"You'll feel better on November 2nd knowing your vote was already cast," Bush's campaign said in an e-mail to supporters.
2004 election goes off pretty much as the polls predict, with Red (Republican) states voting for Bush, Blue (Democratic) states going to Kerry and the Purple (swing) states split between the two. It's a close race.
In California (which uses a reasonable number of electronic voting machines) a lawsuit is filed alleging that the vote count from the electronic ballot boxes can't be trusted because either (take your pick) the boxes had a known security vulnerability which was not patched before the election, or the boxes were patched (to fix a known security vulnerability) before the election and were therefore running uncertified software which rigged the votes. A recount can't be done.
The disposition of the electorial votes from that state gets tied-up in court. Contraversy ensues. The result would swing the election either way.
Arnold uses his power as Governor to toss the California electorial votes to Bush. The U.S. Supreme Court either agrees, or refuses to hear the appeal. Bush claims the victory. More contraversy ensues.
It occurs to some people as the court case progresses, that if the machine count can be trusted, then Bush didn't win the electorial votes and didn't win the election. And if the count can't be trusted, then Arnold likely didn't win the Recall vote, isn't the legitimate Governor of California, and therefore doesn't have the authority to toss the election to Bush, calling Bush's victory into question. More contraversy ensues. Protests begin.
The protests create noise in the anti-terrorism community, reducing the effectiveness of the DHS. All sides take notice.
State governors request the return of some of their states National Guard Troops from Iraq and Afghanistan to help deal with the protests and beef-up security. Some requests are granted, some are refused. This causes additional homeland protests in the states where the returns are refused. It also reduces morale among the deployed troops. Where returns stateside are granted, the reduced troop strength further reduces effectiveness in the field. All sides take notice.
A pattern emerges showing that the returning troops are disproportionately from Red states; Blue states feel punished. Protests escalate.
A Succession movement begins among the Blue states. Some Purple states are sympathetic. Bush declares Martial Law. Troops from succeeding states are ordered by their governors to return stateside. Bush threatens to send them to Gitmo if they desert. Troops are sent in to occupy the Financial district of New York.
Civil War ensues within the world's only Superpower. Bush solidifies his power among the Religious Right, declaring the Succession States have relinquished their right to vote on Constitutional Amendments and proceeds to use the instant 2/3 majority of the remaining Red states to outlaw Gay marirage and repeal the "seperation of Church and State" clauses of the Constitution. Bush declared the (remaining) United States to be a Christian Republic and invokes a crusade against Muslim nations.
In the middle of all this, a terrorist attack occurs. Okay, skip that part; that's just too inplausible.
I need suggestions for Actors, more detail for some of the scenes, etc, etc. Who can help me out?
Everybody needs a little love sometime; stop hacking and fall in love!
