Here's the beginning of Era Two for yall. Enjoy ERA ONE can be found here:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?board=15;action=display;threadid=1970ERA TWO
1992—Dick Gephardt and Robert Mugabe poll at 78% approval rating in January. The American Party decides that they will no longer run presidential candidates, as they’ve never won an election. They will continue, however, running candidates for Congress and local offices.
The Green Party forms holds its convention in Chihuahua, Polk, and nominates consumer activist Ralph Nader of DC for president and Giuliano Amato of North Italy for vice president. However no one notices them this time.
The free republics of the world form the Council of Free Republics [CFR] in March to meet in Antwerp yearly to discuss and collectively solve various problems.
President Gephardt launches the United Earth Space Probe Agency, a joint venture of the CFR which is dedicated to further research and colonization, if possible, of space. UESPA, which is headquartered in Washington DC, will launch rockets from sites in French Guiana, Florida, Pendleton, and Rockefeller. The CFR begins designing an International Space Station and other various space vehicles. By September the space probe Polk is off to study Mars, Galileo to Jupiter, and Borden to Venus.
The Republican Party primary consists of George Bush of TX, and Silvio Berlusconi of North Italy. After some impressive early victories, Berlusconi receives the nomination and chooses Dan Quayle of IN as his VP.
The Gephardt-Berlusconi debates are interesting and are only accomplished through the use of translators. However, in the end Gephardt’s popularity, and the fact the he created many states which are grateful to him, cause him to cruise to victory on election day.
1993—The nation of Atlantic Brazil holds a new election and the pro-US candidate Itamar Franco is elected prime minister. Atlantic Brazil and the US sign the treaty of St. Helena in January and agree the A.B. will join the US on July 4, 1994.
The CFR meeting ends on a high note—the viewing of the first UESPA space shuttle, the Challenger, launched from Launch Pad Nineteen in French Guiana. The Challenger’s mission is a resounding success, and UESPA begins to discuss a return to the moon.
Bill Clinton is appointed to the Senate by the governor of AR to replace an outgoing senator. The former governor is well liked throughout the country and is considered by many to be a possible candidate for president at some point in the future. He gets media attention on his first day as senator by settling a shouting match between Senator Helms (A-NC) and VP Mugabe. Gephardt in September goes to Athens in a conference among the US, Greece, Free Istanbul, and Bulgaria. Though no plans are finalized, it is assumed that the three nations will soon become US states.
1994—On July 4, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and South Brazil becomes states 230-232. UESPA continues launching space shuttles, including the launch of the second space shuttle, Roosevelt. The Borden reaches Venus, sending back the best pictures, and only pictures since the USSR’s probes 20 years before.
Communists gain many seats in Turkestan’s parliament, and many people worry, considering its proximity to the USSR and China.
In the midterm elections, the Republicans and Americans sweep, under the leadership of Newt Gengrich and his “Contract with the World.”
The Green Party merges with other leftist parties to form the Socialist Party of the United States, and stresses its roots with the Debs and Thomas. Ralph Nader becomes its spokesman and wins election into the House representing the District of Columbia. People begin to speculate about VP Mugabe when his record compares closely to the SPUS platform.
1995—President Gephardt proposes a bold new space initiative, calling for a return to the moon by the end of the decade, and a permanent base by 2009. He speaks of Earth’s overpopulation, and how space colonies could help. The program will take a tax increase, which some don’t like, but Gephardt gets it through Congress with the help of some Republicans who support it.
Dismayed by the increase of government spending, billionaire Ross Perot forms a new political party, the Reform Party, calling for a balanced budget, and less governmental spending. This socially centrist party gains steam and many speculate that Perot may run for president the following year.
1996—In January, Ross Perot announces that he will run for president with the mysterious Pat Choate on the Reform ticket.
The Indian Ocean Confederation passes a bill asking the US for annexation. The US Congress tentatively agrees, and decides to admit them in 1997.
President Gephardt announces that his work is not yet done and that he wants a third term to finish it. Some people don’t like it, but he does well in early primaries. Then, in April, comes a much-expected, though still shocking announcement: Robert Mugabe is leaving the ticket and the party and running for president under the Socialist ticket with Ralph Nader as his VP. This makes bad publicity for Gephardt, yet he has no challengers in the primary. At the convention in July, he announces that his VP candidate will be Arkansas senator Bill Clinton, which annoys some Europeans and Asians that he picks his VP from a bordering state to him.
The Republican primary surprisingly gives a second nod to the pro-space program Silvio Berlusconi, who takes on Bob Dole of KS as his running mate. The fact that Berlusconi is not truly “American” promts the American Party to instead nominate the more “American” ticket of John Ashcroft and Kim Campbell.
Going into August, five candidates have a legitimate shot of winning. Because of this, five presidential debates are scheduled after an introductory debate between Nader, Clinton, Choate, Dole, and Campbell.
Ross Perot makes big gains toward long-Progressive-held Latin America; throughout much of Africa, Gephardt and Mugabe are the only ones on the ballot; Gephardt runs ads throughout the new states reminding them who it was that made them states. Berlusconi polls very well in Europe. By November it’s evident that no one will get majority, and the house will have to decide the winner. On Election Day, it’s Gephardt, Mugabe, and Berlusconi who make it into the top 3, and the election is sent into the House, to be decided in early January.