Clinton Who?
From Alternative History
TIMELINE
1988- Bill Clinton's long-winded speech before the Democratic Convention, makes him look far more foolish than he thought. His later attempt at redemption on "The Tonight Show" fails, when the show is pre-empted by an earthquake in San Francisco.
1992- Six days before the Iowa primary, Jennifer Flowers releases tapes of a conversation between her and Clinton. The tapes are highly incriminating and paint Clinton as an adulterer. Other women step forward and make similar charges. Again, an attempt to "clear the air" on "60 Minutes" ends badly as Clinton and his wife Hillary flub a question about former Democratic Presidential candidate Gary Hart and his problems with philandering.
Clinton comes in fourth behind Harkin, Tsongas, and Bob Kerrey in Iowa. Tsongas wins New Hampshire, with Kerrey second and Harkin third, and Clinton and Jerry Brown tied at fourth. South Carolina, Clinton's "make or break" (as a Southern state) leaves him in a poor third, behind Tsongas and Kerrey. He drops out of the race and returns to Arkansas.
1992- Paul Tsongas wins the Democratic nomination. He asks "Southern centrist" Al Gore to run as his Vice-President. Unfortunately, Tsongas is a "Greek Massachusetts liberal" and the parallels to Michael Dukakis are unmistakable. Despite the bleeding off of many conservative votes by Ross Perot, President George H.W. Bush wins a second term by 51%-44% over the Tsongas-Gore ticket.
1996- Dan Quayle runs for President as the incumbent Vice-President, and most Democrats consider this election to be a "cake-walk" for whoever takes the Democratic nomination. Unfortunately, the split between the conservatives and liberals in the Party, is more contentious than thought. By the time the primaries are throught, nominee Al Gore is badly bruised, both by his base, the "centrists" and by the liberal base, which openly calls him a sell-out. Quayle and his Vice-President Bob Dole win, but only by 2% and 4 electoral votes.
2000- Bill Clinton makes a second attempt at the Democratic nomination. His early numbers look good in Iowa, but just as the debates get underway, an intern at this Little Rock law firm admits in an e-mail, that she had been giving the former Arkansas governor oral sex for the past eight months. The e-mail, copied by a Republican friend of the woman, ends up on "The Drudge Report" and reporters swarm her home. Three weeks later, Clinton drops out of the race, as poll numbers show him in sixth place behind Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
2000- Republicans see their 20-year hold on the White House end as Senator John Breaux and Representative Bill Richardson defeat the Quayle/Dole ticket for the Presidency. Clinton, a friend of both men, is offered the Ambassadorship to the United Kingdom, but declines, as the offer is made public during the "transition period" of 2000 and more rumors and jokes arise about his past marriage infidelities.
2004- George W. Bush and Dick Cheney beat President Breaux in the 2004 elections by 52% to 47% and by 33 states. Breaux tagged as "weak" after the 9/11 attack by conservatives, suffered from low poll numbers since that tragedy and the ensuing recession, which caused a massive budget deficit.
Hillary Rodham Clinton runs in her native state of Illinois for the US Senate. She has a decent showing against Barak Obama, but cannot win in the primary, as charges of "carpet-bagger" are thrown around in the Chicago press.
