General Powell and Friends: A TL

King Nazar

King Nazar

General Powell and Friends

Just a mini-TL I had been planning on for a while. Tis' my first attempt at a political TL, be nice and enjoy :)

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And so it begins . . .


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Looking back, one would have thought that Colin Powell was destined for all that he had accomplished, however, Mr. Powell was a lot more reluctant to run for president as most American's seem to remember. Since the Gulf War, Colin Powell consistently told the media that he was not interested in the presidency. Despite this, there was widespread speculation about Powell running in 1996. After that election the speculation did seem to quiet down by quite a bit. Needless to say, the media was taken by surprise when on May 3rd 1999, Colin Powell announced his intention to run for president. While it is not entirely known why exactly Mr. Powell decided to run for president, his future biography says that it was caused by his wife's sudden change of heart, disappointment with the Republican candidates and regret for not defeating Clinton when he had the opportunity to do so in 1996. Regardless of what caused Colin Powell to change his mind, the media was taken by surprise and covered his campaign extensively from then on. Overnight, he eliminated George W. Bush's Gallup poll lead from 46% to 23%. He himself would become the GOP front runner with 39% from a Gallup poll in June 1999.

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Just about everyone in the GOP primary was furious at Powell's sudden entrance in the race, perhaps none more so then John McCain. One of the reasons why he entered the race in 2000 was because he, and just about everyone in the country, thought that Colin Powell would not enter the race and this would provide an opening for McCain. McCain knew he was not polling very well to begin with. The last Gallup poll before Powell entered had him at 4%. He knew there was almost no way he could win this, but he also wanted to stay in the race. If anything, McCain wanted to remain as a thorn in Powell's backside for the rest of the race.

-Reason. Time Magazine Article . November 12, 2013



Gallup: June 12, 1999

Colin Powell - 39%
George W. Bush - 23%
Elizabeth Dole - 7%
Steve Forbes - 3%
John McCain - 2%
 
Cuāuhtemōc

Cuāuhtemōc

Banned
It looks to be a nice start. I always did like Powell and sometimes do wonder how bang up of a job he would do as President.
 
Ariosto

Ariosto

Thing is McCain did not formally annouce for the Republican Nomination until September of 1999. It was originally supposed to be in April, but the Kosovo War diverted his attention until then.
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King Nazar

King Nazar

Ariosto said:
Thing is McCain did not formally annouce for the Republican Nomination until September of 1999. It was originally supposed to be in April, but the Kosovo War diverted his attention until then.
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Click to expand...

This is true, however McCain did mention that he would be a candidate as early as April.
 
King Nazar

King Nazar

Thanks all:) here is the next bit.

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On the Democratic side, we have Al Gore who appeared to be the apparent front runner and the successor to Bill Clinton. However, he was getting some significant opposition from former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. Bradley was campaigning as a liberal alternative to Gore and received a lot of support from the left, which was getting increasingly tired with the moderate Clinton-Gore era. The Bradley campaign looked promising, it has gotten some pretty high profile endorsements, most notably from Mario Cuomo. Although Gore is the party favourite, Bradley was spending heavily in Iowa and is nearly tied with Gore in most opinion polls.

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Nothing particularly exciting was happening in the GOP side other then both Bush and Powell intensifying their respective campaigns in Iowa as the Ames Straw Poll approached and more importantly the actual Iowa Caucus. With the media pointing out that the GOP race was just a two person election with Gov. Bush and Gen. Colin Powell leading the race, two candidates chose to leave the race. Representative John R. Kasich of Ohio, left the race and endorsed Mr. Bush. Senator Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire announced he was leaving the Republican Party and would run for President as an independent.

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-Reason. Time Magazine Article . November 12, 2013



Senator Is Leaving G.O.P.

New York Times - Published: July 13, 1999

WASHINGTON, July 12— Senator Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire said today that he was leaving the Republican Party ''on principle,'' making him the first sitting Republican senator in almost 50 years to make such a move.


July 19, 1999
Gallup National Poll

Colin Powell - 42%
George W. Bush - 31%
Elizabeth Dole - 5%
John McCain - 5%
Steve Forbes - 4%
 

Gen_Patton

I kind of hope he picks McCain as a running mate. We might avoid the torture at Gitmo, and well not only will we have the first Black President, but from what I can see, the first instance of both P and VP being veterans.

This TL looks to be getting interesting.
 

Paul V McNutt

Banned
The interesting question here is how are Powell's political skills.As National Security Advisor and Chair of the Joint Chiefs,you don't have to suffer fools. y You do running for president in Iowa and New Hampshire.
 
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