The Reform Party: 20 Years of History

[President Benedict Arnold]

I have started a number of timelines on this site that either grew too expansive or too narrow in focus and I felt I had to abandon eventually. My longest run was about 18 chapters, so I decided to make this timeline nice and simple. There will be 20 chapters, one for every year from the timeline's beginning to its end. There will be no schedule or deadlines. I unfortunately may go months without updating, but I've got too much life stuff to make any commitments now.

Anyway, the PoD for this timeline is somewhere in the spring of 1992. There's a few other things going on, but the premise is that Ross Perot never drops out. First update coming within the hour. Hope you enjoy!

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

1992

The year that began with President Bush vomiting on the Prime Minister of Japan has spelled the end of his presidency and perhaps the end of the Republican Party. It will go down in history as either the dawn of a new political era or the realization of one that began within the last 10 years or so.

Change was not in the air in early February when all the expected names like Mario Cuomo, Jerry Brown, and Al Gore declined to run, fearing Bush’s electoral strength. Instead, we got Governor Bill Clinton (D-AR), Reverend Jesse Jackson (D-SC), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Senator Bob Kerry (D-NE), and Senator Paul Tsongas (D-MA) as the serious candidates. The minor candidates who also ran, but got less than 1% of the vote were cult-ish conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, former Senator Eugene McCarthy, and Former Mayor of Irvine, CA Larry Argan.

The Democrats in 1988 were called the Seven Dwarfs, but the label could not stick to these seven. The big issues of the race were the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the recession that had started under President Bush, which energized the party and made him seem beatable. Iowa went to its favorite son, Tom Harkin, without any surprise. New Hampshire would go to Tsongas, the Senator of neighboring MA. Bill Clinton came in a strong second place, just about 10 points behind Tsongas. Harkin, Kerrey, and worst of all Jackson all underperformed in New Hampshire, falling way behind Clinton. Jackson bounced back a week later in Maine, narrowly defeating Tsongas with Clinton trailing in third. South Dakota would throw itself behind Bob Kerrey, with Harkin in second, Clinton in third, and everybody else below 2%.

On the Republican side, you had President George Bush seeking re-election after a first term with its ups and its downs. Bush’s approval ratings passed 80% over his handling of the First Gulf War, but they fell considerably when the recession began, and it only looks to be getting worse. This spurred a primary challenge from Pat Buchanan, currently a conservative commentator and formerly White House Communications Director. He ran on an anti-establishment platform, with nationalistic and conservative opposition to immigration, LGBT rights, and abortion. Despite being denounced as an anti-Semite by numerous individuals, most notably William Buckley Jr., Buchanan was able to pose a threat to the president. The first primary was in New Hampshire, and early on it looked like the president would lose to Buchanan, with him leading the early count. Bush ended up winning 53.2% to Buchanan’s 37.5%, but it became clear that Bush was vulnerable.

The Democartic Primary race continued into March, with the candidates exchanging blows and the field slowly began to narrow. There were three primaries and four caucuses all taking place on the 3rd. Clinton won Utah, Jackson won Georgia, Tsongas won Colorado, Maryland, and Washington, Harkin won Idaho and Minnesota, and Kerrey won nothing and dropped out. Four days later, Clinton narrowly won South Carolina in a hotly contested race with Jackson, the state’s favorite son and easily took Wyoming over Harkin and Tsongas. Tsongas would win Arizona, with Clinton in second and Jackson in third. The next day, Jackson would win the Nevada Caucus with Clinton in second and Tsongas in third. Clinton, the obvious frontrunner, was attacked for character flaws and his centrist politics by the politically left wing Jackson and the broadly liberal Tsongas. Some could say that they split the anti-Clinton vote, but their bases did not entirely overlap.

Bush won South Dakota, Colorado, Maryland, Georgia, and South Carolina with spirited opposition. Buchanan failed to make the South Dakota ballot, but nonetheless 30% of people voted against Bush. It was clear Buchanan would not unseat the president, but the fact he had any traction at all was a bad sign for the incumbent president. For all of March, President Bush rarely received less than 60% of the vote again, but only managed to crack 70% once, in the Mississippi primary on March 10th. The race that stole the show was the Louisiana primary. Bush easily won with 61.9% of the vote, but Pat Buchanan got 27% of the vote, and former Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, David Duke would shock with 10.9%. It was clear that the Republican Party was dissatisfied with the establishment and further right wing elements were making gains.

March 10th was also an important date for the Democrats. It was Super Tuesday and spelled the end of the race, as Bill Clinton won eight of the eleven states that voted. Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas all went to Clinton, who also came in second in Delaware and Rhode Island. Those states and Massachusetts all went to Tsongas. It could be argued that the race continued until Tsongas dropped out on March 24th, but only a fool would say that Jackson stood a chance after winning after winning no states on Super Tuesday. Despite Clinton’s electoral strength, there was a present dissent and opposition to his sort of politics.

As the recession continued, President Bush’s numbers tumbled. Public anger grew against the establishment of both parties and that anger would boost the political aspirations of one Texas billionaire. H. Ross Perot appeared on Larry King Live on February 20th, just weeks before Clinton and Bush locked up their nominations, to announce he would run for president as an independent if volunteers got him on the ballot in every state.

Perot’s campaign would not truly begin until March 12th, following the victories of both centrist leaning candidates. He set up a phone bank to recruit volunteers and made a public pledge to not accept any donation of more than $5. Perot looked better positioned than any independent candidate in modern history. He was running against the politics that people hated, and that would quickly prove itself to be increasingly popular. At the end of March, the LA Times published these numbers:
Bush: 48%
Clinton: 46%
Someone else: 2%
Don’t know: 4%
If the general election for President were held today between George Bush and Jesse Jackson, for whom would you vote?
Bush: 51%
Jackson: 43%
Someone else: 2%
Don’t know: 4%
If the general election for President were held today between George Bush and Paul E. Tsongas, for whom would you vote?
Bush: 48%
Tsongas: 45%
Someone else: 2%
Don’t know: 5%
If the general election for President were held today between George Bush, Bill Clinton and H. Ross Perot, for whom would you vote?
Bush: 37%
Clinton: 35%
Perot: 21%
Someone else: 1%
Don’t know: 6%
Do you think George Bush has the honesty and integrity to serve as President?
Yes: 67%
No: 26%
Not sure: 6%
Refused to answer: 1%
Do you think Bill Clinton has the honesty and integrity to serve as President?
Yes: 39%
No: 38%
Not sure: 22%
Refused to answer: 1%

Margin of error is +/-3%

On April 14th, the day after the Chicago Flood, Perot would appear in Chicago with Mayor Richard M. Daley donated $100 million to assist in the clean up. Just four days later, Perot would appear on Good Morning America to denounce Mayor Daley and the city government of Chicago when it was revealed they knew the hazard the tunnel posed. Perot’s famous “Shame on you Mayor Daley,” would remain a somewhat common and increasingly lame reference into the late ‘90s, but was charming at the time.

By mid-April, the Ross Perot Presidential Campaign had recruited an all-star team to build an electoral machine. It was headed by two Co-Campaign Managers, Hamilton Jordan and Ed Rollins. Jordan had been Jimmy Carter’s Campaign Manager in 1976, while Rollins had been Ronald Reagan’s Campaign Manager in 1984. Jordan was six years removed from his failed Senate run in Georgia, while it had been only four years since Jack Kemp’s failed 1988 Presidential Campaign headed by Rollins.

A Data Analyst for Jimmy Carter’s 1976 Campaign would also join the team; Patrick Caddell was a Senior Data Analyst and Advisor to Presidential Candidate Ross Perot. Jordan and Rollins would often clash with each other and Perot, but grew better at working together with time. The two of them would never work well with Patrick Cadell. Rollins would have this to say about Cadell in a tell-all interview in 1998: “It felt as if his job was to be out of step with us... and to disagree with us on almost everything.” Cadell had an interesting career trajectory, working on a presidential campaign every four years for the past 20 in an increasingly major capacity. In 1972 he worked for George McGovern and then went to work as a pollster and advisor to Jimmy Carter in 1976, helping shape the message that brought him a narrow victory. He would work on Carter’s failed 1980 re-election campaign and then go on to work for Gary Hart in 1984 and Joe Biden in 1988. He departed from the Democratic Party the same time he left his party-aligned law firm. Earlier this year, he was part of Tom Harkin’s campaign because of his anti-NAFTA views rather than any sort of party loyalty and had no problem migrating over to Perot.

At the end of April, the country would be rocked by the LA Riots. Perot would have this to say:
https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4695341/user-clip-ross-perot-la-riots

His broad message of unity did not turn anybody off, but was criticized for having little in terms of policy or any sort of specifics in mind. This criticism would be a festering sore for the Perot Campaign into the summer.

On May 5th, Alabama would ratify a 202 year old proposed Amendment to Constitution that would bar Congress from giving itself a midterm or retroactive pay raise. Perot would cheer on the passage of the 27th Amendment. “It is common sense legislation that is long overdue and I only wish it went further. Perhaps the 28th and 29th Amendments should be term-limits and limits what can be spent on a campaign.”

In early June, Perot would reach his peak. He was ahead with 39%, Bush had 31%, and Clinton had 25%. It would only go downhill from there, as the controversy over his daughter's wedding became a never ending issue. I feel it is barely worth discussing in detail here, but tom summarize, a fire took place at the venue that was going to serve as the location for Perot's daughter's wedding the night before. Perot would claim it was "Republican operatives" out to "psychologically intimidate me into dropping out."

After Watergate and Iran Contra, people were willing to believe the Republican Party was capable of overt criminality, but the idea that they would start a fire at Ross Perot’s daughter’s wedding was a bit too far for most Americans. Perot’s accusations never gained any evidence to back it up and accurately came across as the mad ravings of a man under far too much stress. His numbers fell as he failed to just drop the issue for the following month. It was all the tabloids could talk about, and Perot always wanted to respond. By July 4th, just one month after he had an overwhelming lead, Perot was in second place with 31% behind Bush who had 33% and ahead of Clinton who had 30%.

The Democratic National Convention was held from July 13th to July 16th in Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Convention went on without fault, but without much excitement either. The only moment of much interest was when Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas appeared with Senator, and former Governor, Bob Graham of Florida. As the head of a risky, two Southerner ticket, Clinton’s calm charm eased the crowd and made them think they could really be looking at a future President and Vice President.

However, to get back to the fears about the ticket: not only were they both Southerners, but they were also both centrist-leaning New Democrats with basically identical politics. Graham was from the all-important swing state of Florida, which made his nomination make some kind of sense to those who buy conventional wisdom, but it will always remain an oddity for the history books.

In August, Perot would make a comeback with the Independent Convention that he chose Busch Stadium (Busch II) in St. Louis, MO. Early in the summer, Perot wanted to hold it in Philadelphia, but found the Gateway to the West more appealing. James Squires, the former chief editor of the Chicago Tribune and chief advisor to Ross Perot, would be put in charge of assembling the Independent Convention in St. Louis. He managed to assemble a wonderful array of speakers. The Convention lasted from August 5th to August 9th, with Mr. Clint Eastwood, former Congressman Pete McCloskey (R-CA), Governor Wally Hickel (I-AK), and Mrs. Helen Longley, the Former First Lady of Maine, spoke on the first day. Mr. Lee Iacocca, Mr. Murray Rothbard, Mr. Dennis Miller, and former Congressman John B. Anderson (R-IL) spoke on the second day. Mr. Willie Nelson, retired Admiral James Stockdale, Governor Lowell Weicker (I-CT), and Donald Trump spoke on the third day. Ross Perot, announcing his new running mate, would be the only speaker on the fourth day, but would appear on stage for just under four hours. Longtime Harvard President John Silber would become his Vice Presidential Candidate, with Perot saying “I know no man I’d rather have at my side.” Stockdale’s speaking slot at the convention was to prove there were no hard feelings between the former Vice-Presidential candidate and the campaign. Stockdale always knew he was a stand-in and by some accounts did not want the job. After Silber came out, the two of them would present the campaign’s long awaited platform, with Perot’s famous charts, of course.

My major takeaways from the platform:

1. Anti-NAFTA: Describes it as the looming threat to American jobs
2. Cuts to Medicare and Social Security
   1. Reduce cost of living payment increases for Social Security year over year
   2. Institute tax on wealthier recipients of Medicare and Social Security
   3. Reduce cost by $50 billion over 5 years
3. Cuts in domestic spending
4. Investment in education, communication and transportation programs
5. Increase in income taxes for the wealthy
6. Eliminate income taxes for new businesses for the first 5 years
   1. To encourage investors and business to think long term, lengthen the amount of time people must hold an investment to qualify for certain reductions in capital gains taxes
7. Increase in the gasoline tax
   1. Raise gasoline tax by $0.50 per year for 5 years
8. Public investment plan, add tens of billions of dollars into infrastructure, education, and job training
   1. Smaller than Mr. Clinton's plan to invest $200 billion in 4 years
9. Cut subsidies to large and corporate farms
10. Eliminate the budget deficit in five years
    1. Eliminate $150 billion in the deficit per year on average
11. The Perot Plan, as this economic overhaul would be called, would be financed by selling bonds, especially to pension funds
12. Pro-choice: Pledge to appoint pro-choice judges

Many called it “bold,” but some would call it “suicidal.” The calls to cuts for social programs and a tax hike on gasoline outraged many of Perot’s more liberal supporters, while his overtly pro-choice position angered his most conservative backers. The economic austerity on display was disappointing to a lot of activists who were hoping this third party would represent something truly new. There was no positive or negative effect in the polls, most Perot supporters were happy he released a real platform with specific policy positions, but it persuaded nobody not already on board.

The Republican National Convention was held in Houston, Texas that year, eight days after the Independent Convention ended, on August 17th. It would only last three days, ending on August 20th with AIDS activist Mary Fisher delivering an incredible speech and Bush and Quayle being renominated as every incumbent President and Vice-President should. Bush saw no real bump from the RNC, with his polling in the following weeks seeming to go up just 1-2%, if that.

The general election had truly begun and it was one of the most exciting in decades. With a competitive three way race, Clinton/Graham, Bush/Quayle, and Perot/Silber flew this way and that across the country. From swing state to swing state to a typically safe state threatened by Perot, Bush and Clinton exhausted fundraising and campaign staff like no major party candidate had done before. It was all to try to keep up with Perot, whose billions gave him an infinite pool of wealth to draw from. Rollins, Hamilton, and Cardell found a tense peace where they would privately argue ferociously about what to do, but would present a united front to Perot and help curate a strong message of change in the fall.
“We truly thought we had a chance.” Hamilton mused. “We really did.”

William Jefferson Clinton/Daniel Robert Graham
38% of the vote 363/538 Electoral College votes
39,681,091 Democratic votes
George Herbert Walker Bush/James Danforth Quayle
32.4% of the vote and 134/538 Electoral College votes
33,833,351 Republican votes
Henry Ross Perot/John Robert Silber
28.9% of the vote and 41/538 Electoral College votes
30,178,514 Independent votes

Perot won, in order of margin of victory, in Maine, Alaska, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, and Idaho. Idaho was won by only 97 votes over President Bush. Perot narrowly lost in Colorado to Clinton having 35.13% with Perot getting 33.32%, in Oregon to Clinton having 37.48% with Perot getting 34.21%, and in Utah to Bush having 38.36% with Perot getting 37.34%. Ohio was another competitive three way race. Bill Clinton won with 35.18% and George Bush was in a close second with 33.35%, losing by 1.83%. Ross Perot not far behind with 30.98% meaning he lost by 4.2%. Overall, with 41 Electoral Votes and just under 29% of the popular vote, Perot is the first independent to win a state since George Wallace and the first third party candidate to receive over 25% of the popular vote since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

Perot’s third place finish was the most impressive for an independent in over a century. As Bill Clinton celebrated his ascension to the presidency, there was a fear that something new had awakened in American politics and that it was not going away.

Exactly one month later, on December 3rd, 1992, the Ross Perot Campaign announced the formation of a new political party. Having tried, and failed to name itself the Independent Party of the United States or the Independent Party of America, due to conflicting party names already existing, they opted to name themselves the Reform Party of America. They chose the color purple to represent them and the eagle as their spirit animal, like the Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant.
The party would have eight founding members, former Presidential Candidate Ross Perot, Chief Advisor to Perot and intern Party Chair James Squires, Mr. Lee Iacocca, New York State Party Chair Laureen Oliver, Alaska Governor Wally Hickel, Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker, former Congressman John Anderson, and Minnesota State Party Chair Dean Barkley. These founding members agree to appoint James Squires as Party Chairman for a two year term, at which point an election will be held for a new chairman. Squires would be given wide powers in establishing the core of the party. He would create three branches of the party: the National Party Leadership Council, the State Party Representative Council, and the Party Congress. The National Party was the Leadership Council, made up of Party Chairman appointees, and the Representative Council, made up of every state party chairman. The Representative Council did nothing except make policy recommendations to the Leadership Council. The Party Congress basically only served that purpose as well, but it was made up of every registered party member and never met in person, existing exclusively through mailing lists. Squires next action was to absorb all affiliated parties as state parties, to serve as the initial infrastructure for the party. A Connecticut Party became the Connecticut Reform Party, the Alaskan Independence Party became the Independent Reform Party of Alaska, the Independence Party of Minnesota became the Independent Reform Party of Minnesota, and the Independence Party of New York became the Independent Reform Party of New York. Fun stuff.
Among the party’s initial financiers are billionaires Dick DeVos, Lee Iacocca, and Donald Trump, mainly through hosting fundraisers. Within the next year, billionaires Michael Bloomberg, and Jim Walton would also host a number of fundraisers for the party. America’s newest political party was founded with removing money from politics as part of its explicit message, but it seemed like it was cursed with Original Sin. It may be too deeply embedded into that system to truly achieve what it has set out to, but that can only be seen by looking at its full history.

Some interesting senate races also took place this year:

Governor Jerry Brown almost dropped out of the Senate race to run for President again. Whether that would have been a disaster or who missed out on becoming the 42nd President will forever be unknown, but Jerry Brown entering the Senate was a momentous occasion.

Wyche Fowler looked posed to lose for much of the election and early on in the runoff, it appeared as though Coverdell would win. Fowler would prove to sometimes be a thorn in the side for the Clinton Administration, but would often be a much needed vote. It's interesting to wonder what what have happened if this seat had fallen into Republican hands.

The forever scandal plagued Geraldine Ferraro would blow a massive lead, only to narrowly defeat incumbent Senator Al D'Amato. Senator Pothole, as he was fondly called was effective at attacking Ferraro for her husband's criminal behavior, delivering some memorable remarks in their debates, but it was not enough to hold onto his seat.

One of the biggest surprises was when Democrat Patty Murray lost in a state that Bill Clinton easily carried. Leo Thorsness would prove a maverick in the Senate, unbeholden to the party line.

Another candidate who initially looked to be doomed was Bob Kasten. Like Fowler in Georgia, Kasten was able to pull off a narrow victory, but in a much closer race. Kasten defeated Moody by under 5,000 votes. Three recounts had to take place before Kasten was certified as the winner in mid-November.

 

[Ryan lozano]

I would like to say that if Ross won (he didn’t drop out) he would only get a few of his ideas out from the legislature to the USA and he would only delay the trade alliance between Mexico, Canada, and the USA

 

[NyQuil]

Very nice timeline so far

 

[X_X]

Senator Thorsness! Don't think I've ever seen the good Colonel in a timeline before! That is badass!

 

[Rivercat893]

I'm looking forward to this timeline. America needs more parties that represent citizens.

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

Happy with the feedback so far and hope you guys enjoy the next part!

Slight content warning: Bill Clinton’s historic scandals are an unpleasant topic but need to be mentioned, so I mention them without going into any detail.

1993

The twilight days of the Bush Administration were fairly eventful for a lameduck session. President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin would sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. Ten days later, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlawed the weapons, took place and was signed and later ratified into law. Under threat of a national no-fly zone, Iraq agreed to allow UNSCOM inspectors unlimited access to specific facilities the United States has deemed “highly likely” to be in use to develop nuclear weapons. These foreign policy achievements seemed to be trying to strengthen the legacy of President Bush. He would be remembered as the foreign policy steward who ended the Cold War but did not do enough for the economy and was punished for it.

Bill Clinton was sworn in as President on January 20th, becoming the 42nd President in United States History. At the inauguration, he shook hands with the outgoing 41st President, who he had defeated only months before. Also present, in the audience, was the man who faced both of them and did better than anybody expected, Ross Perot. There was no sense of the political fight that existed between Perot and the politicians he was surrounding himself with. The Reform Party was hardly viewed as a threat, with most political commentators wondering if it will even last to the next presidential election. What they did not know was that Perot had another race in mind, and one much sooner.

Senior Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen was the Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate in 1988. An elder and loyal party man, Clinton wanted to reward him with the position of Treasury Secretary. Bentsen would be approved as Treasurer later that day, and resign. His resignation from the Senate opened up a special election, to take place that June. Patrick Caddell, who had stayed on as a party employee, advised Perot were to jump into the special election due to its unique rules. The special election has a blanket primary where the top two of all candidates move on to the general election, so Perot did not have to worry about another three-way race.

Perot was thinking about this as he watched the inauguration proceed, and gave Caddell a call after Bentsen was confirmed. Caddell recalled the first words out of his mouth: “Let's do this. Lets run for Senate.” and his response was: “Ok, I am in Houston--” to which Perot responded “Good. Stay there.” And hung up. Texas Governor Ann Richards, another Democrat, appointed Texas Railroad Commissioner Bob Krueger to the Senate seat, with the blanket primary scheduled for the beginning of May.

The Clinton Administration’s all important first one-hundred days in office are remembered as the embarrassing in modern history. Bill Clinton would focus his attention on the economic stimulus package promised on the campaign would turn into a budget battle as it began to make its way through Congress. The ideas raised by the Perot Campaign were not unique to them, and Republicans fought hard in the House and Senate to try to eliminate the deficit. Bill Clinton lobbied hard for them to accept a reduction instead, which many were open to, but Clinton’s proposed tax increases remained unacceptable. Clinton would attempt to compromise with deeper cuts but Speaker Tom Foley and Senate Leader George Mitchel fought back when they thought the president went too far. The stimulus-budget fight would continue beyond Clinton's one-hundred days completely unresolved, but before then, the Administration would open up a new front in a fight for a win.

After announcing in January, Byron White would retire from the Supreme Court on March 29th. He was the last member of the Warren Court, appointed by President Kennedy in 1962. Bill Clinton had no real plan on who should replace him, with the popular story making it sound as if Clinton had given it no prior thought. He would spend weeks combing through dozens of candidates, holding off on actually making a nomination until summer. This did not stop the rumor mill, and Clinton’s staff was more than happy to leak juicy gossip on who he was considering to the press. Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law professor and constitutional scholar, and Stephen Carter, a professor at Yale, were the names that circulated early on, but then it got weirder. Clinton would ask Senate Majority Leader George Mitchel, Secretary of Education Richard Riley, and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, all of whom declined. He would then spend several days considering nominating his wife, First Lady Hillary Clinton, to the Supreme Court, but was thankfully talked out of that. Eventually, he would arrive at total political unknown Janie Shores, the first woman to ever serve on the Alabama Supreme Court. He would be turned away from that option by his aides, but had considered it for an entire week before arriving at his first nominee.

Bill Clinton had relied on his Chief of Staff and lifelong friend Mack McLarty to handle a lot of the transition duties and together they had come up with a list of largely inoffensive cabinet picks. In March, Clinton would go with a different approach for what he called his “signature healthcare legislation.” His wife led the charge and serve as the face and champion of the healthcare bill. Hillary Clinton would head the White House healthcare reform task force and receive basically all the blame when it all went up in smoke, but the problem lay in the Senate. George Mitchell was a respected figure and a master at wheeling and dealing; he had to be leading the divided Democratic Caucus, with progressive, liberal, moderate, and conservative-leaning senators all under one banner. None of the policymakers in Congress liked how they were dealing with the First Lady on this issue instead of the President or perhaps a Cabinet Secretary, and were not quiet about it but they tolerated it. Despite his best efforts, he could not get the healthcare bill on the docket before summer and when it came to a vote, it was defeated in committee.

In the midst of this, questions of Bill Clinton’s character came back up when Paula Jones came out to accuse Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct during an incident that took place two years before and sued him for it. The president being sued for sexual misconduct was deeply troubling for many and calls began for Clinton to resign. Instead, he denied the allegations and would end up fighting the lawsuit in court. The media circus that would grow around this would slowly drown out everything else going on until it dominated headlines by the fall, with tabloid-like digs into everybody and everything even loosely connected to this story.

The American people were deeply unhappy with all of this, with as many as 84% of Americans saying the country was going in the wrong direction. President Clinton started the year with a 53% approval rating, and it fell as low as 34% in the summer. Despite these lows, Congress’s approval ratings were worse.

The same week, Ross Perot announced his candidacy for the Texas Senate Class-1 Special Election. The billionaire political outsider who had just won thirty million votes running for the presidency was looking to join “the worst club in America,” as he put it. The blanket primary on May 1st and the runoff would be on June 5th, assuming nobody won a majority. In this crowded field, nobody expected they would. Perot was the only independent of any note, but his other major opponents would be Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R), Bob Krueger (D) (inc.), Richard Fisher (D), Joe Barton (R), Jack Fields (R), and Jose Angel Gutierrez (D). Hutchinson and Krueger were his main opponents and Perot would contrast them to himself every chance he got. He would lambast Hutchinson’s social conservatism and Krueger’s lack of any major accomplishments in his long career in public service. It was important to remember Perot came in a very close third in Texas in 1992: Bush (35.56%) had 2,188,369, Clinton (32.08%) had 1,974,209, and Perot (32.01%) had 1,969,901. Despite the fact he had lost the state, Perot was confident that he could turn those nearly two million votes into a majority in an off year election.

Hutchinson was the Republican State Treasurer and was hoping to become the first woman to represent the state of Texas. She would attack Krueger as a “tax and spend liberal” and Perot as a “wacky conspiracy theorist.” Despite describing herself as pro-choice, both other candidates would attack her as too far-right on abortion. Perot would go after her on this in the one and only televised debate between the three of them: “Mrs. Hutchinson says she is pro-choice, but she isn’t really. She is for states having the choice as to whether or not you can get an abortion. That’s not really pro-choice, Mrs. Hutchinson.” She would deny these charges, but the damage was done. Just days later, on May 1st, the blanket primary would be held.

Perot emerged in first place with 695,558 votes (34%). The second place finisher was Kay Bailey Hutchinson with 593,338 votes (29%). They both defeated incumbent Senator Bob Krueger, who fell short with 429,609 votes (21%). Some Republican candidates consolidated behind Hutchinson ahead of the vote, with the other candidates fearing a Perot-Krueger run off more than anything. Perot’s campaign was energized by their first place finish in the primary, saying “We just have to carry this energy into June.”

Not long after that was when Bill Clinton had finally announced his Supreme Court nominee. He had been among the first people Clinton offered the seat too and, while he initially declined, he later came around to the idea and asked Clinton to be reconsidered. On April 22nd, President Clinton nominated New York Governor Mario Cuomo to the Supreme Court and proceedings would begin immediately.

Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork and Bush’s nomination of Clarence Thomas resulted in huge political fights in the Senate and Cuomo’s did the exact same thing. Cuomo’s nomination was championed by Judiciary Chair Joe Biden (D-DE) and emphatically opposed by ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-UT). It took a lot of political capital to get his nomination out of committee and onto the floor. A lot of ranking Democrats were public in their opposition to the liberal governor joining the court, including President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Majority Whip Wendell Ford (D-KY). Cuomo had practiced law professionally before entering public service as the Secretary of State of New York in 1975, but some believed that was not enough experience to become one of nine judges deciding all Constitutional matters. Cuomo was also questioned about the Mafia, which he said did not exist in any greater capacity than any other ethnic gang, which caused more controversy. There was also, of course, his politics. Cuomo was strongly pro-choice and against the death penalty, two positions that made opposition to his nomination a crusade for the Religious Right. The Archbishop of New York, John Joseph O’Connor had previously considered excommunicating Mario Cuomo for his position on abortion and there was renewed pressure for him to do so from the right wing across the country, but he would continue to decline. Right up to the vote, polls showed that over 50% of Americans opposed Cuomo’s nomination, with his support concentrated in coastal and liberal parts of the country. This heavily influenced the way many senators voted, fearing political reprisal if they did not oppose him themselves.

Defeated 48 to 49 to 3

Senators from Alabama
Howell Heflin (D) NO
Richard Shelby (D) NO

Senators from Alaska
Ted Stevens (R) NO
Frank Murkowski (R) NO

Senators from Arizona
Dennis DeConcini (D) YES
John McCain (R) NO

Senators from Arkansas
David Pryor (D) YES
Dale Bumpers (D) YES

Senators from California
Diane Feinstein (D) YES
Jerry Brown (D) YES

Senators from Colorado
Hank Brown (R) NO
Dick Lamm (D) YES

Senators from Connecticut
Joe Lieberman (D) YES
Chris Dodd (D) YES

Senators from Delaware
William Roth (R) NO
Joe Biden (D) YES

Senators from Florida
Connie Mack III (R) NO
Buddy MacKay (D) YES

Senators from Georgia
Sam Nunn (D) NO
Wyche Fowler (D) YES

Senators from Hawaii
Daniel Akaka (D) YES
Daniel Inouye (D) YES

Senators from Idaho
Larry Craig (R) NO
Dirk Kempthorne (R) NO

Senators from Illinois
Paul Simon (D) YES
Carol Moseley Braun (D) YES

Senators from Indiana
Richard Lugar (R) NO
Dan Coats (R) NO

Senators from Iowa
Tom Harkin (D) YES
Chuck Grassley (R) NO

Senators from Kansas
Nancy Kassebaum (R) NO
Bob Dole (R) NO

Senators from Kentucky
Mitch McConnell (R) NO
Wendell Ford (D) YES

Senators from Louisiana
J. Bennett Johnston (D) NO
John Breaux (D) NO

Senators from Maine
George J. Mitchell (D) YES
William Cohen (R) NO

Senators from Maryland
Paul Sarbanes (D) YES
Barbara Mikulski (D) YES

Senators from Massachusetts
Ted Kennedy (D) YES
John Kerry (D) YES

Senators from Michigan
Donald Riegle (D) ABSENT
Carl Levin (D) YES

Senators from Minnesota
David Durenberger (R) NO
Paul Wellstone (DFL) YES

Senators from Mississippi
Trent Lott (R) NO
Thad Cochran (R) NO

Senators from Missouri
John Danforth (R) NO
Kit Bond (R) NO

Senators from Montana
Conrad Burns (R) NO
Max Baucus (D) YES

Senators from Nebraska
Bob Kerrey (D) YES
J. James Exon (D) YES

Senators from Nevada
Richard Bryan (D) ABSENT
Harry Reid (D) YES

Senators from New Hampshire
Bob Smith (R) NO
Judd Gregg (R) NO

Senators from New Jersey
Frank Lautenberg (D) YES
Bill Bradley (D) YES

Senators from New Mexico
Jeff Bingaman (D) YES
Pete Domenici (R) NO

Senators from New York
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D) YES
Geraldine Ferraro (D) YES

Senators from North Carolina
Jesse Helms (R) NO
Lauch Faircloth (R) NO

Senators from North Dakota
Kent Conrad (D) NO
Byron Dorgan (D) YES

Senators from Ohio
Howard Metzenbaum (D) YES
John Glenn (D) YES

Senators from Oklahoma
David Boren (D) NO
Don Nickles (R) NO

Senators from Oregon
Mark Hatfield (R) NO
Bob Packwood (R) NO

Senators from Pennsylvania
Harris Wofford (D) YES
Arlen Specter (R) YES

Senators from Rhode Island
John Chafee (R) YES
Claiborne Pell (D) YES

Senators from South Carolina
Strom Thurmond (R) NO
Fritz Hollings (D) NO

Senators from South Dakota
Larry Pressler (R) ABSENT
Tom Daschle (D) YES

Senators from Tennessee
Jim Sasser (D) YES
Harlan Matthews (D) YES

Senators from Texas
Bob Krueger (D) NO
Phil Gramm (R) NO

Senators from Utah
Orrin Hatch (R) NO
Bob Bennett (R) NO

Senators from Vermont
Jim Jeffords (R) YES
Patrick Leahy (D) YES

Senators from Virginia
Chuck Robb (D) YES
John Warner (R) NO

Senators from Washington
Slade Gorton (R) NO
Leo Thorness (R) NO

Senators from West Virginia
Robert Byrd (D) NO
Jay Rockefeller (D) YES

Senators from Wisconsin
Herb Kohl (D) YES
Bob Kasten (R) NO

Senators from Wyoming
Malcolm Wallop (R) NO
Alan Simpson (R) NO

45 out of 57 Democrats voted for Cuomo
3 out of 43 Republicans voted for Cuomo
10 Democrats and 39 Republicans voted against Cuomo
2 Democrats and 1 Republican did not vote

The failed nomination of Mario Cuomo as a Justice on the Supreme Court was the first Democratic Supreme Court nomination since Lyndon Johnson nominated Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice in 1968. That also failed despite a Democratic majority, surrounded in controversy. Ten Democrats and three Republicans broke with their party to vote for or against Cuomo. The Republicans who voted for Cuomo were David Durenberger (R-MN), Arlen Spectre (R-PA), and Jim Jeffords (R-VT). The Democrats who voted against Cuomo were numerous, some even holding major positions in their party. They were Howell Heflin (D-AL), Richard Shelby (D-AL), Sam Nunn (D-GA), Wendell Ford (D-KY), Max Baucus (D-MT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), David Boren (D-OK), Fritz Hollings (D-SC), Bob Krueger (D-TX), and Robert Byrd (D-WV). Some personally apologized to Clinton, but cited the polls in their opposition. Don Riegle (D-MI), Richard Bryan (D-NV), and Larry Pressler (R-SD) were absent. The first six months of the Clinton Administration saw some of its biggest failures, and this may have been the biggest of them all.

Ross Perot would commend Senator Bob Krueger for voting against Mario Cuomo’s nomination to the court, stating “while I agree with some of Cuomo’s social views, I do not believe he should sit on the court for those reasons alone.” When asked if he believed Cuomo was unfit to be on the court, Perot answered yes. Perot and Krueger would shake hands at a rally, where Senator Krueger and Governor Ann Richards both endorsed Perot over his rival, Hutchinson. Richards would say of Perot: “He is not a Democrat, but he believes this country should educate its children and serve more than just wealthy donors, so he’s got my vote.”

Hutchinson would continue to attack Perot as a crazy man trying to buy the election, drawing attention to his belief that Republican Party operatives started a fire at his daughter’s wedding. They would have two debates between the May primary and the June runoff, with neither one emerging as a decisive winner or loser in either.

On June 1st, the runoff for the Texas Senate Special Election finally took place and would leave the country in an uproar. Ross Perot of the Reform Party held barely any lead over Kay Bailey Hutchison for most of the race, averaging out ahead 49% to 47% with a margin of error of +/-2.5%. The race would conclude as a war for turnout.

Perot won the runoff with 932,054 (52.8%) to Hutchison’s 833,200 (47.2%). When asked how he’s feeling after the win, he said “Winning feelings good. If I can feel this feeling again next year, then I’m excited to run for re-election in 1994.”

This would be the same day as the Florida Senate Special Election primary, to be held in November like a regular election. In a crowded Republican field, Congressman Cliff Stearns emerged victorious. On the Democratic side of the aisle, it was a two-horse race between State Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Fire Marshall Bill Nelson and former Lieutenant Governor, now appointed Senator, Buddy MacKay. MacKay, who had lost the 1988 Senate election to fellow Senator Connie Mack, was hoping to hold onto this seat. Nelson had tried and failed to defeat former Senator Lawton Chiles in the 1990 governor’s race. MacKay was a close ally of Governor Chiles and he picked him over Nelson, still bitter over primary attacks from three years earlier. It would all be for nothing when Treasurer Bill Nelson narrowly defeated Senator Buddy MacKay in the primary (52.1% to 47.9%).

He would be sworn in almost two weeks later on June 14, becoming the first Texas Senator not from the Democratic or Republican Parties in Texas’s entire history*. On June 19th, barely five days into his term, Perot would place his first vote for a Supreme Court Justice.
*If you count the Liberal Republican Party as part of the Republican Party, which I would.

After having carefully combed through overlooked candidates from his failed nomination of Cuomo, President Bill Clinton would settle upon an uncontroversial pick. Chief Justice of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, Jose Cabranes would be President Clinton’s second pick to succeed Byron White on the Supreme Court. Before his time as a judge, he served as Special Counsel to the Governor of Puerto Rico and Yale’s first general counsel. Appointed to be a judge for the District of Connecticut by Jimmy Carter in 1979, Cabranes ascended to Chief Justice September of last year. Cabranes had served with distinction on the court, with Connecticut Senators Joe Lieberman (D) and Chris Dodd (D) and New York Senators Patrick Moynihan (D) and Geraldine Ferraro (D) giving their immediate endorsements for Chief Justice Cabranes.

Jose Cabranes had a solid judicial record and no skeletons emerged from his closet as the Senate Judiciary Committee gradually went through the process of his nomination. After they tried to push through Cuomo and failed, they were almost overly cautious. Jose Cabranes would become a member of the Supreme Court without any significant opposition.

Passed 95 to 2 to 4

Senators from Alabama
Howell Heflin (D) YES
Richard Shelby (D) YES

Senators from Alaska
Ted Stevens (R) YES
Frank Murkowski (R) YES

Senators from Arizona
Dennis DeConcini (D) YES
John McCain (R) YES

Senators from Arkansas
David Pryor (D) YES
Dale Bumpers (D) YES

Senators from California
Diane Feinstein (D) YES
Jerry Brown (D) YES

Senators from Colorado
Hank Brown (R) YES
Dick Lamm (D) YES

Senators from Connecticut
Joe Lieberman (D) YES
Chris Dodd (D) YES

Senators from Delaware
William Roth (R) YES
Joe Biden (D) YES

Senators from Florida
Connie Mack III (R) YES
Buddy MacKay (D) YES

Senators from Georgia
Sam Nunn (D) YES
Wyche Fowler (D) YES

Senators from Hawaii
Daniel Akaka (D) YES
Daniel Inouye (D) YES

Senators from Idaho
Larry Craig (R) YES
Dirk Kempthorne (R) YES

Senators from Illinois
Paul Simon (D) YES
Carol Moseley Braun (D) YES

Senators from Indiana
Richard Lugar (R) YES
Dan Coats (R) YES

Senators from Iowa
Tom Harkin (D) YES
Chuck Grassley (R) YES

Senators from Kansas
Nancy Kassebaum (R) YES
Bob Dole (R) YES

Senators from Kentucky
Mitch McConnell (R) YES
Wendell Ford (D) YES

Senators from Louisiana
J. Bennett Johnston (D) YES
John Breaux (D) YES

Senators from Maine
George J. Mitchell (D) YES
William Cohen (R) YES

Senators from Maryland
Paul Sarbanes (D) YES
Barbara Mikulski (D) ABSENT

Senators from Massachusetts
Ted Kennedy (D) YES
John Kerry (D) YES

Senators from Michigan
Donald Riegle (D) YES
Carl Levin (D) YES

Senators from Minnesota
David Durenberger (R) YES
Paul Wellstone (DFL) YES

Senators from Mississippi
Trent Lott (R) YES
Thad Cochran (R) YES

Senators from Missouri
John Danforth (R) YES
Kit Bond (R) YES

Senators from Montana
Conrad Burns (R) YES
Max Baucus (D) YES

Senators from Nebraska
Bob Kerrey (D) YES
J. James Exon (D) YES

Senators from Nevada
Richard Bryan (D) YES
Harry Reid (D) YES

Senators from New Hampshire
Bob Smith (R) YES
Judd Gregg (R) YES

Senators from New Jersey
Frank Lautenberg (D) YES
Bill Bradley (D) YES

Senators from New Mexico
Jeff Bingaman (D) YES
Pete Domenici (R) ABSENT

Senators from New York
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D) YES
Geraldine Ferraro (D) YES

Senators from North Carolina
Jesse Helms (R) NO
Lauch Faircloth (R) YES

Senators from North Dakota
Kent Conrad (D) YES
Byron Dorgan (D) YES

Senators from Ohio
Howard Metzenbaum (D) YES
John Glenn (D) YES

Senators from Oklahoma
David Boren (D) YES
Don Nickles (R) NO

Senators from Oregon
Mark Hatfield (R) YES
Bob Packwood (R) YES

Senators from Pennsylvania
Harris Wofford (D) YES
Arlen Specter (R) YES

Senators from Rhode Island
John Chafee (R) YES
Claiborne Pell (D) YES

Senators from South Carolina
Strom Thurmond (R) ABSENT
Fritz Hollings (D) YES

Senators from South Dakota
Larry Pressler (R) YES
Tom Daschle (D) YES

Senators from Tennessee
Jim Sasser (D) YES
Harlan Matthews (D) YES

Senators from Texas
Ross Perot (REF) YES
Phil Gramm (R) YES

Senators from Utah
Orrin Hatch (R) YES
Bob Bennett (R) ABSENT

Senators from Vermont
Jim Jeffords (R) YES
Patrick Leahy (D) YES

Senators from Virginia
Chuck Robb (D) YES
John Warner (R) YES

Senators from Washington
Slade Gorton (R) YES
Leo Thorness (R) YES

Senators from West Virginia
Robert Byrd (D) YES
Jay Rockefeller (D) YES

Senators from Wisconsin
Herb Kohl (D) ABSENT
Bob Kasten (R) YES

Senators from Wyoming
Malcolm Wallop (R) YES
Alan Simpson (R) YES

Jose Cabranes would be sworn in by Justice Harry Blackmun at the beginning of August. Initially seen as one of the liberal members of the court like Blackmun, Stevens, and Souter, Cabranes would drift to the center and become viewed as a liberal-leaning Anthony Kennedy. It's no wonder why, looking at his opinions nowadays.

The last event of significant note this year would be the Florida Special Senate election. It was a true mess to behold. Democratic State Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Fire Marshall, Bill Nelson and Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns would face off for the seat left by Vice President Bob Graham. The race would be complicated when the Reform Party put up a candidate. Out of retirement stepped 79 year old former drug company CEO and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Eckerd. Eckerd said he had been inspired by the Independent Convention held last year and decided to join the Reform Party, not to win, but to inspire others to get involved. The race would get closer than anybody ever expected it to, with Bill Nelson soundly elected Senator from Florida.

Other interesting races would include:

Republican Christine Todd Whitman would narrowly defeat incumbent Jim Folio to become the next Governor of New Jersey.

Republican Peter Ueberroth became Mayor of Los Angeles, defeating Democrat Michael Woo in a runoff.

Republican Rudy Giuliani became Mayor of New York City, narrowly defeating incumbent Mayor David Dinkins.

Reform Party member David Wittig wins his race for the Kansas State Senate (36% to 34% to 28%), becoming the first Reform Party politician elected after Ross Perot.

 

[Rivercat893]

Happy with the feedback so far and hope you guys enjoy the next part!

Slight content warning: Bill Clinton’s historic scandals are an unpleasant topic but need to be mentioned, so I mention them without going into any detail.

1993

The twilight days of the Bush Administration were fairly eventful for a lameduck session. President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin would sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. Ten days later, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlawed the weapons, took place and was signed and later ratified into law. Under threat of a national no-fly zone, Iraq agreed to allow UNSCOM inspectors unlimited access to specific facilities the United States has deemed “highly likely” to be in use to develop nuclear weapons. These foreign policy achievements seemed to be trying to strengthen the legacy of President Bush. He would be remembered as the foreign policy steward who ended the Cold War but did not do enough for the economy and was punished for it.

Bill Clinton was sworn in as President on January 20th, becoming the 42nd President in United States History. At the inauguration, he shook hands with the outgoing 41st President, who he had defeated only months before. Also present, in the audience, was the man who faced both of them and did better than anybody expected, Ross Perot. There was no sense of the political fight that existed between Perot and the politicians he was surrounding himself with. The Reform Party was hardly viewed as a threat, with most political commentators wondering if it will even last to the next presidential election. What they did not know was that Perot had another race in mind, and one much sooner.

Senior Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen was the Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate in 1988. An elder and loyal party man, Clinton wanted to reward him with the position of Treasury Secretary. Bentsen would be approved as Treasurer later that day, and resign. His resignation from the Senate opened up a special election, to take place that June. Patrick Caddell, who had stayed on as a party employee, advised Perot were to jump into the special election due to its unique rules. The special election has a blanket primary where the top two of all candidates move on to the general election, so Perot did not have to worry about another three-way race.

Perot was thinking about this as he watched the inauguration proceed, and gave Caddell a call after Bentsen was confirmed. Caddell recalled the first words out of his mouth: “Let's do this. Lets run for Senate.” and his response was: “Ok, I am in Houston--” to which Perot responded “Good. Stay there.” And hung up. Texas Governor Ann Richards, another Democrat, appointed Texas Railroad Commissioner Bob Krueger to the Senate seat, with the blanket primary scheduled for the beginning of May.

The Clinton Administration’s all important first one-hundred days in office are remembered as the embarrassing in modern history. Bill Clinton would focus his attention on the economic stimulus package promised on the campaign would turn into a budget battle as it began to make its way through Congress. The ideas raised by the Perot Campaign were not unique to them, and Republicans fought hard in the House and Senate to try to eliminate the deficit. Bill Clinton lobbied hard for them to accept a reduction instead, which many were open to, but Clinton’s proposed tax increases remained unacceptable. Clinton would attempt to compromise with deeper cuts but Speaker Tom Foley and Senate Leader George Mitchel fought back when they thought the president went too far. The stimulus-budget fight would continue beyond Clinton's one-hundred days completely unresolved, but before then, the Administration would open up a new front in a fight for a win.

After announcing in January, Byron White would retire from the Supreme Court on March 29th. He was the last member of the Warren Court, appointed by President Kennedy in 1962. Bill Clinton had no real plan on who should replace him, with the popular story making it sound as if Clinton had given it no prior thought. He would spend weeks combing through dozens of candidates, holding off on actually making a nomination until summer. This did not stop the rumor mill, and Clinton’s staff was more than happy to leak juicy gossip on who he was considering to the press. Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law professor and constitutional scholar, and Stephen Carter, a professor at Yale, were the names that circulated early on, but then it got weirder. Clinton would ask Senate Majority Leader George Mitchel, Secretary of Education Richard Riley, and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, all of whom declined. He would then spend several days considering nominating his wife, First Lady Hillary Clinton, to the Supreme Court, but was thankfully talked out of that. Eventually, he would arrive at total political unknown Janie Shores, the first woman to ever serve on the Alabama Supreme Court. He would be turned away from that option by his aides, but had considered it for an entire week before arriving at his first nominee.

Bill Clinton had relied on his Chief of Staff and lifelong friend Mack McLarty to handle a lot of the transition duties and together they had come up with a list of largely inoffensive cabinet picks. In March, Clinton would go with a different approach for what he called his “signature healthcare legislation.” His wife led the charge and serve as the face and champion of the healthcare bill. Hillary Clinton would head the White House healthcare reform task force and receive basically all the blame when it all went up in smoke, but the problem lay in the Senate. George Mitchell was a respected figure and a master at wheeling and dealing; he had to be leading the divided Democratic Caucus, with progressive, liberal, moderate, and conservative-leaning senators all under one banner. None of the policymakers in Congress liked how they were dealing with the First Lady on this issue instead of the President or perhaps a Cabinet Secretary, and were not quiet about it but they tolerated it. Despite his best efforts, he could not get the healthcare bill on the docket before summer and when it came to a vote, it was defeated in committee.

In the midst of this, questions of Bill Clinton’s character came back up when Paula Jones came out to accuse Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct during an incident that took place two years before and sued him for it. The president being sued for sexual misconduct was deeply troubling for many and calls began for Clinton to resign. Instead, he denied the allegations and would end up fighting the lawsuit in court. The media circus that would grow around this would slowly drown out everything else going on until it dominated headlines by the fall, with tabloid-like digs into everybody and everything even loosely connected to this story.

The American people were deeply unhappy with all of this, with as many as 84% of Americans saying the country was going in the wrong direction. President Clinton started the year with a 53% approval rating, and it fell as low as 34% in the summer. Despite these lows, Congress’s approval ratings were worse.

The same week, Ross Perot announced his candidacy for the Texas Senate Class-1 Special Election. The billionaire political outsider who had just won thirty million votes running for the presidency was looking to join “the worst club in America,” as he put it. The blanket primary on May 1st and the runoff would be on June 5th, assuming nobody won a majority. In this crowded field, nobody expected they would. Perot was the only independent of any note, but his other major opponents would be Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R), Bob Krueger (D) (inc.), Richard Fisher (D), Joe Barton (R), Jack Fields (R), and Jose Angel Gutierrez (D). Hutchinson and Krueger were his main opponents and Perot would contrast them to himself every chance he got. He would lambast Hutchinson’s social conservatism and Krueger’s lack of any major accomplishments in his long career in public service. It was important to remember Perot came in a very close third in Texas in 1992: Bush (35.56%) had 2,188,369, Clinton (32.08%) had 1,974,209, and Perot (32.01%) had 1,969,901. Despite the fact he had lost the state, Perot was confident that he could turn those nearly two million votes into a majority in an off year election.

Hutchinson was the Republican State Treasurer and was hoping to become the first woman to represent the state of Texas. She would attack Krueger as a “tax and spend liberal” and Perot as a “wacky conspiracy theorist.” Despite describing herself as pro-choice, both other candidates would attack her as too far-right on abortion. Perot would go after her on this in the one and only televised debate between the three of them: “Mrs. Hutchinson says she is pro-choice, but she isn’t really. She is for states having the choice as to whether or not you can get an abortion. That’s not really pro-choice, Mrs. Hutchinson.” She would deny these charges, but the damage was done. Just days later, on May 1st, the blanket primary would be held.

View attachment 610177​

Perot emerged in first place with 695,558 votes (34%). The second place finisher was Kay Bailey Hutchinson with 593,338 votes (29%). They both defeated incumbent Senator Bob Krueger, who fell short with 429,609 votes (21%). Some Republican candidates consolidated behind Hutchinson ahead of the vote, with the other candidates fearing a Perot-Krueger run off more than anything. Perot’s campaign was energized by their first place finish in the primary, saying “We just have to carry this energy into June.”

Not long after that was when Bill Clinton had finally announced his Supreme Court nominee. He had been among the first people Clinton offered the seat too and, while he initially declined, he later came around to the idea and asked Clinton to be reconsidered. On April 22nd, President Clinton nominated New York Governor Mario Cuomo to the Supreme Court and proceedings would begin immediately.

Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork and Bush’s nomination of Clarence Thomas resulted in huge political fights in the Senate and Cuomo’s did the exact same thing. Cuomo’s nomination was championed by Judiciary Chair Joe Biden (D-DE) and emphatically opposed by ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-UT). It took a lot of political capital to get his nomination out of committee and onto the floor. A lot of ranking Democrats were public in their opposition to the liberal governor joining the court, including President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Majority Whip Wendell Ford (D-KY). Cuomo had practiced law professionally before entering public service as the Secretary of State of New York in 1975, but some believed that was not enough experience to become one of nine judges deciding all Constitutional matters. Cuomo was also questioned about the Mafia, which he said did not exist in any greater capacity than any other ethnic gang, which caused more controversy. There was also, of course, his politics. Cuomo was strongly pro-choice and against the death penalty, two positions that made opposition to his nomination a crusade for the Religious Right. The Archbishop of New York, John Joseph O’Connor had previously considered excommunicating Mario Cuomo for his position on abortion and there was renewed pressure for him to do so from the right wing across the country, but he would continue to decline. Right up to the vote, polls showed that over 50% of Americans opposed Cuomo’s nomination, with his support concentrated in coastal and liberal parts of the country. This heavily influenced the way many senators voted, fearing political reprisal if they did not oppose him themselves.

Defeated 48 to 49 to 3

Senators from Alabama
Howell Heflin (D) NO
Richard Shelby (D) NO

Senators from Alaska
Ted Stevens (R) NO
Frank Murkowski (R) NO

Senators from Arizona
Dennis DeConcini (D) YES
John McCain (R) NO

Senators from Arkansas
David Pryor (D) YES
Dale Bumpers (D) YES

Senators from California
Diane Feinstein (D) YES
Jerry Brown (D) YES

Senators from Colorado
Hank Brown (R) NO
Dick Lamm (D) YES

Senators from Connecticut
Joe Lieberman (D) YES
Chris Dodd (D) YES

Senators from Delaware
William Roth (R) NO
Joe Biden (D) YES

Senators from Florida
Connie Mack III (R) NO
Buddy MacKay (D) YES

Senators from Georgia
Sam Nunn (D) NO
Wyche Fowler (D) YES

Senators from Hawaii
Daniel Akaka (D) YES
Daniel Inouye (D) YES

Senators from Idaho
Larry Craig (R) NO
Dirk Kempthorne (R) NO

Senators from Illinois
Paul Simon (D) YES
Carol Moseley Braun (D) YES

Senators from Indiana
Richard Lugar (R) NO
Dan Coats (R) NO

Senators from Iowa
Tom Harkin (D) YES
Chuck Grassley (R) NO

Senators from Kansas
Nancy Kassebaum (R) NO
Bob Dole (R) NO

Senators from Kentucky
Mitch McConnell (R) NO
Wendell Ford (D) YES

Senators from Louisiana
J. Bennett Johnston (D) NO
John Breaux (D) NO

Senators from Maine
George J. Mitchell (D) YES
William Cohen (R) NO

Senators from Maryland
Paul Sarbanes (D) YES
Barbara Mikulski (D) YES

Senators from Massachusetts
Ted Kennedy (D) YES
John Kerry (D) YES

Senators from Michigan
Donald Riegle (D) ABSENT
Carl Levin (D) YES

Senators from Minnesota
David Durenberger (R) NO
Paul Wellstone (DFL) YES

Senators from Mississippi
Trent Lott (R) NO
Thad Cochran (R) NO

Senators from Missouri
John Danforth (R) NO
Kit Bond (R) NO

Senators from Montana
Conrad Burns (R) NO
Max Baucus (D) YES

Senators from Nebraska
Bob Kerrey (D) YES
J. James Exon (D) YES

Senators from Nevada
Richard Bryan (D) ABSENT
Harry Reid (D) YES

Senators from New Hampshire
Bob Smith (R) NO
Judd Gregg (R) NO

Senators from New Jersey
Frank Lautenberg (D) YES
Bill Bradley (D) YES

Senators from New Mexico
Jeff Bingaman (D) YES
Pete Domenici (R) NO

Senators from New York
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D) YES
Geraldine Ferraro (D) YES

Senators from North Carolina
Jesse Helms (R) NO
Lauch Faircloth (R) NO

Senators from North Dakota
Kent Conrad (D) NO
Byron Dorgan (D) YES

Senators from Ohio
Howard Metzenbaum (D) YES
John Glenn (D) YES

Senators from Oklahoma
David Boren (D) NO
Don Nickles (R) NO

Senators from Oregon
Mark Hatfield (R) NO
Bob Packwood (R) NO

Senators from Pennsylvania
Harris Wofford (D) YES
Arlen Specter (R) YES

Senators from Rhode Island
John Chafee (R) YES
Claiborne Pell (D) YES

Senators from South Carolina
Strom Thurmond (R) NO
Fritz Hollings (D) NO

Senators from South Dakota
Larry Pressler (R) ABSENT
Tom Daschle (D) YES

Senators from Tennessee
Jim Sasser (D) YES
Al Gore (D) YES

Senators from Texas
Bob Krueger (D) NO
Phil Gramm (R) NO

Senators from Utah
Orrin Hatch (R) NO
Bob Bennett (R) NO

Senators from Vermont
Jim Jeffords (R) YES
Patrick Leahy (D) YES

Senators from Virginia
Chuck Robb (D) YES
John Warner (R) NO

Senators from Washington
Slade Gorton (R) NO
Leo Thorness (R) NO

Senators from West Virginia
Robert Byrd (D) NO
Jay Rockefeller (D) YES

Senators from Wisconsin
Herb Kohl (D) YES
Bob Kasten (R) NO

Senators from Wyoming
Malcolm Wallop (R) NO
Alan Simpson (R) NO

45 out of 57 Democrats voted for Cuomo
3 out of 43 Republicans voted for Cuomo
10 Democrats and 39 Republicans voted against Cuomo
2 Democrats and 1 Republican did not vote

The failed nomination of Mario Cuomo as a Justice on the Supreme Court was the first Democratic Supreme Court nomination since Lyndon Johnson nominated Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice in 1968. That also failed despite a Democratic majority, surrounded in controversy. Ten Democrats and three Republicans broke with their party to vote for or against Cuomo. The Republicans who voted for Cuomo were David Durenberger (R-MN), Arlen Spectre (R-PA), and Jim Jeffords (R-VT). The Democrats who voted against Cuomo were numerous, some even holding major positions in their party. They were Howell Heflin (D-AL), Richard Shelby (D-AL), Sam Nunn (D-GA), Wendell Ford (D-KY), Max Baucus (D-MT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), David Boren (D-OK), Fritz Hollings (D-SC), Bob Krueger (D-TX), and Robert Byrd (D-WV). Some personally apologized to Clinton, but cited the polls in their opposition. Don Riegle (D-MI), Richard Bryan (D-NV), and Larry Pressler (R-SD) were absent. The first six months of the Clinton Administration saw some of its biggest failures, and this may have been the biggest of them all.

Ross Perot would commend Senator Bob Krueger for voting against Mario Cuomo’s nomination to the court, stating “while I agree with some of Cuomo’s social views, I do not believe he should sit on the court for those reasons alone.” When asked if he believed Cuomo was unfit to be on the court, Perot answered yes. Perot and Krueger would shake hands at a rally, where Senator Krueger and Governor Ann Richards both endorsed Perot over his rival, Hutchinson. Richards would say of Perot: “He is not a Democrat, but he believes this country should educate its children and serve more than just wealthy donors, so he’s got my vote.”

Hutchinson would continue to attack Perot as a crazy man trying to buy the election, drawing attention to his belief that Republican Party operatives started a fire at his daughter’s wedding. They would have two debates between the May primary and the June runoff, with neither one emerging as a decisive winner or loser in either.

On June 1st, the runoff for the Texas Senate Special Election finally took place and would leave the country in an uproar. Ross Perot of the Reform Party held barely any lead over Kay Bailey Hutchison for most of the race, averaging out ahead 49% to 47% with a margin of error of +/-2.5%. The race would conclude as a war for turnout.

View attachment 610178​

Perot won the runoff with 932,054 (52.8%) to Hutchison’s 833,200 (47.2%). When asked how he’s feeling after the win, he said “Winning feelings good. If I can feel this feeling again next year, then I’m excited to run for re-election in 1994.”

This would be the same day as the Florida Senate Special Election primary, to be held in November like a regular election. In a crowded Republican field, Congressman Cliff Stearns emerged victorious. On the Democratic side of the aisle, it was a two-horse race between State Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Fire Marshall Bill Nelson and former Lieutenant Governor, now appointed Senator, Buddy MacKay. MacKay, who had lost the 1988 Senate election to fellow Senator Connie Mack, was hoping to hold onto this seat. Nelson had tried and failed to defeat former Senator Lawton Chiles in the 1990 governor’s race. MacKay was a close ally of Governor Chiles and he picked him over Nelson, still bitter over primary attacks from three years earlier. It would all be for nothing when Treasurer Bill Nelson narrowly defeated Senator Buddy MacKay in the primary (52.1% to 47.9%).

He would be sworn in almost two weeks later on June 14, becoming the first Texas Senator not from the Democratic or Republican Parties in Texas’s entire history*. On June 19th, barely five days into his term, Perot would place his first vote for a Supreme Court Justice.
*If you count the Liberal Republican Party as part of the Republican Party, which I would.

After having carefully combed through overlooked candidates from his failed nomination of Cuomo, President Bill Clinton would settle upon an uncontroversial pick. Chief Justice of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, Jose Cabranes would be President Clinton’s second pick to succeed Byron White on the Supreme Court. Before his time as a judge, he served as Special Counsel to the Governor of Puerto Rico and Yale’s first general counsel. Appointed to be a judge for the District of Connecticut by Jimmy Carter in 1979, Cabranes ascended to Chief Justice September of last year. Cabranes had served with distinction on the court, with Connecticut Senators Joe Lieberman (D) and Chris Dodd (D) and New York Senators Patrick Moynihan (D) and Geraldine Ferraro (D) giving their immediate endorsements for Chief Justice Cabranes.

Jose Cabranes had a solid judicial record and no skeletons emerged from his closet as the Senate Judiciary Committee gradually went through the process of his nomination. After they tried to push through Cuomo and failed, they were almost overly cautious. Jose Cabranes would become a member of the Supreme Court without any significant opposition.

Passed 95 to 2 to 4

Senators from Alabama
Howell Heflin (D) YES
Richard Shelby (D) YES

Senators from Alaska
Ted Stevens (R) YES
Frank Murkowski (R) YES

Senators from Arizona
Dennis DeConcini (D) YES
John McCain (R) YES

Senators from Arkansas
David Pryor (D) YES
Dale Bumpers (D) YES

Senators from California
Diane Feinstein (D) YES
Jerry Brown (D) YES

Senators from Colorado
Hank Brown (R) YES
Dick Lamm (D) YES

Senators from Connecticut
Joe Lieberman (D) YES
Chris Dodd (D) YES

Senators from Delaware
William Roth (R) YES
Joe Biden (D) YES

Senators from Florida
Connie Mack III (R) YES
Buddy MacKay (D) YES

Senators from Georgia
Sam Nunn (D) YES
Wyche Fowler (D) YES

Senators from Hawaii
Daniel Akaka (D) YES
Daniel Inouye (D) YES

Senators from Idaho
Larry Craig (R) YES
Dirk Kempthorne (R) YES

Senators from Illinois
Paul Simon (D) YES
Carol Moseley Braun (D) YES

Senators from Indiana
Richard Lugar (R) YES
Dan Coats (R) YES

Senators from Iowa
Tom Harkin (D) YES
Chuck Grassley (R) YES

Senators from Kansas
Nancy Kassebaum (R) YES
Bob Dole (R) YES

Senators from Kentucky
Mitch McConnell (R) YES
Wendell Ford (D) YES

Senators from Louisiana
J. Bennett Johnston (D) YES
John Breaux (D) YES

Senators from Maine
George J. Mitchell (D) YES
William Cohen (R) YES

Senators from Maryland
Paul Sarbanes (D) YES
Barbara Mikulski (D) ABSENT

Senators from Massachusetts
Ted Kennedy (D) YES
John Kerry (D) YES

Senators from Michigan
Donald Riegle (D) YES
Carl Levin (D) YES

Senators from Minnesota
David Durenberger (R) YES
Paul Wellstone (DFL) YES

Senators from Mississippi
Trent Lott (R) YES
Thad Cochran (R) YES

Senators from Missouri
John Danforth (R) YES
Kit Bond (R) YES

Senators from Montana
Conrad Burns (R) YES
Max Baucus (D) YES

Senators from Nebraska
Bob Kerrey (D) YES
J. James Exon (D) YES

Senators from Nevada
Richard Bryan (D) YES
Harry Reid (D) YES

Senators from New Hampshire
Bob Smith (R) YES
Judd Gregg (R) YES

Senators from New Jersey
Frank Lautenberg (D) YES
Bill Bradley (D) YES

Senators from New Mexico
Jeff Bingaman (D) YES
Pete Domenici (R) ABSENT

Senators from New York
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D) YES
Geraldine Ferraro (D) YES

Senators from North Carolina
Jesse Helms (R) NO
Lauch Faircloth (R) YES

Senators from North Dakota
Kent Conrad (D) YES
Byron Dorgan (D) YES

Senators from Ohio
Howard Metzenbaum (D) YES
John Glenn (D) YES

Senators from Oklahoma
David Boren (D) YES
Don Nickles (R) NO

Senators from Oregon
Mark Hatfield (R) YES
Bob Packwood (R) YES

Senators from Pennsylvania
Harris Wofford (D) YES
Arlen Specter (R) YES

Senators from Rhode Island
John Chafee (R) YES
Claiborne Pell (D) YES

Senators from South Carolina
Strom Thurmond (R) ABSENT
Fritz Hollings (D) YES

Senators from South Dakota
Larry Pressler (R) YES
Tom Daschle (D) YES

Senators from Tennessee
Jim Sasser (D) YES
Al Gore (D) YES

Senators from Texas
Ross Perot (REF) YES
Phil Gramm (R) YES

Senators from Utah
Orrin Hatch (R) YES
Bob Bennett (R) ABSENT

Senators from Vermont
Jim Jeffords (R) YES
Patrick Leahy (D) YES

Senators from Virginia
Chuck Robb (D) YES
John Warner (R) YES

Senators from Washington
Slade Gorton (R) YES
Leo Thorness (R) YES

Senators from West Virginia
Robert Byrd (D) YES
Jay Rockefeller (D) YES

Senators from Wisconsin
Herb Kohl (D) ABSENT
Bob Kasten (R) YES

Senators from Wyoming
Malcolm Wallop (R) YES
Alan Simpson (R) YES

Jose Cabranes would be sworn in by Justice Harry Blackmun at the beginning of August. Initially seen as one of the liberal members of the court like Blackmun, Stevens, and Souter, Cabranes would drift to the center and become viewed as a liberal-leaning Anthony Kennedy. It's no wonder why, looking at his opinions nowadays.

The last event of significant note this year would be the Florida Special Senate election. It was a true mess to behold. Democratic State Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Fire Marshall, Bill Nelson and Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns would face off for the seat left by Vice President Bob Graham. The race would be complicated when the Reform Party put up a candidate. Out of retirement stepped 79 year old former drug company CEO and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Eckerd. Eckerd said he had been inspired by the Independent Convention held last year and decided to join the Reform Party, not to win, but to inspire others to get involved. The race would get closer than anybody ever expected it to, with Bill Nelson soundly elected Senator from Florida.

View attachment 610179​

Other interesting races would include:

Republican Christine Todd Whitman would narrowly defeat incumbent Jim Folio to become the next Governor of New Jersey.

View attachment 610180​

Republican Peter Ueberroth became Mayor of Los Angeles, defeating Democrat Michael Woo in a runoff.

Republican Rudy Giuliani became Mayor of New York City, narrowly defeating incumbent Mayor David Dinkins.

Reform Party member David Wittig wins his race for the Kansas State Senate (36% to 34% to 28%), becoming the first Reform Party politician elected after Ross Perot.

It reminds me of MaskedPickle's A Giant Sucking Sound, another timeline that has Ross Perot and his party become major players in American politics. Only a lot less fantastical in some areas.

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

It reminds me of MaskedPickle's A Giant Sucking Sound, another timeline that has Ross Perot and his party become major players in American politics. Only a lot less fantastical in some areas.

Thank-you for the comparison! I initially thought of this timeline as somewhere between A Giant Sucking Sound and another great timeline, Green Revolution on the Golden Gate in terms of realism. I highly recommend both to those who haven't read them and included links to both threads here because they're great.

 

[Rivercat893]

Thank-you for the comparison! I initially thought of this timeline as somewhere between A Giant Sucking Sound and another great timeline, Green Revolution on the Golden Gate in terms of realism. I highly recommend both to those who haven't read them and included links to both threads here because they're great.

The former timeline contained a lot of references to pop culture and world politics. Some of it was very unrealistic especially if one were to look into the circumstances of certain people and specific events. I hope you can add in nods to 90s media and politics around the globe for the timeline. I kindly recommend reading some books about the 1990s to gain a better understanding and hopefully, your timeline will thrive.

 

[The Hawk]

Words cannot discribe how much I love this TL, subbed.

 

[Rivercat893]

I think if we're going to represent the Reform Party in 20 Years of History we should use RF-ST (state) for congressmen and congresswomen while Reformists is the informal name for members of the party.

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

The former timeline contained a lot of references to pop culture and world politics. Some of it was very unrealistic especially if one were to look into the circumstances of certain people and specific events. I hope you can add in nods to 90s media and politics around the globe for the timeline. I kindly recommend reading some books about the 1990s to gain a better understanding and hopefully, your timeline will thrive.

I think if we're going to represent the Reform Party in 20 Years of History we should use RF-ST (state) for congressmen and congresswomen while Reformists is the informal name for members of the party.

I actually intended this timeline to have a purposefully very narrow focus, focusing entirely on the Reform Party and things relevant to it (such as mainstream US politics) from 1992 to 2012. I have a lot of thoughts and ideas of what is going on beyond that narrow perspective, but if I get carried away with that stuff, I will never get this timeline done, so it will only come up as it becomes relevant to that.

However, I do like the RF idea for Reform Party candidates. I was planning on having a few different varieties circulate for a while (REF) (I) (IND) (IR) and that would fit right in with them. Thanks!

 

[Rivercat893]

I actually intended this timeline to have a purposefully very narrow focus, focusing entirely on the Reform Party and things relevant to it (such as mainstream US politics) from 1992 to 2012. I have a lot of thoughts and ideas of what is going on beyond that narrow perspective, but if I get carried away with that stuff, I will never get this timeline done, so it will only come up as it becomes relevant to that.

However, I do like the RF idea for Reform Party candidates. I was planning on having a few different varieties circulate for a while (REF) (I) (IND) (IR) and that would fit right in with them. Thanks!

I think the timeline has a lot more potential with a President Perot and a successful Reform Party to boot. I would love to see how it affects world politics and pop culture for we might see some noticeable differences with OTL like any good alternate history story. But I do agree that those things should be ancillary as long as they are relevant to the plot.

 

[NyQuil]

Second part doesn’t disappoint!

 

[X_X]

Could Senator Lieberman switch parties to become a Reformist?

 

[tarrant77]

I think the timeline has a lot more potential with a President Perot and a successful Reform Party to boot. I would love to see how it affects world politics and pop culture for we might see some noticeable differences with OTL like any good alternate history story. But I do agree that those things should be ancillary as long as they are relevant to the plot.

I actually have to humbly disagree. Having Perot pivot to party building instead of just running for president himself makes this the most realistic way possible that a third party could actually succeed. IOTL that was the downfall of the Reform Party; it was too focused on the man instead of the ideas.

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

I think the timeline has a lot more potential with a President Perot and a successful Reform Party to boot. I would love to see how it affects world politics and pop culture for we might see some noticeable differences with OTL like any good alternate history story. But I do agree that those things should be ancillary as long as they are relevant to the plot.

I think you're thinking of a whole different timeline that you should honestly write. I'm interested in the Reform Party as a political party growing into structure all its own. That is personally more engaging to me than an individual, administration, or events beyond that.

I've tried to make big timelines in the past, I've melted my brain on one. It's hard, I suggest giving it a swing at some point so you can appreciate the complexity. This is comparatively simple, but is still a ton of reading.

Could Senator Lieberman switch parties to become a Reformist?

Did he express any OTL interest? If not, I don't think so. His economic and foreign policy views aren't really in line with the forces in charge of Reform at this point, even if he is right in line with them socially. Do expect some defections, as well as new political personalities emerge from simple butterfly theory.

 

[Nelson Mikeson]

I think the timeline has a lot more potential with a President Perot and a successful Reform Party to boot.

If @President Benedict Arnold doesn't prefer a Perot Presidency, I would love to see a Reform President Trump in 2016.

 

[tarrant77]

If @President Benedict Arnold doesn't prefer a Perot Presidency, I would love to see a Reform President Trump in 2016.

Within the realm of a successful Reform Party, Trump would be running in 2000, 2004 at the latest, imho.