Timeline (President McCain)

1999

 * June: Texas Governor George W. Bush announces the beginning of his campaign to seek the Republican Nomination for President of the United States of America. Political pundits consider him to have no serious potential challengers and think he will cruise to the Republican Nomination unopposed.
 * September 27: Senator John McCain of Arizona declares his candidacy for President of the United States. In his opening speech he declares that "as president I will take America back from power brokers and special interests".


 * October 15: Elizabeth Dole declares her candidacy for President of the United States.


 * October 21: A Time Magazine/CNN poll shows McCain trailing Bush nationally 41%-22% while Elizabeth Dole trails in a distant third with 13%.


 * November 2: Exactly one year before election day McCain declares he will tour America and answer voters questions in a town hall format in what he calls "The straight talk express".


 * November 18: Polls show McCain gaining momentum nationally with Bush continuing to lead McCain 44%-28%.


 * December: McCain's campaign though trailing Bush in funding receives one major boost. On December 12 1999 John McCain is endorsed by former president Ronald Reagan. This unexpected luck gives much needed energy into McCain's campaign. A Zogby international poll conducted two days later shows McCain in a much stronger position than before with McCain fielding 37% nationally to Governor Bush's 42%.

2000

 * January 24: McCain finishes with a strong third in the Iowa caucuses, gaining 14% of the vote compared to Bush's 41%.


 * February 1: McCain gains strong momentum by defeating Bush in the New Hampshire primaries, winning 59% of the vote, compared to Bush's 26%.


 * February 8: Bush wins the Delaware primaries with 41% of the vote. McCain comes in second with 25% of the vote.


 * February 19: After one of the nastiest, dirtiest, and most brutal political battles in history, in which McCain fended off a series of vicious attacks from the anonymous smear campaign allegedly linked to the Bush campaign, McCain pulls an upset by defeating Bush in the South Carolina primary by the razor thin margin of 47% to 46%. After the South Carolina primaries all candidates except Bush and McCain has either drop out of the race or suspended their campaigns, and by March all have endorsed one of the two remaining candidates.


 * March 4: After a long series of hard fought contests George Bush suspends his campaign due to Super Tuesday loses in February. Three days later he endorses John McCain. With no challengers remaining John McCain declares he will be the Republican Nominee for President of the United States.


 * April 17: With the general election campaign between McCain and Vice President Al Gore heating up, McCain announces that George W. Bush will be his running mate.


 * April 23: In response to Senator McCain's vice presidential choice Cice President Gore chooses Joe Lieberman as his running mate.


 * May 20: During a rally in Akron, Ohio McCain announces he will impose a tax cut on 97% of Americans and that he will create a plan to break America's dependence on foreign oil. McCain also accuses Gore of being soft on foreign policy and says that Gores fiscal policy is full of taxation. Gore is slow to respond and thus suffers a slide in the polls.


 * July-August: At the Republican Convention in Philadelphia John McCain is nominated as the Republican Nominee while George Bush is nominated as the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee.Later in August Al Gore is nominated as the Democratic Nominee And Joe Lieberman is nominated as the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.


 * October 3: In the first presidential debate at the University of Massachusetts on October 3, 2000, McCain criticizes the Clinton administration's handling of foreign policy targeting the failure of the administration in Somalia in 1993 and the administration' failure to do anything about the Rwandan genocide, saying his now famous line "there is no way that could happen if I was president".


 * October: After a strong performance in the final two debates and the vice presidential debate by the McCain/Bush ticket the race looks tight with both McCain and Gore at 48% and independent Ralph Nader carrying 4% nationally.


 * November 2: On election day Senator McCain and Governor Bush hold a joint rally in Miami, Florida. As the election returns come, McCain has won thirty states by 11:30 PM EST. After a long night of results the fate of the election comes down to a close race in the final state of Florida. After several hours of vote counting, John McCain is announced the winner of the election and the forty third President of the United States at 3:17 AM EST. The McCain/Bush ticket received 276 electoral votes to Gore/Lieberman's 261. Unlike in OTL there is no disputed recount.


 * December 15: McCain officially resigns from the United States Senate. On December 20, Governor Jane Dee Hull of Arizona chooses Junior U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, a fellow Republican, to replace McCain in the Senate.

2001

 * January 3: President-Elect McCain announces some of his cabinet nominations.


 * January 20: At a ceremony at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., John McCain is officially sworn in by Chief Justice William Rehnquist as the 43rd President of the United States. In his inaugural speech, McCain calls for Americans to be proud of their country and calls the "twenty-first century an era in which America will prosper". He promises a thorough review of American policy in Asia, and announces he will set up a bipartisan commission to study America's options.


 * January-February: The Senate confirms all of McCain's nominees.


 * February 17: President McCain signs a bill that delivers a tax cut for 97% of Americans. This stimulates a slowing economy and creates instant growth on both Wall Street and Main Street. As a result McCain sees his approval ratings shoot up nine points from 54% to 63%.


 * March 9: President McCain meets with several heads of state and government from Europe, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Reports say his meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jaucque Chirac goes well.


 * April 20: President McCain orders the FBI to begin tracking several Saudi Arabians who were reported to have terrorist connections after reading an intelligence report stating that a terrorist leader by the name of Osama bin Laden was preparing a possible terrorist attack against the United States.


 * May 12: President McCain begins a comprehensive overhaul of U.S energy policy by signing a bill funding the "Eisenhower Project", a national program that allows the government and the private sector to work together to cut U.S dependence on foreign fuels by 75% by the year 2025. The program utilizes technologies that involve wind, solar, clean coal and nuclear power and invests billions in U.S ethanol production.


 * June 10: For the first time as president McCain meets Russian President Vladimir Putin. Together they discuss how the United States and Russia can cooperate.


 * July 20–22: McCain attends the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. McCain says that "I support free trade only if it benefits the workers of the United States".


 * September 11: On that morning, 19 Islamic terrorists successfully fly two Boeing 747 aircraft into the World Trade Center Towers. President McCain acts swiftly and prevents two further terrorist attacks by scrambling F-16 fighter jets which shoot down two more hijacked aircraft. Later in the afternoon, he speaks before a joint session of Congress, promising swift retaliation by declaring the War on Terrorism. That evening, he addresses the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks but emphasizing the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims.


 * September 12: President McCain and Vice President Bush holds a formal meeting with national security advisers from the CIA, NSA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several prominent members of the U.S. Senate as well as former Presidents. They discuss the intelligence reports identifying Osama bin Laden and the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda as the perpetrators. After several hours of debating they all agree that an invasion of Afghanistan to remove the Taliban regime from power, who were harbouring Al-Qaeda, was the only solution to eliminate the terrorist threat.


 * September 13: President McCain visits Ground Zero, meeting with Mayor Rudy Giuliani and firefighters, police officers, and volunteers. Meanwhile McCain gains an approval rating of 90%.


 * September 17: Six days after the attacks with approximately 2700 Americans dead, McCain speaks once again before a joint session of Congress, in which he receives the permission from both the Senate and House of Representatives to invade Afghanistan, in order to topple the Taliban regime and eliminate the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. McCain also issues an ultimatum demanding that the Taliban government of Afghanistan deliver al-Qaeda leaders located in Afghanistan to the United States authorities, or else they would share in their fate.


 * September 29: Operation Enduring Liberty begins when U.S special forces units begin slipping into Afghanistan. These units begin convincing and bribing local chieftains to resist the Taliban regime.


 * October 14: The invasion of Afghanistan begins when U.S., NATO and Australian forces initiates bombing campaigns on Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, while U.S. and UK special forces supported by the Afghan Northern Alliance captures Mazār-e Sharīf, thus opening supply routes and providing an inportant airstrip for U.S. planes and helicopters. The main goals of the invasion is to defeat the Taliban, drive al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and capture key Al-Qaeda leaders.


 * October 15: 100,000 U.S soldiers begin the ground campaign, most of them by the captured airport in Mazār-e Sharīf.


 * October 22: U.S. forces, supported by the Afghan Northern Alliance, captures the Afghan capital Kabul.


 * October 24: Kunduz is captured by the Northern Alliance.


 * October 26: Jalalabad is captured by the U.S. forces and men of the Northern Alliance.


 * November 2: Kandahar is captured by the U.S. forces and men of the Northern Alliance. The head of the Taliban regime, Mullah Omar, manages to escape, but the Taliban is severly crippled with over 60% of its former combat strenght reduced.


 * November 10: The Battle of the Tora Bora begins. Heavy fighting between U.S., British, German and Northern Alliance forces on one side and Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters on the other continues for another month.


 * November 19: U.S Army Rangers seriously injures Osama bin Laden, however reports say that he was evacuated from the front line. Ayman al-Zawahiri succeed bin Laden as the interim leader of al-Qaeda.


 * November 24: After days of heavy fighting on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border 80% of al-Qaeda's forces are dead or captured. Ayman al-Zawahiri is seriously wounded by Coaliton air strikes, but is evacuated.


 * November 25: After days of intense fighting among al-Qaeda's upper echelons, worsened by the loss of their leader and al-Zawahiri too injured to continue fighting, the terrorist organization splinters into several weaker groups. These groups immediately begin turning on each other.


 * December 4: After losing close to 90% of its original strength, al-Qaeda is temporarily consolidated under Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, and retreats into Pakistan. Taliban has also lost most of its former strength (75%), but keeps residing in the border regions on the Afghan-Pakistani border.


 * December 5: The Pentagon reports that the Taliban had been defeated but cautioned that the war would go on to continue weakening Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. At a White House press conference President McCain reveals the plans for a security and development mission led by NATO and established by the United Nations.


 * December 20: At a session of the United Nations Security Council the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is established as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement.


 * December 22: The United Nations installs the Afghan Interim Authority chaired by Hamid Karzai.

2002

 * January 15: The Senate passes a bill known as the Afghan Reconstruction Act. The bill helps build modern infrastructure throughout Afghanistan and helps bulk up the Afghan military. The bill also invests billions in agriculture and education for the Afghan people. Meanwhile, fighting in Afghanistan continues, while the first NATO forces under the ISAF mandate is deployed in Afghanistan.


 * January 20: In his State of the Union Address President McCain says that the Ba'athist regime in Iraq is must be eliminated, labeleling the regime as part of an "axis of evil" posing "a grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destruction.


 * February 27: McCain along with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense begin plans for an invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, basing their plans on reports of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.


 * March 1 - 18: In Operation Anaconda, U.S. and NATO forces engage al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shahi-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains southeast of Zormat. The operation is a success, with between 500–800 insurgents killed compared to 15 Coalition losses.


 * March 30: President McCain calls on Americans to join the U.S. military in order to help the country in a time of need.


 * May: CIA releases reports containing assertions of Saddam Hussein's intent of reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, not properly accounting for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions.


 * June: President McCain urges the United Nations to enforce Iraqi disarmament mandates, precipitating a diplomatic crisis.


 * July: Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei lead UN weapons inspectors in Iraq. The Iraqi regime is reluctant to abide by the requests of the UN, or provide falsified facts about the allegded Iraqi WMD programme.


 * August 5: President McCain addresses the United Nations Security Council and tells them that Saddam Hussein is a threat to democracies across the world and must be stopped. Despite this the U.N. votes not to intervene or to support intervention in Iraq. His urge of an UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of military force fails due to vigorous opposition from several countries, including Russia, France and China.


 * September 7: Intelligence reports indicate that Iraq still has a substantial stockpile of chemical weapons. Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei still faces opposition by the Iraqi government in their search for Iraqi WMDs.


 * October 10: President McCain meets with the heads of government from several NATO countries. A vote to intervene in Iraq succeeds. This allows the inclusion of United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands and other non-NATO allies of the United States to assist in an invasion of Iraq.


 * October 26: The Moscow Theatre Siege ends with approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 129 hostages dead when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before. President McCain sent his condolences to the Russian government, saying that "Despite our antagonistic relationship, I ask the American people to join me with giving the people of Moscow our condolences to the victims of the vicious terrorist incident. I urge the Russians in joining us in our steadfast commitment to defeat terrorism and protect our liberty and freedom."


 * December 16: President McCain says that the coalition of nations that agreed at the NATO summit was part of a new "league of democracies".

2003

 * January 20: In his second State of the Union address President McCain gives Iraq a forty-five day ultimatum to begin a program to cease arms build-ups, destroy all stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction, cease funding terrorists, cease supporting other dictators and give the Iraqi people more freedom.


 * February: President McCain begins sending U.S troops to the Persian Gulf. 40,000 troops are moved from Afghanistan to Kuwait to join an additional 300,000 troops in a pre-invasion build-up.


 * March 25: President McCain issues his final ultimatum to Saddam Hussein in his address to the nation: He demands that Hussein and his two sons Uday and Qusay surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline.


 * March 27: Operation Iraqi Freedom, the invasion of Iraq officially begins. U.S and other Coalition troops begin pouring into southern Iraq. The USAF and Tomahawk cruise missiles attack political and military installations. U.S intelligence says Saddam Hussein has gone into hiding already.


 * March-April: People around the world protest against the invasion, and his popularity in Europe and Asia falls below 50%.


 * April 9: Baghdad falls to NATO forces. The imfamous statue of Saddam Hussein is toppled, marking the end of Saddam Hussein's 24-year dictatorship.


 * April 10: Riots against NATO forces are prevented by large barricades that are installed around Baghdad. Sporadic fighting between Coalition forces and remnants of the Iraqi Army continues.


 * April 12: Other statues of Saddam Hussein are torn down by angry mobs across Iraq.


 * April 15: President McCain lands on board the U.S.S Abraham Lincoln. In a speech president McCain says that Phase 1 of the war is over and that U.S forces must capture Saddam Hussein and install a free and democratic Iraqi government.


 * May 28: A suicide bomber kills 25 and injures 52 in Baghdad. Intelligence report suggest that the U.S. will have an sectarian uprising if they do not act swiftly.


 * June 2: As another suicide bomber kills 18 and injures 37, President McCain issues orders for the Coalition troops to concentrate in areas in which insurgents operate and cooperate with the locals.


 * June-October: Early insurgency attempts are easily crushed due to an influx of troops throughout Iraq, as well as focusing on allying ethnic groups and chiefs against al-Qaeda. McCain's approval ratings drops from 72% to 56% from the early series of suicide bombings targeting U.S. troops in early July and raise to 65% in October following the successful counter-insurgency strategy.


 * June 23: Howard Dean declared his candidacy for the 2004 Democratic Party presidential nomination on June 23, 2003, in Burlington, Vermont


 * July 22: Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein, are killed by U.S. military forces during a prolonged gunfight in Mosul, Iraq.


 * July 2003: Howard Dean declares his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. Weeks later both John Kerry and John Edwards announce their candidacy also.


 * August 5: The Afghan National Army (ANA) begins conducting it's first attacks against the Taliban. While showing some shortages in training and organisation, the operation is considered a success.


 * September 11: Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh dies on the early morning of September 11 following a knife attack at the Nordiska Kompaniet department store in central Stockholm on the afternoon of September 10. Along with Scandinavian and other EU countries, President McCain sends his condolences.


 * September 19: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell attends a formal commemorative gathering held for Anna Lindh at Stockholm City Hall.


 * November 7: Hamid Karzai is elected the first President of Afghanistan.


 * December: Russia agrees to help NATO in Afghanistan and Iraq. Three days later Saddam Hussien is captured after being found hiding in a farmhouse in rural Anbar province. President McCain sees his approval ratings sore to 76%.

2004

 * January: In the first Democratic primaries Howard Dean wins sweeping victories against his main challengers by winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Meanwhile in Afghanistan U.S troops destroy the last few holdouts of the Taliban remaining in the country.In Iraq Nouri Al-Maliki is elected Iraq's first freely elected President.


 * February: Howard Dean secures the Democratic nomination after sweeping wins on Super Tuesday. In Afghanistan whats left of the Taliban surrender to NATO forces. A new law is passed in Afghanistan that banns the opium trade and replaces Opium with wheat grain and silk farms. Rug and Tea manufacturing soon begins to boom in Afghanistan and the banning of opium is considered a major victory in the war on drugs.


 * March: President McCain signs a bill that comprehensively reforms immigration to the United States by building a border fence between the United States and Mexico. The bill also deports all illegal immigrant criminals but allows amnesty for all other illegal immigrants as long as they pay a fine,learn English and "move to the back of the immigration waiting line". Meanwhile in politics pundits say Dean has little or no chance at beating highly popular president McCain.


 * April: Howard Dean names Evan Bayh of Indiana his running mate but faces the challenge of having little material to attack president McCain on. Dean is also criticized for picking such an in-experienced running mate. In Iraq the Iraqi military and police begins to bring order to the streets of Baghdad and Basra. A Sunni cleric named Muqtada Al Sadr says he is interested in negotiating with U.S forces.


 * May: