You should have Richard Holbrooke as UN Ambassador and Sam Nunn as National Security Advisor.
America's Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond
- Thread starter CountDVB
- Start date
Possible with Nunn though would be iffy, will check out Richard Holbrooke
also Lee Hamilton, David Aaron, or George Lee Butler
Autumn 1996- The Scandal of Susurluk
While many people, both domestically and abroad participate over in the American elections along with many others watching with interesting, speculation was abound on who would win and what that would mean. One possibility Republicans, but with the upcoming mass retiring of old blood coming and the new blood coming in with their own ideas, it's all up in the air. This has become especially prominent since more of Congress was seeing some of the smaller parties and while they would vote aligned in blocs, it seemed more like it was the beginning of a transition of sort. What would be the end product, no one knows? After all, the United Citizens Party was becoming bigger and bigger now and their long term plans seem to have been paying off, but could they ever win the presidency? It was to say there. Meanwhile, the Askew Administration would keep going on with some last-minute reforms or plans. One of which was the raising of the US minimum wage over to $6.00 an hour. Udall had first increased it 1980's $3.10 to $3.50 in 1984 and $4.00 over in 1988. Askew in turn would follow the same pattern of sorts though to $5.00 in 1992. However, what would make this piece of legislation more prevelant is that this would include tipped workers as well, with Vice President Chisholm having pushed for this, noting that tougher economic times would deincentivize people from tipping and thus through this it would protect those sort of workers. Others have argued that a more comprehensive means of deciding minimum wage may be needed to make it simpler for long term updates. Another would be over in education as part of leftover reforms, one of which was returning school starting times back over to around 9 AM. This was done out of concern for the students and teachers' sleeping habits, with many noting how there was a drop in grades and achivement stating from the 1970s, where school districts would cut costs by messing with bus schedules and making school times earlier. However, thanks to a combination of increased investment in public transportation, urban infrastructure changes and the like, the Askew administration noted that restoring the later times would help. It would be the latest in a long program to try and centralize education reform in the US or at least have a stronger standard across the states.
Though speaking of politics, Turkish politics would enter international news with quite a scandal to say the least. The incident would come to light as a result of the Susurluk scandal. The scandal was named after a small town where a devastating crash between a car and truck would occur. However, what would make this disturbing was who the victims of the crash were: the deputy chief of the Istanbul Police Department, a Member of Parliament, and Abdullah Çatlı, the leader of the Grey Wolves and a contract killer for the National Intelligence Organization (Turkey), who was on Interpol's red list at the time of his death. [1] As such, there were very concerning questions and disturbing implications as to why a deputy police chief and the member of the Turkish parliament would be traveling with the leader of the Grey Wolves, a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist organization that many have noted to have fascist tendencies. However, as investigations would expand over, despite the attempt of Turkish leadership to suppress the information, the allegations would come into light. That it would expose a disturbingly close relationship among the deep state in Turkey, the Grey Wolves and the Turkish mafia, and all of it was leading back to the Turkish-Iranian War or more accurately, to the escalating conflict over with the Kurds. Unsurprisingly, the revelation that one of the now major political parties had ties with the mafia and a group of modern fascists would send shockwaves over throughout Turkey and beyond. Moreso over when the State Union of Sovereign Republics would reveal that the Grey Wolves were also heavily involved in the coup attempt over in Azerbaijan along with previous involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh War. [2] With this, the SUSR would declare the Grey Wolves a terrorist organization and that its affiliation over with the Nationalist Movement Party, part of the ruling coalition over in Turkey, was of concern of regional security. The United States of America along with Iran and their allies would move to do the same and Greece meawhile would resubmit its proposals for embargos over on Turkey and indeed, sanctions would begin being placed over by the SUSR, convincing even Ukraine for assistance here and threatening Turkey's usage over on the Black Sea. As the political situation escalated into worsening tensions, the Iranians and their allies responding by doubling down on their war efforts, especially Armenia and the Kurds as they continued their push. With the war becoming more and more painful for Turkey, especially with the looming threat of sanctions, the people being torn between nationalist paranoia and utter shock at the blatant corruption and the growing uncomfortable realization of the political problems of the government. This became moreso with the growing exposure of things like drug trafficking and money laundering associated with some of these politicians.
Of course, pop culture would have its own fair share of news. The Nintendo Ultra 64 would come out in North America over in the fall, with plenty of stockpiling for the holidays coming up. While the controller would be viewed as a bit odd if charming in its own way, the console would definitely be quite impressive as it would display Nintendo's leap over into 3D quite nicely. There would be plenty of upcoming games to see over though one of the bit of surprising news would be the release of Megaman 8 for the console, coming later than the one for Sony, along with the news that Capcom may not be porting future Megaman X games to the NU64. Some have noted Nintendo's attitude toward this news as "snubbed" and leading some to wonder if Nintendo may try and find their own version of Megaman. Meanwhile, MetroCentury Studios would decide to go and do something rather interesting: going into the business of news with the creation of the MetroNews Channel. The fascinating bit was on who was helming the creation of MetroNews, none other than Maurice Wolfe "Reese" Schonfeld, who several years prior formed CNN alongside Ted Turner. Schonfeld would come onto make MetroNews under the condition of having creative freedom though he in turn would be influenced by the changing landscape, including a comment on how MetroNews sounded rather hip and if it would appeal to the younger generation, something that would serve as an influence on Schonfeld. Though speaking of Ted Turner, the news would finally be settled over on Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner: they would ultimately not merging. Some have noted that this may have been the desire of Ted Turner to maintain Turner Broadcasting as its own independent entity along with using it to grow film and television over in Atlanta. Despite this, the two companies would enter into quite a sweetheart deal with one another, and resulting in what both were wanting from the original merger idea: Warner Bros. had regaining the rights to its pre-1950 library, while Turner gaining access to the company's post-1950 library and other properties, though now with two companies remaining seperated, if working together regarding their shared interests and goals. [3]
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[1]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susurluk_scandal
[2]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Wolves_(organization)
[3]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996
While it is technically taking the place of Fox News, Murdoch isn't involved here so we're not gonna get politicized news here fortunately.
Well then it will likely be more sensationalist like this as that would get people to watch
I am thinking sensationalist to a degree. However, given the guy in charge made CNN, he would likely have his approach, though perhaps refined with how the news worked and now focused on a young audience and perhaps even more direct.
Given what he said: “We wanted to show every person doing every job,” he said in a later interview with CNN. “We wanted to show every mistake, everything raw. We wanted the people to live in our newsroom.”
I'm pretty sure this philosophy put in by Resse Schonfeld would be there, but now moreso and perhaps more determined.
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Glad everyone is enjoying this! Up next is the election stuff!
Though also, what does everyone think of the fact that school hours are now gonna be not as bad as OTL as well as the trend toward pay raises, especially since people working as waiters and so on now earn the same minimum wage as others like in fast food, eliminating the need for tips to supplement, but would still be influential.
Though also, what does everyone think of the fact that school hours are now gonna be not as bad as OTL as well as the trend toward pay raises, especially since people working as waiters and so on now earn the same minimum wage as others like in fast food, eliminating the need for tips to supplement, but would still be influential.
1996 US Elections
1996 US Elections
Much has changed since the last electoral season over back in 1992. With brand new amendments came a new way to do the system. Now, there was no Electoral College; not it would be decided over by the majority of the people, reaching a certain percentage. Of course, even with the new instructions and supplement material, including a television special over on PBS to help explain it, people were still a bit hesitant ot at least confused over on how this new method would end up working. However, the evidence was that it was the end of an old era and a new era would becoming soon with this.
The Democrats were well-aware that they would not be holding onto the White House though were more than happy with alot of the changes and the conservative Dems were gonna focus more on the retirement and some of the work done. However, with the large oncoming wave of retirements and the like, it would make the future quite uncertain. While some of them could hold some informal sway through seniority or perhaps working regarding the upper levels of party leadership, alot of them were noting that it was no longer their time and that growing circumstances was changing things faster than they were familiar with. Even big names like Ted Kennedy and so on would be having to leave and while some of the younger blood looked promising, there was a bit of a lack of a sense of direction. For some, it was a matter of what else could they actually accomplish given how they already did so much, at least what else that wasn't more of the same or building up from before. Others were a bit more ambitious and believed more could be done but whether they had the political push for it. Some just noted it would be good to slow down and wait for people to get used to the changes now and not put in some new ones, especially since they didn't know what some of the future stuff would hold.
The Republicans were feeling mixed on the matter. On the one hand, with Arlen Specter and folks taking after his example, they were pretty confident that they would be able to take the White House once more over after 16 years. The past decade and a half served as bitter and painful, but ultimately needed medicine for the Grand Old Party. With the troubles associated with Nixon and Ford as well as with Reagan, it was a long road in figuring out what went wrong. Initially, it was somewhat easy to find the problem, that being the successors to the Goldwater Republicans (especially since they were going beyond what Goldwater wanted and he pretty much disavowed them). As such, the Udall administration was filled with the GOP at civil war with those elements and over time, the liberal Republicans would win out as Udall's progressive policies would become popular among the US population. Furthermore, such a sentiment was fueled a counter-backlash; while the 1970s was fueled by a reactionary backlash against the progressive politics of the 1960s and the New Deal, the failures of the 1970s to deliver would have that backlash die down and replaced by a doubling down of those values championed by the New Dealers and Progressives when they proved to be successful. The Republicans supporting maintaining these successes would quickly gain favor and start cultivating growing power bases when retaking the party, especially in the South. It did come at some costs as the remaining elements trying to use old tricks like the "Southern Strategy" would backfire and lose them John B Anderson, cementing the need for the party to bury these ignoble plans. However, now that they are at the cusp of victory, what happens after? What do they stand for, besides maintaining the status quo? While new ideals and interpretations are being shaped, how the future of American conservatism would look like, even they did not know right now.
The Unizens meanwhile were focused more on gaining ground. However, while the last few years of growing their support base was helping, they began stepping up their game by courting certain political figures to join up with them. Given how their ideology was in somewhat in a state of flux (namely because what was defined as centralism was also currently fluid), it provided alot of opportunity for certain individuals to come in and make names for themselves. In fact, a growing number of people were very much interested in them as they felt they were no longer fitting in either party or perhaps figured that since they were over at a dead end over in their political career, they didn't have much to lose over in joining the Unizens. This accelerated need to grow the party came about as a result of Ross Perot announcing that he would not be running again in the next campaign cycle, but still hold a form of presence within the party. And already, a few emerging names for to those the party were being considered...
Election day had come.
The House and Senate were a mix now though the Democrats had a faint lead, though this was not accounting for some of the independents that were aligned with the parties regarding common interests. But the big story was over for the presidency.
The Unizens won a surprising amount of vote and doing well. However, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly would be the victor of the election. Despite the new election system, the need for run-offs did not occur, if mainly because this candidate managed to reach the percentage of the votes needed over to win. Many attibuted this to people not being entirely used to the new system along with the decreased turnout.
And after 16 years, it would seem the Republicans would finally reclaim the White House.
Arlen Specter would become the 42nd President of the United States.
42nd President Arlen Specter & 44th Vice President Colin Powell
Awesome update!1996 US Elections
Much has changed since the last electoral season over back in 1992. With brand new amendments came a new way to do the system. Now, there was no Electoral College; not it would be decided over by the majority of the people, reaching a certain percentage. Of course, even with the new instructions and supplement material, including a television special over on PBS to help explain it, people were still a bit hesitant ot at least confused over on how this new method would end up working. However, the evidence was that it was the end of an old era and a new era would becoming soon with this.
The Democrats were well-aware that they would not be holding onto the White House though were more than happy with alot of the changes and the conservative Dems were gonna focus more on the retirement and some of the work done. However, with the large oncoming wave of retirements and the like, it would make the future quite uncertain. While some of them could hold some informal sway through seniority or perhaps working regarding the upper levels of party leadership, alot of them were noting that it was no longer their time and that growing circumstances was changing things faster than they were familiar with. Even big names like Ted Kennedy and so on would be having to leave and while some of the younger blood looked promising, there was a bit of a lack of a sense of direction. For some, it was a matter of what else could they actually accomplish given how they already did so much, at least what else that wasn't more of the same or building up from before. Others were a bit more ambitious and believed more could be done but whether they had the political push for it. Some just noted it would be good to slow down and wait for people to get used to the changes now and not put in some new ones, especially since they didn't know what some of the future stuff would hold.
The Republicans were feeling mixed on the matter. On the one hand, with Arlen Specter and folks taking after his example, they were pretty confident that they would be able to take the White House once more over after 16 years. The past decade and a half served as bitter and painful, but ultimately needed medicine for the Grand Old Party. With the troubles associated with Nixon and Ford as well as with Reagan, it was a long road in figuring out what went wrong. Initially, it was somewhat easy to find the problem, that being the successors to the Goldwater Republicans (especially since they were going beyond what Goldwater wanted and he pretty much disavowed them). As such, the Udall administration was filled with the GOP at civil war with those elements and over time, the liberal Republicans would win out as Udall's progressive policies would become popular among the US population. Furthermore, such a sentiment was fueled a counter-backlash; while the 1970s was fueled by a reactionary backlash against the progressive politics of the 1960s and the New Deal, the failures of the 1970s to deliver would have that backlash die down and replaced by a doubling down of those values championed by the New Dealers and Progressives when they proved to be successful. The Republicans supporting maintaining these successes would quickly gain favor and start cultivating growing power bases when retaking the party, especially in the South. It did come at some costs as the remaining elements trying to use old tricks like the "Southern Strategy" would backfire and lose them John B Anderson, cementing the need for the party to bury these ignoble plans. However, now that they are at the cusp of victory, what happens after? What do they stand for, besides maintaining the status quo? While new ideals and interpretations are being shaped, how the future of American conservatism would look like, even they did not know right now.
The Unizens meanwhile were focused more on gaining ground. However, while the last few years of growing their support base was helping, they began stepping up their game by courting certain political figures to join up with them. Given how their ideology was in somewhat in a state of flux (namely because what was defined as centralism was also currently fluid), it provided alot of opportunity for certain individuals to come in and make names for themselves. In fact, a growing number of people were very much interested in them as they felt they were no longer fitting in either party or perhaps figured that since they were over at a dead end over in their political career, they didn't have much to lose over in joining the Unizens. This accelerated need to grow the party came about as a result of Ross Perot announcing that he would not be running again in the next campaign cycle, but still hold a form of presence within the party. And already, a few emerging names for to those the party were being considered...
Election day had come.
The House and Senate were a mix now though the Democrats had a faint lead, though this was not accounting for some of the independents that were aligned with the parties regarding common interests. But the big story was over for the presidency.
The Unizens won a surprising amount of vote and doing well. However, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly would be the victor of the election. Despite the new election system, the need for run-offs did not occur, if mainly because this candidate managed to reach the percentage of the votes needed over to win. Many attibuted this to people not being entirely used to the new system along with the decreased turnout.
And after 16 years, it would seem the Republicans would finally reclaim the White House.
Arlen Specter would become the 42nd President of the United States.
42nd President Arlen Specter & 44th Vice President Colin Powell
Glad you like, and things are gonna get more interesting from here~
After 16 years the Democrats run of the country has finally ended. Great election. Looking forward to seeing who will be in Arlen Specter's cabinet
1996 Overview
1996 Overview
1996 would be quite a year for the last days of the Askew Administration. With the inevitability of losing the White House and the oncoming end of the old guard for many of them, there was a home stretch to pass some last bits of regulation and the like. From things such as further pushing for centralization of education or at least education standards to raising minimum wage, it was a collection of more modest aspects that would help out alot. Another would be ensuring the completion of the remaining projects that had been ongoing since the start of the Askew Administration, such as the electrification of the expanded rail networks. One major example was beginning to approach the controversial topic on prostitution law and while the matter would seem to be decided with a more nuanced version of abolition or "neoabolition" as it would be viewed, it would be but the beginning of a drawn out conflict. Or a more recent example, laying the groundwork for some investigation for any "disruptive" elements in law enforcement and the military and the prevention of such. Such was the result from the Oklahoma City bombing last year and it looked like such troubles would not be over. After all, the encounter with the "munafics" of Montana along with the failed bombing attempt at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics proved that. In fact, that was perhaps one of the running theme over of the elections of this year: law and order. More importantly, on combating the threat brought by domestic terrorists. While crime has been going down nicely for a variety of factors, the concerns brought by these "munafics" and similar terrorist groups have begun shaping over the American zeitgeist, especially with the growing solidity of their ideology that people can use to distance themselves away from. This along with voter fatigue would be one of the reasons for the victory of Arlen Specter. Specter had become quite popular and his election helped finalize alot of the stanced held by him and his colleagues for the modern conservative. He hasn't changed much on them barring his stance on firearms; intially opposing most gun control reforms, he would moderate on his stance, if namely due to the concerns of domestic terrorists along with the oncoming data. Specter's election helped provide a sense of comfort and ease that even with what was going on, things would get better.
Internationally, it was a mixed bag. On the one hand, political reform was becoming an increasingly championed ideal. In the Anglosphere, there were growing calls to transition away from the antiquated first-past-the-post electoral system. Canada would succeed in doing so, joining the US, Australia, Ireland and Khalistan in that regard. The United Kingdom itself would be facing the rising call of this along with other nations in the Commonwealth. On a more radical level, the People's Republic of China would see a large step in democratization with local elections with plans to ease into larger levels over time. While there was still strict adherence regarding the parties (that being the CCP and the eight minority parties), it would allow for growing differences to do so, especially as some of these smaller parties would seek international support to help grow along with differentiation from the others. At the same time, there was plenty of tension and problems elsewhere. Saudi Arabia would seem to crawl further into a point of the need of reforms, mainly with more prominent figures like Osama Bin Laden calling for major reforms or even the end of the monarchy, something that would be spurred on by the Neo-Baathists over in Qatar and the two-party prominent system in Afghanistan. The Iranian-Turkish War took a turn with the reveal of the Susurluk scandal, exposing the connection of the Turkish deep state with mafias of the group and the ultranationalist group Grey Wolves, who have been marked as terrorists by the Sovereign Union with the revelation of them backing the coup attempt in Azerbaijan a year prior. As such, Turkey is growing more politically isolated as the US and SUSR consider embargos or at least sanctions along with proposals to the EU, resulting in a desperately growing tighter grip the government has and the fragile coalition approaching a point of cracking. With this, Iran's side raged on, with finishing consolidating control in the Turkisk Kurdistan region and going further north in a growing wave of violence. Support for the war was remaining somewhat strong, but the political turmoil in Turkey was causing increasing split decisions on the matter while Iran would get a boost through a scandal, but knew that they would need to try and push for an end soon, waiting for a good opportunity.
1996 would be quite a fascinating time over for film. One of the biggest hits would be Independence Day, a rather patriotic film of an alien invasion upon the United States and the US making a counter-attack. While a rather entertaining and bombastic experience, it did provide some commentary on resource exploitation and callous of treating others different than yourself. Another blood-bumping action film would be Mission Impossible over with Tom Cruise and prove to be quite entertaining. One interesting trend would be the result of black comedies, with films such as Fargo along with The Cable Guy, which would get alot of attention. Another film with a dark comedy edge would be none than Scream, if namely as a slasher film that criticizes some of the cliches and so on that have been in such slasher films as of late. While not the biggest hit, it became a cult classic. One film that would be viewed as a cult classic would be Space Jam. Seeing real-life Micheal Jordan team up with the Looney Tunes was quite a wild ride and there was a bit of a troubled production due to direction, though rewrites did help ease tensions. While an odd choice, it would be highly beloved by children growing up over in the 1990s. Disney would contiue on with its animated classics with Hunchback of Notre Dame. While pretty successful, many have noted some similarities between Judge Frollo and the antagonist from Aida & Radames though with some pointed differences.
Though perhaps the most eagerly-anticipated film would be the long-awaited Ghostbusters II. The original writers with Joel T. Schumacher as the director with the main 4 reuniting. Set around a decade after the events of the first film, the Ghostbusters have risen to national fame though they are unsure of what to do after having busted most ghosts and somewhat retiring. Ebon Spengler notably works as an university professor though mysterious phenomena has the alarm react for the first time and he heads out as he sees it's something different and intense. However, he is not alone; he ends up being followed by some college students who end up becoming the next generation of Ghostbusters: occult goth girl Kylie Griffin (played by Winona Ryder), engineering expert Roland Jackson (played by Jamie Foxx), smart alec hacker Eduardo River (played by Renoly Santiago of Hackers) and tough paraplegic Garret Miller (played by Corey Haim, recommended by Schumacher). The film sees the Ghostbusters reunite and handle a new and more modern world with the themes of passing the torch and going beyond the boundaries. The antagonist is none other than the Order of Gozer, a cult who believe that Gozer will save them and purify their world (a massive jab over at the Christian munafics and domestic terrorists) and the final fight sees both teams weaponize the Statue of Liberty to fight. The film was quite a success and would see the original team be given the Medal of Honor along with talks of creating a government agency while the students become trained as the new generation.
Video games meanwhile would take a very large leap this year with the transition over to 3D graphics over in consoles. Games like Super Maio 64 would show what the Nintendo Ultra 64 could start doing though the SNES would still get some attention with the release of Super Mario RPG. The Sony Playstation meanwhile would aim for their own audience over with Resident Evil, Tekken 2 and Crash Bandicoot making their way over and capturing the imagination over of children. However, portable gaming would triumph over them all with the release of a new game franchise released by Nintendo and Game Freak for the GamePal... Pokemon. Coming in Red version or Blue version (Green in Japan), the game would let you choose between a male or female trainer (known as Red or Blue) with their rival known as Green in taming powerful creatures with superpowers known as Pokemon, short for Pocket Monsters. Nintendo would bet big on the series with an upcoming animated series and plenty of other ideas tossed over, 150 (or rather 151) Pokemon would be introduced across the world over on the GamePal. In one last bit of gaming news, many noted that Microsoft would possibly enter the gaming market as would it announce the finalization of its acquisition of Atari and its various assets, with all of it becoming a subsidary of Microsoft, with many wondering what Microsoft could be having planned for having Atari.
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NICE STUFF!1996 US Elections
Much has changed since the last electoral season over back in 1992. With brand new amendments came a new way to do the system. Now, there was no Electoral College; not it would be decided over by the majority of the people, reaching a certain percentage. Of course, even with the new instructions and supplement material, including a television special over on PBS to help explain it, people were still a bit hesitant ot at least confused over on how this new method would end up working. However, the evidence was that it was the end of an old era and a new era would becoming soon with this.
The Democrats were well-aware that they would not be holding onto the White House though were more than happy with alot of the changes and the conservative Dems were gonna focus more on the retirement and some of the work done. However, with the large oncoming wave of retirements and the like, it would make the future quite uncertain. While some of them could hold some informal sway through seniority or perhaps working regarding the upper levels of party leadership, alot of them were noting that it was no longer their time and that growing circumstances was changing things faster than they were familiar with. Even big names like Ted Kennedy and so on would be having to leave and while some of the younger blood looked promising, there was a bit of a lack of a sense of direction. For some, it was a matter of what else could they actually accomplish given how they already did so much, at least what else that wasn't more of the same or building up from before. Others were a bit more ambitious and believed more could be done but whether they had the political push for it. Some just noted it would be good to slow down and wait for people to get used to the changes now and not put in some new ones, especially since they didn't know what some of the future stuff would hold.
The Republicans were feeling mixed on the matter. On the one hand, with Arlen Specter and folks taking after his example, they were pretty confident that they would be able to take the White House once more over after 16 years. The past decade and a half served as bitter and painful, but ultimately needed medicine for the Grand Old Party. With the troubles associated with Nixon and Ford as well as with Reagan, it was a long road in figuring out what went wrong. Initially, it was somewhat easy to find the problem, that being the successors to the Goldwater Republicans (especially since they were going beyond what Goldwater wanted and he pretty much disavowed them). As such, the Udall administration was filled with the GOP at civil war with those elements and over time, the liberal Republicans would win out as Udall's progressive policies would become popular among the US population. Furthermore, such a sentiment was fueled a counter-backlash; while the 1970s was fueled by a reactionary backlash against the progressive politics of the 1960s and the New Deal, the failures of the 1970s to deliver would have that backlash die down and replaced by a doubling down of those values championed by the New Dealers and Progressives when they proved to be successful. The Republicans supporting maintaining these successes would quickly gain favor and start cultivating growing power bases when retaking the party, especially in the South. It did come at some costs as the remaining elements trying to use old tricks like the "Southern Strategy" would backfire and lose them John B Anderson, cementing the need for the party to bury these ignoble plans. However, now that they are at the cusp of victory, what happens after? What do they stand for, besides maintaining the status quo? While new ideals and interpretations are being shaped, how the future of American conservatism would look like, even they did not know right now.
The Unizens meanwhile were focused more on gaining ground. However, while the last few years of growing their support base was helping, they began stepping up their game by courting certain political figures to join up with them. Given how their ideology was in somewhat in a state of flux (namely because what was defined as centralism was also currently fluid), it provided alot of opportunity for certain individuals to come in and make names for themselves. In fact, a growing number of people were very much interested in them as they felt they were no longer fitting in either party or perhaps figured that since they were over at a dead end over in their political career, they didn't have much to lose over in joining the Unizens. This accelerated need to grow the party came about as a result of Ross Perot announcing that he would not be running again in the next campaign cycle, but still hold a form of presence within the party. And already, a few emerging names for to those the party were being considered...
Election day had come.
The House and Senate were a mix now though the Democrats had a faint lead, though this was not accounting for some of the independents that were aligned with the parties regarding common interests. But the big story was over for the presidency.
The Unizens won a surprising amount of vote and doing well. However, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly would be the victor of the election. Despite the new election system, the need for run-offs did not occur, if mainly because this candidate managed to reach the percentage of the votes needed over to win. Many attibuted this to people not being entirely used to the new system along with the decreased turnout.
And after 16 years, it would seem the Republicans would finally reclaim the White House.
Arlen Specter would become the 42nd President of the United States.
42nd President Arlen Specter & 44th Vice President Colin Powell