election for Saturday December 3

[Polkergeist]

Election of 1983

With the polls good for GOP and Reagan it semms a second term was assured with the strong possibility of an increased majority. However the campaign threw up a few surprises.

The National Organsiation of Women ran adverisments in marginal seats explicitly condeming the Reagan Government for its anti-abortion stance.

This set of a series of ugly exchanges between NOW spokeswomen and GOP Congressmen which were damaging to the GOP.

The issue of poverty rose its head into the campaign with figures released showing poverty had increased in that last 3 years.

The Liberal GOP announced that it would direct its preferences towards to Democrats.

John Anderson re-entered federal politics running for the senate in NY.

However the polls held steady at 55-57 % two party preferred for the GOP and its was commonly thought that the GOP would be heading towards another landslide. The results on Saturday night were a shock to all.

House
GOP 343 seats  49.6%
Democrats  269 seats 42.1 %
Liberal GOP  4 seats  7.9 %

Two Party Preferred
GOP 52.4 %
Dem 47.6 %

Heavy swings in New York seats early on in the night suggested that the election might be close but Reagan hung on to blue collar voters in the mid west which saw him through.

The liberal GOP vote increased overall but it sharpest increase was in New England and New York where it reached around 20 % in some GOP seats it was high enough to push the Democrats into 3rd and ride their preferences to victory.

The shock result which sliced the GOP majority to a third was attributed to the following:

- A winter election exacerbated the doom and gloom effect. The poverty issue was an example of this

- Exit Polls showed that the abortion issue hurt the GOP among women

- Liberal GOP preferences flowed heavily to the Democrats around  70 to 80 %. This saw the Dems take all the close races

However this large swing in the North-East and CA masked a small swing to the GOP in the South where they took 10 seats from the Dems adn the Liberal GOP vote was only 2 percent.

The Senate election saw  John Anderson elected to the Senate as Liberal GOP from New York. The new Senate was now

GOP 173
Democrats 118
Liberal GOP 9

[Platypus]

Great work, only two things to not:

1. We don't have a congress, and therefore, we don't have congressmen. We have MPs-Members of parliament for he lower house and Senators for the upper house. Together, the groups are called "Parliamentarians", but usually they are called by their individual house title.

2. There is almost never, ever crossing of the floor in the washminster system (Washington and Westminster ). If a Labor member crosses the floor, then they are kicked out of the arty unless it is a 'conscience vote', but even then it is frowned upon. Whilst that isn't a rule in the Liberal Party, if you cross the floor you get ostracised.

The minor parties don't have a problem with it, but they all usually vote along party lines too.

And one last thing-Independents win seats in Australia, especially rural ones who run on local issues; the election isn't purely based on the leader as it is in the US Presidential race. But, this point isn't so important.

Overall, you're riding an A

[Polkergeist]

I'm actually Australian so I can say with certainty that you are spot on. However it isn't uncommon in westminster systems to have MP's cross the floor. It Happens a lot in the UK. So I'd imagine if you were to transplant the australian constitution into the US with the party system that is over there you would have MP's crossing the floor some of the time.

[Platypus]

Oh cool, where in AUS are you? I'm in Port Melbourne.


Maybe you are right, I suppose it depends on how close you want to make it to the Aussie system

[Polkergeist]

Reagan's Second Term

After winning a second majority Prime Minister Reagan got back to work.

In attempt to win back liberal GOP voters Reagan intorducted into parliament legislation to compensate Japanese-Americans that had been interned during the second world war.


The economy also began to hit full stride as unemployment fell and growth increased steadily however the budget deficit was still  increasing. However with good economic times at hand the GOP went up in opinion polls.

In April President Reagan introduced legislation for a consitutional referendum on school prayer. School Prayer had been ruled unconstitutional by the High Court on the s 80 grounds of establishing a state religion. The referendum was to enact an exemption to section 80 for school prayer. The referendum was set for August just before the start of the school year.

However in June Prime Minister Reagan was caught up in a new controversy.

Governor-General Buzz Aldrin's term was due to expire in July and did not wish to serve again. Prime Minister Reagan appointed Frank Sinatra for the vice-regal office. Initally this was a popular choice as Sinatra was a much loved entertainer. However in mid-July revelations came to light in the press of Sinatra's past mob connections. This saw Sinatra and Reagan come under heavy criticism for bringing the office into disrepute. As a result Reagan's poll ratings went down. However Reagan refused to budge on the matter.

In late July amid the Sinatra controversy and the upcoming referendum, Opposition leader Mondale announced he would oppose the referendum. However this would be in vain as two weeks later the referendum passed by a 59-41 margin winning 39 of 50 states. The issues had strong public support and thus overshadowed any backlash against Reagan.

However Mondale did suffer from the referendum his disapproval ratings hit 44 percent soon after the referendum. He soon started to here rumblings form his Back bench. In November Jesse Jackson gave a speech to the National Press Club citiing that the Democrats had become to ideolgically soft and need to have more fight on traditional liberal issues. This was taken as an attack on Mondale's leadership.

In February of 1985 Gary Hart the shadow attorney general gave a speech about new liberalism which gave him leadership credibility.

In April after a call from Jesse Jackson to sort out the leadership of the party once and for all. Mondale resigned and renominated for the leadership. Jackson was the only other candidate.

The ballot took place on Thursday April 18

Mondale 239
Jackson 148

The result wounded Mondale gaining just over 60% of the caucus against a candidate with doubtful electoral appeal.

In may George Bush handed down the budget which slated large income tax cuts and national sales tax.
With GOP majorities in the House and Senate the budget passed. However it became a nightmare for Opposition leader Mondale.

When asked about the tax cuts he responded that a Mondale government would not repeal the tax cuts but would repeal the national sales tax. this borught Mondale under fire from those in his own party and the government with the main charge that the income tax cuts were not feasible without the sales tax.

The Democratic National Convention in July debated its platform with taxes on the agenda. In debate a plank was moved that would repeal the 2nd term Reagan tax cuts despite Mondale's wishes.  Mondale told the conference that if it passed his position as leader would be untenable. The tax cut repeal plank was passed narrowly and Mondale went through with his word and resigned as opposition leader and did not recontest.

A new leadership ballot was held on Friday August 2. Jackson ran again as did Gary Hart and Ernst Hollings.
Ted Kennedy declined to run

First Ballot
Hart 175
Hollings 116
Jackson 96

Second Ballot
Hart 261
Hollings 126

The election of Hart as leader gave the Democrats a jump in the opinion polls and averted a possile snap election in late 1985.

A positive summit with Gorbachev in February 1986 saw Reagan's approval ratings go up and there was anticipation of a spring election.

However in late March 1986 a senate committe uncovered the Iran-Contra affair. This cast a grave pall over Reagan's Prime Ministership with revelations of illegality growing greater by the day. With an election looming and the Democrats having a 15pt lead in the opinion polls in late May, Reagan fell on his own sword and resigned as PM.

George Bush won the GOP leadership uncontested and immedietely set up an inquiry into Iran-Contra.

Prime Minister Bush's honey moon brought the Polls back to 50-50 and his personal popularity grew over the summer enough for Bush to call an election for Saturday September 15.

[Polkergeist]

Election of 1986

The election of 1986 was rememebred for Gary Hart's extra-marital affair which was exposed 2 weeks before election day.  What issues did get an airing were drowned out in the circus around the revelations.

Before the news broke of the affair polls had the GOP and the Dems 50-50 after preferences. Afterwards most polls gave the GOP a 6-10 point lead.

The result on election night was not unexpected the only consternation was about what Gary Hart would say in his concession speech.

House
GOP 379 seats 50.7 %
Democrats 231 seats 41.3 %
Liberal GOP 6 seats 7.1 %

Two Party Preferred
GOP 54.8%
Dem 45.2%

Senate
GOP 160
Democrats 128
Liberal GOP 12

[Polkergeist]

Oh cool, where in AUS are you? I'm in Port Melbourne.


Maybe you are right, I suppose it depends on how close you want to make it to the Aussie system

I live in Sydney

[Platypus]

Oh dear. How unfortunate. How can I help?

[Polkergeist]

Bring us some of your weather

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Great thread!

[Platypus]

Bring us some of your weather

It's actually quite a lovely spring day outside

Coincidentally, did you know that when ranking the worlds most livable cities, the Economist magazine said that Melbourne had a better climate then Sydney? Maybe it's because we get occasional but necessary rain, no bushfires, less desert wind and milder summers? Possibly? Perhaps?

Nah, Sydney is great; thats why it came 6th. But, well, it's not Melbourne, and it isn't even Perth.

[Akno21]

This is very good. Keep it up!

[Platypus]

*bump*

I hope you're contnuing. These stupid "vs." polls that have absolutely nothing to do with what ifs are pissing me off. Especially because almost all the brands aren't in Australia


They MIGHT fit in Individual or US General, but not here!

[Polkergeist]

Ok, I got the next 3 years in the next 30 minutes

[Polkergeist]

Prime Minister Bush

With a fresh mandate of his own Prime Minister Bush set about reshaping the GOP government in his own right New blood was brought in Dan Quayle from Indiana became Finance Minister. While Olympia Snowe of Maine was drafted into cabinet as Health Minister in an attempt to woo moderate GOP supporters. Bob Dole of Kansas became deputy PM and Treasurer.

On the other side of the dispatch box the Democrats were still reeling form their election loss and deep concerns about Gary Hart's leadership still festered. After the election Gary Hart announced that he would remain in the leadership when the party room met before the first sitting of Parliament. Hart’s challengers emerged from both the left and right of the party. Ernst Hollings the former deputy leader threw his hat into the ring. While after much lobbying Ted Kennedy also announced his candidacy. What was notable about the leadership contest was that none of the future talent of the party rose to contest, including current deputy leader and shadow treasurer Al Gore, shadow workplace relations minister Richard Gephardt and shadow foreign minister Warren Christopher.

The ballot took place on Thursday October 4

First Round

Kennedy 151
Hart 129
Hollings 79

Second Round
Hart 189
Kennedy 170

The result of leadership contest was notable for the political death of all 3 contestants. Ernst Hollings was unable to breakout of his southern base and was consigned to being an impotent national figure in the caucus. Ted Kennedy after spending 25 years in parliament was also written off as being unable to win a leadership ballot due to his divisiveness. However Gary Hart was also written of as an incumbent leader who could barley gain 1/3rd of his caucus' votes in a leadership ballot. Hence Hart whilst back as leader was also powerless to stop continued speculation.

Prime Minister Bush rode out 1986 basking in the favourable economic conditions. In February 1987 the independent inquiry into Iran-contra returned a report exonerating former Prime Minister Reagan of any illegal act whilst Prime Minister. However the report did cast doubt on George Bush's role in the affair implicating the current PM with knowledge of the trade for arms. Prime Minister Bush suffered a few tense question time sessions over the report but was able to ride the storm out, however the revelations did end his honeymoon with the American public.

In April Frank Sinatra stepped down as Governor-General citing health problems however there was mutterings about further scandal that may have tarnished the office. However such mutterings were not well founded.

A leak in late April suggested that Prime Minister Bush was considering appointing Ronald Reagan to the post. However a public backlash against the idea scuttled any chance it would have occurred. Instead Prime Minister Bush appointed High Court Judge William Rehnquist.

In May the Liberal GOP announced a name change to American Liberals

In June Ted Kennedy announced his resignation from parliament after 25 years. This triggered speculation that current Massachusetts Premier Michael Dukakis would switch to federal politics. 

Dukakis was wooed by the shadowy Democratic Leadership Committee which was formed after the previous election loss to entice a successful Democratic premier to Washington take over the national leadership of the party.

Dukakis accepted the challenge and ran for Ted Kennedy's old seat of Adams in the ensuing by election. With no GOP candidate Dukakis won with 80% of the primary vote which added to his momentum.

As the summer of 1987 wore on the pressure mounted on Gary Hart to resign. In September Hart relented and Dukakis won the leadership unopposed.

For the first time since the revelations of Hart's affair the Democrats were in front in the polls. It seemed that the nation was ripe for change of government.

When the stock market crashed in October 1987 the Bush Government suffered further when Treasurer Dole told a radio audience that Americans had to act more responsibly in their financial dealings or the nation would turn into a banana republic. This comment caused the dollar to fall 10% against the yen and caused a storm of controversy. Prime Minster decided to sack Dole 3 days later in a move which divided the GOP, Dole was replaced as treasurer by Quayle.

By Christmas the GOP was trailing the Democrats by 18 points in the polls and it seemed that the Bush Government may be on its way out.

However two twin causes turned the tide.

The improving relations with the USSR were an advantage for Bush and several summits with Gorbachev during 1988 had resulted in treaties limiting the stockpiles of ICBM's.

Also the law and order issue caused trouble for the Democrats. When Prime Minister Bush introduced the truth in sentencing bill into parliament in March it was labelled a trifle by Opposition leader Dukakis. However in June the Willie Horton scandal broke linking a murder form an escaped prisoner on a furlough program that Dukakis introduced as Massachusetts Premier.

As a result when Prime Minister Bush capitalised on the controversy by introducing a bill to extend the number of capital offences, Dukakis back flipped from his previous opposition of the death penalty to support the bill.

This alienated Democrats' core liberal supporters and gave the GOP a 10 pt lead (after preferences) in the polls.

With the Democrats in disarray and a successful summit in early September with Gorbachev, Bush came home and called an early election for Saturday October 1 1988.

[Polkergeist]

 Election of 1988

The snap election caught everybody but Prime Minister Bush by surprise. With a 10 pt lead in the polls and momentum going his way Prime Minister Bush seemed certain for a landslide. However his law and order campaigned started to backfire while it took vote form the Democrats it also lost vote to the American Liberals. The AL campaign also took a fillip when John Anderson ran again for the house in Illinois.

The tide also turned when the Democrats unveiled their health care plan which called for a healthcare safety net which would ensure all Americans would have health coverage.

With the final 2 weeks spent of Health care the GOP poll lead shrunk to 4-6 pts however the consensus was that the GOP would win another healthy majority. However the election night was tenser than expected.

House
GOP 311 seats 45.9 %
Democrats 271 seats 38.7 %
American Liberals 34 seats 14.1 %

Two Parties preferred
GOP 50.4 %
Dem 49.6%

The election result was close for several factors:
- AL preferences flowed strongly to the Democrats
- Exit polls showed that 2/3rds of voters thought the early election was unnecessary. This lead to a backlash against Bush
- Surprise large swings in the industrial mid-west to the Democrats

Prime Minister Bush was unable to claim victory until 1:30 am EST and in his victory speech conceded that the early election may have upset some voters.

John Anderson won his Chicago seat for the AL and was a symbol of their rise. The AL was now the one of the 2 major parties in New England pushing the GOP to 3rd.

The Senate results were also a blow to the GOP losing control of the chamber. The AL were able to gain Senate seats in 15 states breaking out of their NE base.

GOP 149
Democrats 131
American Liberal 22

[Polkergeist]

Prime Minister Bush II

The election of 1988 had left the GOP government with a tenuous hold on power. With a majority after the election of the speaker of only 5 and a Senate which they did not control. Prime Minister Bush tried to govern cautiously. Unfortunately events in 1989 at home were not to benefit this approach.

After the stock market crash of 1987 North America had experienced a brief recession. Which was ameliorated by a brief recovery in 1988. However this recovery had now come to a halt and the economy had slid into recession. Economic conservatives in his party room lead by former Treasurer Bob Dole were calling for tax cuts to stimulate the economy. However the Prime Minister was cautious of this as he was still concerned about the budget deficit and refused to move on tax cuts but rather waiting for interest rates to sort out the economic troubles.

Furthermore Opposition leader Dukakis and American Liberal Leader Anderson came to an agreement on a common health care platform dubbed Medicare II which would extend health care coverage to all uncovered persons. A bill was introduced in the Senate to implement Medicare II which passed along party lines.
However when the bill went to the House it became a thorny issue for the GOP.

In November 1989 Health Minster Olympia Snowe said there was room for negotiation on the bill and that in principle she did not disagree with the federal government extending healthcare coverage as wide as possible.

However Prime Minister Bush rejected this stance and said the government would be rejecting the bill outright. After a stormy cabinet meeting Olympia Snowe resigned as Health Minister and left the cabinet.

Over the winter Olympia Snowe and 3 other North Eastern GOP MP's announced they would enter into negotiations with Dukakis on amending the bill to terms they would find acceptable.

On the foreign front the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe was a welcome joy for PM Bush it lessoned the blow to his sliding poll figure such that it was still in single figures.

In early 1990 Bush had to enter into talks with the rebel GOP MP's led by Snowe. Bush offered a wider health care coverage bill if they rejected the Dukakis-Anderson model the rebel group agreed and the universal health care plan was dashed for now.

However Bush ran into problems form his right wing (led by Dole) on the matter as they opposed any extra government program spending. When the bill was voted on in the house it was defeated despite American Liberal Support 266-350.

Bush initially blamed the Democrats for the defeat of the bill claiming they were hypocritical about the issue. But after an anti-immigration speech by Backbench MP from Virginia Pat Buchanan, a well known right-winger it became clear that Bush could not control the right wing of his party.

Bush that night resigned as leader of the GOP and renominated for the leadership to be decided in a ballot on Tuesday March 27. Dole and Buchanan also nominated for the contest.

First Round
Bush 236
Dole 161
Buchanan 53

Bush won the ballot but his victory was made easier by the presence of Buchanan.

In the summer of 1990 former Arkansas Premier Bill Clinton entered the House via an Arkansas by-election.

In October after the Maine GOP conference passed a motion condemning the actions of Olympia Snowe, she announced she would be defecting to the American Liberals cutting the GOP's already slim majority

During the winter of 1990-91 the Gulf War occurred due to Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait and threatening Saudi Arabia. 

The decisive victory in expelling Iraq from Kuwait turned around Bush's fortunes it silenced his backbench and bonded Dukakis to his position. By March the GOP had a 10 point poll lead after preferences.

Despite the ongoing recession the good national mood held and Bush called a summer election for June 1.