Backstory (Presidential Election Game)

2008 Election
Everything is the same in 2008 as it was in OTL, except that no OTL politicians exist. The President from 2000 to 2008 was Andrew Conroy, a Republican from Indiana who implemented the exact same policies as Bush did in OTL. In 2008, however, his term was up, and there was a major recession which was the big issue in the election. The Democrats nominated Daniel Walker, a younger Senator from Colorado. The Republicans nominated the longtime Maryland politician Michael Wells, who had served as a Representative for 17 years, including four years as Speaker of the House, before becoming governor for 4 years, then serving as Secretary of Commerce for four years before returning as a consultant for an investment firm. Libertarian candidate Christopher Cotton of Oregon drew a big following, especially in his home state of Oregon, and managed to win the state. The election was very close, especially because Wells had experience with finance but the Republican Party's support was hurt by the recession. Despite losing both Ohio and Florida, Walker, who saw a late surge in the polls mainly due to his personality, managed to pull off a win (though he would've lost if Cotton had not run, as Nevada and New Mexico would've gone to Wells).

Walker's First Term
One of the first things walker did in his term was fill a vacant Supreme Court position, for which he nominated Rodrigo Garza, the first hispanic Supreme Court justice. He later also nominated the female justice Sophia Krueger.

While in office, there was a lot of key legislation which was argued over heavily. First of all, a bill which soguht to limit and tax greenhouse gas emissions failed to pass the Republican House of Representatives, and Walker signed a repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, a major promise he had made. He also signed a major bill dealing with the recession, which included tax cuts for the poor but raised taxes for the rich, further funding of Welfare and infrastructure, money to be invested in the economy, and budget cuts for the military, NASA, and the NSA. Walker was able to pass this through several compromises, especially with the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party which pushed for the budget cuts. Walker also changed the direction of NASA, getting rid of moon exploration. The effects of the recession began to lower, and unemployment dropped. Following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, he managed to pass a set of major environmental laws.

Walker's first term saw the Arab Spring, in which there was a great rise in the Arab World of violence and clashes between authoritarian governments and more popular groups. This caused the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Yemen to all be ousted. However, Libya developed into a major ongoing Civil War between Muammar Gaddafi's government and the moderate rebels. The US backed the rebels, and began airstrikes. After a major attack by Gaddafi's forces in Benghazi, the US embassy and UN mission were destroyed, which led to authorization by Walker of a US advisory force in Libya, and the Republican Congress agreed to back out of Iraq and scale back the troops in Afghanistan. The upheaval eventually stopped except for the Civil War in Libya and continued attacks by terrorist organizations. A new terrorist organization named "the Sharia Caliphate" began to grow after being founded in Syria, and it began to grow in power in Syria and Libya. Walker did, however, authorize a raid in Pakistan which killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Much happened outside of the Arab World, too. South Sudan officially became independent, though it remained on the brink of Civil War. In 2011, India executed several well known Muslim prisoners, which saw protest from Pakistan. Just days later, and Indian unit in Kashmir was struck by a Pakistani airstrike, killing 14 soldiers, and Afghanistan claimed it thought that they were Taliban members. As a result of this, India and Pakistan saw hightened tensions. Meanwhile, tensions between North Korea and South Korea continued to increase.