A Second Chance - CONCLUSION

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I didn't see this was updated until today. Buckley/Gramm is going to give Moynihan the White House, unless Anderson and Perot can pull Democrats in, which after eight years of Republican rule could be somewhat hard.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The 1988 General Election

Despite the fact that the Conservative ticket was bi-partisan, it mainly cut into Anderson's support. Hatfield had managed to pacify the Republicans' right-wing for one election. However, they would be unwilling to merely sit by and hand their votes to Anderson. Moynihan, meanwhile, had placated the Democratic South as much as he could, and their machine could easily overpower whatever money Buckley received from conservative activists and disaffected Republicans. While Anderson might have competed well in a conventional, two-way race, Buckley doomed him, especially with his unique appeal to a certain section of conservative North-Easterners that could prove crucial in states like Connecticut, New Hampshire, and the electorally heavy New York and Pennsylvania.

The debates would showcase the strange mix of ideologies that the election featured. Particularly, the proposals circulating in Congress regarding free trade with Canada and Mexico. President Hatfield had signed the North-American Free Trade Agreement in 1986, conveniently before the Democrats retook the Senate later that year. Congressman John Anderson, a proud adherent to much of the President's economic policy, voiced his support for NAFTA and said he would resign it without question upon ratification in the other two countries. Moynihan, though he had a history of leaning in favor of free trade, knew he had to consolidate the blue collar base that he had utilized in the primaries. With Buckley also taking a favorable stance towards NAFTA, New York's former Governor stood firmly against it. "Over the past eight years of Republican administration, we have seen jobs continuously lost overseas, while the growth that the current President brags about has largely been among low-paying and service jobs. Meanwhile, our industrial heart has been ripped out and metaphorically sold East." Between the three candidates, with Buckley hurling grenades from the right while the two main candidates fought for different pieces of the center. While the debates allowed for Buckley to gain attention in all corners of the country, they would also cost him, as he sacrificed significant support in more moderate states, especially among socially conservative industrial and blue collar voters with his tougher-line on fiscal and economic issues compared to the other two.

The Vice Presidential debate would prove far more entertaining. While there was substantial discussion of the issues in the Presidential debates, the meeting of Bill Clinton, Ross Perot, and Phil Gramm on national together on national television for the first time would be bombastic. Perot and Clinton, both of whom had legislative and verbal records disagreeing with the members of their top tickets on the matters of free trade. Perot and Clinton would both accuse each other of being hypocritical. It would be Gramm who came off the best in the debates as Perot's wiley populism and Clinton's slick Southern charm went to waste on each other while the Texas Representative appeared to be the most ideologically consistent and presented a united front for the Conservative party.

Above: Vice Presidential nominees Bill Clinton and Ross Perot would butt heads in the Vice Presidential debate, significantly more than the relatively cordial Anderson and Moynihan rapport.

The debates on the whole would, however, serve to reinforce what polling indicated. From the Democratic National Convention, Moynihan had led. While Anderson had been able to inch his way up, gaining ground in the Northeast and widening the gap in certain safe states. Meanwhile, however, Buckley's numbers had been swelling in the Mountain West. Some even predicted him taking Wyoming or Alaska. While Anderson was losing in most predictions, he was determined not to back down in the approach to election day.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

It lives!

[Jerseyrules]

It lives!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Heyo! Given how long this has been dormant, I'm considering wrapping it up with a few posts. It wouldn't be just to let it rot in dormancy, and I probably can't devote enough time to it to ever finish it with a high quality of updates.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1988
While Republican stalwarts would, for years after, blame Buckley's third party candidacy on Anderson's loss, many scholars would point that, sans the Conservative candidacy, the race would likely be a tossup. With Moynihan and the Democrats framing the Hatfield administration as out of touch with middle- and lower-class voters, soft on issues of national security, and inattentive to the decade's rise in crime. With Buckley fielding a fraction of Democrats as he did Republicans, the vote was sufficiently split to allow for a comfortable Democratic victory.

Former Governor Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat-New York)/Governor William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat-Arkansas) 409 electoral votes, 44.6% of the popular vote
Congressman John Bayard Anderson (Republican-Illinois)/Senator Henry Ross Perot (Republican-Texas) 129 electoral votes, 41.3% of the popular vote
Senator James Lane Buckley (Conservative-New York)/Congressman William Philip Gramm (Conservative-Texas) 0 electoral votes, 13.6% of the popular vote

[Kingpoleon]

The Conservatives have been purged!

With that being said, are Bronson La Follette of Wisconsin and Winthrop P. Rockefeller of Arkansas Republicans ITTL?

Either one would be formidable for the Conservative Party to reject. La Follete for his appeal to blue collar and Rockefeller for his "every-man" plan. Anyway, good timeline!

[GLPman]

Happy to see that this TL is back

[Kingpoleon]

What's happening with the young Winthrop in Arkansas?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

What's happening with the young Winthrop in Arkansas?

Still on the Arkansas State Police Commission.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The First Term of Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Four years prior, it seemed the Democrats were in their death throes. Two landslide losses two elections in a row, their most recent President marred by scandal, the New Left in revolt, and few other icons to deliver a sense of unity had done their damage. Nevertheless, the fracturing of the Republican "majority" and a strong, unified showing by a Democratic ticket that had united blue collar workers, Southerners, and blacks managed to push Moynihan into the White House.

Notable Cabinet Choices
Secretary of State: Reuben O. Askew (D-FL)
Secretary of the Treasury: Paul M. Simon (D-IL)
Secretary of Defense: Samuel Nunn (D-GA)
Attorney General: Michael Dukakis (D-MA)
Secretary of the Interior: Joan Finney (D-KS)
Secretary of Agriculture: James R. "Rick" Perry (D-TX)
Secretary of Labor: Barbara Jordan (D-TX)
Secretary of Housing & Urban Development: Henry Cisneros (D-TX)
Secretary of Transportation: Ed Koch (D-NY)
Secretary of Energy: Silvio Conte (R-MA)

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Will hopefully post more later, but my shift at work's about to end, and I've go shyte to do.

[Incipimus iterum]

Whats happening with with Cecil Andrus, Richard Stalling's and John Kasich?

[Kingpoleon]

Whats happening with Richard Stalling's and John Kasich?

I'm  guessing the latter is leading Tsongas's "young class".

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Okay, children, as I am a college graduate, I figure it's high time I wrap this up. I must say, I am surprised at the amount of time, writing, and research I poured into this. In retrospect, I may have made wrong choices as for how I would m old the GOP into a "libertarian" outfit and the Democrats, simultaneously, into a "populist" coalition, but it is far, far too late for that now. I do not know if this rather un-researched summation will do the story or any of the characters justice, but here we go.

The First Term of President Daniel Patrick Moynihan

With Democratic legislatures free from the confines of the "penny-pinching" President Hatfield, the period of 1989 to 1991 marked an extraordinarily productive session of Congress--at least in terms of the actual drafting of and voting on legislation. Nevertheless, despite calls by liberal stalwarts such as Ted Kennedy for the passage of a comprehensive, universal healthcare package, President Moynihan insisted on a more conservative, yet systematic, body of reforms. As such, the first major pieces of legislation passed were to be a major infrastructure improvement bill portioning out money to areas in all fifty states, and a similar robust strengthening of education funding. Answering calls from scared suburbanites, Moynihan also opted to get "tough" on crime, though in many cases signing legislation far more nuanced than his rhetoric. With Askew and Nunn leading the President's foreign policy team, a major revitalization of the military was called for. In the words of Secretary of State Reuben Askew, "The Nuclear Freeze may have taken our teeth, but we still have our claws." This included the development new tanks, jets, and short-range, non-nuclear missiles. "As of 1987," said the President, "the Cold War, as broadly recognized, has been over. Nevertheless, that does not mean basic questions of security and liberty have been put to rest. As we near the 21st Century, we need to be willing to work with and alongside our allies and colleagues in the developed world to see the righting of the developing world." What this amounted to, nevertheless, was what Secretary of Defense Nunn called "Rotation": a policy of attempting to replace friendly, autocratic governments with friendly, democratic successors. This flew in the face of National Security Adviser Jeanne Kirkpatrick's advice, though she was forced to accept such. In the meantime, in the perceived absence of a "grand game" against the Soviet Union, the Moynihan administration turned its attention toward China, seeking to curtail its "unfriendly" influence in South-East Asia. As well, the Nuclear Freeze that supposedly officially capped the Cold War had not stopped the United States' attempts to infiltrate Eastern Bloc and Soviet satellites. One of the President's key advisers on Eastern European policy was academic Condoleezza Rice, who was then serving as director of Soviet and Eastern European Affairs on the National Security Council.

The 1992 Presidential Election

Incensed by Moynihan's spending increases and the accompanying tax hikes--a failed effort to make his programs revenue neutral--many Republicans sought to unseat the man who had "stolen" 1988 from them. With former Congressman Anderson bowing out of any consideration for the nomination, attention turned to his Vice Presidential nominee. Ross Perot had retired from the Senate in 1990--perhaps, many speculated, to make running for President a full-time job--and had since then positioned himself as a vocal opponent of the administration. "President Moynihan has exploded the deficit that we Republicans had once erased. National debt is ballooning while farms and factories remain stagnant. He has sunk the public treasury into the inner-cities, sacrificing the taxpayers to teacher's unions." With the party's right-wing having been shunned by much of the party leadership since 1988, Perot would be the most notably conservative of the major candidates. His primary opponents instead hailed from the left and center, respectively. John Heinz, a rather liberal Republican, was running as the man to reclaim the "rust belt". Willing to go toe-to-toe against Moynihan on matters of trade, industry, and infrastructure while still maintaining a focus on budgets, the Ketchup heir found much of the Republicans' blue collars fleeing for the fiery Texas populist. He managed to claim a few states in the Northeast, but failed to gain the proper momentum with his nail-biter loss of New Hampshire early on. Lamar Alexander, a protege of Winfield Dunn and Howard Baker, was the former Governor of Tennessee, who claimed that a true "good government" campaign that shied away from the abortion debate and focused on taxes and government reform (as opposed to the right's "slash and burn" approach to fiscal issues) could reclaim not only the South, but the whole nation. His flannel shirt-adorned campaign nevertheless flopped outside the South, with "Pitchfork Perot" marching toward the nomination, carried by a strange coalition of blue collar workers, farmers, suburbanites, and reform liberals.

Blue - Former Senator Henry Ross Perot of Texas
Green - Former Governor Andrew Lamar Alexander, Jr. of Tennessee
Red - Senator John Henry Heinz, III of Pennsylvania

Hoping to bite into the Northeast, and as well to respect the "Anderson/Heinz" wing of the Republican Party that seemed most geographically out of reach, Perot selected Governor and former Senator Lowell Weicker as his running-mate. Weicker, well to the left of Perot, nevertheless was meant to solidify the "maverick" campaign that Ross was running. "Governor Weicker and I have both never been afraid to buck our party and the big moneyed interests when it came to representing the people of this great nation. Whether it be on spending, the environment, or jobs, we our two men that can not be bought!" Nevertheless, Daniel Patrick Moynihan was no stranger to politics or to quick jabs, and in the debates was able to run circles around Perot on numerous issues, bringing in his decades of experience in both domestic and foreign policy. At the end of today, for many voters, the "big government" of President Moynihan--marked by industrial, military, and agrarian subsidies--was one that they believed protected and provided for them.

President Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat-New York)/Vice President William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat-Arkansas) 405 electoral votes, 54.3% of the popular vote
Former Senator Henry Ross Perot (Republican-Texas)/Governor Lowell Palmer Weicker, Jr. (Republican-Connecticut) 133 electoral votes, 45.1% of the popular vote
Others: 0 electoral votes, 0.6% of the popular vote

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The Second Term of Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Coming off of a near-landslide victory, President Moynihan was determined to continue expanding his domestic legacy. In March, 1993, he unveiled his plans for the implementation of a universal basic income. While such was met with derision by both Democrats and Republicans, the President was determined to "make history". Nevertheless, this was to be interrupted by global events on a massive scale. In early 1993, mere days after his inauguration, the Soviet Union collapsed amid stagnation and ethnic infighting. The President, who had foreseen this possibility as early as 1986, had purposefully shied away from "poking the bear". While his covert policies had sought to roll back Communism in Eastern Europe, he had few intentions of toppling the Soviet Empire itself--"the spread of ethnic conflict across the physically largest country on the globe would be a dire threat to both national and international security." With the reconstituted Russia in a severely weakened position, American troops led a UN-backed coalition in "peacekeeping" missions in Crimea, the Transcaucasus, and Central Asia. In the ensuing years, the Moynihan administration worked diligently to strengthen ties with, and the legitimacy of, burgeoning democracies in Poland, the Baltics, and elsewhere.

With the Cold War permanently ended--as opposed to what the President regarded as its "false conclusion" with the Nuclear Freeze in 1987--the United States was forced to undertake an official reevaluation of its foreign policies. Its membership in NATO was to be maintained, but Rotation was to see full implementation--a decision that caused the resignation of Jeanne Kirkpatrick and her replacement by Condoleezza Rice in 1994. The toughest nut to crack would be the United States' longstanding ally in the Middle East--Iran. While Shah Reza Pahlavi had implemented some liberalization in the 1980's following the death of his father, the regime had still engaged in repression at home and brutal battle tactics abroad (particularly in their war with Iraq in the 1980's). The difficult question of how to prod the regime further towards reform--absent the removal of a substantial amount of military subsidies, which had already followed the Soviet Union's collapse--was to be resolved by others.

As tensions erupted to the North with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Moynihan administration was eager to avoid an international incident. As another ally, Turkey, prepared to line up behind Azerbaijan, Secretary of State Askew was made to use back-channel diplomacy to try to ensure that Iran did not enter the fray on the side of Armenia. With national tensions flaring, and a pro-war faction emerging in northern Iran (comprised largely of the large Armenian minority), Iran was swept in early 1995 by a wave of protests and riots, with the small Azeri population of the country being made victim of unofficial ethnic cleansing. As government forces were deployed to quell the riots, the government fell as an officially Islamist faction gained control of the capital. The world was shocked. While the embassy had already been evacuated, many turned to the United States for an answer. While many in Moynihan's administration prodded him to invade, he took the advice of NSA Rice, who bluntly reminded him "America's armed forces are not a global police force. They are not the world's 911." While the Shah was granted sanctuary in the United States and heavy sanctions were levied on the new "Islamic Republic", little else was to be done.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The 1996 Presidential Election Pt. I

President Moynihan was forced to compare his situation to that of President John F. Kennedy who, despite achievements on many fronts, left office with low approval ratings and disaster abroad. In his later years, many forgot the disaster in Iran and Moynihan was remembered fondly. Nevertheless, the nation's 42nd President went to his grave haunted by regrets. Condoleezza Rice would later write that history had backed the President into a hole. "The tensions that built underneath the Shah could have only been abated had serious reforms been implemented. The Iranian leadership was unwilling to confront this fact and, for decades, neither were we." It would be Vice President Bill Clinton's job to carry the administration's banner into the future. The Vice President, it appeared, was largely unchallenged for the nomination, and many prominent Democratic figures bowed out of consideration. Nevertheless, representing "traditionalist" interests, both on economic and social issues, the populist former Governor Bob Casey emerged. Seriously challenging the "squishy" Clinton on issues such as welfare and abortion, Casey ignited a populist campaign in the heartland with his surprise victory in Iowa. Nevertheless, with deep pockets and the solid support of the South, the "Comeback Kid" took not only New Hampshire days later, but the nomination.

Red - Vice President William Jefferson Clinton of Arkansas
Blue - Governor Robert Patrick Casey of Pennsylvania
Casey eventually officially conceded only in May, demanding a speaking slot at the convention, where he sought to represent "dyed-in-the-wool Democrats" who felt abandoned by the former hippie. Clinton eventually conceded, and assented to the Vice Presidential selection of Casey supporter Collin Peterson. Nevertheless, it would take a whirlwind general election campaign to fully unite the Democrats.

The Republicans, meanwhile, despite a clear opportunity to take the Presidency, lacked an obvious challenger to Moynihan's liberal consensus. Instead a vast field of candidates emerged to try to carry the Republican torch into the twenty-first century. An early favorite was Senator Newt Gingrich. The Georgian, having narrowly lost a Senate race in 1986, had staged a comeback in the race to fill Sam Nunn's seat in 1989. Despite having shifted slightly to the right since his initial elevation to the national stage in the 1970's, the Senator was still known for his liberal quirks, including deep interest in environmentalism and space exploration. Countering his airy idealism and his desire to "lead the post-industrial right" was the firebrand "paleolibertarian" Ron Paul, the former Governor of Texas. Despite a mixed record in the Lone Star State, Paul had captured the hearts of the "Perotistas" along with anyone else seeking a deep challenge to the federal government on every front. Despite his heartfelt opposition to abortion, he wont he deep admiration of the "limited government" crowd that constituted the Republican fringe. Between the idealist and the ideologue emerged a third dark horse, the practical Governor of Illinois, Hillary Diane Rodham Ryan.¹ Ryan, who had entered politics in the 1980's as an assistant under the Lake County, IL Attorney's Office, would gain notoriety in the greater Chicago area for her prosecution of a number of cases during the high-crime 1980's. In the very same election that saw John Anderson lose the race for President, she was re-elected to the House from her "collar county" district for a third term. Two years later and frustrated by the House's seniority-based ways, she instead sought the Governorship. Known for her controversial pension cuts, her tough-on-crime stances, and popular with the "Gold Coast crowd", she was a woman to watch. Winning Iowa with her support from the eastern side of the state, she managed a second in New Hampshire shortly after. Gaining delegate-rich victories in the Mid-West and North-East and coming off as "cool-headed" in debates against Gingrich, Paul, and a slew of others, she managed to become the first woman to secure a major party nomination.

Blue - Governor Hillary Diane Rodham Ryan of Illinois
Green - Senator Newton Leroy Gingrich of Georgia
Red - Former Governor Ronald Ernest Paul of Texas

Despite calls from the party's activist crowd to select a "Paulite", Hillary (as she was known by) opted to make her strategy to reclaim the north. "Twelve years ago," she mused to an adviser, Mark Hatfield won Illinois and Massachusetts. Four years ago, we lost both." She instead selected Governor William Weld of the Bay State. While Weld's cool demeanor and proper composure were intended to solidify the very "serious" image of the ticket, it was acknowledged that he was meant far more to strengthen the party center rather than to appease Paul's "cross and tin-foil hat crowd".


1. In this case, the former Hillary Rodham is married to James E. Ryan, who, in our timeline, served as Illinois' Attorney General from 1995 to 2003.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The 1996 Presidential Election, Pt. II

The general election saw the clash of two very different personalities. Bill Clinton had made his career as a folksy, glad-handing man of the people; despite his "New Democrat" politics, he was very much still a "good ol' boy" in personal interactions. This disguised his background as a Rhodes Scholar. Hillary's campaign persona, rather, embraced her academic background and professional background, portraying her as a sensible, "good government" reformer with an edge. To counter her opposition to intervention in Iran ("I've been opposing ill-advised wars since 1968, Vice President Clinton."), which advisers feared would paint the first female nominee as "soft", the Illinois Governor aimed her rhetoric instead toward Zyuganov's Russia and towards criminals at home. "The Moynihan administration chose to play with dictators in Iran, and look what we got. We cannot  make the same mistake with demagogues in the former Soviet Union." On domestic issues, Clinton was caught in a trap on abortion while Ryan was free to acknowledge her pro-choice stance. She as well supported gun control to the dismay of rural Republicans while the Vice President waffled on the issue. And, while Hillary embraced welfare reform and the "consolidation of state services", Clinton was again caught between his own agenda and the Moynihan administration. Nevertheless, the Vice President was personally popular and appeared to have the edge until October when revelations as to past marital infidelity and less-than-stellar treatment towards women came to light. Despite this, Hillary failed to effectively besmirch the Vice President, as he retained his evangelical support in the South, and on election day, it was anybody's game. In the wake of international unrest, deficits, and a hormone-driven opponent, the first woman nominated for President still failed to take the popular vote.

Governor Hillary Rodham-Ryan (Republican-Illinois)/Governor William Floyd Weld (Republican-Massachusetts) 286 electoral votes, 48.2% of the popular vote
Vice President William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat-Arkansas)/Congressman Collin Clark Peterson (Democrat-Minnesota) 252 electoral votes, 48.5% of the popular vote

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The First Term of Hillary Ryan

The first female President of the United States, "Hillary" was determined that her status as a demographic pioneer not be put to waste. Within her first year, significant reforms in education, criminal justice, and transfer payments were managed, though at much political cost, as the Republican hold on Congress was shaky. In foreign policy, she appointed former Senator Paul Tsongas Secretary of Defense. The appointment was notable first due to Tsongas' status as a former Peace Corps member. In such a context, Ryan's foreign policy was focused on "reorienting the United States toward peace", with a round of base closures around the world and across the United States beginning in 1997. While winning her points with Republican true believers, this string of accomplishments was to turn sour with the public at-large, seeing the Democrats regain control of both houses of Congress in 1998 after only a four-year break. With the bombing of U.S. embassies in 1999 by terrorist groups supported by Islamic extremists--some of them supported and funded by Iran's besieged Islamic Republic--the President was forced to engage in a rapprochement with Russia, in a move aimed to "unite the developed world in common cause against reactionary extremism". Shedding her dovish image--which pollsters found to be a feature of her negative public perception--the Ryan administration swiveled 180 degrees, removing the ailing Paul Tsongas in April, 1999 in favor of former Vice President John Warner, one of the most prominent Republican hawks. Joint ventures were soon thereafter conducted in Afghanistan and Iran, and the administration re-adopted the Cold War-era policy of seeking to install secular governments--whether they were democratic or not. The President embraced the labels "shrill", "harpy", and so on while struggling to regain momentum and popularity.

The 2000 Presidential Election

The Ryan administration's "U-Turn" was seen by many Democrats as the perfect opportunity to propel them to victory--many, however, could not agree on how to do so. Many from the Interior West and New England had dovish inclinations and wanted a candidate to firmly declare that U.S. intervention would cease. Those from the South and the Mid-Atlantic, on the other hand, desired a candidate in the tradition of Roosevelt, Truman, the Kennedys, and Moynihan, who would strongly back the United States' military mission. In the case of the latter, with famous Democratic veterans such as Bob Kerrey and Samuel Nunn declining the opportunity to pursue the nomination, such a mantle fell upon Senator John McCain, III of Arizona. A POW in Vietnam, McCain had gone on to be the Navy's Liaison to the Senate (1977-1979), a military adviser to Bobby Kennedy (1979-1981), and finally U.S. Senator from Arizona. A self-styled "maverick" who had bucked his own party during the Moynihan administration in response to the increasing deficits of the early nineties, McCain had strong national security credentials and was by that point leading the Senate Armed Services Committee. Another "national security candidate" was to be found in Senator Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York. A former DA, Congressman (1983-1989), and Mayor (1990-1995), he had been elevated to the Senate in 1994 and had, with his prosecutorial and administrative experience, been placed on the Senate Intelligence Committee and associated bodies. Foregoing re-election to seek the presidency, Giuliani's personal story helped drive the narrative of a tough-on-terror from the streets of New York. "I tackled mobsters in the seventies, drug-runners in the eighties, mobsters in the nineties, and have been tough on terror and security issues in the Senate. I was on the special House committee on state terrorism during our debacle in Libya." Despite the New Yorker's lack of charisma, he made up for it with a powerful backstory, deep purse, and well-oiled public relations machine. Hailing from the South to fill a similar role below the Mason-Dixon line was former Governor Zell Miller of Georgia.

Ultimately, the more cautious mantle of the Mid-West was taken up by Collin Peterson, the 1996 Vice Presidential nominee who had been endorsed by the ailing Governor Casey. Tackling "bread and butter" issues alongside his opposition to "Hillary Ryan's reckless involvement in the Middle East", Peterson attracted the attention of farmers, laborers, and activists. His Midwestern charm won him the first-in-the-nation Iowa, which set the pace for the primaries. Nevertheless, the populist could not overcome his polling deficit in large states with significantly more suburban and moderate voters, nor could he break into the South with its combination of hawks and Blacks. Despite Giuliani's victories in the Northeast on Super Tuesday, it was McCain who surged into the lead, and, with the support of Giuliani and Miller, the Senator from Arizona proceeded to roust Peterson across the map.

Red - Senator John Sydney McCain, III of Arizaon
Green - Congressman Collin Clark Peterson of Minnesota
Blue - Senator Rudolph William Louis Giuliani of New York
Yellow - Former Governor Zell Bryan Miller of Georgia

In the hope of maintaining the farm-and-labor coalition Peterson had brought together, McCain was forced to select another Midwesterner, Congressman Dick Gephardt, as his running-mate. The self-styled rebel was sometimes compared to Ross Perot in his bombastic style, his denunciation of the special interests, and his vows to return Washington to "the people".

Despite poor approvals among rural voters of both parties, Ryan nevertheless benefited not only from McCain's hawkishness, but as well his opposition to farm subsidies. While the Ryan administration had slashed federal spending, McCain's vehement personal opposition to "pork barrel" projects such as the development of ethanol helped to alienate many of the rural, working-class voters he would have needed to flip numerous states. In the Midwest, meanwhile, the President's firm "stay the course" stance was preferred over McCain's "Bomb Iran" rhetoric. With the economy still chugging along, the nation's first female President at last received her popular mandate.

President Hillary Diane Rodham Ryan (Republican-Illinois)/Vice President William Floyd Weld (Republican-Massachusetts) 312 electoral votes, 51.3% of the popular vote
Senator John Sydney McCain, III (Democrat-Arizona)/Congressman Richard Andrew
 Gephardt (Democrat-Missouri) 226 electoral votes, 47.4% of the popular vote