Talk Elections

This is my first scenario, and rather ambitious as I aim to invent characters, wars, revolutions, and even a country or two, so bear with me, and feel free to (kindly) offer criticism at any time! So, here goes...



THE main character of the so-called "American Renaissance", which is generally regarded to have lasted until the presidency of the prior president, is undeniably David Anderson. Understanding Anderson is crucial to understanding this period of recent history.

On May 7, 1956, David James Anderson, Jr. was born to David James Anderson, Sr. and Julia Anderson at 7:52 A.M. at the Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

David J. Anderson Sr., (born 1929) is at the time a clerk at the Globe Department Store in downtown Scranton. He was born to Harold Anderson (formerly Harald Andersson), a the son of a Norwegian immigrant, and Elizabeth Anderson (nee Whitfield), whose family had lived in the area since the early 1800's

Julia Anderson (nee Turnbull-Houghton) (born 1932) is at the time a secretary for the Erie Lackawanna Railway, but will leave her job to act as a full-time homemaker. The youngest of six children, her parents were Irish landowning Anglican emigres who came to the US in 1922. Once wealthy and owning a country manor and a Wexford townhouse, they came virtually destitute, most of their possessions either having been repossessed or stolen.

The young Anderson is characterized by family friends and acquaintances as "extremely gifted" and "very intelligent". The young boy attends the George Bancroft Elementary and West Scranton Intermediate Schools, having started kindergarten a year early. At his family's Christmas gathering in the winter of 1969, David Jr. is told that he will be living with his uncle Albert Turnbull-Houghton (1924-2005) in Boston starting the next year ; the reason given was so that he could attend the prestigious Boston Latin School. Despite his initial misgivings (he later recalled that he was convinced that his parents wanted to get rid of him) he is easily accepted. At the school, Anderson excels, with one former teacher remarking that he "could probably correct Virgil on his grammar". Anderson develops something of a reputation as a polyglot, being fluent in Latin, French, and Ancient Greek. Top of his class, he is easily accepted into Harvard University, which the Latin school is considered something of a feeder for.


Anderson attends his freshman year at Harvard University, largely with federal aid. Despite coming in with an extremely positive view of the school, he finds that his outspoken conservative views result in him quickly becoming alienated from both his classmates as well as much of the faculty. Thus, Anderson decides to transfer to Yale (ironically cementing his peer's negative opinion of him) for the remaining three years (which turn out to be two) of his collegiate career. Rather portentously, he observes that Yale is the stuff "future leaders are made out of". Anderson, again, manages to excel at Yale, eventually to the point that he graduates a year early. Taking up residence at Branford College, Anderson finds his niche at the Yale Political Union, eventually rising to become one of the Party Chairmans. Before graduating, he is eulogized by the YPU President for "leaving too soon". But he, in his own words, is "moving up"... Anderson also takes the time to join the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.


Anderson is accepted as an Rhodes Scholar, and studies at Christ Church Cathedral for two years, eventually receiving an Master's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics for his troubles. His reputation precedes him, and when he joins the Oxford Conservative Club he is welcomed with a standing ovation. He participates in the Oxford and Cambridge Regatta  in 1978 and 1979, which Oxford both won. A bit less prestigious, Anderson develops a bit of a reputation as a ladies man. Benazir Bhutto, a contemporary, would describe him as a "serial philanderer".

I'm trying to find someone to portray Anderson- I have this concept of someone who somewhat resembles Woodrow Wilson. For some reason, right now, that's Bill Frist. Any ideas?

Meanwhile...

August 28, 1978 (CBS Evening News)

WALTER CRONKITE: As white smoke floated out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signifying the election of a new pope, this was the cry of Cardinal Pericle Felici of from the balcony of Saint Peter's:


Joseph Cardinal Siri has been elected pope. Cardinal Siri, 71 years old, had been the Archbishop of Genoa for thirty-two years and a cardinal for twenty-five of those years. Siri, who shall take the name of Gregory XVII, is known as a staunch conservative, and has been considered eligible for the Papacy for the past two Papal Elections, in 1958 and 1963. It now remains to be seen what action, if any, he shall take on the reforms enacted by the Second Vatican Council, which he is rumored to have opposed.

This is a really interesting timeline :) Im intrigued what the Pope will do.

Thanks for not making Karol Wojtyła the Pope! :D

More stuff diverges...

September 12, 1977 (Agence France-Presse)


In a major blow to the ruling Communist government, monarchist rebels have captured the northern Ethiopian city of Gonder, in the province of Begemeder. Gonder, which served as the capital of the province, is an important gateway to the northern parts of the country, especially the restive province of Eritrea. When taken into conjunction with the seizure of the main highway linking the capital, Addis Abeba, to the port of Asseb, by ethnic Afar rebels, the government in Addis Abeba is effectively cut off from the northern ports, for the time being.

The monarchists are led by Ras (Duke) Mengesha Seyoum, who served as governor of a number of provinces prior to the revolution that overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.  Seyoum's organization, the Ethiopian Democratic Union, is primarily composed of the disenfranchised rural gentry as well as a large number of the country's very small middle class.

October 28, 1979 (Yonhap News Agency)


Korean President Park Chung-Hee has survived yet another assassination attempt, this time at the Blue House. What is surprising about this attempt is the perpetrator, Kim Jae-kyu, a person no less than the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. The reason for Kim's attempted killing of the President is unknown.

President Park was shot five times, yet miraculously survived. He is currently recovering in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there expect the President to make a full recovery. This is the third assassination attempt upon the President. The first was in 1968 by agents of the Northern regime, the second by another Northern agent, which killed the first Lady, was in 1974.

Messages of support have streamed in from around the world, wishing the President a speedy recovery.

...and back to our good friend.

In 1979, Anderson enters active duty in the navy, as an Ensign. He quickly makes a good impression on his superiors, and is assigned to a senior role usually reserved for higher officers on the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Unfortunately for him, he winds up at sea on that ship for 152 days, notably commenting that a grand total of two beers had been consumed for that period. His affable demeanor and keen sense of observation lead to him becoming a rather popular person in the dull environment at sea. He, in a rather cliched manner, is able to return to Scranton on Christmas Day 1980. Surprisingly, he speaks glowingly of his service.

The next year, Anderson is posted to the USS Nimitz, where he continued to serve honorably, if not unremarkable. Unremarkably, that is, until May 26, when an Prowler crashed on to the flight deck. Anderson, completely disregarding any concept of personal safety, rushes to raise a barrier in order to shelter those on the deck from the blast. Anderson's actions manage to save a number of lives- five died in the incident, while over fifty were injured- but much of Anderson's left leg is blown away in the blast. He is rushed to to a military hospital in Sicily, and while his leg is saved, his foot is not- Anderson will be forced to use a prosthetic for the rest of his life, a fact that was known by few.


His gallantry, however, does not go unnoticed. For his extreme bravery, Anderson is awarded the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star. An investigation into the crash reveals that the pilot and many others on the ship were under the influence of marijuana at the time, and the ensuing furor brings David Anderson to center stage. Anderson is called to testify to a to the House Armed Services Committee, and while he is not accused of any wrongdoing, he revives a grilling from Charles Price, the chair. The harsh interrogation is widely considered unjustified and contributed to Price not running for re-election in 1982.

Anderson is able to return to the Navy in 1982, now having been promoted to Junior Lieutenant at the end of the previous year. He is assigned to the USS Callaghan, where he serves on the staff. This goes without incident. In late 1983, Anderson is once again promoted to Lieutenant, and is made the executive officer of the USS Coontz. Here, he is able to participate in the invasion of Grenada, where the Coontz is part of the Independence Task Group. He once again earns a name for himself, and is awarded the Navy Cross.

On March 15, 1984, Anderson is granted four days of leave to attend the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, which he has done for the past four years...

Very good-I am getting the feeling that Anderson will be in the Navy for a long time.

I am quite liking this.  Best timeline on this forum I have read in quite a while.

LAUREN Stroud hailed from a family that in an older time might have been referred to as belonging to the  “landed gentry”; indeed, a Lesley Stroud was listed in Burkes’ Landed Gentry.  Despite the fact that the Strouds no longer owned any significant land holdings besides their large (and rather tired) terrace house in Kingston-Upon-Hull and a country house nearby- much less the 500 acres (2.02km2) once required to be listed in that esteemed register, they were undoubtedly an upper-class family, and a fairly traditional one.  So it came as somewhat of as shock to Arthur and Callista Stroud when their daughter declared when going off to Oxford, in the summer of 1981, that she wanted to become an actress. Regardless of their initial misgivings, Lauren went off to Oxford, where she was enrolled in Braenose College, eagerly starting her thespian studies. She soon, however, lost her zeal for the stage and found herself studying Economics.


As it was for almost any Oxonian, attending the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race was an annual tradition. It was fate, however, that Professor Paul Klemperer felt it prudent to introduce Lauren Stroud “to an old student”.

“David and Lauren seemed absolutely smitten with one another the moment they met,” recalled Klemperer in 2006, “I do not think I have ever seen two people be so strongly attracted to one another so soon.”

Regardless of the historical significance of the attraction the two felt for one another, David Anderson had proposed by the day after Lauren Stroud had graduated.  The Andersons were beside themselves, particularly the Houghton-Turnbulls, who were elated to see one of their own marry into “esteemed” blood.  The Strouds, on the other hand, had their initial misgivings, but were soon reconciled, and not shortly after pleased, with their daughter’s choice of a husband, and were comforted by his prestigious scholarly and military record.

The couple was married in the spring of the next year, in Christ Church Cathedral, by Richard Harries, who not long after became Bishop of Oxford.  The reception was not far away, in the Hall of Christ Church College (one may see pictures of the event in the Anderson Foundation Archives). They spent their honeymoon in the Gheralta in Ethiopia’s Tigray Province, a decision that frightened many of their relatives- the civil war there had ended not a half-year before.

Lauren gave birth to twins in the May of 1986, David III and Rebecca. By that time, David had been promoted to Lt. Commander. Lauren had taken the name Anderson-Stroud- a friend would note that she had long desired a double-barrelled name....

January 12, 1985 (Reuters)


Forces of the monarchist Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU) captured the capital city of Addis Ababa yesterday, ending that country’s eleven-year civil war.  The US-backed EDU forces entered the city largely unopposed, a testament to the efficacy of their encirclement offensive, which led to the capture of much territory to the west and east of the capital. President Mengistu Hailemariam has fled to North Yemen.

The EDU is a coalition composed of a plethora of organizations, peoples, and religions, ranging from from the Ethno-nationalist Afar Liberation Front, led by Sultan Alimirah Hanfere, spiritual leader of the Afar people, to the socialist MEISON. All are united in their opposition to the Communist Derg government and support for the restoration of the country’s ancient monarchy (albeit in varying degrees).

The EDU is led by Seyoum Mengesha, a former provincial governor during the reign of the late Emperor Haile Selassie. The EDU is not a reactionary movement; rather, its aims are similar to those of the supporters of the failed 1960 coup, which attempted to establish a constitutional monarchy.

Former Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen accedes to the throne, which he has claimed since 1974, and will take the name of Amha Selassie. The EDU, now in a transitional authority, must now draft a constitution and have it approved by referendum as per the organization’s manifesto. 

It remains to be seen whether the EDU can establish a true democratic constitutional monarchy, or whether the country will fall into the routine of dictatorship that plagues its neighbors.

It is estimated 200 people died in the attack, and nearly two million during the 11 years of communist rule.    

February 10, 1986 (The Concord Monitor)


First Teacher in Space and Concord High School teacher Christa McAuliffe gave her first interview to the Concord Monitor since returning from space.

“It was very moving, an experience that you can’t even begin to imagine,” said McAuliffe.  “I can hardly put it in words.

McAuliffe served as a payload specialist and taped lessons for the Teacher in Space program.


Don’t worry, the political stuff will start soon! I want to give you guys all the info on Anderson, as he's not real...

I'd love to see where this goes.

Thank you all! I'll write up one last biographical section, and then the politics can begin!

Anderson returned to the Navy not shortly after his wedding, and continued to serve with distinction, being promoted to Commander in 1989. Increasingly, close friends say, Anderson felt a sense of boredom with the Navy- there were no wars, the Cold War was ending, and the 600-ship Navy was quickly becoming a fiction. Anderson quickly decided to leave the Navy, despite the appeals of those same friends, who assured Anderson “he could become an admiral”, including William McRaven, who himself became an admiral. Regardless, on June 6, 1989, David Anderson was honorably discharged from the United States Navy.

Now, the 33-year old David Anderson wondered what to do with himself. Sources close to him say he seriously contemplated running for Congress, but neither seat in Lackawanna County looked particularly competitive- the 10th district was held by a man who had held that seat since the 1960s, and the 11th district by one who had won in 1988 with a 41 percent majority. Nor did the thought of moving to another part of the state to run in an open district appeal to him much. Anderson spent the summer as a staffer H. John Heinz. He would spend the next two years there.

“The years with Heinz in Washington were very formative for David,” said close friend and associate Fareed Zakaria. “It was there that the ideas such as fostering economic competitiveness, rebuilding the industrial base, spurring innovation, things we closely associate with his policies today, became close to him. I was in Washington once, and he paid me a visit, and even then all he was talking about was the importance of shipbuilding,” recalls Zakaria with a chuckle.

Anderson was called from the reserves to serve in the Persian Gulf War in December 1990, and served commendably. He was again discharged in March 1991.

Heinz and Anderson became very close, and Heinz often suggested to Anderson that he seek higher office. Another good friend, Jon Huntsman Jr., then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce, now Governor of Utah, remembers that he “went to the Senate chamber once and there was David waiting at the door for him. Heinz, that is. David and the senator seemed virtually inseparable.” Inseparable, of course, until the morning of April 4, 1991. Heinz had asked Anderson to stay behind on a trip to Pennsylvania in order to receive none other than Huntsman. Huntsman and Anderson were having coffee in the Senator’s office when the call came in- Heinz had been killed in a mid-air collision between his plane and a helicopter sent to do repairs.


“I can almost certainly tell you I know what it is like to be hit by lightening,” Anderson said in a later interview. “It’s the greatest shock I’ve ever felt.” Anderson mourned the senator, but he soon realized something else- he was out of a job. This time, he did not desire to seek public office. Anderson took an upper-level executive position at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh.

Westinghouse, at the time, was something of a basketcase. The company had spend the past decade selling off industrial assets and was focusing on building its entertainment division. Anderson despised this. He set about trying to make its consumer electronics unit profitable, which recorded profits by 1994. Anderson continued to take a leading role in the company, far beyond that of his official rank. In the same year, Westinghouse partnered with a start-up company, Plasmaco, to develop plasma flat screen televisions. To much fanfare, Westinghouse introduced the first Plasma television in 1997. Westinghouse’s electronic and manufacturing wings had experienced all but a full turn-around, and Anderson, now COO of the company’s Industries and Technology Group, openly plotted to re-aquire assets and divisions sold off in the 1980s. The board, however, had other plans.

Later in 1997, Westinghouse announced that the company would split into two- CBS Corporation, which Westinghouse had acquired in 1995, and a continuation of the Westinghouse Electric Company. The split was to occur on December 1, 1997. On November 27, 1997, David Anderson was dismissed from Westinghouse. Anderson, who had been widely expected to head the new Westinghouse, was no longer in charge, and could not be, due to a clause in his contract. The move was completely unexpected: “Old Westinghouse’s unwelcome surprise for New Westinghouse” was the headline in the New York Times’ Business Day section. Observers were utterly perplexed, not at least David Anderson. Bad blood between CBS and Anderson persists to this day.

Anderson again decided to move on. This time, however, he would forge his own path. He, and partners founded the Altes Electronics Group. The corporation, not soon after, buys the Emerson Radio Corporation of New Jersey. In 1998, it would launch the popular Jet MP3 Player, which was the first digital media player to achieve widespread success (75 million units have been sold as of 2010). In 1999, Altes made headlines by acquiring Thomson SA, which was being privatized by the French government. At that point, Altes took on the name of RCA, which had been the property of Thomson. In 2000, after the company lost vast sums of money in the dot-com boom, RCA aquired the non-defense segments of the British GEC, while British Aerospace took the defense segments and became BAE.


Anderson had built quite a large fortune by this time- $7.2 billion according to Forbes. His family had grown- son James was born in 1989 and daughter Katharine in 1992. Lauren Anderson-Stroud was now a mid-level executive at Starwood. In 1998, Anderson had cut a deal with the New York-based Convent of the Sacred Heart, which had far outgrown its space in the Otto Kahn mansion on the Upper East Side. He would privately pay for the construction of a new school, on the Upper West Side, and in return be given the school’s current building. Construction began the same year and was completed in 2000. Anderson moved into the Otto Kahn mansion in 2001, having acquired the former Soviet consulate, adjacent to the James Burden House (which had also belonged to the school). Over the next decade, the two buildings would become filled with Anderson’s extensive art collection.


Anderson's political position had also risen. Anderson was a major backer of Tom Ridge’s 1998 re-election bid, and also of Rudy Giuliani’s 2000 bid for the Senate, but quietly withdrew support for Rick Lazio when Giuliani dropped out. He was also a major donor to George Bush’s presidential campaign…

()

The revenge of David Anderson
Westinghouse's sacking of David Anderson in 1997 came to a shock as many. Now Anderson is back, and has a few new tricks up his sleeve

Oct 27th 2000 | NEW YORK | from the print edition

IN THE autumn of 1997, David Anderson seemed to be on top of the world. The industries sector of Westinghouse, which he headed, had just released the world's first flat-screen plasma television. When he had first arrived at the company in 1991, the industries sector had posted losses of over 300 million dollars. For fiscal year 1997, it had made profits of over a billion dollars. His sector and the company's communications sector, which had been expanded substantially over the past decade, were on track to split and Mr Anderson, then 41, was on track to becoming one of the youngest CEOs of a Fortune 500 company. That all changed three days before the split, when Mr Anderson was handed a pink slip.

No one was not surprised by this, including this newspaper, which called Mr Anderson's firing "ambiguously vindictive and irrational." It is still unknown for what reasons that the Westinghouse board, now that of CBS Corporation, not only dismissed Mr Anderson but also prevented him from working from the spun-off successor. His potential next move was followed closely by the business press. Might he succeed Jack Welch as CEO of GE? Would he become an academic? Would he enter Pennsylvania politics?

In the end, none of those happened. What Mr Anderson did do, however, was start a company. The Altes Electronic Group , in which Anderson had a 20 percent stake, was founded. The company rapidly expanded from there, making a couple small acquisitions here and there and a couple of large ones- France's Thomson and the British GEC. It was from the former that Altes found its new name- RCA- and thus rekindled an old rivalry with Westinghouse; that relationship has remained fairly friendly, unlike that with CBS, which supposedly refused to air RCA commercials until this year.

RCA has made a number of innovative products, such as the "Jet" digital music player, which takes advantage of the popular MP3 format (the RIAA has accused RCA of turning a blind eye to illegal downloads of music), and the first portable DVD player. RCA has nearly cornered the market for these two products, and its market share in virtually all consumer electronics is skyrocketing. Anderson's net worth is now estimated to be over seven billion dollars.

In the end, it seems that the dismissal of Mr Anderson was the best for both parties. The new Westinghouse is doing quite well on its own, and Mr Anderson is far wealthier than he could have ever imagined being at Westinghouse. The only losing party here may be the board of CBS, who, if they wished to injure Mr Anderson, have utterly failed in that regard.

Erratum: Westinghouse's industries sector had posted losses of $300 million, not $300 billion, as the article originally stated.

Estoy leyendo. :)

Nice. Please continue.

This is pretty cool. Is the Jet more popular than the iPod? If so, does this mean we don't see an endless line of stupid-sounding "i" products?

Not quite, unfortunately, but the iPod's market share is noticeably smaller. Say, 65% rather than 90%

So, any ideas for who could portray Anderson? It's currently Bill Frist, but I'm not to crazy about that.

Clint Eastwood.

I like it, but... too old. Anderson is in his 40s.

Evan Bayh? Bill Frist?

8PM, November 7, 2000 (Accelerated quite a bit)

From CNN Center in Atlanta, coverage of Election 2000 continues. Here again, Judy Woodrow, Bernard Shaw, Jeff Greenfield, and Bill Schneider.

Woodrow: Good evening, on Election Night 2000. It's eight o'clock, and polls have just closed in nineteen states. Bernard Shaw has the results. Bernard?

Shaw: Judy, here are our projections. First for Bush. Of the states that have just closed their polls, we expect Bush to carry Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma. As for Gore, we expect him to carry Connecticut, Delaware, Washington D.C, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are still too close to call. Polls have closed in parts of South Dakota and Texas, which CNN exit polls show going quite strongly for Bush, but we're going to hold off on calling those just yet. Polls have also closed in the western part of Florida, which is still too close to call.

Woodrow:  So where does leave us?

Shaw: Looking at the Electoral map, Bush has 84 electoral votes compared to Gore's 76. An early lead for Bush, but still early in the night.


Woodrow: A rather surprising result in Virginia, a state that has gone Republican every year since 1968.

Schneider: Quite surprising. It appears that the main areas of contention are the suburban counties around Washington and Richmond: Fairfax and Loudoun Counties for the former, Henrico and Chesterfield Counties for the latter. The way the state swings, I think, shall be decided there.

Woodrow: We'll be sure to keep a close eye on Virginia.

Greenfield: One state I think we also have to watch is Tennessee.

Shaw: Gore's home state.

Greenfield: Yes. The last candidate to lose his home state and win the election was Woodrow Wilson in 1916. If Gore fails to win Tennessee- which is very possible- then that may effect the results in the West; not, say California or Washington, but Nevada and Oregon.

Schneider: True, true.

Woodrow: Polls have now closed in Arkansas, which is too close to call as of now.


Shaw: Two states to keep an eye on: Ohio and Florida. Both are very large states, and very close. The election may very well come down to those two. Do you have the details, Judy?

Woodrow: I do. Currently. In Ohio, with 27% of the votes counted, Gore has 602,748 votes and Bush has 592,947 votes. That's 49.1% for Gore and 48.4% for Bush. In Florida, with 44% of the votes counted, Gore has 1,237,938 votes compared to 1,230,249 for Bush. Percentage-wise, Gore has 48.3% while Bush has 47.9%.

Schneider: Even closer than Florida.

Woodrow: Do you mean Ohio?

Schneider: No, I mean- yes, Ohio. I'm getting old, forgive me!

Shaw: Thank you Judy, and you're not as old as I am, Bill. We have a batch of poll closings in nineteen states, and new projections. We predict that Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming will go for Governor Bush. Michigan, New York, and Rhode Island, for Gore. The rest are still too close to call.


Shaw: New poll results also lead us to predict that Missouri and Maine's second district will go for Bush, and the rest of Maine, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, will go for Gore. This brings the electoral count to 145 for George Bush and 164 for Al Gore.

Schneider: It goes without saying that Al Gore's choice of Paul Wellstone as his running mate was crucial to Gore's winning of Minnesota.

Shaw: Indeed. Our CNN Exit poll reports that 64% of Minnesotans said that the choice of Wellstone was "important" or "very important" to their decision.

Greenfield: What I want to know is how the West will turn out. Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado are still too close to call. Our exit polls in Oregon, Nevada, and even Washington indicate the same.

Woodrow: We'll have to see about that. Western states have been trending Democratic for the past decade or so, but Governor Bush has large clout among Hispanics, so we'll have to wait and see.

10PM, November 7, 2000

From CNN Center in Atlanta, coverage of Election 2000 continues. Here again, Judy Woodrow, Bernard Shaw, Jeff Greenfield, and Bill Schneider.

Shaw: Welcome back, and here, on the hour, we have a number of polls closing. CNN projections show George Bush carrying Utah and Montana, as well as Virginia. Al Gore picks up none of the new states, but we also project that he will carry Pennsylvania. This leaves Bush with 179 electoral votes and Gore with 178. Nevada, as expected, is too close to call.


Woodrow: One vote? That's very close. Bill, I see that the Virginia counties that you mentioned before went for Bush, all but one.

Schneider: Indeed, as I said the way Virginia went would be decided by the results of four Suburban counties: Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in metropolitan Washington, and Henrico and Chesterfield Counties in metropolitan Richmond. All but Fairfax County have gone for Bush, and we can now predict with confidence that Bush will win Virginia.

Shaw: Another projection. CNN can now officially project that Al Gore will take New Hampshire. This puts him ahead of George Bush; 182 electoral votes to Bush's 179. A very, very close vote, and Gore's margin of victory will likely remain under two thousand votes, but again, we can now project Al Gore will win New Hampshire and its 4 electoral votes.

Greenfield: I'm still interested in the way the West will turn out. The exit polls and results in all states yet to be called sans California are inconclusive. We won't be sure how this will go for some time, I think. If Bush can win them all except Washington, I think he'll have this in the bag.

Shaw: Including New Mexico?

Greenfield: Including New Mexico. Which is why I said "if", not just "he has this in the bag". It's a bit of a tall order for him, but even if he doesn't succeed there, it's far from over for him.

Woodrow: We have some more projections to make. CNN--

Greenfield: Lovely.

Woodrow: CNN can project that Al Gore will carry Iowa and his home state of Tennessee, while George Bush will carry Arkansas.


Shaw: I think it's a bit too late to have an effect on the results, Jeff?

Greenfield: I think so too. Any information on the results in Florida and Ohio?

Shaw: They remain too close to call. However, we think we may be able to call Florida in no less than hour. Ohio remains thoroughly uncallable, however. Some more states are closing their polls now, and CNN can project that Al Gore win carry California and Hawaii. Bush will carry North Dakota and Colorado. The remainder are too close to call. The electoral vote count is now 258 for Gore and 188 for Bush. Al Gore is 12 electoral votes from victory.


Shaw: Wait, this just in: CNN can now officially project that Al Gore will win the state of Washington, and Bush will win Florida.

Schneider: Well, I be the first to jump the gun here. I don't see how Bush can win this. Al Gore is now one electoral vote away from victory. George Bush will need to win all remaining states to win.

...a few hours later...


Schneider: Well, maybe Bush can win this. It all goes down to Ohio....

How about a current freshman in the House who is little known. You can use their picture I suppose.

Search "Clint Webb for Senate" on google images.

In the end, Gore narrowly won Ohio, and thus the election. The state, at 2am, had ordered a stop to the count and conducted a manual count, as it was clear the margin would result in a forced recount There had been some controversy when Ohio Secretary State Ken Blackwell had issue the stop order, as some left-wing groups had speculated whether there would be a manipulation of the vote. These concerns had been allayed when Bush conceded on the 15th, the margin had been 1,764 votes.

Al Gore was now the President-elect, and quickly listed forth his nominees for the cabinet. All would be confirmed without incident.

FIRST CABINET OF PRESIDENT AL GORE:

Al Gore (D-TN) - President
Paul Wellstone (D-TN) - Vice-President

Richard Holbrooke (D-NY) - Secretary of State
Lawrence Summers (D-MA) - Secretary of the Treasury
Leon Fuerth (D-NY) - Secretary of Defense
Vernon Jordan (D-GA) - Attorney General
Harry Reid (D-NV) - Secretary of the Interior
Max Cleland (D-GA) - Secretary of Agriculture
Bill Richardson (D-NM) - Secretary of Commerce
Alexis Herman (D-AL) - Secretary of Labor:
Douglas Wilder (D-VA) - Secretary of Secretary of Health and Human Services
Chris Dodd (D-CT) - Secretary of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Gerald Baliles  (D-VA) - Secretary of Transportation
Jon Corzine (D-NJ) - Secretary of the Treasury
Pete McCloskey (R-CA) - Secretary of Energy
Rudy Crew (D-FL) - Secretary of Education
Jim Jeffords (R-VT) - Secretary of Veterans' Affairs

Donna Brazile (D-LA) - White House Chief of Staff
John Shalikashvili (D-IL) - National Security Advisor


Many Americans were optimistic that the prosperity of the 90s would continue, that companies like Westinghouse and RCA would continue to create jobs and spur technological innovation. The economy began to pick up steam. On September 10, 2001, however, their hopes would be torn to pieces...

Jim Jeffords is from Vermont, not Virginia. :)

Oops!

Yes? No? Maybe so?

Continue!

The attacks of September 10, 2001 marked a seismic shift in the global state of affairs. It was the end of what has become known as the “pre-millennial consensus” that began with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and lasted for a decade. It was succeeded by what President Al Gore termed “the new American Century,” a term devised to reassure Americans of their country’s exceptionalism, which would eventually evolve into the famed “American Renaissance”; however, these terms referred more to the actions, and results of those actions, taken after the attacks and in actuality had little direct connection to them. More impartial observers have termed the quarter-century following the attacks the “Global Realignment”, whose main event was the gradual shift of power from Europe to Asia, the United States’ (largely successful) efforts to maintain its status as global hegemon, and the attempt to from a coherent bloc of “Western” nations. This phase of history arguably has its roots, or at the least was precipitated by, the September 10th attacks.

The attacks were perpetrated by Al-Qaeda, a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organization. Al-Qaeda was led by Usama bin Laden, the son of a billionaire Saudi construction contractor with close ties to that country’s Royal Family. Radicalized by decades of U.S. intervention in the Middle East, Al-Qaeda had successfully carried out attacks on U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and  Addis Ababa, bombed the destroyer USS Cole, and Moevenpick Hotel in Aden. Additionally, they had attacked the World Trade Center before in 1993; the attack killed six but failed to do significant damage.

The targets of this attack were, according to the testimony of surviving conspirators and Al-Qaeda correspondence, the World Trade Center and locations in Washington D.C. The commonly held theory is that Flight 135 was destined for the Capitol, although evidence exists that the intended target was the Pentagon. Similarly, most evidence points to Flight 561—as confided by the would-be attackers—being aimed at the White House, although some documents say that the actual target was the Harry S. Truman Building, home of the Department of State

One notable element of the attack was its planners’ mercurial nature; despite the years of training and organization that had gone into them, an air of imprecision was evident in their plans. The original date was the morning of September 11, but then Mohammed Atta, one of the conspirators, had observed—with deadly consequences—that fatalities could be increased by attacking at midday, and so the timeframe was moved later. On August 10, one conspirator, Zacarias Moussaoui, was detained by immigration authorities, sparking a panic amongst the conspirators. Some then wanted to move the attack to late August, but the head conspirator, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, persuaded them otherwise. Eventually a compromise was reached, and the date of the attack was set for September 10.

The first flight to depart was Continental Airlines Flight 1256 from Philadelphia to San Francisco, with 112 passengers, including the five hijackers, and 11 crew. Four minutes late, it departed at 10:49 and was hijacked at 11:05. Aiding their plot is a nothing less than a clever cover: at 11:12, the hijackers come on the radio claiming that “critical engine systems” have malfunctioned and that they must turn around immediately. Realizing the imprecision of their statements, the hijackers claim that the plane’s communications system is also faulty, and turn off the transponder and radar. Air Traffic Control, in a major failure of vigilance, took the hijackers at their word and began to panic- that Flight 1256 had crashed. For the next 22 minutes the FAA scrambled to find Flight 1256, until it suddenly reappeared on their screens at 11:34—over Ramapo, New York, some 415 kilometers northeast of its last recorded position. It was for the next three minutes they tried to reestablish contact with Flight 1256, some controllers admitting they thought the radar had malfunctioned, until it disappeared again at 11:37. But it had not disappeared- it had slammed at a speed of 800 km/h into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing all 123 onboard.

The FAA in New York would not know for another five minutes what had happened, the magnitude of their errors, but already all the other three flights had taken off. Pan Am [1] Flight 172 from Newark to Vancouver had departed at 11:11, with 143 passengers, amongst them were a number of prominent individuals, including the Canadian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gilbert Laurin, and renowned community activist Cory Booker. It began to sharply turn around, prompting an inquest by the FAA, which was replied by Mohammed Atta’s infamous reply at 11:31, “We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport." It is then the FAA realizes what exactly is going on- that this, and Flight 1256’s end, is an attack. At this time, news organizations had began to report the rumor— started in the FAA’s control towers—that Flight 1256 had managed to lose its bearings somehow and accidentally crashed into the World Trade Center. This theory ends violently at 11:50, when Flight 172 crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

By this time, the attack is in full swing. United Airlines Flight 135 departs Dulles Airport to Los Angeles at 11:18, with 103 passengers. It is hijacked fairly late into the flight- 11:55, according to most reports, and makes a sharp turn back to Washington D.C. But by this time the true nature of the attacks has become clear. Fighters are dispatched from Andrews Air Force base at 12:07, by which time Flight 135 is over Southern Pennsylvania. It again turns sharply, this time over Maryland; in any case, the fighters enter Flight 135’s range just south of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Probably realizing that they will never reach their target, the hijackers begin a rapid descent, plowing the plane into downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, at 11:21.

United Airlines Flight 561 to San Francisco departs Boston at 11:37- the same time as Flight 1256 crashes into the North Tower. At 11:52 the pilots were informed of the ongoing attacks and were warned to be watchful, which was relayed to the passengers. Fearing that they will not be able to act, the four would-be hijackers on board attempt to approach the cockpit, but they are intercepted and a struggle ensues in which 12 are injured, and one hijacker mortally wounded. It lands in Cleveland at 12:48.

In the end, the towers fall- the South Tower at 12:52, and the North Tower at 1:23. Inside were an estimated 101,000 people- many of whom planned to leave for lunch just before the planes crashed. A mere 17 people were pulled out of the rubble, and left behind were 22,273 dead. In Silver Spring, 674 are dead, 571 of those on the ground.


President Gore was at the White House at the time, and had planned to make a visit to Philadelphia later that day. Instead he is evacuated first to Camp David, then to a-then undisclosed military facility [2], from which he makes an address to the American people: “This country is more united than at any time I can remember in my life. We come together tonight not as partisans but as patriots. We come together not only first and foremost, but solely as Americans at a time our county has been attacked.'' But the question is now: what should be done?

                                                                                                                                         
[1] You read this correctly- you'll learn more about this later.
[2] The Greenbrier bunker, which in this timeline has not been exposed or decommissioned as of 2001.

Whoa.

I'm liking this....don't like the Pope, speaking as an alterboy ;).  Just hoping Martini is next in line ;)

An update is forthcoming.

That was an amazing update. Wow is all I can say...the details, the writing, all of it.

I look forward to it.  So I read the update a few times tabbing between this and Wikipedia, but is 9/11 worse or not in comparison to otl?  (other than casualties of course)

Well in what terms? Casualty wise-certainly, but I'm not sure what your criteria are.

Destruction, physical property damage, effect on American morale, the "Oh sh**t" effect, etc?  Also, does it help or hurt Gore's approvals?

Also, when's the next update?  This is awesome ;)

Well Lower Manhattan was in the same state it was after 9/11, but the DC economy is badly hit with the virtual destruction of Silver Spring, we'll come back to this later on. The larger scale of the attack has caused a great deal more of fear than 9/11, and sympathy for the US is higher- we will see no real truther movement. Gore's approvals skyrocket much as Bush's did, but in the future things shall proceed differently than they did in RL.

With the loss of more people and companies, the economy is in a worse state than it was actually. A significant stigma develops around air travel- nowhere close to shutting it down but the people of this timeline would react more favorably to the TSA than we do. Guliani is also more prominent, he gets his three month extension.

Oh sh**t....will Feingold vote for the PATRIOT ACT?

()