Era of the New Majority

[Person Man]

Its really good so far.... really depressing, though.

[KingSweden]

The Funeral of Fidel Castro:

The funeral of Fidel Castro is attended by dignitaries and officials from the around the world. A brief list of highlights:

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela
President Daniel Scioli of Argentina
President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil
Former President Cristina Kirchner y Fernandez of Argentina
Former President Lula da Silva of Brazil
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador
President Evo Morales of Bolivia
Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz of Chile
Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar of Colombia
President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico
Foreign Minister Joyce Murray of Canada
Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander of the United Kingdom
Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetnya of Poland
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia
EU Foreign Affairs Secretary Federica Mogherini
President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China

It is noted by many that the United States sends only its Chief of Mission John Caulfield to formally represent it, a factor widely reported in left-leaning Latin American news. Cuba-American US GOP candidate Ted Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio both give interviews condemning Castro's government and hoping that his death leads to the democratization of Cuba, while President Obama gives a vague press release stating that he hopes US-Cuban relations can improve in the future.

At the funeral, Nicolas Maduro gives a fiery speech about "Yankee imperialism" and promises to "honor, defend and continue the Socialist revolution that began in Havana sixty years ago." The tone of the speech, in light of the mass political violence and social unrest in his home country, is panned and criticized worldwide in all but the friendliest corners. Venezuelan opposition leaders state the the speech is a sign that Maduro needs to resign and enter power-sharing talks.

[KingSweden]

January 2016: Ted Cruz wins the Iowa caucuses narrowly over Scott Walker, with Rand Paul placing third. The order is as follows:

Cruz 22%
Walker 21%
Paul 19%
Perry 13%
Christie 10%

No other candidate breaches 5% in the caucuses. Jindal and Bush drop out, with Bush's performance considered especially surprising.

At the New Hampshire primary two weeks later, Christie and Paul place first and second, respectively, while the others are all in the single digits, creating an effective four-way race on the way to South Carolina. Rob Portman heads to Florida to concentrate his resources on an upset with there, while Ben Carson suspends his campaign.

An oil train derails in eastern Montana five miles outside of Forsyth in rural Rosebud County, starting a massive oil fire that takes days to put out. Governor Steve Bullock is applauded for his rapid mobilization of the Montana National Guard and twenty-hour workdays during the crisis. Environmentalists rally around the incident as a sign of unsafe fossil fuels, while the energy industry suggests that this is a good reason to expand pipeline capacity rather than use rail cars.

January 2016 (continued): Canadian Finance Minister Scott Brison submits the first budget of the Trudeau government, several months early. The budget has a long list of progressive measures including expanded family leave, an increase in the national minimum wage, a surtax on oil industry profits, tax credits for renewable energy, and a surcharge on financial transactions. The NDP and Green industry signal that they will back the budget and it passes easily. In France, Francois Hollande announces that he will not seek a second term as President. Venezuelan opposition paramilitaries capture the city of Miranda and enter a long siege with government forces and chavista paramilitaries. Colombia's FARC starts to move assets into Venezuela where they cannot be found as easily by the Colombian army and to regroup and align with chavista forces there.

[KingSweden]

February 2016: Ted Cruz narrowly wins the SC primary over Rand Paul, with 24% to Paul's 22%. Walker and Christie both take 14% and Perry is far back in fifth with only 8%. Perry drops out and endorses Cruz. Santorum endorses Cruz later the next day. President Obama gives his final State of the Union address, where he talks about his administration's achievements in health care, winding down two wars, addressing the VA, trade agreements and the shale energy revolution. In the address, he states, "the state of our union is strong, and growing stronger every day." Congress approves the TPP and TAFTA trade agreements on the last day of the month.

In the Florida primary, Rob Portman wins a surprise victory of 31% to Rand Paul's 20%, with Scott Walker and Ted Cruz tying at 18% apiece. Christie debates dropping out, but chooses to head to Michigan to campaign there instead while the others head to Nevada, with Cruz in particular hoping to cut off Rand Paul's momentum.

February 2016 (continued): Ed Miliband's government narrowly survives a confidence vote, their second such close call in the nine months since taking power. After a six-hour closed door caucus conference, Miliband emerges to announce that "while Parliament and Her Majesty retain confidence in my government and Cabinet, I have realized in recent weeks that I personally do not have the confidence of my Cabinet or party. As such, I will tender my resignation immediately and call on my caucus to hold a leadership election quickly and decisively." Harriet Harman becomes Acting Prime Minister with a formal leadership election scheduled for April. Miliband's premiership is the shortest in postward Britain.

And now, for Sports: In Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, CA, the Seattle Seahawks win their 2nd title in 3 seasons, defeating the Indianapolis Colts 27-21 with a last-minute touchdown score on a 22-yard run by Russell Wilson. Wilson is named Super Bowl MVP.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Glad to see Milliband out. But Cruz's candidacy scares me. I hope Portman or Walker will break ahead (Paul is collapsing, sadly),

[KingSweden]

March 2016: Hillary Clinton clinches all of the delegates she needs to become the 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee. In Nevada, Paul stages an unbelievable come-from-behind win to earn 30% of the primary's vote over Scott Walker with 29%, who enjoyed the endorsement and campaign operation of Governor Brian Sandoval. Rob Portman takes third, with Cruz in fourth and Christie, who barely campaigned in the state, in fifth. During a visit to St. Louis to speak on economic development, a gunman fires shots at President Obama. He misses by a wide margin and the President is safely evacuated with nobody hurt, and the gunman, an anti-government militiaman from northern Arkansas with a history of mental health issues, is promptly arrested.

March 2016 (continued): Saskatchewan and PEI return their incumbent governments to power with wide majorities. Talks are organized by EU Foreign Secretary Federica Mogherini between the competing camps in Venezuela. Violence in Israel escalates after Avigdor Lieberman gives an incendiary speech on the floor of the Knesset and Bibi finally agrees to a six-month halt in new settlement construction, a major victory for the Palestinians. Poroshenko and Yatseniuk agree to a power-sharing agreement with the Protectors of Ukraine Party, causing Putin to accuse them of inviting fascists into their government.

Ring of Fire: The Avachinsky volcano in Kamchatka has a VEI 5 eruption, the most powerful since Pinatubo, forcing the evacuation of thousands from neighboring cities and spewing massive ash clouds into the atmosphere that interrupt air travel and blanket much of northern China with thick ash clouds. For an eruption of its size, there are only 12 deaths, cited as a low number and signalling the usefulness of modern geological studies to predict volcanic eruptions and evacuate civilians in time.

[KingSweden]

April 2016: Super Tuesday! The RNC has set 20 states up to stage votes this day, meaning that more than half of the country will have staged primaries by this date. Cruz crushes Walker and Christie in the south, continuing his lead in the delegate count, though Paul places second in nearly every primary and wins in Mississippi. Christie wins Michigan after having spent most of the last month there. Walker wins Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Christie takes Maine and Massachusetts. No candidate drops out, though the math is becoming difficult for Paul. Obama sprains his ankle playing pickup basketball, and the image of him walking around in a boot is widely played not only on Fox News but on the late night comedy shows. As a consolation, his pick of Duke to win the Final Four is correct.

April 2016 (continued): Big month for news out of the Commonwealth: In Manitoba, the PC's under Brian Pallister win in a landslide, taking 51% of the vote and defeating the NDP, which loses its bid for a fifth term in government. Final seat count:

PC 36
NDP 12
Liberals 9

At the federal level, leadership election dates are set for the Tories and NDP for October and November, respectively. Mulcair will stay on until successor is elected, as previously promised. Ed Balls becomes Prime Minister of the UK after his caucus votes for him over Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna is moved to Chancellor of the Exchequer. Boris Johnson starts making noise about challenging Opposition Leader George Osborne for leadership. ISIS suffers a major string of defeats in northern Iraq at the hands of coalition airstrikes and peshmerga fighters.

Joaquin Check-in: In Venezuela six months after Hurricane Joaquin, thousands are still without power and food, the death toll is well over 90,000 people, half of the oil wells and pumps turned off from the storm and crisis have yet to be turned on, and the price of oil still has not risen enough to save the Maduro government. The refugee crisis continues unabated, with 13,000 Venezuelans now in Brazil and 10,000 in Colombia.

[KingSweden]

May 2016: The primaries continue on the GOP side. Christie wins the New York, California and Washington primaries, giving him a much-needed second wind and pulling him right behind Cruz in total delegates. Paul prevents Cruz from getting wins in Montana and Wyoming, but Cruz takes the huge states of Texas, North Carolina and, surprisingly, Maryland. Portman takes Ohio, his first win since Florida in February, but drops out anyways as the math is now impossible for him to win and he endorses Christie. Walker, who has not had a win since early April, drops out after polling shows him down to Christie in New Jersey and Illinois and down to Cruz in Virginia and Missouri. Walker declines to endorse any candidate. With three candidates left, most pundits expect Christie to benefit most from Walker and Portman dropping out of the race, but Cruz stuns the political world by sweeping Illinois, Virginia, Missouri and Oklahoma while Christie barely edges Paul in New Jersey. Paul drops out and endorses Cruz, setting up a crucial final primary in Utah and Connecticut in early June.

May 2016 (continued): Alan Peter Cayetano is elected as the next President of the Philippines, defeating Bong Revilla. After elections in April marred by irregularities and charges of tampering and voter intimidation, the Saenuri Party forms a weak coalition in the South Korean National Assembly after losing their majority. Erwin Pröll is elected President of Austria, pledging to only serve one term in the mostly ceremonial position.

And now, for Sports: In the UEFA Champions League, Juventus wins their third European Cup, defeating FC Barcelona 3-1 with two goals by Paul Pogba.

[Maxwell]

When did Portman drop out? What happened to that amazing Florida win?

[KingSweden]

When did Portman drop out? What happened to that amazing Florida win?

Like several times on this timeline, I went too fast and forgot an important detail/event fixed it.

[KingSweden]

June 2016: Cruz clinches the Republican nomination with a win in the Utah primary and with Paul and Walker's delegates released to him. Though Portman encourages his delegates to swing to Christie in the days before the primary, it is too little, too late. Christie refuses to release his delegates at first, but the acquiesces by the end of June. Former US Rep Ralph Hall (R-TX) passes away at 93 years old, a year and a half after leaving office. Drought conditions in Texas continue, causing Greg Abbott to enforce water rationing, earning the ire of Tea Party conservatives who run sprinklers on their lawn in a sign of protest, deriding him for a "big government water quota."

June 2016 (continued): ISIS capital Raqqa falls in Syria to government forces, and neither side takes prisoners. ISIS responds by staging suicide attacks throughout Damascus, including in the government district. Refugees start to cause issues in Lebanon. Ukrainian soldiers capture and imprison the leaders of the Donetsk People's Republic after a renewed offensive, finally claiming control of most of the breakaway region with only Luhansk left to put down. Ed Balls' government survives yet another confidence vote, this time over a delayed budget with several tax hikes.

Meanwhile, in Louisiana: A big month in Louisiana - Governor David Vitter agrees to both expand Medicaid and create an ACA exchange in Louisiana, with the expansion modeled on the private plan program pioneered by Mike Beebe in Arkansas. Dow Chemical announces it will be relocating its headquarters from Midland, Michigan to downtown New Orleans. The New Orleans Pelicans win the 2016 NBA Finals in seven games over the Chicago Bulls, with Anthony Davis the Finals MVP, after a playoff run in which they had to win three straight seven-game series (including the Finals). President Obama is in attendance of the last game, played in Buffalo. The LSU Tigers men's baseball team wins the College World Series a few days later.

And now, for sports: Besides the NBA and CWS results, the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in six games over the Los Angeles Kings, becoming the first Canadian team to win since 1993, when Montreal also won the Cup.

[KingSweden]

July 2016: A week before the RNC, Ted Cruz taps Rob Portman as his running mate, viewed largely as an effort to appease the center-right business wing of the party, and in an effort to rebuke both Christie and Walker, who ran significantly more negative campaigns towards Cruz, as well as Rand Paul, who in one debate stated that "America would be fundamentally unsafe under a Ted Cruz Presidency." Still, to heal the rift with the Paulist wing of the party, Cruz asks Paul to be the keynote speaker and has Marco Rubio introduce Paul. There are mass protests in Cleveland during the RNC, some of the largest at a convention in decades (though there is no violence or incidents with the police like Chicago '68).

July 2016 (continued): Russia shifts more weapons and armor into Ukraine, where the most violent conflict since the Yugoslav wars shows no sign of stopping. After a quasi-constitutional delay, the Greek general election is held on July 1st, and Syriza wins the most seats, entering an anti-austerity coalition with Independent Greeks and PASOK, which suffered massive losses. Golden Dawn fails to reach the threshold to enter government, with ND under Samaras forming the opposition. The new Tsipras government causes broad losses not only in European but global stock markets.

And now, for sports: At Euro 2016, Italy defeats the surprise of the tournament, Poland, to advance to the final for the second tournament in a row. Portugal defeats Germany in kickoffs to advance to the final, where Cristiano Ronaldo cues Portugal to a 1-0 victory in extra time over the Italians, giving them their first-ever major international championship. Ronaldo is the Player of the Tournament, while Robert Lewandowski has the most goals, with seven goals, two behind Platini's record and adding to his ten goals in the qualifying rounds, giving him 17 goals including qualifying, the best performance in UEFA history. Brazil's 2016 Olympics go off without a hitch or any of the protests that marred the 2013 Confederations Cup. Ryan Lochte wins three golds in swimming while Usain Bolt wins three golds, placing him in the all-time gold medalist rankings in what are viewed as likely being his final Olympic games.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Who does Hillary tap as her running mate?

[KingSweden]

August 2016: The Cruz-Portman ticket finds itself under fire from social conservatives, particularly NOM and Tony Perkins, and Cruz is forced to state at a campaign event in Lynchburg, VA (home of Liberty University): "My running mate's views on the marriage issue are his own. A Ted Cruz administration will fight for state's rights and traditional marriage." The statement makes the situation worse, alienating many of the pro-marriage equality moderates Cruz had hoped to appeal to with the Portman pick and at the same time igniting an unintended controversy over his use of the term "state's rights," with many in the media accusing him of using a dog whistle. Cruz backpedals further, claiming that he simply meant "I support the right of states to determine traditional marriage for themselves."

The DNC: At the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton taps New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich as her running mate, signalling a desire to appeal to the West and to add a young rising star in the party to her administration. Heinrich's acceptance speech is widely applauded. Cory Booker is given the keynote speaker slot, and his speech is panned as being weak and derivative compared to Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop's, who introduces him.

August 2016 (continued): Hurricane Earl causes massive storm swells and rainstorms in Mexico after battering Cuba. A power-sharing agreement is tentatively formed in Venezuela after nearly a year of violence and with the economy and government in near-collapse, but many Socialist hardliners refuse to acknowledge the compromise President, Henrique Capriles Radonski, who would serve with Diosdado Cabello as Vice President and Tareck El Aissami as President of the National Assembly.

[KingSweden]

September 2016: Clinton stumbles when responding to a heckler at an event in Aurora, CO, her first real gaffe of the campaign. Outside spending groups continue to barrage Cruz over comments about "Dominionism" made by his father, Rafael. Cruz tries to backpedal by stating "my father's beliefs are his and his alone," and refuses to answer a question about whether he thinks non-Christians should be banned from holding office. Hurricane Gaston forms as a Category 5 over the Bahamas but weakens all the way to a Category 2 storm before hitting northern Florida, averting the kind of widespread damage and destruction left by Grace a year earlier in SC.

September 2016 (continued): Markets fall nearly 10% worldwide over two weeks as Alexi Tsipras threatens to engage in an "intentional, managed default" unless the Greek bailout terms are renegotiated. EU President Jean-Claude Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel fly to Athens to meet with Tsipras, but no agreement is reached. Japan enters recession again and Shinzo Abe survives a secret ballot within his own party to maintain party leadership. An oil rig in the North Sea is heavily damaged in a storm swell and it takes four days for the Norwegian Navy to contain the flow, causing the worst oil spill since the 2010 BP spill. Heavy rainfall from Category 2 Hurricane Ian, which moves slowly across northern South America at the end of the month, causes flooding and mass power outages in Venezuela, exacerbating the problematic recovery from Joaquin a year earlier and leaving millions without power for weeks and along with the North Sea spill helps spike oil prices back above $80 a barrel for a month.

[Lief 🗽]

This is a great timeline! What are the polls looking like in the presidential and senate races?

[KingSweden]

October 2016: The debates are here! In the first debate, centered on domestic policy, Hillary Clinton hits Ted Cruz several times on "nihilism" and a "clear lack of a cohesive domestic agenda other than to complain, point fingers and throw sand in the face of respected members of both parties." Cruz, a champion debater in his youth, fires back on a still-mediocre (but improving) economy and claims "for those of you who have suffered for two Obama terms, I present myself as an alternative to a third." Post-debate surveys indicate that many viewers found Clinton to be icy and Cruz to be smug, with Clinton narrowly voted as having won the debate.

In the vice presidential debate, Portman performs awkwardly, giving wonkish arguments and statistics, while Heinrich sticks to a simple strategy. Heinrich is widely regarded as the winner, despite Portman's status and reputation as a respected Washington insider. Pundits and viewers applaud both men for their respectful, courteous tone in the debates.

The second Presidential debate, in a town hall format, is a disaster for Cruz, who insults a member of the audience for asking him about a GOP alternative to the now six-year old ACA, saying angrily, "When a socialist bill is passed, we repeal it. We don't do socialism in this country." Clinton also scores points by acknowledging, "The last eight years have been difficult economically for a lot of people. I know there are frustrations with my friend President Obama. I know sometimes it hasn't felt like he was making things better, and I understand that. I also know that people like Senator Cruz have been there for four to six years making things worse." Sean Hannity accuses Clinton of implying that Republicans have intentionally been trying to make the economy worse, and her wide lead in the poll narrows despite many thinking that she won the debate.

The third debate covers foreign policy. Cruz brings up Benghazi and the ISIS campaigns, Clinton responds that several GOP investigations have found nothing on Benghazi for years and that ISIS is in retreat. She does promise a "prominent" role for America in foreign policy and does allow that "the President and I haven't always been in agreement, and that's OK. He's the President." The debate is widely viewed as a wash.

October 2016 (continued): John Baird is elected the new federal leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, defeating Tony Clement and Jason Kenney on the third ballot. A deal is struck with the Greek government and the EU to avoid a catastrophic default on obligations. After mass protests by the ERC and a narrowly won confidence vote in Spain, Mariano Rajoy agrees to open up a constitutional debate about the structure of Spain to avoid another Catalonian crisis. Striking miners in South Africa are fired upon by local police, creating a major rift within the ruling ANC.

And now, for sports: In a four game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, the Washington Nationals win the "I-95 Series" World Series, the first championship for a DC sports team since the Redskins in 1991.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

My only nitpick is that Portman is known to be a strong debator. In Double Down, he was cited as Romney's debate coach and played Obama very well. In fact, the book said he was one of the strongest debators in Congress IIRC.

[Person Man]

My only nitpick is that Portman is known to be a strong debator. In Double Down, he was cited as Romney's debate coach and played Obama very well. In fact, the book said he was one of the strongest debators in Congress IIRC.

Even really good debaters sometimes drop the ball.

[KingSweden]

United States elections, 2016

Moving east to west, with breakdowns of major/significant races (note that the accumulation of electoral votes are not meant to represent poll closure times):

Maine

Presidential: Clinton-Heinrich easily carries Maine's two statewide electoral votes, winning the state popular vote 55% to 43%. The Democratic ticket carries ME-1 60% to 38%, and carries ME-2 52% to 47%.

ME-02: On the Democratic side is a rematch of the 2014 primary, with Troy Jackson facing off against Emily Cain. Though Cain was widely favored to win, Jackson scored an upset to face Bruce Poliquin in November. With both the Clinton and Cruz campaigns spending heavily in the district to try to swing its electoral vote, Jackson narrowly defeats Poliquin, 49% to 47%, with two independent candidates taking the rest of the vote. It is a rare case where the Clinton campaign runs ahead of a winning Democratic House candidate, rather than behind. D+1.

Maine Senate: Democrats flip two seats in the Maine Senate, leading to continued but narrowed Republican control, 18-17.

Maine House: Democrats expand their majority from 79-68-4 to 85-64-2.

Electoral Vote Count:

Clinton/Heinrich: 4
Cruz/Portman: 0

New Hampshire

Presidential: Despite heavy campaigning by Cruz surrogates Kelly Ayotte and Rob Portman, Clinton/Heinrich wins New Hampshire 54% to 44%, marking the first time in modern history New Hampshire has voted Democrat four elections in a row.

NH-Governor: Maggie Hassan declines to seek reelection (see below). The Republican primary is rambunctious, pitting former US Rep. and current Senate Majority leader Jeb Bradley against Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas. Bradley wins the primary by a wide margin to face Attorney General Joseph Foster. In the narrowest result in New Hampshire, Foster defeats Bradley 49.7 to 49.1, with a margin of only 1,000 votes. D hold.

NH-Senate: Maggie Hassan, the Democratic nominee after much lobbying throughout 2015, has no competition in the primary to face Ayotte, who is forced to stave off a Tea Party challenge from former House Speaker Bill O'Brien. No polling lead is outside the margin of error, with most pundits expecting a narrow Ayotte win. With Clinton's strength atop the ticket and with Hassan running up massive margins in Manchester and surrounding Hillsborough County, Ayotte is narrowly defeated, 50-48, and for the first time since the late 1970s, both of NH's Senators are Democrats. D+1.

NH-1: New Hampshire State Senator Donna Soucy jumps in to take on US Rep. Frank Guinta. Though Guinta leads in most independent and internal polls for most of the fall, the late break of the campaign towards Clinton in the Northeast helps carry Soucy narrowly over the line, winning 50% to 49%. D+1.

New Hampshire General Court: Democrats retake the State House, winning 210 seats to 180 seats for the Republicans, with 10 independents being seated. The State Senate becomes tied, 12D and 12R, and Governor Foster arranges a power-sharing agreement

Electoral Vote Count:

Clinton/Heinrich: 7
Cruz/Portman: 0

Vermont

Presidential: Clinton/Heinrich easily takes Vermont's 3 electoral votes.

VT Governor: After his close call in 2014, Shumlin campaigns much harder after taking a very left turn in the 2015-16 legislative session and defeats Scott Milne once again, this time earning 55% of the vote.

VT Senate: Patrick Leahy is easily reelected to an eighth term in the US Senate, already Vermont's longest-serving Senator.

VT Legislature: The Progressive Party scores a few upsets over Democrats, but the Democratic Party maintains control of both houses of the Vermont Legislature.

Electoral Vote Count:

Clinton/Heinrich: 10
Cruz/Portman: 0

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

My only nitpick is that Portman is known to be a strong debator. In Double Down, he was cited as Romney's debate coach and played Obama very well. In fact, the book said he was one of the strongest debators in Congress IIRC.

Even really good debaters sometimes drop the ball.

See: First Presidential Debate, Barack Obama's performance

@KingSweden - I love the insane amount of work you've put into this timeline. It's really well done all around. Keep it up!

(though I must say this Cruz-Portman ticket makes me want to cry)

[Person Man]

My only nitpick is that Portman is known to be a strong debator. In Double Down, he was cited as Romney's debate coach and played Obama very well. In fact, the book said he was one of the strongest debators in Congress IIRC.

Even really good debaters sometimes drop the ball.

See: First Presidential Debate, Barack Obama's performance

@KingSweden - I love the insane amount of work you've put into this timeline. It's really well done all around. Keep it up!

(though I must say this Cruz-Portman ticket makes me want to cry)

I can see this all happening. In general, it's pretty good detail. A few months a post a post about once a day. It looks like Hillary will do reasonably well as Obama has left this country firmly breaking even in fortune as civilization in the rest of the continues to steadily decline after failing to fully recover from the last major melt down.

[KingSweden]

My only nitpick is that Portman is known to be a strong debator. In Double Down, he was cited as Romney's debate coach and played Obama very well. In fact, the book said he was one of the strongest debators in Congress IIRC.

Even really good debaters sometimes drop the ball.

See: First Presidential Debate, Barack Obama's performance

@KingSweden - I love the insane amount of work you've put into this timeline. It's really well done all around. Keep it up!

(though I must say this Cruz-Portman ticket makes me want to cry)

I can see this all happening. In general, it's pretty good detail. A few months a post a post about once a day. It looks like Hillary will do reasonably well as Obama has left this country firmly breaking even in fortune as civilization in the rest of the continues to steadily decline after failing to fully recover from the last major melt down.

Thanks! I'm glad you guys like it. I'm very flattered by the positive response to this TL

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

My only nitpick is that Portman is known to be a strong debator. In Double Down, he was cited as Romney's debate coach and played Obama very well. In fact, the book said he was one of the strongest debators in Congress IIRC.

Even really good debaters sometimes drop the ball.

See: First Presidential Debate, Barack Obama's performance

@KingSweden - I love the insane amount of work you've put into this timeline. It's really well done all around. Keep it up!

(though I must say this Cruz-Portman ticket makes me want to cry)

I can see this all happening. In general, it's pretty good detail. A few months a post a post about once a day. It looks like Hillary will do reasonably well as Obama has left this country firmly breaking even in fortune as civilization in the rest of the continues to steadily decline after failing to fully recover from the last major melt down.

Thanks! I'm glad you guys like it. I'm very flattered by the positive response to this TL

My one nitpick was my only nitpick; this timeline has been awesome! Keep up the awesome work!

[Türkisblau]

As someone who has lurked for a while and love all the timelines posted on here, yours has made me want to give some encouragement. Keep going!