Office of ZuWo - Fresh start in the Pacific!

[CLARENCE 2015!]

What a phenomenal ticket!

[Sopranos Republican]

What a phenomenal ticket!

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

I don't dare say anymore than what the others say about this ticket.

What a phenomenal ticket!

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Heartily endorsed!

[tmthforu94]

While I will be giving my first preference to my Lieutenant Governor, I will offer you my second preference.

[ZuWo]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words, first or second preferences! In a close election like this one, second preferences are obviously of crucial importance.

[Napoleon]

While I will be giving my first preference to my Lieutenant Governor, I will offer you my second preference.

You're just trying to look cool in front of your liberal friends.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Very strong ticket.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Thank you, Assemblyman ZuWo. When rumors began floating of a possible "ZuWo/Cathcon" ticket a few months, I was honored. Despite my arrival in Atlasia before ZuWo, he had made a name for himself quickly due to his hard work and dedication. It was no surprise to me that he eventually became a presidential candidate and finally our Governor. When I was finally officially asked to run with him for Lieutenant Governor on the Federalist ticket, I was flattered and after a bit of deliberation, agreed. Under the ZuWo/Cathcon government, we will put our combined experience to good use in keeping the ship of state running well and confronting problems when they arise. One need only look at either of our records to look at what our ticket brings to the table, though that is in no way an attempt to rub on any rival candidates.

Thanks dawgs, that is all for now.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Enthusiastically endorsed!

[ZuWo]

Thank you for your endorsement, Oldiesfreak.

A couple of remarks on a potential ZuWo/Cathcon administration:

- If elected, we will re-introduce the "Governor's monthly newsletter", which offers a short overview of the most important events in the region and Atlasia in general. (Click here to view gubernatorial newsletters from my previous term). I received positive feedback from several people when I introduced it so I think this is a worthwhile idea to pursue.

- The regional wiki pages are a fundamental aspect of the game so we will update the most important parts of the wiki with great diligence.

- We will attempt to revive the "Conference of Atlasian Regional Executives" (C.A.R.E), which shall serve as an official platform for the regional executives of Atlasia and increase the level of cooperation between the leaders of the individual regions.

ZuWo/Cathcon

[Maxwell]

- We will attempt to revive the "Conference of Atlasian Regional Executives" (C.A.R.E), which shall serve as an official platform for the regional executives of Atlasia and increase the level of cooperation between the leaders of the individual regions.

If you do become Governor, I would happily join this. If not, I think I may take this up myself.

[ZuWo]

- We will attempt to revive the "Conference of Atlasian Regional Executives" (C.A.R.E), which shall serve as an official platform for the regional executives of Atlasia and increase the level of cooperation between the leaders of the individual regions.

If you do become Governor, I would happily join this. If not, I think I may take this up myself.

That's great to hear! I think this is an idea that deserves another chance.

[Goldwater]

This ticket has my full endorsement!

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

- The regional wiki pages are a fundamental aspect of the game so we will update the most important parts of the wiki with great diligence.

That's good.  I see our wiki is now up to date(ish)... which is good, because I really didn't want to have to be acting Governor, but upon looking, I apparently should've taken over a few days ago.

[tmthforu94]

- The regional wiki pages are a fundamental aspect of the game so we will update the most important parts of the wiki with great diligence.

That's good.  I see our wiki is now up to date(ish)... which is good, because I really didn't want to have to be acting Governor, but upon looking, I apparently should've taken over a few days ago.

I think I've done a pretty good job at keeping the Wiki up-to-date. March was a tough and busy month for me, I'm sure most are pretty understanding. While the Statue is important, I've made a real effort the past 6 months to update other parts as well. The region as a whole was pretty outdated when I took over, but it's looking much better now. I need to do another citizen update (includes giving all new citizens Wiki page) which I haven't done for a couple months - that should take some time. Help is always welcome.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

That's what your LG is for... it's like an intern, but more prestigious.

[ZuWo]

Thank you, Goldwater.

Regional Infrastructure

The Mideast Assembly is currently debating a major infrastructure bill, the Tmthforu94-Gass3268 High Speed Rail Act of 2013. While $600 million seems like a very large sum at first glance, I consider this a sensible investment in the future of the Mideast. Thus, I will vote in support of this bill.
Apart from investment in new projects we have to make sure that our existing infrastructure is properly maintained and modernized. Indeed, numerous of our municipalities are struggling with an aging infrastructure so sooner or later the Mideast will be compelled to increase spending in this area - particularly in the sectors "Energy" and "Transportation" of our budget. We must keep in mind, however, that one of our region's highest priorities is to pass budgets that are as balanced as possible. Thus, we will have to try to find a way to reconcile both of these goals. Stay tuned for more on this topic!

[ZuWo]

I conducted an offsite poll on the gubernatorial race with the help of www.surveymonkey.com. I posted the results in another thread, but I will also put them here for everyone to see:

Gubernatorial Poll (21 respondents)

1. Who shall receive your first preference in the election for Mideast Governor?

Lt. Governor Clinton1996: 9 votes, 42.96%
Assemblyman ZuWo: 8 votes, 38.10%
Assemblyman Gass3268: 4 votes, 19.05%

--> Based on these results, it looks like Clinton1996 is the frontrunner at this point. Not surprisingly, most Gass3268 voters are intent on giving their second preference votes to Clinton1996. Interestingly, there is a sizable number of Clinton1996 voters who second preference ZuWo rather than Gass. The second choice of most ZuWo voters is Clinton1996. Thus, the distribution of second preferences looks as follows:

2. Who shall receive your second preference?

Lt. Governor Clinton1996: 7 votes, 33.33%
Assemblyman ZuWo: 8 votes, 38.10%
Assemblyman Gass: 6 votes, 28.57%

Another important question was asked about the candidate's favorability ratings. Somewhat surprisingly, the frontrunner is not the most popular candidate in the race:

3. Favorability ratings

Clinton1996: 13 favorable (61.90%), 2 unfavorable (9.52%), 5 neutral (23.81%)
Gass3268: 9 favorable (42.86%), 5 unfavorable (23.81%), 6 neutral (28.57%)
ZuWo: 16 favorable (76.19%), 1 unfavorable (4.76%), 4 neutral (19.05%)

4. For Clinton1996 voters only: Why do you plan to vote for Clinton?

"I like his ideology/political views": 6 votes (66.66%)
"I like him as a person": 5 votes (55.56%)
"I will vote for him because he's a member of the Liberal Party": 4 votes (44.44%)
"He's the most competent candidate": 1 vote (11.11%)
"other reasons": 2 votes (22.22%)

5. For Gass3268 voters only: Why do you plan to vote for Gass?

"I like his ideology/political views": 3 votes (60%)
"I like him as a person": 3 votes (80%)
"I will vote for him because he's a member of the Labor Party": 1 vote (25%)
"He's the most competent candidate": 1 vote (25%)
"other reasons": 1 vote (25%)

6. For ZuWo voters only: Why do you plan to vote for ZuWo?

"I like his ideology/political views": 6 votes (75%)
"I like him as a person": 6 votes (75%)
"I will vote for him because he's a member of the Federalist Party": 4 votes (50%)
"He's the most competent candidate": 3 votes (37.5%)

[ZuWo]

Campaign Event in East Lansing, Michigan

Let's be frank: Our infrastructure is not in the best shape. We can do better when it comes to the state of our railroad system, roads or power lines, just to name three prominent examples. But let me be clear: I neither blame the current government nor any previous Mideastern administration for this situation since this is a problem that affects all Atlasian regions to a certain degree as well as a large number of poor and rich countries all around the world. Indeed, the maintenance and modernization of a region's infrastructure is very costly and presents a serious challenge to every modern government.
So what can we do to improve the infrastructure of the Mideast? Clearly, whatever we do it will cost us money. I do not subscribe to the notion that the state is responsible for creating wealth and making the economy thrive. However, the state can lay the groundwork for economic success by providing a well-developed and functioning infrastructure, and that's what we need to do. In all honesty, I do not yet know how the Mideast will be able to increase spending on infrastructure projects and have a balanced budget at the same time, but I am ready to work with those on the right and the left to achieve this ambitious goal. I am willing to listen to and debate various ideas on this matter.

[ZuWo]

An addendum to my last post on the state of our infrastructure and the need to spend more money on its maintenance and modernization:
Concretely, I am mainly considering increasing our expenditures in the following sections of our budget

a)

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b)

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Link to the last budget debate

[ZuWo]

Two reform ideas

I don't think that our region needs a massive constitutional or political overhaul because the Mideast is doing fine in most respects. However, there are always certain aspects which can be improved, and that's why I'd like to put forward two reform ideas that I'm looking forward to discuss with all citizens of our region.

1. A runoff election for Governor

Under the current system, a governor is elected with the help of redistributed votes from one or several eliminated candidates if he/she doesn't receive an outright majority of votes on the first ballot. While this way of electing governors is certainly time saving, I regard this method as quite unattractive from the point of view of someone who likes clear-cut election results. Additionally, some voters might not even be aware of the importance of their second-preference votes under the current system. So why not consider introducing a runoff system? Fortunately, Atlasian elections don't cost the taxpayer any money, and a runoff election system guarantees that the results are transparent for everyone.

2. What exactly are the Governor's and Lt. Governor's Wiki duties?

The Mideast constitution says that the "Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall hold the responsibility of updating the Mideast regional Wiki for all legislation and occurrences during and prior to his or her tenure." While this looks clear and straightforward at first glance, an open question remains. It seems evident that they have to update the relevant sections of the Wiki (e.g. "Statute", "Elections" etc.), but does this mean that the Governor and Lt. Governor should also be held responsible for updating the personal wiki pages of every single citizen in the Mideast whenever there is an "occurrence" which involves a particular citizen? This might appear like a trivial question but due to fact that the Governor/Lt. Governor face serious consequences if they don't update the Wiki in an appropriate fashion (i.e. a temporary expulsion from their offices), it's an important one nevertheless. Thus, a clarification of the constitution may be necessary.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

One thing you can not question is the commitment of this ticket to preserving the vast and incredible history of the Mideast. I can assure you that we will, in our capacity as the leaders of the Mideast, remain dedicated to consistent updating of the Mideast Wiki. Of course, in order to better facilitate the preservation and recording of Mideastern history the way in which one goes about their duties is very important. This issue, addressed by ZuWo, is one I feel that we are leading on.

[ZuWo]

The ZuWo/Cathcon ticket congratulates the winners of the Senate election.

In the next days we are going to reveal our campaign banner. Our campaign theme remains "Experience and Leadership".

[Marokai Backbeat]

I would just like to do something a big out of the ordinary for a Socialist like myself and say that, while I'm not a Mideastern citizen, so this probably doesn't mean much, I wholeheartedly endorse you and your running mate for the gubernatorial race.

You're a very well accomplished guy in Atlasia, and you're one of the kindest and easiest to work with individuals, particularly from the Right. More than all of that, though, you're just honest and straightforward, and I can't get enough of attributes like that. I really hope you win this race, ZuWo. I will help in any way I can. Good luck.