Well-behaved women... : a 2020 TL

[Kamala]

Amy
July 26th, 2016

Senator Amy Klobuchar looked over the list again and again. She couldn't believe it - where was her name? She jeopardized her career in the Senate and beyond by endorsing Senator Sanders in the primaries - and this is how he repays her?

Bernie Sanders' Vetted Vice Presidential Considerations

Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina
Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado
Governor Jay Inslee of Washington
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida
Former Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana
Former Admiral James Stavridis of Massachusetts

Really? Kay Hagan? She endorsed Hillary - so did Bill Nelson. They risked nothing, really. Amy was a former Clinton ally, but she still endorsed Bernie. He had a certain energy to him - he could really fire up the base and affect change.  And she was pretty sure that it was her endorsement that led to Sanders winning her home state.

Fine. If Bernie wanted to play this way, so be it. He shouldn't expect any favors from her. There'll be no campaign stops with him, no pro-Bernie interviews, and no joint fundraisers.

Polling Averages Sanders +9.6%

Bernie Sanders - 244 Safe, 17 Likely, 68 Lean
Tossup - 47
Donald Trump / Mike Pence - 105 Safe, 31 Likely, 19 Lean
Evan McMullin / Spencer Cox - 6 Lean

[_]

GO EVAN!

[Kamala]

Ivanka
August 29th, 2016

Well, that went well. It's was good to see that her father was able to compromise on hiring a new campaign manager, especially after the disasters of Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort. Kellyanne Conway would be a fine manager, Ivanka convinced herself. She's a master of manipulating the media.

Ah, what the hell.

Her father isn't going to win the election. He isn't going to be president. It's just ridiculous. But she couldn't let him soil the Trump family name. She's still got a future, and Eric and Don Jr. probably aren't worthless either. Tiffany, who cares. Barron will probably be fine, he still got his mom.

Conway will help prevent Donald from completely embarrassing himself, his family, and the Republican Party.

Polling Average: Sanders +11.9%

Bernie Sanders / Brian Schweitzer - 253 Safe, 53 Likely, 56 Lean
Tossup - 73
Donald Trump / Mike Pence - 40 Safe, 24 Likely, 41 Lean

[Lord Admirale]

Wait, how is Sanders leading in Kentucky?

[Kamala]

Wait, how is Sanders leading in Kentucky?

He completely runs to the center on social issues while highlighting his progressive economic credentials.

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

How is Kentucky Lean D while Iowa and Missouri are tossups?

[Kamala]

How is Kentucky Lean D while Iowa and Missouri are tossups?

This is just polling , of course, but Missouri's less economically progressive than KY, and I guess Bernie had some gaffe regarding farm policy.

[The Govanah Jake]

South Carolina? The Dakotas? Utah i hope is due to McMullin. Also how are states like Montana and Utah likely democrat before states like Arizona, New Hampshire, or Georgia would be?

[Kamala]

South Carolina? The Dakotas? Utah i hope is due to McMullin. Also how are states like Montana and Utah likely democrat before states like Arizona, New Hampshire, or Georgia would be?

- Utah and SC  are due to McMullin, yes.
- Montana and the Dakotas are thanks to Schweitzer (These are both lean states by the way)
- AZ, GA, and NH are all tossup because Bernie isn't trying to appeal to white suburbanites like Hillary did. NH has libertarian tendencies, and react negatively to Bernie's strong economic progressiveness and relatively conservative (to the rest of the Democratic Party) on social issues.

[Kamala]

Melania
October 8th, 2016

Melania was stressed more than she'd ever been in her life. Her husband's campaign had made him tired and bitter. But yesterday's revelation had truly crossed the line. The Access Hollywood tape, revealing that Donald bragged about sexually assaulting women, wasn't just disgusting to her as his wife, it was disgusting to her as a woman.

She was expected to be Trump's beautiful, dutiful wife, always by his side. But she couldn't stand it. She needed to escape this cycle.

Trump was already down in the polls, but there was no way he recovers from this, she thought.

And he'll become even worse, right? He'll keep stress-eating, which will make him even more cranky, and he won't be able to, you know, perform, and just get angry and yell.

This is hell.

Polling Average: Sanders +18.6%

Bernie Sanders / Brian Schweitzer - 274 Safe, 72 Likely, 80 Lean
Tossup - 49
Donald Trump / Mike Pence - 23 Safe, 34 Likely, 6 Lean

[MAINEiac4434]

Sanders 2016=Reagan 1980 in this timeline.

[libertpaulian]

I'm guessing Melania will file for divorce in mid-October?

[Don Vito Corleone]

Those election maps are so beautiful.

[Kamala]

Kellyanne
October 26th, 2016

Everything but the kitchen sink.

That was her strategy to make Donald Trump president. Or at least, give the American people a real election. Every scandal, every gaffe, every little mistake that Bernie made would be blown up into a front-page story. Even rumors weren't off the table - after all, all that matters is whether people believe them, not if they're true.

And ever since the Access Hollywood tape, dirtying Sanders' reputation was the only recourse for the Trump campaign.

And so, every little scandal knocked Bernie down two or three points or so.

First, of course, when the tape died down a bit, Kellyanne brought up Bernie's "rape fantasy essay" and branded him a monster. Of course, there was no equivalence, but that didn't matter. Lie first, don't apologize later. Bernie was a sexual predator, or at least that what Kellyanne wanted the American public to believe.

Then, it was some little scandal regarding waste dumping in poor Hispanic communities. Bernie was a racist, who hates the poor. It was probably insignificant, but calling Bernie out on national television tarnished his previously spotless image. And that's what was important.

But the greatest savior to the Trump campaign was the FBI. Just this morning Director Comey announced that Jane Sanders, Bernie's wife, was under investigation for a potentially illegal land deal in 2010 during her tenure at Burlington College. Of course, Jane wasn't running for office, but Kellyanne decided to dirty up the revelation.

"Bernie Sanders abused his power as Senator to bully the Diocese of Burlington to accept a trade deal. Does this man have no shame? Not only is he using the arm of the government to intimidate a religious organization, we can't even be sure his wife got the job on her own merits. It's entirely possible that Bernie, who we can see has bullied organizations into giving him what he wants, had bullied Burlington College into giving his wife a job too. And who can forget the huge payment she got after being fired? I don't know about you, but usually when you do a bad enough job to get fired, you don't get a load of cash afterwards. The truth is plain and simple: Bernie abuses his power to help him and wife to get money, he abuses his power to bully organizations that stand in his way and forces them into illegal deals that hurt them."

It was a stretch, but it's better than nothing.

Polling Average: Sanders +7.5%

Sanders/Schweitzer - 214 Safe, 33 Likely, 58 Lean
Tossup - 59
Trump/Pence - 102 Safe, 56 Likely, 10 Lean
McMullin/Cox - 6 Lean

[libertpaulian]

I'm surprised the Trump campaign hasn't tried to paint Sanders as a communist yet, given he honeymooned in the USSR.

[Kamala]

I'm surprised the Trump campaign hasn't tried to paint Sanders as a communist yet, given he honeymooned in the USSR.

They've tried, obviously, but Trump's scandals have basically been more important than Sanders' "radicalism."

[Kamala]

Katie
November 8th, 2016

Katie was watching the results come in. Her campaign was part of the Democrats' best chances to pick up Senate seats and gain control of the upper chamber.

Of course, Katie knew she could've run a much better campaign, advised by some to focus more on local issues than nationalizing the race, but we'll see what the election will bring. Katie didn't run away from Bernie, who had been performing fairly well in Pennsylvania polls.

The results have begun to be reported, mostly from Pennsyltucky - central Pennsylvania - where Toomey was going to rack up large margins, although Katie would beat him with margins in Pittsburgh, Philly, and the suburbs - supposedly, of course.

The first good sign: Katie has a 5-point lead in Centre County, the one county in Central Pennsylvania that is in reach for the Democrats.  Sanders, however, only has a 4-point lead.

Suddenly, another good sign: an eight-point lead in Dauphin County. Sanders has a 10-point lead there.

The Poconos, a reliably and traditionally Democratic area, was about to report. Strong margins there are crucial for a victory.

Luzerne County : McGinty +5.4% , Sanders +3.2%
Lackawanna County: McGinty +26.5%, Sanders +26.4%
Monroe County: McGinty +10.2%, Sanders +11.0%
Northampton County: Toomey +1.3%, Sanders +0.9%

These were slightly below the margin needed for a decisive victory for a Democrat, but still indicative of a marginal victory. Of course, really, the only thing that will matter is turnout in Philadelphia.

Current Senate Leads

Current Presidential Lead

[NHI]

Enjoying this TL!

[The Govanah Jake]

Enjoying this TL!

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Enjoying this TL!

[West_Midlander]

Enjoying this TL!

[Kamala]

Kelly
November 8th, 2016

Kelly Ayotte was exhausted. After an exhausting campaign, both presidential and her own senatorial one, Kelly was ready for whatever was to come.

Kelly fought against Trump at his lowest points, but tried to come back to him as Election Day rolled closer. Her opponent, Governor Maggie Hassan, was a worthy adversary, relatively popular in the state, intelligent, much more competent than her 2010 opponent, Paul Hodes.

New Hampshire, in general, was a very elastic state. And despite Sanders' landslide primary victory in the state, Donald Trump appears to have a minor edge going into Election Day.

And now, early results began to pour in.

Coös County: Ayotte +1.3%, Trump +9.8%
Carroll County: Ayotte +4.8%, Trump +6.5%
Belknap County: Ayotte +10.4%, Trump +17.6%

sh**t. Those margins are weak. Donald's doing rather well, surprisingly. Sh*t.

I can't believe he'll win but I'll lose. Christ.

Current Presidential Leads

Sanders/Schweitzer - 78 Called, 135 Leading
Trump/Pence - 35 Called, 165 Leading

[BuckeyeNut]

Glad to see we have states that vote differently for President and Senate in this timeline.

[Kamala]

Deborah
November 8th, 2016

Deborah Ross wanted to replicate the success of North Carolina's other senator, Kay Hagan. An unknown state senator, running against a strong incumbent.

Deborah ran a decidedly socially liberal campaign, stressing abortion rights. However, she knew that this put her at odds with the national ticket, which was almost silent about social issues.

Despite an energetic campaign, especially compared with the incumbent Burr, Deborah felt, inside her head, that she just didn't do enough.

But was it really her fault? Bernie and Brian didn't excite African Americans, critical for any Democratic victory in the state. And the working-class whites that they did appeal to, they weren't gonna vote for a socially liberal woman, were they?

Suddenly, breaking news on CNN:

WE CALL THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA FOR TRUMP/PENCE
Hoo, okay. This isn't the end, just yet. Burr is leading but neither Guilford nor Mecklenburg have finished reporting their votes.

I can still win. Right?

Current Presidential Leads

Sanders/Schweitzer - 115 Called, 143 Leading
Trump/Pence - 108 Called, 75 Leading
McMullin/Cox - 6 Leading

Senate Results of Called Races

Alabama - 97% In
Sen. Richard Shelby - 62.4%
Ron Crumpton - 37.6%

Arkansas - 93% In
Sen. John Boozman - 52.9%
Conner Eldridge - 43.2%
Frank Gilbert - 3.9%

Connecticut - 96% In
Sen. Richard Blumenthal - 62.3%
Dan Carter - 34.6%
Jeffrey Russell - 1.0%
Richard Lion - 0.9%

Georgia - 99% In
Sen. Johnny Isakson - 54.3%
Jim Barksdale - 45.7%

Indiana - 100% In
Todd Young - 50.2%
Evan Bayh - 49.8%

Kansas - 96% In
Sen. Jerry Moran - 60.5%
Patrick Wiesner - 37.6%
Robert Garrard - 1.9%

Louisiana - 97% In
John Neely Kennedy - 21.3%
Caroline Fayard - 16.2%
Foster Campbell - 15.9%
Charles Boustany - 14.4%
Other Republicans - 13.0%
John Fleming - 10.2%
Other Democrats - 6.2%
Others - 2.8%

Maryland - 94% In
Donna Edwards - 63.3%
Kathy Szeliga - 33.4%
Margaret Flowers - 3.3%

Oklahoma - 91% In
Sen. James Lankford - 67.9%
Connie Johnson - 32.1%

South Carolina - 98% In
Sen. Tim Scott - 58.3%
Richard Hartpootlian - 41.5%

Vermont - 100% In
Sen. Pat Leahy - 61.2%
Scott Milne - 30.7%
Pete Diamondstone - 5.5%
Cris Ericson - 1.6%
Jerry Trudel - 1.0%

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

This TL is so great.