United States Presidential Election, 2008 (New England Secession)

The 2008 United States Presidential Election was a democratic election held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The two main candidates was the Conservative Party's candidate, Sarah Palin of Alaska, and the Socialist Party's candidate, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

Initial projections had Palin winning by a landslide, however numerous gaffes on the campaign trail and strong campaigning by Kucinich led to the race being much closer than it actually was, resulting in 51% of the electorate going to Palin and 49% of the electorate going to Kucinich. Palin also won the electoral college, 221 to 210.

The election was marred by scandal in 2010 as voter fraud and disenfranchisement of minorities in the states of Florida, Delaware and Arkansas led to Palin's victory, when it was later discovered that the actual winner of all three states was Kucinich, thereby making him the actual elected president of the United States.

Because of the 2010 impeachment of President Palin, Vice President John McCain and several other high-ranking Conservative Party members, the United States congress called for a 2010 Presidential Recall Election, which was easily won by Kucinich-Wellstone.

Candidates
Bold denotes Nominees of the party.

Socialist Party
Background: The Socialist Party has been hurting since the secession of New England and the west coast. Despite winning with more centrist Tom Harkin and Bill Clinton in 1992 and again in 1996, the secession has hurt the party terribly. It's still the party of Moderates, as the Moderate Party may get swallowed whole into the Socialist Party like the Progressive Party.

Candidates: Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Ohio

Senator Paul Wellstone, Minnesota

Governor Bill Richardson, New Mexico

Senator Hillary Clinton, New York

Congressman Raul Grijalva, Arizona

Senator Al Gore, Tennessee

Congressman Kieth Ellison, Minnesota

Congressman Eric Massa, New York

Congressman Sherrod Brown, Ohio

Al Franken, Minnesota

Congressman Anthony Weiner, New York

Raul Grijalva and Kieth Ellison were the early projections to take home the Socialist nomination, but both dropped out after polls of Americans showed that they would "absolutely not vote for" a person with a Hispanic-sounding name (Grijalva) or a Muslim (Ellison). Hillary Clinton was then the front runner, but a later poll showed that a majority of Americans would "absolutely not vote for" a woman. Dennis Kucinich was the strongest candidate left, and he won the remaining primaries easily. Sherrod Brown dropped out after Kucinich won the primary.

The real debate was who would be Kucinich's Vice President: The frontrunners were senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Eric Massa of New York was also in the running, as were Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida and Senator Al Gore of Tennessee. Richardson eventually dropped out, leaving Wellstone all but certain he would become the Socialist's Vice Presidential nominee, as Gore's and Massa's chances were incredibly slim.

Conservative
Background: The Conservatives were still the most popular party in the early 2000s, after having a strong President in Mike Huckabee following Dick Cheney.

Vice President Jeb Bush expressed some interest in running, but ultimately decided against it. Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska

Senator John McCain, Arizona

Congressman Ron Paul, Texas

Senator Fred Thompson, Tennessee

Senator Sam Brownback, Kansas

Congressman Tom Tancredo, Colorado

Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New York

Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina

Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin

Pastor Chuck Baldwin, Florida

The Conservative Primary was much more up in the air. Rudy Giuliani was expected to win early, but a series of scandals force him to drop out. Ron Paul was considered to extreme (even by American political spectrum) to win, as was Tom Tancredo and Chuck Baldwin. Baldwin had never even held elected office. Tommy Thompson and Fred Thompson (no relation) also dropped out soon. Sam Brownback was gaining fast on John McCain, and both were expected to become the party's nominees.

Out of nowhere, Sarah Palin won the South Carolina primaries. The virtually unknown Alaska governor went on to win several more, and her party's nomination in a few more days. To quiet critics that she was inexperienced, she chose the more veteran of the two remaining candidates, John McCain, as her vice president, but promised Brownback a spot in her cabinet.

Moderate
Background: The Moderate Party is continuing to lose strength. The Socialists are offering to adopt the party as a whole, but the Moderates want to give it one last presidential election as a party.

Senator Harry Reid, Nevada

Governor Charlie Crist, Florida

Senator Mary Landrieu, Louisiana

Senator Evan Bayh, Indiana

Governor Mike Beebe, Arkansas

Governor Christine Todd Whitman, New Jersey

Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas

The Moderate Party was just going though the motions in 2008. Everyone in the party knew they had no shot of beating any Conservative or Socialist candidate. Harry Reid was likely going to be the nominee of the Moderates, too. After it became obvious that Reid was going to win, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe all dropped out of the race. Moderates expected Reid to pick Mary Landrieu of Louisiana to be his running mate, so when he actually picked Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, the Moderates got their first shock of the election season. Governor Whitman said she was not interested in the position when Senator Reid offered it to her, so he moved on to Governor Crist, who proudly accepted.

Election
The election on Nov. 4 was much closer than expected, due to a series of gaffes by Governor Palin on the campaign trail. Some Conservative politicians began endorsing Senator Reid of the Moderates.

Almost every state was decided, save for Florida, Delaware and Arkansas. Kucinich was leading in the exit polls in all three states, but as precincts continued to report, it eventually became obvious that Palin was winning the states. At 12:03 AM EST, CNN called the election for Sarah Palin, after declaring Florida and Arkansas hers.

Senator Reid eventually won no states, and barely any votes.

Conservative Scandal
In the midst of President Palin's first full year as President, the magazine The New Republic released documents revealing that then-Governor Palin had ordered Conservative Party members in Arkansas, Florida and Delaware to bribe officials at polling stations to throw out votes for Kucinich/Wellstone and Reid/Crist. The actual results, acquired by TNR, had Kucinich winning in all three states, with Reid/Crist coming behind in a close second in Florida, and Palin/McCain in a distance third.

The Socialists immediately requested the impeachment of Palin, McCain and her entire cabinet, which was carried out. Palin was forced to leave office September 3, 2010.

The country was without a President before the United States Presidential Recall Election, 2010, and no laws could be passed. Dennis Kucinich offered to take interim presidency, but was denied.

The Recall election was held on November 2, 2010 with the Conservative nominees of Jeb Bush and Sam Brownback, the Socialist nominees of Kucinich/Wellstone, and the Moderate nominees of Mary Landrieu and Evan Bayh.

For more information, please see United States Presidential Recall Election, 2010