The West Wing alternate scenarios

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'll start

November 6, 2006: After experiencing a chest pain, former White House Chief of Staff and Democratic Party vice presidential nominee Leo McGarry of Illinois, decided to contact a doctor and medicine, soon given to him, saved a politician with a long history of health problems from suffering another, possibly fatal, attack.

November 7, 2006: America votes. At the night Republican nominee, Senator Arnold Vinick of California, emerges as a popular vote winner, leading his Democratic rival, Representative Matt Santos of Texas, with one million of the popular vote. However, the vote across the country produced a tie in the electoral college.

Senator Arnold Vinick of California/Governor Ray Sullivan of West Virginia (Republican): 269 electoral votes, ~50,000,000 popular votes
Representative Matt Santos of Texas/Former White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry of Illinois (Democratic): 269 electoral votes, ~49,000,000 popular votes

Also, on the same day, Republicans managed to narrowly retain control over the House of Representatives, while Democrats gained two-votes majority in the Senate, for the first time in years.

November-December 2006: With both camps refusing to concede and mounting legal challenge in narrow states of Nevada (that went to Santos) and Delaware (that went to Vinick), which only led toward original results confirmation, election is heading to Congress after electoral vote deadlock.

January 3, 2007: The new Congress convenes and  is faced immediately with task of electing new President and Vice President.

January 6, 2007: In a vote strictly across party lines, Leo McGarry is elected Vice President of the United States in the Senate.

January 13, 2007: Following a series of deadlocked votes, Senator Vinick is elected President of the United States in the House.

January 18, 2007: Just two days before his scheluded inauguration, President-elect Vinick suffers a suprising yet massive heart attack following recent dramatic months.

January 19, 2007: Arnold Vinicc, President-elect of the United States, passed away at the George Washington Hospital in D.C. According to the 20th Amendment, Vice President-elect Leo McGarry becomes President-elect of the United States.

January 20, 2007: At the somber and modest, due to the tragic circumstances, inauguration ceremony, Leo Thomas McGarry is sworn-in as the next, and certainly the most unlikeliest, President of the United States, succeeding his longtime friend, outgoing President Josiah Bartlet.

[The Lord Marbury]

2006 Presidential Election

Representative Matthew Santos (D-TX) / former White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (D-IL) - 272EV - 49,1%
Senator Arnold Vinick (R-CA) / Governor Ray Sullivan (R-WV) - 266EV - 49,7%

President Santos term in office is generally viewed as a successful one, especially with the passing of comprehensive education reform in late 2007, with bipartisan support. However four months later disaster would strike and President Santos was shot while holding a speech in Boise, Idaho. He was succeeded by his Vice President, Eric Baker of Pennsylvania. Unlike the one year that Santos served in the office, Baker's term would be a turbulent one. Arnold Vinick, who already had had a poor relationship with Baker when Santos was president, chose to resign. He was then followed by Deputy Chief of Staff Sam Seaborn who left to run for the California Senate seat. A few months later Chief of Staff Josh Lyman left after a heated discussion between him and Baker over domestic policy. He then became the campaign manager over Sam Seaborn's senate campaign. It seemed like things couldn't get much worse for Baker, however the 2009 financial crisis rolled around, and with rumors of an affair between President Baker and a White House secretary popping up in early 2010, things were not looking good for his reelection prospects.

In 2010 the Republicans, after a heated primary between him and 2006 nominee Arnold Vinick, nominated former Speaker of the House Jeff Haffley. Victory looked to be certain in November, however then something unexpected happened. Arnold Vinick, with his failure to once again win the Republican nomination, announced an independent candidacy for the Presidency. And as shock to almost everybody in the business, he picked moderate Democrat and former Secretary of State Lewis Berryhill as his running mate.

In the general election, President Baker's affair during his time in office would come to haunt him, and in the end the race was between Vinick and Haffley. But since Haffley was viewed by many as a far right candidate, eventually, with the slimmest of margins, Vinick managed to come out on top, become the first independent to be elected President since George Washington.

former Secretary of State Arnold Vinick (I-CA) / former Secretary of State Lewis Berryhill (I-NY) - 273EV - ca. 38%
former House Speaker Jeff Haffley (R-WA) / Ohio Governor Mike Reed (R-OH) - 156EV - ca. 33%
President Eric Baker (D-PA) / Vice President Gabriel Tillman (D-CA) - 109EV - ca. 28%