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Matthew Alden (1939-) was an American Democratic politician who served as a US Senator from Vermont from 9 April 2001 to 21 November 2011 and President of the United States from 21 November 2011 (succeeding Daniel Vance). Alden inherited a massively successful Democratic Party which was able to win elections across the fifty states, and he unusually supported a Republican-sponsored recall attempt against himself in order to boost his senatorial majority; in that election, 86.88% of Americans gave their votes to the Democratic Party and only 13.12% to the Republicans, in the GOP's worst electoral performance since the party was founded in the 1850s.

Biography[]

Matthew Alden was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1939, and he came from an old-stock Yankee family. He worked as an environmental consultant before entering politics with the Democratic Party and serving in the US Senate from 2001 to 2011; he unsuccessfully ran for President during the early 2000s, but he secured the Democratic nomination for the 2011 presidential election. Alden won the election with 69.9% of the vote to the scandal-plagued Republican John Capp's 30.1%, and he succeeded incumbent Democratic president Daniel Vance.

Presidency[]

Alden inherited a budgt of $7 million with a weekly increase of $3 million; he also had the support of a Democratic supermajority in the US Senate, which held 38/48 seats, and he entered office with a popularity rating of 81.30%. Under Alden, the Senate voted 39-3 to keep labor unions, but, a week later, Alden was involved in a corruption scandal, causing his popularity to fall to 79.82%; it was theorized that the Republicans had built up their dark money and used it to frame Alden. In early 2012, the United States was gripped with an immigration crisis, and Alden faced recall attempts. Alden cleverly promoted the recall attempts, and, on 20 August 2012 (a few weeks after the Senate implemented free public transport), the US government spent $200 million to hold snap elections, the first of their kind. The Democrats wrought their vengeance against the meddling Republicans, with the Democrats winning 86.88% of the vote (+8.36%) and 42/48 Senate seats (+4 seats), and the Republicans falling to 13.12% and 6/48 seats, the Republican Party's worst nationwide performance since their formation in the 1850s. Donna Calling Wind (D-SD), Kelly Gunther (D-NE), Kimberly Davids (D-AR), and Carol Olsen (D-MT) were elected in former "red states", leaving the Republicans almost powerless in the Senate. On 3 September 2012, Alden won re-election with 70.2% of the vote to Republican candidate Barbara Edwards' 29.8%.

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