User:Edgeofnight/Beau Lives Redux 2

May

 * 20th: POD: Beau Biden does not experience a recurrence of brain cancer, and as a result does not die on May 30th.
 * 27th: Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 28th: Former Governor of New York George Pataki announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination
 * 30th: Former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley announces his candidacy for the Democratic nomination.
 * 31st: Senator Warren confirms that, after much speculation and consideration, she would not seek the Democratic nomination. She declines to endorse any candidate, but many of her supporters flock to Bernie Sanders.
 * 31st: An ABC/Washington Post poll shows the current state of the Democratic Primaries as follows:
 * Hillary Clinton - 62%
 * Joe Biden - 14%
 * Bernie Sanders - 10%
 * Martian O'Malley - 2%
 * Jim Webb - 2%
 * Lincoln Chafee - 1%
 * Other - 2%
 * None of the Above - 3%
 * Not Voting/No Opinion - 3%`

June
Similarly, a Quinnipiac University poll reflects the current status of the primaries in Iowa
 * 1st: Lindsey Graham announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 3rd: Lincoln Chafee announces his candidacy for the Democratic nomination.
 * 4th: Rick Perry announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 15th: Jeb Bush declares his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 16th: Donald Trump declares his candidacy for the presidential nomination of the Republican Party
 * 21st: Biden's chief of staff, Steve Ricchetti and Biden's long time confidant and friend Ted Kaufman meet with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the White House, prompting speculation about a late stage-Biden Campaign for the White House.
 * 22nd: Jill Stein officially announces her candidacy for the Green Party Nomination.
 * 24th: Bobby Jindal declares his candidacy for the Republican Nomination.
 * 25th: CNN announces that Joe Biden has "all but declared" his presidential campaign when he hires Mike Donilon as a "special adviser" alongside other campaign staff, such as Shelia Nix and Cathy Russell. Biden is also reportedly in talks with major donors for the Democratic Party.
 * 28th: With Biden's entry into the race all but guaranteed, media speculation on a "comprise candidate" gains traction, with some fearing that the 2016 primary may be just as divisive as the 2008 primary. Names brought up include big names such as New Yorkers Andrew Cuomo and Kristen Gillibrand, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, as well as more wild card picks such as Secretary Julian Castro, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, and Washington Governor Jay Inslee.
 * 30th: Chris Christe declares his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 30th: A CNN/ORC poll is published reflecting the current state of the Democratic Primary:
 * Hillary Clinton - 54% (8%)
 * Joe Biden - 20% (6%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 13% (3%)
 * Jim Webb - 2% (1%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 4%
 * None/No Opinion -6%
 * Hillary Clinton - 50%
 * Bernie Sanders - 30%
 * Joe Biden - 13%
 * Martin O'Malley - 3%
 * Jim Webb - 1%
 * Lincoln Chafee - >1%
 * Unsure - 5%

July

 * 2nd: Jim Webb formally announces his candidacy for the Presidential Nomination of the Democratic Party.
 * 9th: POD: Joe Biden announces that he will be running for the Presidential Nomination of the Democratic Primary.
 * 13th: Scott Walker announces his candidacy for the Republican primary, joining many others in what has become the largest primary field ever.
 * 21st: John Kasich announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 30th: Jim Gilmore announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 30th: With Biden's official announcement, the landscape of the Democratic Primaries has been fundamentally altered. Polling conducted following Biden's announcement shows the Primary field as follows.
 * Hillary Clinton - 33% (21%)
 * Joe Biden - 31% (11%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 22% (9%)
 * Jim Webb - 1% (1%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 3% (1%)
 * Unsure - 9% (3%)
 * As with the nationwide polling, Biden experienced a surge in Iowa as well. Although not as severe a surge nationwide, it was substanitial enough to make Biden competitive in polling. However, the undecided/unsure voters grew significantly, as many began to feel torn between the three front runners.
 * Hillary Clinton - 25% (25%)
 * Joe Biden - 20% (7%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 20% (2%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 4% (1%)
 * Jim Webb - 2% (1%)
 * Someone else - 2% (1%)
 * Unsure - 27% (18%)

August

 * 3rd: The first republican presidential forum is held, featuring 14 Republican candidates. Notable absences include Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee.
 * 6th: The first Republican debates are held by Fox News. The Debate was tiered by level of support, with the top ten candidates debating in a separate debate from seven other, lesser known candidates. The 10 candidates in the main debate where: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. The Seven in the smaller debate where Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, and George Pataki. The under card debate sees Fiorina's breakout, allowing her to gain more support. The main event is marked by controversy. Trump spends more time arguing with the moderators than his opponents, and many consider him rude and over the top. Despite this, Trump is still considered the winner by many. The issues of this debate are healthcare, welfare  reform, NSA Surveillance, Sexism, Illegal Immigration, and the fact that Trump had not ruled out a third party run at this point in time.
 * 11th: Lawrence Lessig begins planning and considering a run for the Democratic Nomination
 * 16th: Andy Martin officially announces a run for the Republican Nominee
 * 22nd: Jimmy McMillan announces his candidacy for the Republican Nomination.
 * 31st: With the emergence of the Seventh Major candidate for the Democratic nomination, the Democratic field is further divided. Biden, Clinton, and Sanders remain popular in the North, and Beebe appears most competitive in the South, with the other candidates being effectively non-factors
 * Hillary Clinton - 27% (6%)
 * Joe Biden - 27% (4%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 23% (1%)
 * Mike Beebe - 8% (8%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 4% (1%)
 * Unsure - 14% (5%)
 * Iowa is similarly divided, however the entrance of Beebe effectively shuts out other candidates as Beebe enters his "honeymoon" period. For the first time, Clinton falls to second place
 * Joe Biden - 23% (3%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 21% (4%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 20%
 * Mike Beebe - 10% (10%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 2% (2%)
 * Unsure - 23% (4%)
 * At this point, many candidates also begin looking to New Hampshire, which had already been the primary target of Webb and Biden. Polls show that the race is similarly competitive, but Beebe holds less of a presence in this states electorate
 * Bernie Sanders - 20%
 * Hillary Clinton - 20%
 * Joe Biden - 18%
 * Mike Beebe - 8%
 * Jim Webb - 4%
 * Martin O'Malley - 3%
 * Someone else - 5%
 * Unsure - 22%

September

 * 6th: Lessig officially announces his candidacy for the Presidential Nomination.
 * 8th: John McAfee declares his candidacy for the recently created "Cyber Party"
 * 11th: Rick Perry drops out of the Republican race. He is the first to do so.
 * 16th: Second Republican Debate in Simi, California. Once again the debate is tiered, with the prime time event featuring 11 candidates: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and Scott Walker. The under card debate featured Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham, RIck Santorum, and George Pataki. The main focus of the night was Fiorina's rise to prominence, and her strong performance helped her gain more traction. Rubio also had a strong performance. Trump's performance was again criticized, and many saw Cruz, Kasich, Bush, Walker and Paul's performance's as lackluster and poor. Fiorina is labeled the winner, and gains a substantial boost in the pools. The Main issues where Immigration, Foreign policy, Women's Health, and Marijuana legalization. Trump and Fiorina exchanged insults and comments about each others business records, and Trump continued to make petty attacks against Paul.
 * 21st: Following the second debate, Scott Walker suspends his presidential run.
 * 30th: South Carolina ballots are finalized with 15 Republican Candidates and seven Democratic candidates.
 * 30th:On the eve of the first democratic debate, the primary field remains mostly in flux. Biden edges out a slight lead over Clinton, but for the most part there are no statistically significant changes
 * Joe Biden - 28% (1%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 27%
 * Bernie Sanders - 21% (2%)
 * Mike Beebe - 9% (1%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 4% (1%)
 * Unsure - 10% (5%)
 * Meanwhile, Iowa polling was in a much similar state. Bernie Sanders gained ground against Hilary, but not in any significant way.
 * Joe Biden - 24% (1%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 22% (2%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 21%
 * Mike Beebe - 12% (2%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 1% (1%)
 * Unsure - 20% (3%)
 * New Hampshire is where candidates seek to gain the most ground. Having been won by Clinton in 08, Clinton is hoping she can pull out a victory despite being behind in the polls.
 * Bernie Sanders - 23% (3%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 21% (1%)
 * Joe Biden - 20% (2%)
 * Mike Beebe - 6% (2%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 4% (1%)
 * Jim Webb - 3% (1%)
 * Someone else - 4% (1%)
 * Unsure - 19% (1%)

October
''*28th: 3rd Republican Debate. The debate was tiered for a third time. The ten candidates in the main event were Bush, Carson, Christie, Cruz, Fiorina, Huckabee, Kasich, Paul, Rubio, and Trump. The under card debate featured four candidates, Graham, Jindal, Santorum, and Pataki. The Moderators of this debate where strongly criticized for asking loaded questions of the candidates. The main issue of this debate was the economy, and the big winners were Cruz, Rubio and Christie. Trump, Fiorina, and Carson had a favorable, but lackluster performance. Kasich and Bush had a weak showing at this debate.''
 * 13th: First Democratic debate. Those in attendance are listed based on their support in Iowa: Biden, Sanders, Clinton, Beebe, O'Malley, Webb, and Chafee. The five key issues of the debate where income inequality, the Syrian Civil War, Healthcare, personal characteristics such as accountability and leadership, and Clean Energy. Biden and Clinton received the most screen time, with 22% and 20% of the total debate time respectively. Each candidate approached the debate with a different strategy. Webb, Chafee, and O'Malley attempted to capitalize on hot button issues, particularly Clinton's email scandal and Benghazi in attempts to gain more attention and screen time. Sanders, Beebe, Webb, Chafee, and O'Malley branded themselves as Washington outsiders who could bring new leadership. Biden attempted to pass himself off as the "common sense candidate" and focused on foreign policy and his experience in overseeing the American Recovery and Reinvestment act. Clinton touted herself as the most well rounded candidate, with her experience as Secretary of State and her crusade for Healthcare in the 90s. Sanders, capitalizing on his status as an outsider, used his screen time to style himself as the true progressive in the race. Mike Beebe focused on his status as a popular moderate from a red state, and focused on his healthcare plan, styled as a partial repeal and total overhaul. O'Malley similarly focused on his infrastructure and investment plan, and gave highlights of his tenures as Governor and Mayor. Webb stressed his status as a veteran, and presented a foreign policy plan focused mostly on solving the Syrian refugee crisis through the stabilization of Syria. Chafee touted himself as a moderate outsider who could reach out to the large amount of independent and "middle of the road" voters. Polling conducted after by the Washington Post to determine a winner showed the following results:
 * Joe Biden - 24%
 * Bernie Sanders - 20%
 * Mike Beebe - 18%
 * Hillary Clinton - 16%
 * None - 10%
 * Martin O'Malley - 5%
 * Jim Webb - 5%
 * Lincoln Chafee - 2%
 * 20th: Jim Webb drops out of the race. When asked who he would endorse, he plainly states "There is only once choice, Joe Biden."
 * 23rd: Chafee drops out of the race. He similarly endorses Joe Biden.
 * 30th: With the first Democratic Debate behind us, and the field of candidates two men smaller, national polling reflects the changes that come with the first debate.
 * Joe Biden - 31% (3%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 25% (2%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 23% (2%)
 * Mike Beebe - 10% (1%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 2% (2%)
 * Unsure - 8% (2%)
 * Iowa polling also saw an increase for Biden in polling. Sanders also eclipsed Clinton.
 * Joe Biden - 25% (1%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 24% (2%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 19% (2%)
 * Mike Beebe - 13% (1%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 1% (1%)
 * Unsure - 17% (3%)
 * Sanders was able to maintain a lead in New Hampshire polling, however Beebe began to irk out more support from the state he previously held little presence in
 * Bernie Sanders - 25% (2%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 22% (1%)
 * Joe Biden - 22% (2%)
 * Mike Beebe - 10% (4%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 3% (1%)
 * Someone else - 2% (1%)
 * Unsure - 16% (3%)
 * Beebe proved to be far stronger in Nevada than the previous two states, taking third in polling conducted in the state.
 * Hillary Clinton - 19%
 * Joe Biden - 18%
 * Mike Beebe - 15%
 * Bernie Sanders - 13%
 * Martin O'Malley - 4%
 * Someone Else - 3%
 * Unsure - 28%
 * South Carolina Polling is where Mike Beebe proved to be strongest, the current favorite to win the state.
 * Mike Beebe - 21%
 * Hilary Clinton - 20%
 * Joe Biden - 17%
 * Bernie Sanders - 10%
 * Martin O'Malley - 6%
 * Someone Else - 1%
 * Unsure - 25%

November

 * 2nd: Lessig drops out of the race, endorsing Sanders.
 * 4th: Candidate registration for New Hampshire begins. 16 Republicans are registered and four Democrats are registered.
 * 6th: Alabama Primary deadline. 13 Republicans register, and five democrats.
 * 6th: South Democratic Forum with Clinton, Sanders, O'Malley, and Biden.
 * 10th: Fourth Republican Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Eight Candidates made the prime time line up: Bush, Trump, Rubio, Carson, Fiorina, Kasich, Cruz, and Paul. The under card Debate featured Christie and Huckabee for the first time, along side other under card debaters Santorum and Jindal. Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore did not qualify. The main focuses of the debate where Russia, Immigration, Foreign Policy, Tax Plans, Military spending, and the General Health of the economy. The notable performances included Fiorina,  Trump, Cruz, and Kasich.
 * 13th: Paris Terrorist Attacks. 130 dead.
 * 14th: Second Democratic Debate in Des Moines, Iowa. The candidates where ordered by their position in the Iowa Caucus: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley. Biden, as before, pushed his narrative as the most experienced Presidential Candidate in the field, and touted his various policy plans. Interestingly, Biden avoided comments about other candidates records, and instead styled himself as a "Policy first" candidate. Clinton similarly focused on her experience, first as the First Lady, then a Senator, then Secretary of State. She focused on her healthcare plan, and stated that her experience during her campaign in the 90s has given her the knowledge she needs to implement "the best plan ever drafted". Sanders focused on his status as an outsider and his career fighting for the little guy. He discussed his proposal for a single payer health care plan, and focused on his narrative of a "political revolution". O'Malley focused on a policy plan for criminal justice reform, and styled himself as a strong liberal candidate who can still work with both sides of the aisle. In terms of performances, 'Malley came out the strongest. Ironically, the two front runners preformed the worst. Joshua Miller of the Boston Globe described Biden's performance as "boring" and Clinton suffered from a 9/11 related gaffe, claiming her ties to Wall Street where born of from said tragedy. Others described Biden and Clinton's performance as almost "technocratic". The following exchange got over 3 million views on Youtube after the debate:
 * Clinton:"With respect to Senator Sanders, what Americans need is a solid plan. Sanders promises to implement many great policies, but he doesn't have a plan. His promises are just that, promises."
 * Sanders:"Americans don't need a plan, they need a message. They need hope. They need progressive change, and they need a political revolution to bring that change. That is the type of candidate I am running as. Secretary Clinton, You and Joe would not bring the change this country needs."
 * Biden:"I believe I get a response since I was mentioned by name. Senator Sanders, you know I have the utmost respect for you, but we can't bring change without a plan and the necessary experience. That's what I bring to the table."
 * 17th: Bobby Jindal suspends his campaign, endorsing Ted Cruz.
 * 24th: Dave Loebsack, the sole Iowa Democrat in high office and initially a Clinton supporter, changes his endorsement Joe Biden, granting Biden a critical super delegate endorsement and a boost in Iowa polling.
 * 30th: With Iowa drawing nearer and nearer, Candidates begin searching for critical endorsements and donors that could tip the tide. Despite a strong debate performance, O'Malley still lacks name recognition or a solid base of support. Beebe, Biden, and Sanders saw slight increases. Most major polls at this point began to leave out the "Someone else" option, as most Super Tuesday filing deadlines have passed.
 * Joe Biden - 32% (1%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 25%
 * Bernie Sanders - 24% (1%)
 * Mike Beebe - 12% (2%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Unsure - 6% (2%)
 * Iowa remained a dead heat. Loebsack's endorsment and subsequent campaigning for Biden helped him in the state, but only slightly. Interestingly, Beebe's support decreased in Iowa, while Hillary and Biden's continued to increase slightly.
 * Joe Biden - 27% (2%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 24%
 * Hillary Clinton - 21% (2%)
 * Mike Beebe - 12% (1%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 1%
 * Someone else - 1% (1%)
 * Unsure - 14% (3%)
 * Sanders pulled further ahead in New Hampshire, while Beebe and O'Malley fell further behind and Biden eclipsed Clinton for second place.
 * Bernie Sanders - 27% (2%)
 * Joe Biden - 24% (2%)
 * Hillary Clinton - 23% (1%)
 * Mike Beebe - 8% (2%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 2% (1%)
 * Unsure - 19% (3%)
 * Clinton's lead grew in Nevada, but she still only led Biden by 3%. However, with Candidates still mostly focused on Iowa and New Hampshire, a larger number of voters remain unsure
 * Hillary Clinton - 22% (3%)
 * Joe Biden - 19% (1%)
 * Mike Beebe - 16% (1%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 11% (2%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 3% (1%)
 * Unsure - 29% (1%)
 * Beebe remained a narrow leader in South Carolina.
 * Mike Beebe - 22% (1%)
 * Hilary Clinton - 20%
 * Joe Biden - 18% (1%)
 * Bernie Sanders - 9% (1%)
 * Martin O'Malley - 4% (2%)
 * Unsure - 27% (2%)