User blog comment:SouthWriter/US Presidential Race 1983:DD/@comment-1777104-20120820034008

Here is what I have so far:

Ken Salazar (Colorado)

Ken Salazar was born March 2, 1955, in Alamosa, Colorado, the son of Emma M. and Henry (Enrique) S. Salazar. His elder brother is former Congressman John Salazar.[4] He grew up near Manassa, in the community of Los Rincones in the San Luis Valley area of south-central Colorado. Salazar attended St. Francis Seminary and Centauri High School in La Jara, graduating in 1973. He later attended Colorado College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1977, and received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981. After graduating, Salazar started private law practice. If he was practicing in Denver, he would probably have died. He did not get into politics until 1986 in OTL.

Dan Schmidt (Lincoln)

Born Aug. 3, 1954. Graduate of University of Washington, c. 1980 with a degree in medicine. Served 10 years as coroner of Latah County, Idaho. Elected in 2010. Apparently moved to Idaho from home state of Washington. A physisian during DD and aftermath. Political arreer in OTL began as a coroner.

William M. Killen (Lincoln)

Born November 5, 1938 in Olympia, Washington. Practiced Law in McCall, ID, being on the town council 1994-97 and as mayor 1996-97. This fits into the ATL very well. He was first elected to the state House in 2006. Now 73, he has announced retirement in 2012 (our time line). Perhaps he provided competition to Sarah Heath, maybe even running against her in 2010.

Jon Tester (Montana)

Born August 21, 1956, in Havre, Tester was an organic farmer and businessman (custom butcher shop) in Big Sandy in 1983. Elected first in 1998 to the state senate, he would go on to be elected in 2006 to the US Senate (OTL). His farm was in the midst of hostile territory during the Lakota War, though, so that would leave some interesting possiblities open for his carreer.

Jonathan Windy Boy (Absaroka)

Born August 28, 1958 in Fort Belknap, MT, in TTL he and his family moved to Absaroka when the Cree tribes were given land there in 1993. He served as tribal vice chairman from 2008 to 2010 while a state Representative (OTL). He has been in politics since 2002. In TTL he could be an influencial Native American.

Larry Jent (Montana)

Born in Nashville, TN, on Dec. 20, 1951, Jent is a West Point Grad and a member of the Montana National Guard. In this time line he would have definitely seen time in the war. In 1983, he had just opened his own law office. A war hero, he would be a natural for a US senate seat in TTL.

Brian Schweitzer (Montana)

Born September 4, 1955, in Havre, MT, Sweitzer would become the present governor of Montana in 2004 (OTL) after losing a close race for US race in 2000. Sweitzer was in Saudi Arabia with his wife in 1983, and has been suggested by Ganon as a name and face to put on the head of CRUSA. I think that we can tweak the history to get him down to Austrailia or New Zealand and thus build a resume to become CRUSA head. Instead of moving to USAR to establish US residency (as was written for JFK, Jr), he could end up instead in his home state.