Timeline (President McCain)

1999

 * June 1999: 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, 1999: 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, 1999: Elizabeth Dole declares her candidacy for President of the United States.


 * October 21, 1999: A Time Magazine/CNN poll shows McCain trailing Bush nationally 41%-22% while Elizabeth Dole trails in a distant third with 13%.


 * November 2, 1999: 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, 1999: Polls show McCain gaining momentum nationally with Bush continuing to lead McCain 44%-28%.


 * December 1999: 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, 2000: McCain finishes with a strong third in the Iowa caucuses, gaining 14% of the vote compared to Bush's 41%.


 * February 1, 2000: McCain gains strong momentum by defeating Bush in the New Hampshire primaries, winning 59% of the vote, compared to Bush's 26%.


 * February 8, 2000: Bush wins the Delaware primaries with 41% of the vote. McCain comes in second with 25% of the vote.


 * February 19, 2000: 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, 2000: 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 2000: 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, 2000: In response to Senator McCain's vice presidential choice Cice President Gore chooses Joe Lieberman as his running mate.


 * May 20, 2000: 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 2000: 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.


 * September 2000: In the first presidential debate McCain criticizes the Clinton administration's handling of foreign policy targeting the failure of the administration to do anything about the Rwandan genocide Saying his now famous line "there is no way that that could have happened if I was president".


 * October 2000: 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 2000: On election day Senator McCain and Governor Bush hold a Joint rally in Miami, Florida. That evening America watches as the results come in. After a long night of results the fate of the election comes down to a close race in the final state Florida but after several hours of vote counting at 3:17 AM EST John McCain is announced the winner of the election and the forty-third President of the United States. Overall the McCain/Bush Ticket beats Gore/Lieberman 276-261 electoral votes. Unlike in OTL there is no disputed recount.


 * December 15, 2000: McCain officially resigns from the United States Senate.

2001
January 20, 2001 John McCain is officially sworn in as President of the United States. In his state of the union address McCain calls for Americans to be proud of their country and calls the twenty first century an era in which America will prosper.

February 17 2001 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 2001 President McCain meets with several heads of state from Europe reports say his meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jaucque Chirac goes well.

April 20 2001 President McCain orders the FBI to begin tracking several Saudi Arabians who were reported to have terrorist connections after reading a document stating that a terrorist leader by the name of Osama Bin-Laden was preparing a possible terrorist attack against the United States.

May 12 2001  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 2001 For the first time as president McCain meets Russian President Vladimir Putin. Together they discuss how the United States and Russia can work together.

August 2001  McCain attends the G-8 summit of the developed nations. McCain says " I support free trade only if it benefits the workers of the United States.

September 11 2001 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 fighter jets which shoot down two more hijacked aircraft. That evening President McCain speaks before a joint session of congress and promises swift retaliation by declaring the War On Terror.

September 12 2001 President McCain and vice president Bush have a formal meeting with national security advisers from the CIA,NSA, and several prominent members of the senate as well as former Presidents. After several hours of debating they all agree on one thing to invade Afghanistan.

Sept 17 2001  Six days after the 9/11 attacks with approximately 2700 Americans dead McCain receives permission from both the congress and senate to invade Afghanistan.

September 29 2001 Operation Enduring Liberty begins when U.S special forces units begin slipping into Afghanistan these units begin bribing local chieftains to resist the Taliban regime.

Oct 14 2001 100,000 U.S soldiers begin the invasion of Afghanistan they are backed up by thousands of forces from other NATO countries.

Oct 19 2001  U.S army rangers successfully kill Osama Bin-Laden at the battle of Tora-Bora. Ayman al Zahari becomes the new leader of Al Quaeda.

November 8 2001  After days of fighting on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border 80% of Al- Quaeda's forces are dead or captured. At 8:44 pm eastern time Ayman al Zahari dies of injuries suffered in combat.

November 19 2001 After days of intense in fighting among al Quaeda's upper echelons the terrorist organization splinters into several weaker less fanatic more divided groups. These groups immediately begin turning on each other

December 4 2001 The last surviving members of Al Quaeda are killed in a series of air strikes into Pakistan.

January 15 2002  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.

January 20 2002  In his second state of the union address president McCain says that Baathist regime in Iraq must be eliminated.

February 27 2002  McCain along with secretary of state Collen Powell and secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld begin plans for an invasion and reconstruction of Iraq.

March 30 2002  President McCain calls on Americans to join the U.S military in order to help the country in a time of need.

August 2002  President McCain addresses the United Nations and tells them that Saddam Husseinn is a threat to democracy across the world and must be stopped. Despite this the U.N votes not to intervene or to support intervention in Iraq.

October 2002  President McCain meets with the heads of state from several NATO nations. 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.

December 2002 McCain says that the coalition of nations that agreed at the NATO summit was part of a new "league of democracies".

January 2003 In his third state of the union address president McCain gives Iraq a forty five day ultimatum to cease funding terrorists,cease supporting other dictators and to begin a program to cease arms buildups and give Iraqi's more freedom.

February 2003 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 buildup.

March 27 2003 The invasion of Iraq officially begins. U.S and foreign troops begin pouring into southern Iraq. Meanwhile the Iraqi air force is quickly overwhelmed and it's small navy is eliminated in a few hours. U.S intelligence says Saddam Hussein has gone into hiding already.

April 9 2008 Baghdad falls to NATO forces.

April 10 2003 Riots against NATO forces are prevented by large barricades that are installed around Baghdad. Meanwhile 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.

April 12 2003 Statues of Saddam Hussein are torn down by angry mobs across Iraq.

May 15 2003  Early insurgency attempts are easily crushed unlike in OTL due to an influx of troops throughout Iraq.

June 2003 Hamid Karzai is elected Afghanistan's first president. Two weeks later Saddam's sons are killed in combat with U.S troops.

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 2003  The Afghan military begins conducting it's first attacks against the remnants of the Taliban.