Talk Elections

Please don't move this :)

RULES

1- Sign up for a character from the list in this thread.

2- The game starts in October 2011.

3- All candidates must post their campaign schedule for every turn in the game thread. There are limits on plausibility - your candidates are not superhuman and cannot travel across the entire nation in a day. If you do not post your candidate takes a light hit in polling. You do have the option of taking a week off but not posting about it will be counted as a no show week. Weeks off freeze your numbers while absences decrease them.

4- Each turn will be 48 hours in our time and 1 week in the game's time (I'm willing to make it more weeks per turn if this slows down)

5- CONTACT ME FOR ENDORSEMENTS

6- Debates will occasionally held in the game thread for both parties.

7- I will be using a number randomizer from 1-50 to determine whether a candidate had a positive or negative experience in the week. 1-5 will be negative experiences (1 being terrible news) and 45-50 will be positive experiences (50 being a huge boost). 5-45 will be no news. The negatives can include, but are not limited to, gaffes, misstatements, medical problems, bad speculation, scandals, emergencies, etc. Positives can include, but are not limited to, surprise endorsements, fundraising boosts, poll surges, good speculation, etc.

9. All history up till October is as

- I will make an update of the previous week post, it will normally include polls, news, and narrative effects, sometimes a debate as well. This, and only this will start the next turn.

- Following the end of the Primaries the game will skip forward until 2 weeks before the Conventions.

-You are allowed to claim independent candidates in this thread, but please do not start posting in the game thread until after primary season.

-The game will start once we have several people doing it. The list will be continually updated to ensure a semi-sensible candidates list - Kucinich isn't going to run against Sanders, for instance.

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Candidates List
Democrats
President Barack Obama (D-IL)

Republicans
Anybody on the list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_presidential_candidates,_2012)

Independents/Others
Former Gov. Gary Johnson (L-NM)
Rep. Ron Paul (I/L-TX)
Ms. Jill Stein (G-MA)
Czar Van Jones (G-TN)
Gov. Buddy Roemer (AE/Reform-LA)
Mayor Rocky Anderson (AE/J-UT)
Rep. Virgil Goode (C/AIP-VA)
Mr. Lou Dobbs (I-NJ)
Mr. Ralph Nader (I-CT)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Former Gov. Jesse Ventura (R/I-MN)
Mr. Donald Trump (I-NY)
Mr. Howard Schultz (AE/I-WA)
Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I-NY)

CLAIMED
President Barack Obama (D-IL): Clinton 1996
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I/D-VT): Drj

Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR): NHI
Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT): Sanchez
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX): Spamage
Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA): Tmth
Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN): Lumine
Sen. John Thune (R-SD): JerryAR
Rep. Ron Paul (R/L-TX): Bmotley
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): Alfred
Vice President Dick Cheney (R-WY): Snowstalker
Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL): Dereich
Gov. George Pataki (R-NY): Oldiesfreak
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN): Idaho Blue Dog Dem

Mayor Rocky Anderson (AE/J-UT): Dr. Cynic
Gov. Jesse Ventura (Reform/I-MN): Spiral

I claim Rick Santorum

I'd like to be Mike Huckabee.

I would like to take Jon Huntsman in the Republican primaries, though I think the Democratic primary is a bit too crowded. I think Grayson, Dean, Sanders, Kucinich, and Gravel would unite around someone like Feingold.

I'll claim Bernie Sanders, running in the Dem Primary against Obama.

Can I be Kay Bailey Hutchinson?

I'd like to play as Rocky Anderson

I would like to play as Mitt Romney. (SHOCKER)

IMO, since third-party candidates aren't even playing until the end of the primaries, we should hold off on most of them until we know the outcome of the primaries (unless that candidate would run regardless of who runs, but that's not true for Sanders and Anderson for example).

This thread can be used to provisionally claim a third party candidate, but don't start posting as said 3rd-party until after the primaries.

Hmmmm... I could play Gingrich 2.0... But too many southern candidates, I claim Governor Mitch Daniels!

I toss santorum, and go for John Thune

I'll play as Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries.

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I'll go with Herman Cain.

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I claim Santorum.

Dropping him, changing to Bachmann.

Taking Dick Cheney for the lulz.

I claim President Obama FTW
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Oh and Bernie, I'm gonna beat you like Bobby beat Whitney.

I edited my post a bit earlier, so it would be easy to skip over, but I decided to switch to Jon Huntsman if that is alright with you guys :).

I claim Tim Pawlenty.

I'll go with Jeb Bush.

I'd like to be Jesse Ventura for an independent run.

Can we start soon? :)

Indeed. I want to respond to everyone else's presidential ambitions with a hardy "NEIN NEIN NEIN" :P.

Can I be Tennessee Senator Bob Corker?

If I can't be Pawlenty, then I claim George Pataki.

Claims are now closed.

Not sure why you haven't put Herman Cain up yet, I claimed him earlier ;)

So... The Republican Field has a "not-so-popular" Former Vicepresident, a Businessman (also a fantastic speaker!)  two Representatives not liked by wide sectors of the party, the brother of a President (and Governor), and a team of several Governors and Senators?

Which will also fight against a moderate but weakened President, an "interesting" Senator, a Governor (and professional wrestler) and a Mayor?

And I thought 2012 was weird by itself... I'm really going to enjoy this game!

Question - will you advance on to the next week once all candidates post, or will you still wait the forty-eight hours?

48 hours/all candidates, whichever comes first.

Can't post as my candidate yet, but when will you start to release national polls?

Seeing Dick Cheney run just makes me laugh XD

Can we hope for the first update tonight? :) :) :)

I'd love to, but I've got a model of a brain and an Atlasian election to do :P

Next update tomorrow.

Everyone has posted, correct?

Yes, I can't wait to see the effects of the negative campaigning in the polls...

To account for you being busy with end of the year stuff as well as to help speed up the process, what would folks think about extending each turn to 72 hours and make it two weeks long until mid-December, when we'd go back to one week?

I'd like that because we'd be moving at a faster rate with, as you mentioned, more time. :)

Nervous bump

Sjoyce?

Sorry y'all, I've been out of town for the weekend and just got back late yesterday. I'll get on this ASAP.

I don't mean to sound insistent, but I'm very eager to keep playing this game, so bump!

Well, I know the 48 hours are gone, but still, everybody posted, right?

After consulting with Sjoyce, I will be taking over as the game master.

Mitt Romney will withdraw this week - I'll give details as to why in my update, which will occur tonight. Mitt Romney's endorsements will be open season.

I'll announce any rule changes as I decide them.

You were doing a massively great campaign!

:) This allows me to focus more on Bloomberg. Plus, it evens out the field a lot more.

Heheh, forgot you are Bloomberg as well =/

YES! A new turn! And no Mitt Romney! CAINMENTUM!

Loving Cain of course!

Who doesn't? His 999 plan is so god damn catchy!

Well... I wasn't expecting that. Sad thing to see Romney go, but polls will go insane from now on...

I know this update isn't too detailed, specifically in that I did not do endorsements (don't worry, there will be plenty of time later for endorsements, plus, I think you all have a good set of folks to work with for another week.)

As you can see, there is no debate question this week. Starting next turn, I will be changing the format to where each candidate will receive a grade on their answer, rather than doing a poll, and that grade will affect their polling numbers. It will be a good opportunity for candidates struggling to gain traction to get a boost.  A fantastic debate could give you a Gingrich-esque bounce...I am fully prepared to take things into my hands a bit and allow for extreme flexibility in the polling. There will be scandals, and there will be big momentum shifts. With the current field, I think that's the only realistic way to go forward.

Can I rejoin this as a new canidate.

PM me your request. Due to the craziness of the campaign, I'll likely allow it, but please understand that you'll be faced with a penalty/disadvantage for starting late.

Turns are still 48 hours, correct?

Si.

An update will come this afternoon. New rules will also be announced.

EDIT: I lied, I thought the turn had ended last night instead of just a few minutes ago. The next update will be tomorrow!!

New update.

Rule changes:

- Beginning December 1st, Third Party candidates will be allowed to begin posting.

- I will be changing the debate result format. No longer will a poll be done - I want debates to be an opportunity for lesser-known candidates to have an opportunity to surge up, as was done in real life. Hence, I will give each response a letter grade, and that will have a direct affect in your polling numbers. If you're a candidate struggling to boost your numbers, I'd highly suggest putting some time into your debate answers.

- This week will be the final week for new candidates to enter the race.

- REMEMBER TO PM ME FOR ENDORSEMENTS! :) Just a note: Major organizations, such as the NRA, will not be granted by request.

Michele Bachmann will drop out of the race and endorse Herman Cain for President.

The Cain Campaign would like to thank Michelle Bachmann for her endorsement.

Sorry to y'all for abandoning this. Been a busy few weeks for me.

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Anywho, I'll be running a campaign - hopefully I can manage at least that. I'll go with Buddy Roemer anyways - the longshot of all longshots, he is. I'll start once the next update appears.

Don't want to be a nag, but is it the next turn? I'm just really excited to play this game!

Ill try and get it up tonight, guarantee it will be early tomorrow though.

Update tomorrow.

Ye of little patience! It's Memorial Day weekend!!! :P

Bump!

Hey, let the guy focus on my 2008 election game :p

Please have patience, my friends. I'll try and squeek out an update tonight, but it'll likely be tomorrow (might try and throw one in before work). I want to do endorsements on this one, which takes a little bit of time (though granted, endorsements don't account for much, rather are just ways of me telling you that your campaign is going well). ;) There is a boost though, just in case some start freaking out...

Just so you guys know - the next turn will only cover January 2nd and 3rd (so I expect those posts to be very detailed). ;) Following the turn, we will have the Iowa results. We'll then proceed from the 4th through the 10th. At the end of that turn will be the New Hampshire primary. So as it stands, the Caucus will be on Wednesday or Thursday, and New Hampshire will be on Saturday or Sunday.

As a general guideline, will various events in the game parallel real life, or will you have more liberty in shaping what could possibly affect the race?

Mixture of both - I'll announce unemployment changes and other (Benghazi, etc).

Big update posted...

If you guys ever have any questions, I'm usually pretty good about answering. Any sort of advice, etc...

Just a reminder: Don't copy speeches word-for-word - it's plagiarism, and it's not good. Thank you! :) I'm okay with paraphrasing, just don't make it too obvious.