Timeline (SIADD)

2008
Nov. 4th, 2008: In a close election decided by Pennsylvania, John McCain is elected President of the United States. Both McCain's victory speech and Obama's speech have a call of healing and coming together to begin.

Nov. 5th, 2008: In a close race, incumbent Senator Ted Stevens wins over Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. Stevens' victory gives the GOP control of the U.S. Senate. Even with the corruption charges against him, Stevens won reelection and a movement for Stevens to resign from the Senate. Stevens would say that this would be resolved come January.

Nov. 6th, 2008: Longtime staffer and friend to President-Elect McCain, Mark Salter is chosen as Chief of Staff.

Nov. 10th, 2008: Senators and supporter Lindsey Graham is announced to be McCain's choice as UN Ambassador and Joe Lieberman was announced as his choice for Secretary of State.

Nov. 11th, 2008: The "Oracle of Omaha" Warren Buffet was chosen as Treasury Secretary as Lewis Eisenberg for Commerce Secretary.

Nov. 12th, 2008: Mitt Romney was chosen for the Housing and Urban Development position. The HUD position was the same position that his father George Romney had occupied from 1969 to 1973.

Nov. 16th, 2008: T. Boone Pickens was declared Energy Secretary and Debra W. Yong was chosen as Attorney General. She became the first Asian American Attorney General.

Nov. 18th, 2008: Former Speaker of the House and conservative icon, Newt Gingrich was chosen as the Interior Secretary in a suprise. This raised some eyebrows among staunch liberal Democrats in the House.

Nov. 19th, 2008: Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona chose Representative John Shadegg, a Republican, to succeed John McCain's seat on account of McCain's election to the presidency.

Nov. 26th, 2008: Senator Barack H. Obama of Illinois confirmed to the press that he would be running for reelection to the Senate come the 2010 Senatorial Elections.

Nov. 28th, 2008: After a fairly long recount for the 2008 Minnesota Senatorial Election, incumbent Norm Coleman was declared the winner over the Democratic challenger Al Franken.

Dec. 2nd, 2008: Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was again chosen for the position to serve in McCain's administration.

Dec. 7th, 2008: On the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, President-Elect McCain picked Senator Chuck Hagel to be the Veterans Affairs Secretary.

Dec. 14th, 2008: The FBI brought credible evidence that Governor Rod Blagojevich has been embezzling money. Soon after the Illinois Legislature began impeachment proceedings.

Dec. 15th, 2008: Governor Blagojevich went back to work as Governor as if nothing happened, saying that he was "innocent until proven guilty" to the press.

Dec. 16th, 2008: Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan began initiation of impeachment against Governor Blagojevich.

Dec. 27th, 2008: Israeli forces began "Operation:Cast Lead" and sent the Israeli Air Force to bomb targets in the Gaza Strip. This would be majorly about the terrorist group Hamas.

Dec. 30th, 2008: President-Elect McCain said that there must be mediation between Gaza and Israel on the grounds that more innocent Palestians are being killed in the attacks agaisnt Hamas and other terrorist groups.

January

 * January 2: President-Elect McCain gives another short speech calling for aid to be given to the Palestian people caught in the middle and also the Israeli people that have been struck by the increasing missles by Hamas.


 * January 4: A pay to play scandal hits Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Staunch foes against the Governor in the state senate and other areas would call for an investigation of the Governor's activities.


 * January 17: The Illinois state house votes in a huge percentage for impeachment of Governor Blagojevich.


 * January 20: the Inauguration of John McCain would be held as a hopefull American people watch around the nation as John Sidney McCain is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States and Sarah Palin is also sworn in as the 47th Vice President. McCain's short inaugural speech would call on bipartisan support and the American people not to worry and that America would rise again.


 * January 21: After loud outcrys, Senator Ted Stevens would resign from the Senate and Governor Sean Parnell of Alaska would choose Charlie Huggins of the Alaska Senate to replace Senator Ted Stevens vacant senate seat.


 * January 22: The first day of bipartisan meetings between President McCain and his economic advisors and Democrat and Republican leaders in Congress would try and have bipartisan talks about a second stimulus package, tax incentives and tax cuts.


 * January 23: The Second day of talks would have some back and forth between Democrats and Republican leaders but for the most part they would go smoothly.


 * January 24: President McCain issues a short speech on his first "radio address", the speech would be dubbed the "Ask Yourself" speech as President McCain called for American of all backgrounds to devote time to help the nation in any way, either being military time, help the less fortunate and other themes in his speech.


 * January 25: The media and Democrats in Congress would raise the Gitmo question. President McCain would issue a statement saying that the Administration was "tirelessly working" to tie up all the loose ends to make shure the closure of Guantanamo Bay as easy as possible.


 * January 26: Governor Rod Blagojevich would protest his own impeachment processes because of the "unfairness of the judge" on his strict resttrictions on witnessess.


 * January 27: President McCain would meet with only congressional Democratic leaders today to discuss and try and explain his major ideas for a stimulus package and also McCain's plans on an Economic Recovery Plan. This would include tax cuts and other things and the meet ing would strecth out from the 27th to the 28th.


 * January 29: In a huge but expected vote, Governor Rod Blagojevich is impeached and removemed from office, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn would succede the unpopular governor. The effective last nail in his coffin came when new audio tapes came out that had Blagojevich saying he would "sell Obama's golden senate seat when Obama is president".


 * The House would vote on McCain's stimulus package and would vote easily after McCain was able to sway some Democrats to vote and the vote, 255 to 177 would have the opposing Democrats clammoring for more to be put into the stimulus package or what McCain said "They want pork spending for there states". All in all 78 Democrats voted for the bill, showing the broad bipartisanship support.


 * January 30: The RNC Chairmen Election would be deeply split as the battle came to former Lt. Governor of Maryland Mike Steele against incumbent RNC Chairmen Mike Duncan as Michigan Party Chairmen Saul Anuzis would run as a compromise choice for Chairmen. After a long battle, Michael Steele would become Chairmen after defeating Duncan and Anuzis. Steele would say that "It's time to lead the Republican Party in a new direction for a new generation".

February

 * February 1: (With smaller butterflys from election day to February) the Arizona Cardinals win 23 to 20. Many sports pundits called it the "Turnaround of 2009" against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pundits of politics had called this "McCain vs Obama-2" as Obama supported the Steelers and McCain supported the Cardinals.


 * February 2: President McCain moved to drum up more support amongst Democrats in the Senate by meeting with Democratic Senate leaders and prominent senate Democrats. McCain worked all the way up until the Senate vote on February 5th.


 * February 3: President McCain went directly to the American people as he held town hall meetings in Ohio, Pennsylvania and California. There, McCain talked about his plans of the stimulus package and the economy.


 * February 4: President McCain imposed a pay cap on senior executives from the most distressed financial institutions that receivied federal bailout money. McCain said that he was "disappointed" by the recklessness of the executives.


 * February 5: The Senate voted on McCain's stimulus package. The vote was 57 to 43, showing nine Democrats voting for the stimulus package. After the vote, political pundits dubbed President McCain the "bipartisan President" on account of this.


 * February 9: President McCain went to his home state of Arizona to talk about the mortage problem that plagues the nation. In Arizona, President McCain would say to a crowd of people that the newly passed stimulus package would give some aid but more help to the American people would be on the way and that "Americans have always shown pure inguinuity in troubled times and I believe that this is one of those times, America can and will overcome these economic issues..".


 * February 10: Treasury Secretary Buffett unveiled a revamped rescue plan for the economy and the American people. There would then be a noticable rise in the DOW afterwards.


 * February 12: On Lincoln's birthday, President McCain visited the resting place of the former President on Lincoln's birthday. Senator's Obama and Durbin were among many guests to the remembrance of the 16th President. Both Obama and McCain gave short speeches at the anniversary.


 * February 13: President McCain announced that after his swearing in on the 20th of January that his administration had worked to solve every possible for the Guantanamo question that "Gitmo" would be closed and the transfer of prisoners would begin today. Some pundits called this a breath of fresh air as others said why did it take so long. For this "transfer" would be slow and would take quite a while.


 * February 17: President McCain announced that there would be a transfer of nearly 20,000 soldiers from Iraq and other areas to aid the war in Afghanistan. President McCain said that down the line for the year 2009 that there would be more troops coming into the Afghan nation.


 * February 20: CNN and several other networks released President McCain's approval ratings and in a suprise McCain has a 73% approval. McCain's last rating was a 76% and with only the 3% fall and his bipartisan work in Congress and the passage of the Stimulus Bill seemed to be the reason that most of the 3% were weary liberals about the stimulus package.


 * February 25: Crackdowns on drug cartels occurred as Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called on more aid to defend the border. President McCain supported this and call for a "a true and ready border defense".


 * February 27: President McCain called on the Afghanistani and Allied nations to send and deploy more troops to aid in the war in Afghanistan. One ringing text was "if we aren't winning, were loosing". A majority of Americans supported this. As few as 60% supported this move but also said they think that they could win in the long run.

March

 * March 2: Treasury Secretary Warren Buffett would say in a letter that him and others "Did some dumb things" and "we have to learn to do better or 2009 will be a year in shambles". The Stock would take a hit because of this through the day but would have small peak at the end of the day. Still these words would sting at the economy and Americans.


 * March 6: President McCain would meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time as the 44th President of the United States. Both the McCain and Brown family would exchange gifts and PM Brown and President McCain would also takes questions from the media at an press conference.


 * March 8: Education Secretary Keegan would annouce that the education sector would be recieving a major plus funding after the small and easily passed Educational Expansion Bill was signed into law. President McCain would use this to bring up his plan for a national school voucher program.


 * March 10: After some time of debating and talking it over with Treasury Secretary Buffett, President McCain would say that he was considering loaning more money to the bigger banks to aid the economy and help keep them up so there ripple effects that it would send in the ecomony if they failed to stop it. McCain would say that this was an option to keep the on the right track. The DOW would move upwards after this and would repair the several day lag.


 * March 11: An huge spending bill put up by the Democrats in Congress would fight with Republicans and President McCain over it as the bill has thousands of earmarks in it and would be called by Democratic leaders as "An important piece of legislation that must be passed to aid the country from destruction..". This talk would have pundits and others in Congress call this fear mongering as Republicans rally enough support from weary Democrats to strike the bill down.


 * March 12: Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston would break off their relationship for the time being. The media would dive deep into this and would analyze it as Johnston would go onto Good Morning America and would say "We were in a fight," and. "And trying to see if we can make things work. But this is what it kind of ended up turning into. But we'll see what happens." Afterwards Vice President Palin would send out an statement saying "Bristol is going through alot right now, be gentle..".


 * March 13: President McCain would meet with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and would talk about a wide range of issues including the enviroment, energy, the economy, trade relations and and also the case of a New Jersey man trying to bring his 8-year-old son back from Brazil. McCain and Silva would have a calm and gracious meeting and McCain would trumphet this as part of his "new outlook on foreign policy" for the United States.


 * March 17: President McCain would meet with one of his cabinet members, this one being Energy Secretary T. Boone Pickens on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana to talk about off shore drilling and using it to still supply oil as the President, his cabinet and Congress work on renewable energy bills and as Americans would then work on to solve the oil dependence that the US has.


 * March 18: President McCain would make history when he would come onto "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". This would make history as it would be the first time an sitting president would go onto the Tonight Show but it wasn't an suprise as after McCain's victory in November he would go on to the Tonight Show as then the President-Elect.


 * March 20: After some buildup, one AIG executive would say that he "wanted to sue the US Government" for them not letting a number of AIG executives from getting their bonuses in an interview. This would ignite some debates but polls showed people support the small tag on on the Stimulus Package and even a number of AIG executives said they agreed, though reluctantly that they shouldn't get their bonuses as well. After a circus for a day or so, the AIG bonus story dissapeared.


 * March 21: The Veterans Affairs and Support Reform Act would pass after a quick vote in Congress. It would pick up bipartisan support as Veterans Reform and also a complete rehaul of the Veterans Affairs Office was needed. Some Republican called this uneeded spending, but President McCain defended this. The act passed with 65 for and 32 against.


 * March 24: New approval ratings for President McCain would come out as 78% approved of what the President had done so far. This was a testament as his approvals had only raised two points but still McCain was riding on a strong supporting American people. Though many had said that McCain could and would pass into the 80% mark maybe, but he was still in the high 70's as he had been more active during part of February and March but Americans wanted to see the President but also see him working on the problems that face the nation more fervently.


 * March 27: More troops would be shipped to Afghanistan to aid in the war, about 6,000 in total would be sent as President McCain would say this was apart of his grander scale for the Afghan War.


 * March 30: President McCain would put stronger sanctions against Iran, this would cause backlash as over the 30th and 31st of March, Democrats would call this "unacceptable" as they called for an extension of a olive branch to Iran instead. Soon after Ambassador Graham would get into a shouting match with an Iranian Ambassador in a summit, this would receive much scrutiny about if Graham was the right choice for the UN Ambassador position.

April

 * April 1: President McCain would make a short journey to Europe one day early for the G-20 meeting in London. McCain would meet with a number of international leaders, from his meetings with Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy with many warm gestures to his "chilly" meeting as it was called between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.


 * April 2: The G-20 meeting would commence in London as numerous different leaders met and their main discussion was on the world economy and the recession plaguing them all in some way. Protesters lined the streets as some staunch anti-McCain protesters nearly set off an all out riot. Back at the U.S., some of the media would call it a meeting of "kooks".


 * April 3-4: At the historic 60th anniversary of NATO, President McCain would attend the Strasbourg–Kehl summit where the major themes would be the relations with Russia, the War in Afghanistan, France's possible intergration and a new strategic concept. McCain also strongly supported Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's candidacy to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as General Secretary of NATO. A crisis errupted when during the final selection process only one country, Turkey, remained opposed to Rasmussen's candidacy, partly because of his handling of the Muhammad cartoon episode in 2005 and Denmark's tolerance of allegded PKK-supported Roj TV. Following tense negotiations throughout the night and the Summmit on April 4, Turkey withdrew its opposition to Rasmussen's appointment when it received assurances from U.S. president McCain that Turkish officials would be appointed to three high posts in NATO. While McCain would be mentioned as one of the politicians influential in the appointment of Rasmussen as the Secretary-General, McCain would garner some criticism from the Russians after he said that he hoped that NATO would expand and one major choice to be admitted into NATO were offered to countries like Georgia and Ukraine.


 * April 5: North Korea, after dismay and anger from western powers, would test a missile capable of launching a satellite or also being used as a long range ballistic missile. The missile fails ultimatly but has much the US and it's allies on their edge as thoughts of a nucleaur armed North Korea were troubuling.


 * April 9: In the wake of the launch of a failed missile test by the North Koreans, President McCain called on China to take a strong stance on North Korea and urged them to support the international community in imposing sanctions on North Korea. McCain would also say that the friendly Asian nations to the USA must be united in the "threat of danger".


 * April 11: Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan finally issues a real statement on behalf of the McCain Administration on the Somali pirates. Buchanan said that "The Administration is dealing with the problem on it's own terms, but with cases like the one with Captain Richard Phillips will not go without consequences to the aggressors".


 * April 13: More news comes from Washington that the McCain Administration will be loosening restrictions on Cuba, mainly to the many Cuban Americans with family on the island nation. A certain sentiment is shown by much of the media and also by the Administration as they echo a voice that "The diplomacy with Cuba hasn't worked, it's time to try something different".


 * April 14: At a UN summit of "Anti-Racism", Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be one of the speakers at the opening and would draw crticism from some remarks about there attacks on Israel. A number of delegates would boycott the opening mainly because of the Iranian President's speech.


 * April 21: President McCain would issue that he was expanding Americorps and other "volunteerism" groups. McCain would use this also to tout his ideas of volunteerism and also talk to the American people and try to "inspire" people help their communities and selfless services is part of what makes Americans “exceptional.”


 * April 27: The "Swine Flu" would begin to become a major issue as cases top up in the United States as Mexico is taking a beating as a death toll in Mexico rises. Secretaries Huckabee and Ridge would make statements over the days about the "Swine Flu".


 * April 29: President McCain's first 100 days come as the nation is in a cold grip by the growing "Swine Flu" influenza. Secretaries Huckabee and Ridge would continue to have interviews with the media over this. Soon the World Health Organization (WHO) would raise the alert lvel from level four to level five, which is seen as a preparation for a pandemic. President McCain would announce that he would address the nation the same night over the "Swine Flu" spread and his plans to try and stop the spread of it.

May

 * May 3: State Secretary Lieberman would meet with Afghanistani and Pakistani leaders in a conference and would discuss the Taliban strength and the worry from the Taliban's "march" in a way and about something like the Taliban gaining the Pakistani nuclear weapons and that if the nation of Pakistan could substain it's self.


 * May 5: President McCain would meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres. This meeting would be used to reaffirm the US's backing of Israel but McCain would also say that there of course wouldn't be "A one way street" between the two nations.


 * May 7: President McCain would unveil several new cuts to the federal budget. This plans would get applaude from some as others attacked McCain, sighting that more funds needed to go to several of the programs that McCain cuts some of it's funding and not less.


 * May 22: President McCain announces his choice for successor to Justice David Souter's seat on the Supreme Court. McCain's choice would be Consuelo María Callahan, the Federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. McCain's pick of Callahan would be applauded by Republicans and Democrats for a new step for a more diverse Supreme Court.


 * May 25: President McCain would call for a time of reflection for the nation on Memorial Day. Former 2008 Democratic challenger Barack Obama would join McCain in calling for reflection. McCain would unhold the tradition of send a wreath to the Confederate Monument at Arlington National Cemetery. This small act would gain some blows from African American groups who said that President McCain needed to "finally break the tradition of honoring hatred". McCain would brush this off.


 * May 31: President McCain denounces and condemns the killing of George Tiller. McCain would say that he didn't support what Tiller believed but would say that the differences weren't worth killing over. A number of Democrats and Republicans would applaud the President's quick and put together statement about the Tiller shooting and the "Denounceation of Extremism".

June

 * June 1: The President would continue on his journey through the Middle East to bolster that there would be "A new outlook for American Diplomacy". McCain would meet with several Middle Eastern leaders, one being King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.


 * June 2: With the aid from former first lady Nancy Reagan, the McCain Administration would say that they were announcing legislation honoring the achievements of former President, Ronald Reagan.


 * June 3: President McCain would speak in Cairo, Egypt to try and reasure to the Middle East world that a peace could be struck. McCain would also try and use this to repair the image of America abroad. The Speech was met by luke warm as some did see that McCain was trying but others denounced him as "another George Bush". Something the same would happen back home in the US as the speech was applauded, analyzed and criticized.


 * June 4: The European Parliament Elections of 2009 would results in loss for the Labour Party and Gordon Brown as they were pushed to 16 seats, the Liberal Democrats at 11 seats, the Conservatives at 23 and the UK Independence at 14. Other victors would the surpise victories of the British National Party. These losses for the Labour Party would cause a ruckus in Brown's Administration.


 * June 5: President McCain would meet with leaders in Buchenwald and mainly though German Prime Minister and survivors of the atrocities of the Holocaust. McCain would declare that he hoped that "something so terrible like this will never happen again" and would say that he would try and combat hatred abroad.


 * June 6: President McCain, French President Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper would meet on the anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France. The leaders would speak of the triumphs and loss of life of D-Day at that "it should never be forgotten".


 * June 12: The Iranian Presidential Election of 2009 would be held as the west would hold it's breath as they watched who would win. The incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would "win" in the sense as many voting irregularites would spark fury from many Mir-Hossein Mousavi supporters. Protest would begin to form quickly and this would become the signs of what was yet to come.


 * June 19: President McCain would put out a simple address on Father's Day. This little address would call for Father's to be good to there children, it would also splice into that those certain father's to "man up" and be responsible for there child they helped create.


 * June 20: President McCain would "fully give his support" for the protester in Iran against the election results and Ahmadinejad. Though this hurt the protesters as the Iranian Government tensed up and stepped up harrassement on the protesters, they would remain fervent for their beliefs.


 * June 23: President McCain met with Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Secretary of Labor Jodi Rell as well as members of the Senate and the House of Representatives from both political parties at the White House to discuss immigration reform. During the meeting a working group on immigration reform – headed by Homeland Security Secretary Ridge – was created, with the task of look into how to handle the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, how to prevent future illegal immigration, implement legalization and workplace enforcement programs, securing the nation’s borders, solve the problem with immigration detention system and figure out solutions to promote future flow of legal immigrants.


 * June 25: A massive rally would be held as protesters bounced back from their being split off from each other by Iranian Government forces and also their harrassment of the protesters. Former Iranian Presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi would be the leader of the massive rally and would lead to what many had though would happen. Mousavi would be shot by a sniper and the protesters were sent into a frenzy as they even more violently clashed with Iranian Government forces. Mousavi would die and the news spread, protest boiled over into anger and open revolt against the Iranian Government as what became known as the "Green Revolution" in Iran began.


 * June 26: President McCain would quickly condemn the actions of Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Governemnt of Iran against the protesters and their link to the death of numerous peaceful protesters, ones including Mousavi and several higher up Iranian religious leaders.

The House of Representatives votes for a "Health Care Reform" Bill. The more Republican led bill would be characterized by supporting private health care and also to address the cost of health care and attempt to make it more affordable for all Americans. The bill would soon go to the Senate as Democrats mounted up opposition there for the fight.

July

 * July 3: Vice President Sarah Palin annouces in a tearful statement she will resign as Vice President of the United States effective July 26th, 2009 after 5 months of being Vice President. She announced she would resign to tend to personal family matters. She said it was an honor to serve as Vice President of the United States but because of the task of tending to family matters, being away from her family for periods of time while traveling overseas and the unexpected preasures of the job that resigning the Vice Presidency would serve the best intrests of the United States and her family.


 * July 6: After the Independence day weekend President John Mc Cain picks Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to replace Sarah Palin as Vice President.


 * July 10: Iranian President Ahmadinejad would issue that any other protests in Tehran and across Iran, would meet with sharp rebuttal by military forces. Even with this the Tehran based "Green Mousavists" or "Mousavista's" would plan a massive demonstration, to test the will of the military. This would prove fatal.


 * July 11: President McCain's backed health care reform plan fails in Congress after the plan appealed to Republicans but not to Democrats in a significant way. With this loss, the President and his supporters would have to start the ball rolling again on Health Care Reform.


 * July 12: Massive demonstrators march defiantly after the Iranian government issued strong words against any other protests against the government. Tehran would be where most would occur and even though the city was under a firm heel of the Iranian army forces there, demonstrators flocked in the streets. As the protesters seeming "army" grew, so did the stress on the Iranian military forces. Around mid afternoon, said to be provoked, a number of Iranian forces would fire into the crowd, igniting immediate attack. Both sides clashed as the demonstrators put up a fight into the night but the Mousavista demonstrators will had been tested and so had the security of Tehran.


 * July 13: Iranian President Ahmadinejad would put "Tehran in lock and chain" for now. He would also issue a statement condemning the actions by the protesters and their "wicked ways". Ahmadinejad would also call the Mousavista's simply "Terrorists".


 * July 14: President McCain and other world leaders would quickly condemn the actions made by the Iranian Government. President McCain would make a quick draw statement, saying that the Admadinejad government was "an illegal ruler of Iran" and "not far away from the Nazi Party". Leftist who were angered at the half cocked nature of the President and also any involvement in Iranian affairs, quickly jumped on the quotes, berating McCain as "overtly expansionist".


 * July 19: Scandal erupts when allegations of abusing of power on "special agricultural trips" to other nations is laid on Mark Sanford. Sanford would deny all of the charges.


 * July 21: New reports would come out that Sanford's trip to Argentina was involved with him meeting a women named "Maria". Soon allegations of abuse of powers would change to extramarital affair in the world of journalism.


 * July 24: Agriculture Secretary Sanford would say in a tearfilled address, that he had "crossed the line" on other occasions with other women and that he had met his "soul mate" and would have to learn to love his wife again. With this now out in the open, President McCain would phone the Agriculture Secretary and ask him to resign in due speed.


 * July 25: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty resigns his post as Minnesota Governor to be the new Vice President of the United States. Lieutenant Governor Carol Molnau is sworn in as the new Governor of Minnesota. Carol Molnau is Minnesota's first female Governor. Sarah Palin makes a farwell speech. In her farwell speech she says it was the highest honor to serve as Vice President of the United States and that it was a very challenging and intresting position. She wished good luck the new Vice President Tim Pawlenty.


 * July 26: Sarah Palin offically leaves the Vice Presidency. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is sworn as the 48th Vice President of the United States. Former Vice President Sarah Palin and her family board Air Force Two for the last time to fly back to Alaska.


 * July 29: Agriculture Secretary Sanford resigns, stating that he wanted to focus on mending his relationship with his wife. This coming only three days after Vice President Palin officially left office.

August

 * August 2: President McCain would announce that he was nominating Randy Russell, former chief of staff to then Agriculture Secretary Block and farm and agriculture lobbyist. Though a lobbyist in the sense, Russell has used his know how to champion awareness and funding to fight global hunger. With this, Russell has few enemies in Washington, DC and is seen as a easy confirmation.


 * August 8: President John McCain travelled to Mexico for the two-day North American Leaders' Summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.


 * August 10: President McCain met in Guadalajara, Mexico with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for a trilateral meeting to discuss the global economy, climate change, security and safety, as well as the H1N1 pandemic.


 * August 7: Blue dog Democrats and Republicans would sponsor a new Health Care Reform bill in the House. This bill would be a modified version in an attempt to play to gaining support from both Democrats and Republicans, which the former bill failed to do.


 * August 29: President McCain would give the eulogy at the funeral service of Senator Edward Moore Kennedy. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush (also representing his father, former President George H. W. Bush) attended, along with Vice President Pawlenty, three former Vice Presidents, 58 senators, 21 former senators (among them Barack Obama), many members of the House of Representatives, and several foreign dignitaries.

September

 * September 14: In the Norwegian parliamentary election, the opposition shockingly managed to gain enough seats in parliament with 87 seats compared to the 82 seats of Prime Minister Stoltenberg's Red-Green coalition. As a result, the Conservative Party and Progress Party announced their intention to form a new centre-right government with Siv Jensen as Prime Minister with the support of the Christian Democratic Party.


 * September 20: A 66 page report by General Stanley McChrystal (Commander og U.S. Forces Afghanistan and the International Security Assistance Force) to Defense Secretary Robert Gates was released to the public by the Washington Post, in which McChrystal called for more troops in Afghanistan, warning that the war in Afghanistan may be lost if more troops are not sent, but the report ends on a note of cautious optimism: “While the situation is serious, success is still achievable.” General McChrystal requested between 30,000 and 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan.


 * September 23: President McCain gives his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly.


 * September 24: In a first for an American president, McCain chairs a U.N. Security Council summit dedicated to nuclear disarmament and proliferation.


 * September 27: In the German federal election, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won the election, and the three parties announced their intention to form a new centre-right government with Angela Merkel as Chancellor. McCain would congratulate Merkel with her re-election and the renewed mandate to govern Germany.

October

 * October 1: President McCain would meet with his national security team to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and a new military strategy. Over the next month he would meet with his national security team eight times, meeting twice a week and devoted between 5 and 10 hours discussing the political, social and military situation in the country. Despite being in favour of General McChrystal's assessment, he would pepper advisers with questions, analysing dozens of intelligence reports for him and Pentagon staff members who churned out thousands of pages of documents, as well as inviting competing voices to debate in front of him. He would also talk closely with both General Petraeus and General McChrystal, often for hours.


 * October 23: President McCain travels to Dover Air Force Base to oversee the return of eighteen American soldiers killed in Afghanistan.


 * October 30: President McCain travels to the United States Military Academy, where he presents his new battle strategy for the War in Afghanistan. The new strategy includes the deployment of 45,000 additional U.S. forces, increased NATO presence, as well as increased training of the Afghan security forces and humanitarian development.

November

 * November 6: John McCain would visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to award two Purple Hearts.


 * November 10: President John McCain would give a eulogy at the Fort Hood ceremony honoring those killed in the shooting rampage on November 5, 2009, by Major Nidal Malik Hasan.


 * November 11: President McCain travelled to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, to lay a ceremonial wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns.


 * November 28: President McCain sent his condolences to Russia after the derailment of an express train running from Moscow to St. Petersburg resulting from a terrorist bomb attack which killed at least 26 people and injured dozat least 90 others. The White House spokesman said in a statement say that the President is "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of life and injuries cause by this horrible terrorist strike. Our hearts go out to the families of those who lost loved ones, and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured."

December

 * December 3 - 4: Secretary of State Joe Lieberman would attend the Meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, where they would discuss the NATO-Ukraine Commission, the NATO-Georgia Commission, the NATO-Russia Council, the cooperation between NATO and Russia on the ballistic missile defense shield in Central Europe, and the troop contributors in ISAF in Afghanistan. During the meeting, Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen would once again announce that NATO would contribute with between 5,000 and 7,000 troops to the surge in Afghanistan. Several nations announced increased troop contributions, including Italy (1000 soldiers with 140 Carabineris), Georgia (923), Poland (600), the United Kingdom (500), South Korea (400), Slovakia (250), Hungary (200), Spain (200), Norway (200), Portugal (150), Sweden (125), Australia (120), the Czech Republic (100), Romania (100), Albania (85; 35 combat troops, 50 trainers), Colombia (80), Macedonia (80), Turkey (60), Armenia (40), Croatia (40), Mongolia (40), Montenegro (40), Finland (25), Ukraine (22), Lithuania (20) and Kazakhstan (5). France announced that they would not increase troop numbers, while Germany announced that they would wait until the Afghanistan-Pakistan Summit in London in January 2010.


 * December 10: Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba was awarded the Nobel Peace prize at the Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, for her efforts to find a negotiated solution to the conflict between FARC and the Colombian government.
 * December 14: McCain would in a statement express his sympathy with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a personal friend, who was physically assaulted during a political rally in Milan on December 13. He condemned the assault on the Premier, calling it "despicable". McCain also commented that "political differences cannot be solved by turning to violence, only arguments in a civilized manner can". He also had a phone conversation with the hospitalized Premier, who was recovering from a broken nose and two broken teeth. He also telephoned the hospitalized Premier, wishing him a speedy recovery and thanking him for the "leadership" he had shown in Afghanistan where Italy has contributed more troops than any of America's NATO allies to the surge against the Taliban. McCain's sympathies joined those of politicians from across the Italian political spectrum and from world leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel, France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Britain's Gordon Brown, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Pope Benedict XVI.


 * December 18: McCain would travel to Denmark to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.