Fictional U.S. President called Mike Barnes

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It is 2016, after eight years of Republican domination of the White House, Michael Barnes a charismatic 50 year old Texan, is preparing to hand over keys to two possible successors either North Carolina Governor Dwight Henderson, the Democrats standard bearer and Vice President John Creighton, Barnes selected Creighton eight years before to be his running mate, because of the fact he was from Pennsylvania. Creighton knows how to run a bare knuckled kind of campaign, the Democrats and Republicans are 50-50 in the Senate, with Creighton's tie-breaking vote allowing the GOP to run the Senate, the Democrats gained control of the House two years previously. Now considering the 532-6 electoral and 65.3% sweep Barnes enjoyed four years before and given that nuclear terrorism is the big issue considering how terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, the city of Galveston faced heavy damage, but with a SORT treaty along with a Nobel Peace prize under his belt, discuss with maps the kind of impact nuclear security has on both the presidential and congressional elections in 2016, does Barnes help Creighton or does Hendersonhave the edge. Is it a nail-biter, oh yeah the first lady Katherine Barnes is seeking seat in U.S. Senate from Florida ( shades of Hillary Clinton) except in my time-line there were no Bush's or Clinton's

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apologies to those who have responded to my post, I entered a wrong character, the Democrat who is seeking the presidency in 2016, is a southerner, by the name of Dwight Henderson, two term Governor of North Carolina, who is roughly the same age, a months older than the outgoing President, Michael "Mike" Barnes, Henderson is the Democrat's answer to the everyman, popular with the NASCAR crowd and campaigns like the best of them, he selects an older Vice Presidential nominee, a popular Senator from West Virginia, called Charles Kent, they face off against the Republican team, of two-term Vice President, John Creighton, of Pennsylvania and his Veep running mate, 36-year-old Congressman Andrew Bell of Iowa. I like the leatherface map set-up, couldn't have done better myself.

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This is the re-election map in 2012 for Mike Barnes and John Creighton over Democratic nominee for President, Senator Robert Samuels of Massachusetts.

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This is the 2008 map for the 473-65 victory won by Senator Michael "Mike" Barnes of Texas and Senator John Creighton of Pennsylvania, they won over President Edward Daniels, who succeeded to the Presidency upon the death of President Daniel Lewis a few years before..
Four years later, when he sought re-election, President Barnes faced off against Massachusetts Senator Robert Samuels, the Democratic nominee.

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Correction on the 60.2% for 2012, it actually reads 64.91% that breaks the 48-year record set by LBJ in 1964.
in 2008, Barnes wins 59.03% and has a popular vote majority of 25,302,056 and his re-election majority was 30,634,019.
His 49-state sweep in 2012, equalsReagan in 1984 andNixon in 1972

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The next period between 2017- through 2020 are years of challenge, but promise for President Dwight Henderson the Democrat has proven to be pretty adept and the strong leadership demonstrated during two crisis situations during the Kurdish war and the revolution in Saudi Arabia in 2018, allows the Democrats to go strong into the Mid-terms of 2018, however the successes of the Henderson administration on the foreign policy front are short-lived, but the Oil crisis of late 2018, creates economic havoc, Democrats lose 38 House seats and control of the House, and 8 seats in the Senate, thus giving Republicans control of that chamber.  The following year, Virginia Governor Henry Wheeler emerges as the savior of the GOP and his selection of former First lady, Senator Katherine Barnes of Florida to be the party's vice-presidential nominee.  This is the electoral map for the 2020 Election, it was 367 for the Republicans to 171 EV for the Democrats. The winner's garner 53.7% to 44.9% for the incumbent.

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in 2024, Henry Wheeler and Katherine Barnes won re-election, garnering  58.8% and carried 43 States with 469 EV. The Democratic nominee was Senator Harry Jensen of Nebraska. Here is the map.

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Henry Wheeler had no sooner defeated Harry Jensen in the 2024 elections, before the so- called 'Tecumseh' curse struck again, terrorism erupted on to the streets of Washington, claiming the lives of Wheeler and his Secretary of Defense, George Kirkland. The curse had struck down William H. Harrison in 1841, Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901, Warren Harding in 1923, Franklin Roosevelt in 1945, John Kennedy in 1963 and more recently Daniel Lewis in 2005. Ronald Reagan was shot & fatally wounded in 1981, Tecumseh struck, if the President was elected in the year ending in zero. Katherine Barnes succeeded to the presidency, becoming the first woman to serve in that capacity, as well as being the spouse of a living former president. Barnes under the terms of the 25th Amendment, nominated Senator Edward Morris of New York to the position of Vice President, the confirmation hearings of Morris were dramatic and fractious and Democrats were to raise questions over the conduct of the previous Wheeler-Barnes administration's intelligence and national security record.

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The period of 2025 through 2026, was a period of challenge for Katherine Barnes and her administration. She faced challenges from a newly resurgent Russia, as well as Japan, whose dominance on the world's markets was creating a protectionist flavor to American politics. Her appointment in 2025, of Charles Stevens to be Secretary of State gave conservatives within the Republican party much reason to be happy, but so to were the Wall Street crowd, as Stevens had served as Treasury Secretary during the administration of President Michael Barnes, so there was an institutional memory to be considered. By 2026, the Democrats were determined to make the dramatic inroads in the mid-terms, which Republicans had offered eight years previously during Dwight Henderson's presidency. They believed that 2028 could be the year when they might reclaim the White House. as it turned out the Democrats only picked up 19 seats in the House and 5 in the Senate. Not a seismic shift by any stretch of the imagination. But the result might give the Barnes-Morris administration pause for thought. The period of 2027 through 2028, saw foreign policy taking center stage , in advance of the 2028 presidential election. The president made enough foreign policy forays to dampen Democratic hopes. Her supreme court appointments faced more rigorous grilling by a Senate evenly divided 50-50, the most likeliest challenge to Katherine Barnes came from Gerald Hoag.

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Here is the map for the election of 2028, where Katherine Barnes and Edward Morris garnered 372 EV to 166 EV for Gerald Hoag. Barnes garnered 55.67%, down 3.2% on the 2024 result. The ticket carried 39 States.

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I would like to thank fellow traveler, Leatherface for his or her help on the 2024 election map, don't know how I missed that, but then again math was never my strong suit. Getting back to brass tacks, in the 2008 & 2012 electoral cycles, both Democratic nominee's were from Eastern states, in the 2016 & 2020 cycles, the Democratic nominee was a southerner/border state native. However in the 2024, 2028 & 2032 cycles, the Democratic nominee came from the East (New York), the Midwest (Illinois) & the East (Pennsylvania). It appears from this pattern, the Democrats run to the left, where there candidates originate from, where as the Republicans as seen in the 2008, 2012, 2020, 2024 & 2028 electoral cycles, have nominee's who come from Texas and Florida (sunbelt). The exception to the rule was in 2016, when the party go with the former Governor of and Senator from Ohio, who had ended up on the ticket in 2008, not because of ticket-balancing considerations, but more out of consideration, that he represented the moderate wing of the Republican party and Barnes wanted to appeal to Independents, however that became a moot point, in view of the economic meltdown which occurred in September of 2008, in which case the GOPcould have run Attila the Hun and still have won, the fact that Barnes was the most appealing and attractive candidate to be offered by a major party since the Democrats went with John F. Kennedy in 1960. Barnes was only 42 when he became President, but unlike JFK survived his presidency.

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There needs to be a correction, on the 2032 result, Henderson won 49.67% to 49.65% for Petty. Any guesses on how the 2036 map would look like, remember William Stevens, he is from Ohio originally, but was for years based in the brokerage business, hence his service as Treasury Secretary under Michael Barnes and then as Secretary of State under outgoing President, Katherine Barnes. in 2031, Stevens has resigned from the cabinet in order to challenge Petty for the GOP presidential nomination, but comes up short, as many in the party are of the view, that it is Petty's 'turn'. So my question by 2036, Stevens will be 72, would he be considered to old or considering the medical advances, would 71 be the new 60?. He is still healthy and vigorous to pass muster and might be a good challenger for Henderson I don't know if any of you realize this but in every presidential election held on November 6, the Republicans have won, as has been the case on November 4, well almost, Coolidge in 1924, Eisenhower i n 1952 and Reagan in 1980, so in my TL Republicans have won in 2008 and must win in 2036. I realize that Democrats won in 1828, 1856 and 1884. But the modern two -part system was still in its infancy.

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The following Presidents in my TL
Ronald Reagan * (CA)/ George H.W. Bush (TX) January 20th 1981 March 30th 1981
George H. W. Bush (TX) March 30th 1981 January 20 1989/ Robert Dole (KS) May 1 1981 January 20 1989
Henry Chandler (VA)/ Raymond Dann (PA) January 20th 1989 January 20th 1997
Eugene Maxwell ^ (TX)/ Roger Burke (VA)* January 20th 1997 January 20th 2001
Gerald Benson** (CA)/ William Daniels (MD) January 20th 2001 July 16th 2005
William Daniels ^^ (MD)/ Burt Brown (NC) July 16th 2005 January 20th 2009
Michael Barnes (TX)/ Robert Creighton (OH) January 20th 2009 January 20th 2017

Howard Davenport ^^^(NC)/ Charles Meyers (WI) January 20th 2017 January 20th 2021

Timothy Wheeler **** (VA)/ Katherine Barnes (FL) January 20th 2021 December 30th 2024
Katherine Barnes (FL)/ iEdward Morris (N.Y.): ii John Petty (CA):December 12th 2024 January 20th 2033
Paul Henderson^^^^ (MA)/ Larry Kent (WA) January 20th 2033 January 20th 2037
William Stevens****(OH)/Joseph McKenna (FL) January 20th 2037 April 7th 2042
Joseph McKenna (FL) April 7th 2042 January 20th 2049

* Died in office
** Died in office
*** Died in office
****Died in office
^ defeated for reelection
^^ defeated for reelection
^^^defeated for reelection
^^^^defeated for reelection

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By 2036, another Democratic President was facing political meltdown, Howard Davenport was now facing political problems not of his own making, but rather ones he had inherited from the previous Republican administration, however this meant very little to the kind of campaign the GOP were prepared to engage in, and very cynically, the party's nominee, Charles Stevens and his Vice-Presidential running mate, former CIA Director  and Defense Secretary during the Henry Wheeler presidency, Thomas Emerson were prepared to engage in. For his part Stevens had served both as Treasury Secretary and finally as Secretary of State. Stevens employed the same playbook that Wheeler had successfully used against both in Davenport in 2020 and against Jensen in 2024. The campaign was dirty, but Stevens and Emerson came smelling up roses on Election day, garnering 369 EV and 41 states to 69 and 9 states for Davenport
with 53.90%. Here's the map.
[img]https://uselectionatlas.org/TOOLS/genusmap.php?

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Here's the 2036 map

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Charles Stevens was strictly a hands-on president and despite being 71 when he was first elected, he was remarkably fit and healthy as he entered into his third year in the White House, the Republicans were more than happy to stick with a winning team and nominated Stevens and Emerson for second terms. The result on November 6 was 60.2% of the popular vote, with 474 to 64 for the challenger. Here is the map for the 2040 Election. The Republicans won California, Florida, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island while losing Oregon, all in all they swept 44 states, compared to the 41 states they won four years previously.

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During the the thirty plus years dealing with my TL: the most important figure in any administration apart from those positions held by the Secretaries of the Treasury or even State, would be that of Secretary of Defense.
Here are the following list in my timeline and the administrations in which they served.
Thomas Bodine 1989-97 Fields administration.
Ethan Cartwright 1997-2001 Maxwelladministration.
David Deckert 2001-05 Lewisadministration.
Mills Lee 2005-09 Lewis/Daniels administrations.
Robert Kanin2009-2012Barnes administration.
Charles Brice2012-13Barnesadministration
Regina Hutchinson 2013-17Barnesadministration.
Brad Goff2017-2021Henderson administration.
George Kirkland2021-24Wheeleradministration.
Walter Simon2024-32 Barnesadministration.

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note Robert Kanin, left the Pentagon in early 2012, to take over as White House Chief of Staff, while Lloyd Sargent, who had managed Barnes' 2008 presidential campaign, and had been White House Chief of Staff, would become the Barnes-Creighton for America 2012 Reelection Campaign chairman. Charles Brice became Secretary of Defense, replacing Kanin in that position. Kanin remained at the White House until the end of Barnes' second term in January of 2017.

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I will be dealing White House chiefs of Staff, NSC advisers, Secretaries of the Treasury & State, as well as Attorneys General as I progress with this TL
During the the thirty plus years dealing with my TL: the most important figure in any administration apart from those positions held by the Secretaries of the Treasury or even State, would be that of Secretary of Defense.
Here are the following list in my timeline and the administrations in which they served.
Thomas Bodine 1989-97 Fields administration.
Ethan Cartwright 1997-2001 Hendersonadministration.
David Deckert 2001-05 Lewisadministration.
Mills Lee 2005-09 Lewis/Daniels administrations.
Robert Kanin2009-2012Richmond administration.
Charles Brice2012-13Richmondadministration
Regina Hutchinson 2013-17Richmondadministration.
Brad Goff2017-2021Davenport administration.
George Kirkland2021-24Wheeleradministration.
Walter Simon2024-32 Richmondadministration.

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Getting back to the 2028 election, modify electoral map, where now Katherine Barnes receives 55.67% and carried 39 states, winning 414 to 124 for Gerald Hoag of Illinois who carried 11 states and won 42.57% Here's that map.

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Update I figured if Howard Davenport came from the East (in this case Pennsylvania) then he should have an almost clean sweep of the New England and Middle Atlantic states (in this case Delaware and New Jersey) voted for Vice President Robert Petty, the Republican nominee for President received242 EV to 296 for Davenport.
Here is my map, on differences from the other 2032 map, was that Maine & New Hampshire went for the challenger.

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There is another scenario, by 2028 Katherine Barnesand her choice to serve as her successor in the Vice Presidency, under the terms of the 25th Amendment, which she invoked in the weeks following her succession to the presidency on December 12, 2024 Edward Morris, his virtue was that he brought political and geographic balance to a political marriage, he had been Governor of New York for two terms, before the voters of the Empire state, sent him to the United States Senate, he had made necessity a virtue, and his presence on the ticket made New York very friendly territory for the Barnes-Morris ticket in 2028. The GOP did just as well as the Barnes-Creighton ticket in 2012, in that unique of elections the GOP won 65% of the vote and swept every state but Vermont and the District of Columbia, for 532. Now it was Katherine Barnes' turn, she won with 497 Electoral votes, to win forty four of the fifty states, her opponent Gerald Hoag carried only Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia Here's the 2028 electoral map.

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Within months following her inauguration for her 'own' term Katherine Barnes was informed that Vice President, Edward Morris was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and that a cure was problematic if not unlikely. Most Republicans including the president herself as well as First Gentleman, Michael Barnes had harbored hopes that Morris was the party's only chance in the 2032 election cycle. Morris died by his own hand and once again Barnes found that once again after little more than five years, she had to invoke 25 and she looked at Robert Petty as an ideal replacement, he came from Ohio, had served in the House for over five terms, he had been appointed as Secretary of State to replace Charles Stevens and his flair consummate inside know how was a welcome balm after the feisty maverick, which was Stevens. While Stevens had served her husband well at Treasury and was like an 'older brother' of sorts to the former president, his manner grated against Kathy Barnes who valued loyal team players in her administration above else, a quality which Petty had in spades. With Petty shunted off to the Vice Presidency, Katherine Barnes found a perfect replacement in Robert Kanin who been White House Chief of Staff during the single term of her father Eugene Maxwell. Then Kanin had been her husband's Secretary of Defense for remaining five years of his presidency. Now after well over a decade in the private sector, Kanin was to be Katherine Barnes' third Secretary of State.

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The 2032 election pitted Vice President Robert Petty against Senator Howard Davenport of Pennsylvania. Here's the map, it read 296 to 242.