1992 United States presidential election (NCT Larp)

The 1992 United States presidential election was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. Incumbent Democratic President Harrison Birch of Illinois narrowly won election to a second term over Republican House Minority Leader Emmanuel Reed of Pennsylvania. This was the closest presidential election in the 20th century, both in the popular and electoral vote totals, and it remains the fourth and most recent presidential election in which the winner of the election lost the popular vote.

Birch's first term had a mixed record. Although the economy was recovering from a recession in 1991, it was overall still in a sluggish state, and the personal conduct of Vice President Claire Davis became an issue when, in January of 1991, it was revealed that she had a lesbian affair with office staffer Natalie Barlow. Birch did have several achievements to tout, such as his successful persecution of the Gulf War, the 1991 Birch tax cuts, and a historic agreement with Russia to allow for expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and acquisition of cheap natural gas. Meanwhile, Reed prevailed over New York Senator Edward Brecci in a heated Republican primary season, but pulled away after crushing victories on Super Tuesday. On the Democratic side, Tennesee Governor Richard Boeing challenged Birch in the Democratic primaries, attacking him strongly on his running mate's lesbian affair. However, since he entered the race after Super Tuesday, he had few delegates and little momentum, and Birch easily brushed Boeing aside to win renomination for a second term. In the general election, Reed attacked the Vice President's affair and the sluggish state of the economy, while Birch emphasized his tax cuts and foreign policy successes.

The final results were incredibly close. Although Reed narrowly won a plurality in the popular vote and 29 states, sweeping the South and West, Birch won the Electoral College by one vote due to his support in the Northeast, Pacific Coast, and his native Midwest. Reed's popular vote victory has been recognized by historians to have come from overwhelming turnout against Birch in the South due to his running mate's homosexuality and adultery, an issue that hurt him much more in the South than it did nationally. This election remains the last time Montana was won by a Democratic candidate, the last time a Democrat won a presidential election while carrying West Virgnia, and the last time a Republican won a presidential election carrying New Mexico. This was also the first presidential election in which an incumbent female president or vice president was up for reelection, and the first time a person generally known to be homosexual was on a major party ticket.

Background
Elected in 1988 over George Bush, Harrison Birch had an eventful first term. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Gulf War started in 1990 and continued into early 1991, and the Soviet Union collapsed in December of 1991. As a former governor, Birch had little foreign policy experience, and delegated authority heavily to Secretary of State Jack Rosenberg, a former senator from Rhode Island and chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, while Birch focused on domestic policy, which he was well-versed in. An economic recession also happened in 1991, keeping him within striking distance in the eyes of potential Republican candidates, and causing him to take action. In late 1991, he directed the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, while passing tax cuts directed towards middle and lower-income brackets to engender economic stimulation. He also sent a bill to Congress to curb the ongoing housing crisis by vastly expanding rent assistance and mortgage repayment government programs. These measures were moderately successful, particularly the housing bill. On January 6th, 1992, an article was published by the New York Post alleging that Vice President Claire Davis had a homosexual affair with staffer Natalie Barlow, starting in early 1991. Although rumors had persisted about the Vice President's personal habits since late 1988, this article definitively proved it with tape recordings of phone calls between Davis and Barlowe and Birch's approval ratings plummeted as the full extent of the affair became public knowledge. Despite the embarrassment the affair and ensuing media coverage caused to the administration, Birch was clear that he was not going to drop Davis from the ticket in 1992, despite some internal talks to drop her and replace her with Rosenberg. Later, Birch would elaborate on his reasoning. "I couldn't forgive myself if I dropped her. She was doing a good job and deserved another go at it. Plus, it would've been political suicide. [George] McGovern dropped his running mate in '72, and it made the whole situation much worse. I never lost a moment of sleep over sticking with her," he explained years later. "I don't regret it."

On January 20, 1992, Birch announced that his administration had reached a deal with Russian President Boris Yeltsin to secure permission to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into Asia and secure natural gas from Russia for deflated prices, in exchange for greatly loosening economic pressure on Russia. He also announced an agreement with Yeltsin to form an alliance to combat terrorism in the Middle East. Gas prices plummeted to under $1.00 per gallon in most places in the United States, and his administration bathed in the good publicity, touting it as a historic peace deal in the region. This agreement gave Birch's image a nice presidential sheen going into the 1992 primary season, and mostly neutralized the fallout from Davis's lesbian affair that had rocked the administration earlier.