Old, Dead, Irrelevant ITL (Do not use)

[/]

Hello, and welcome to the 2016 Interactive Presidential Election Timeline! This is my first interactive timeline, so it will probably be genuinely horrible, but at least I'll try.

This timeline will be divided into three parts - candidate sign-ups, the primaries, and the general election. Obviously, only two candidates will make it to the general election, so arguably the most difficult part of the election is making it through the relatively crowded primaries on both sides of the field. The following twenty candidates are set to participate in the 2016 Interactive Presidential Election Timeline (please note that sign-ups are now closed and new registrations will no longer be accepted):

GOP Nomination:

- Ted Cruz - Clinton1996
- Peter King - beaver2.0
- Carly Fiorina - Abraham Reagan
- Chris Christie - mah519
- Jeb Bush - dkrolga
- Rick Perry - Spiral
- Bob Ehrlich - Cris
- Marco Rubio - ChairmanSanchez
- Lindsey Graham - tmthforu94
- Scott Walker - NHI
- Donald Trump - rpryor03
- John Kasich - CapoteMonster
- Rand Paul - Bmotley
- Bobby Jindal - dudeabides
- Rick Santorum - Classic Conservative
- Mike Huckabee - Leinad

Democratic Nomination:

- Jim Webb - AelroseB
- Hillary Clinton - DimpledChad
- Bernie Sanders - NeverAgain
- Bill Gates - Potus2036

In your first post, please indicate which candidate above you wish to play as. You should also include an announcement speech that outlines your motivations, goals, and ideas as a presidential candidate. These speeches must be original (no plagiarism OR ELSE) and should be pretty detailed. After all 25 candidates have been claimed or I get bored, I will close the candidate sign-up part of the election. Before the next part of the election begins, I will rank your announcement speeches on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst (most poorly written, least effective, etc.) and 5 being the best (best written, most effective, etc.). Your rank here is extremely important in the next part of the election, so make sure to make your speeches thorough.

Next, of course, are the primaries. The primaries in this interactive timeline will be much simpler than those in real life, with all states awarding their delegates on a winner-take-all basis and only three major primary debates (one on social policy, one on economic policy, and one on foreign policy). The delegate count is as follows:

GOP Nomination: 2,470 total delegates; 1,236 needed to win

Democratic Nomination: 4,483 total delegates; 2,242 needed to win

There is no difference between a delegate and a super-delegate in this timeline - essentially, the winner of each state's primary wins all of that state's delegates and the winner of the overall party nomination must merely win the majority of the nationwide delegates.

Information on the amount of delegates per state for the primaries can be found here:

GOP Nomination:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/R-Alloc.phtml

^For the GOP nomination, scroll down to the first graph on the page and look at the last column ('Total Delegates') to find the amount of delegates per state/territory.

Democratic Nomination:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/D-Alloc.phtml

^For the Democratic nomination, scroll down to the last graph on the page titled "Estimated Allocation Sorted Alphabetically" and look at the last column ('Total Delegate Votes') to find the amount of delegates per state/territory.

All primaries will be held on the same day. Information on how you can actually try to win the primaries (your 1-5 rank on the acceptance speech is extremely relevant), as well as all information on the general election, will be posted later unless somebody has a burning desire to know it now.

Good luck, and have fun!

[/]

Do we have to choose one of the candidates in the list? If so I claim Randy boy.

Yes, that would be preferred. One Randy coming up!

[/]

This is going to be interesting

You're welcome to participate if you'd like to.

[/]

Alright, guys. Thanks to everyone who has signed up so far... as of now, we have 14 candidates down and 11 left to go. Please contact your BFFLs and tell them to sign up so we can get the number of candidates up to 25 ASAP.

From now on, you get a small piece of extra credit if you can convince somebody else to sign up and tell me.

Thanks guys! Expect the the primaries to start soon! (even sooner if you do the extra credit)

[/]

14 candidates is actually pretty good for these kind of games.

The way I'm doing it, there's really no maximum number of candidates that can play. However, I'll probably cap it out after a few more sign-ups because I realize Pataki, Everson, Gilmore, etc. won't be picked.

[/]

While Walker is an easier option, I'll take a challenge and go with Lindsey Graham.

Happy coincidence! I got a PM today that someone is about to claim Walker... I guess he/she will be posting in a bit.

Remember the extra credit guys. Please get speeches in soon; the next round will probably start in a few days. Thanks to all and good luck!

[/]

Actually, scratch me off. I'll be busy next days

BREAKING NEWS: FORMER GOVERNOR PATAKI KILLED IN PLANE CRASH

According to recent reports, Former Governor George Pataki of New York has been killed in a plane crash that occurred late last evening. Pataki, who was widely expected to run as a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, was reportedly flying in a private jet in order to deliver his announcement speech in Manchester, New Hampshire when an engine malfunction caused the plane to crash into a field in rural eastern Vermont. According to a medical examination conducted shortly after the plane wreckage was found, Pataki, along with his wife, the plane's pilot, and three other passengers, were killed on impact. In a statement issued soon after the initial announcement of the former governor's death, current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stated "the news of Governor Pataki's tragic death saddens us all. While Governor Pataki and I might have had our differences when it came to political matters, George and I have always been close friends on a personal level and I am devastated to learn of this awful news."

[/]

LOL; I wasn't expecting all of those statements.

Anyway, as it seems that the sign-up rate is going down, I've decided that we will start the next round as soon as those who have already signed up but have not released their announcement speeches do so. Of course, new candidates can still sign up now, and I encourage existing players to ask their friends to join (the extra credit is still being given out). So far, I think Spiral and Abraham Reagan have already received the extra credit, so I recommend that everyone else tries to act accordingly in order to start out with the same advantages as those two will. The extra credit will actually have a large effect on your performance in the primaries - for some of you, doing the extra credit can compensate for a sub-par announcement speech.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has signed-up so far. If you haven't made your acceptance speech, please release it ASAP, and to those who have not signed up yet but wish to do so, please also do that now.

Thanks!

[/]

OMG sorry about the super long wait!

I lost computer access (this is mobile) and can't continue until I regain it. I will try to do so ASAP.

Sorry!

But yes it is still running and sign ups are still accepted

[/]

As I expect to regain computer access tonight ( ) and will begin grading when I do, sign ups will officially be closed at 8:00 EST. You must notify me of extra credit if you have done it but have not told me already by the same time. Thanks!

[/]

Alright, guys. Considering I plan to start grading tonight and we have reached 20 candidates with the surprise addition of Bill Gates, sign-ups and extra credit are officially closed as of now.

Thank you for your patience and understanding

[/]

Finally! I will start grading the speeches immediately and plan to have the next round posted ASAP (anywhere from a few hours to a few days).

Please remember that sign-ups are now closed. We have 20 participating candidates total (16 Republicans and 4 Democrats) - and, of course, the ghost of former Governor George Pataki.

Let's get going!

[/]

Finally! I will start grading the speeches immediately and plan to have the next round posted ASAP (anywhere from a few hours to a few days).

Please remember that sign-ups are now closed. We have 20 participating candidates total (16 Republicans and 4 Democrats) - and, of course, the ghost of former Governor George Pataki.

Let's get going!

Yes!!!!  What about endorsements though

The endorsement process shall be explained in the Introductory Post for Round 2 (Round 1 was sign-ups; Round 2 will be posted ASAP).

[/]

Final list of players for the 2016 Interactive Presidential Election Timeline (sign-ups are now closed; new registrations will not be accepted):

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Twenty candidates total - 16 Republicans and 4 Democrats.

[/]

I hope to have the next round up tonight, but it will be pretty hard TBH...

Being the moderator for one of these interactive TLs is a lot more work than it seems.

[/]

IMPORTANT POST

Hi, guys. Throughout the timeline, I will use quite a few maps to help you visualize where your candidate stands in the primaries. Due to the nature of these maps (multiple candidates have to be recognized on the map in each state), I can't use colors and will instead use a single-letter code for each of the candidates. The codes are listed below; please remember yours for future reference:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Thanks!

[/]

I just finished grading the GOP speeches, and let me just say that they're all extremely impressive. I genuinely feel bad having to give some of them scores lower than 5.

Expect the final results and the Round 2 introductory post within the next two hours.

[/]

I'm not gonna lie, the Democratic speeches were in general like 2x better than the Republican speeches. And that has nothing to do with how much I agree with them.

But that's not to say the GOP speeches weren't great; they all were.

[/]

Expect the Round 2 introductory post (final grades included) within an hour.

[/]

FIRST PART OF ROUND 2 INTRODUCTORY POST

Hi guys!

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has entered this race for doing so, and I really appreciate your support & willingness to participate! I will certainly try to make this timeline as detailed and interesting as I possibly can.

Now that the candidate sign-up part of the election is over, we can get to the real fun - the primaries. Before I explain how the primaries work, I will provide the grades for your acceptance speeches. To be honest, it was really hard to grade these, as they’re all awesome and pretty impressive. I feel bad having to give some of you lower grades than others because they all have great quality, but let me just point out that if they were graded on a 100-point scale, all of the speeches would be at least in the upper 90s. If you get a grade you are unhappy with, please consider that there will be many future opportunities to make up lost ground and do not become discouraged. I would prefer that you not PM me to complain about a bad grade, though if you sincerely believe you deserve a better grade and have actual reasons for believing so, you may contact me with your concerns (though do not assume that I will necessarily change your grade due to your complaint). Once more, do not be discouraged by a bad grade, as you will have ample opportunities to get ahead as the timeline continues. Anyway, here they are (note that the letter next to your name is not your grade; it is the single-letter code that will be used to represent your candidate on election maps used in this timeline):

You must be logged in to read this quote.

As I said earlier, your acceptance speeches each get a grade on a scale of 1-5 based off of their effectiveness, the amount of detail put into them, and the amount of effort used when making them. I hope you guys are all happy with your grades, and I apologize for any wrongdoings you think I have committed. I can’t stress this enough - if you get a grade you are unhappy with, do not fret, as you will have a variety of chances to improve your standing in the future rounds.

As I explained earlier, the grades given for the acceptance speeches are vital in the primary stage of the campaign. You will soon figure out why this is. First however, here is a little review of how the primaries work from my first post:

The primaries in this interactive timeline will be much simpler than those in real life, with all states awarding their delegates on a winner-take-all basis and only three major primary debates (one on social policy, one on economic policy, and one on foreign policy). The delegate count is as follows:

GOP Nomination: 2,470 total delegates; 1,236 needed to win

Democratic Nomination: 4,483 total delegates; 2,242 needed to win

There is no difference between a delegate and a super-delegate in this timeline - essentially, the winner of each state's primary wins all of that state's delegates and the winner of the overall party nomination must merely win the majority of the nationwide delegates.

Information on the amount of delegates per state for the primaries can be found here:

GOP Nomination:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/R-Alloc.phtml

^For the GOP nomination, scroll down to the first graph on the page and look at the last column ('Total Delegates') to find the amount of delegates per state/territory.

Democratic Nomination:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/D-Alloc.phtml

^For the Democratic nomination, scroll down to the last graph on the page titled "Estimated Allocation Sorted Alphabetically" and look at the last column ('Total Delegate Votes') to find the amount of delegates per state/territory.

All primaries will be held on the same day.

The primary campaign for this interactive timeline is divided into five rounds. In each of the five rounds of the primaries, 'Candidate Points' (CPs) are dispersed among the states in order to improve a candidate's primary performance in that state. For example, if Rand Paul has ten candidate points in the fourth stage, Rand Paul can, during his turn, disperse his candidate points throughout the United States in order to increase his performance in each of these states. Rand Paul can put all ten candidate points in one state, put one candidate point each in ten states, or come up with whatever combination he wants to in order to maximize his efficiency as a candidate.

However, CPs can also be used to negatively affect another candidate. For example, Rand Paul can use one or more of his CPs to attack Chris Christie. From now on, CPs used to advance yourself will be called Positive Candidate Points (PCPs), while CPs used to harm others will be called Negative Candidate Points (NCPs). Each PCP has the exact same value as an NCP, though, of course, the two have opposite effects. For example, if Chris Christie has two PCPs in South Carolina, but Rand Paul has used two NCPs in South Carolina against Chris Christie, Chris Christie now has a net total of 0 CPs in South Carolina (the NCPs cancel out the PCPs). A candidate can also have a negative net total of CPs in a state, which will certainly hurt that candidate during the primaries.

The first round (Round 1) of the primaries has already been determined. Round 1 was based solely off of qualities each candidate has that you cannot change. Each candidate has already been given PCPs in certain states based off of that candidate’s qualities. The three qualities that have been used to determine where each candidate has been given their first PCPs are listed below:

1. Home State - Each candidate gets 10 PCPs in their home state. The home state is the state that the candidate has most recently held government office in. For example, Hillary's home state is New York, not Arkansas, as she has most recently held government office in New York. For the four candidates (Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and Bill Gates) that haven't held government office before, Carly Fiorina's home state is California, while Ben Carson's is Maryland. Bill Gates’ home state is Washington, while Trump's is New York. Here is a map to show which candidates get 10 home state PCPs in each state:

GOP Nomination:



(Clarifications: A 'C' is in New Jersey and an 'E' is in Maryland.)

Democratic Nomination:



2. Ideologically Similar States - Each candidate gets 3 PCPs in states that generally have similar political ideologies to that candidate. For example, Bernie Sanders gets 3 PCPs in New Hampshire, as New Hampshire Democrats are ideologically similar to Bernie Sanders. I have tried to make each candidate get the same amount of PCPs for ideologically similar states in order to keep things fair (Republicans each get eight states and Democrats each get twenty-nine states). Here is a map to show where each candidate gets PCPs for ideological similarity (sorry if things are a bit 100% off, I’m not the best at analyzing state politics):

GOP Nomination:



(Clarifications: A 'J' is in LA, an 'X' is in WV, 'P' and 'E' are in MD, 'E' and 'C' are in DE, 'E', 'C', and 'P' are in NJ, CT, and MA, 'E' and 'C' are in RI, 'B' and 'C' are in VT, 'F' and 'M' are in HI, and 'P', 'X', and 'G' are in NH.)

Democratic Nomination:



(Clarifications: 'GCS' in HI, MD, DE, and NJ; 'GS' in MA, CT, RI, and VT; 'GWS' in NH.

3. Bordering States - Generally, candidates will do better than usual in states that are in the same general region as their home state. Because of this, each candidate gets 3 PCPs in states that border their state. For example, Bernie Sanders gets 3 more PCPs in New Hampshire because New Hampshire borders Vermont. Candidates will also get 3 extra PCPs in states that aren't their home states but that they are generally politically affiliated with to a significant extent. For example, Hillary Clinton gets 3 extra PCPs in Arkansas. Here is a map to show where each candidate gets PCPs for bordering states:

GOP Nomination:



(Clarifications: 'DP' in VT, MA, and CT; 'DPS' in NJ; 'CES' in DE; 'S' in MD; 'SEXK' in WV (LOL)).

Democratic Nomination:



(Clarifications: 'W' in MD; 'C' in NJ and CT; 'CS' in MA.)

[/]

SECOND PART OF ROUND 2 INTRODUCTORY POST

The second round (Round 2) of the primaries is based off of your acceptance speeches. In order to see how many CPs you have, multiply your grade by six. For example, if you got a grade of four, you get twenty-four CPs in this round. You may put your CPs in whatever states you would like and may disperse them however you would like. In your next post, please indicate where you would like to use your CPs. Indicate how many CPs go to which states, and indicate whether the CPs will be used as PCPs or NCPs. If they will be used as NCPs, indicate which candidate you would like to attack. Here is an example of what Lincoln Chafee might do, if he has thirty CPs this round (and if he was stupid):

"I would like 10 PCPs in Maine, and I would like 20 NCPs for Hillary Clinton in Nevada."

Obviously, no sane person would do that^, but that is an example of what you can do nonetheless. Note that a candidate can have a negative net total of CPs in a state if somebody uses enough NCPs against them.

To indicate where you would like to put your CPs for this round, please post within the next 48 hours. If you do not post within the next 48 hours, I will PM you and give you 12 more hours to post. If you post after the time limit ends or do not post, your turn will be skipped and your CPs for this stage will be thrown into the Volcanic CP Pit of Shame.

The amount of Candidate Points you get for rounds 3-5 will be determined based off of your performances in the three debates (one on social policy, one on economic policy, and one on foreign policy). Stage 3 (social policy debate) will begin after Stage 2 ends.

After Stage 5 is concluded, the results of the primaries will be posted. You get all of the delegates in each state that you win. The primary results in each state will pretty much be determined based solely off of the amount of CPs each candidate has in each state.

Some Final Notes:

1. At the national conventions for each party, it is likely that nobody will achieve the required number of delegates to win the nomination and we will see brokered conventions in both parties. If this is the case, I will use an algorithm based loosely off of the alternative vote in order to determine who wins the nomination. Essentially, the last place candidate (least amount of delegates) will be eliminated and their delegates will go to the candidate who won second place in each state that the delegates came from. For example, if Carly Fiorina has the least delegates and all of her delegates come from Kansas and Mississippi, she will be eliminated. Then, the Kansas delegates will go to the second-place finisher in Kansas and the Mississippi delegates will go to the second-place finisher in Mississippi. This process will continue until one candidate per party gets a majority of the delegates.

2. Please note that you can (and should) also spend your CPs on the District of Columbia, U.S. Territories, etc. though no initial CPs have been allocated to those places (except for a few in DC).

3. The endorsement process is TBD. Sorry about that! It's quite hard being a moderator and I am still in the process of figuring out how endorsements will work.

4. You can drop out of the race any time you want by simply posting your intention to do so. However, for the billionth time, do not be discouraged by a bad announcement speech grade because you will have ample time to get ahead once more.

5. I have a few extra CPs to award this round! Here they are (when you post your Round 2 CP allocations, please tell me of any extra CPs I gave you here so I don't accidentally accuse you of cheating):

- 3 extra to Rick Perry for a phenomenal announcement speech.
- 3 extra to Bobby Jindal for the extra speech he wrote.
- 1 extra to Donald Trump for announcing his campaign staff.
- 5 extra to everyone who did the extra credit from a while ago regarding inviting new participants and told me before this was posted.
- 3 extra to everyone who did a condolence announcement for George Pataki.
- 0 extra to anyone who purposely does extra stuff from now on in order to get extra CPs.

The Actual Final Note:

Remember, you have 48 hours to post your CP allocations for the second stage (you can't save CPs for future rounds; use them all now). If you have any questions regarding anything in this interactive timeline, feel free to contact me. Find the amount of CPs that you get by multiplying your acceptance speech score by six. After this round ends, I will post statistics and maps that detail how well each candidate is doing in each state. Good luck, and have fun!

[/]

Mod you have poll numbers or something to guide our decisions about CPs? I'm Bill Gates, I'll pay for an internal.

I'll release them ASAP

[/]

NEW STAFFING POLICY

While I understand that some of you would like to choose and announce your campaign staff, I also agree with DKrol's analysis that it would be unfair to allow people to do so because that's essentially choosing your own endorsements (the endorsement policy, while TBD, will not involve allowing people to be endorsed by whomever they want ).

Due to these concerns, I ask that all participants keep their campaign staff private. While I did give Trump an extra CP for announcing his staff due to creativity, that was before this controversy began. Trump can keep his extra CP for creativity, though due to the controversy, I don't think it's a good idea for people to choose/announce their own campaign staff anymore because that would be pretty unfair. Unfortunately, that means that I can't recognize the announced campaign staff of Trump and Santorum as actually being real.

Also, please remember that even though I gave out extra CPs earlier for including extra information (given to Jindal, Trump, etc.), I will no longer be doing this so it's kinda pointless to announce things like these anyway.

I apologize for the conflict and hope that everyone is able to accept the new policy. Thanks!

NEW POLLING POLICY

You can now spend 3 CPs every round to get exclusive polling information for all fifty states. These polls will include the percentages for each candidate in each state, as well as maps that represent those percentages. The polling data is based solely off of CP allocations in each state, so you could technically calculate all the data yourself, though I don't recommend doing so because it's REALLY HARD (trust me it took me like an hour to do the Dems and will probably take me a whole lot longer to do the GOP). If you would like to buy the exclusive polls for the end of Round 1, please post your intention to buy in this thread and I will PM you with the polls as soon as possible.

I have already finished the Dem polls and am working on the GOP.

Thanks and have fun!

-darthebearnc

[/]

I'd like to use 3 PCP's in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee each, 10 PCP's in Texas and 3 NCP's in Texas against Clinton.  Additionally, 2 PCP's in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Finally, 1 PCP each in Indiana, Puerto Rico, Iowa, and New Hampshire.
Also, you gave me 5 extra credit CP's for bringing Beaver2.0, as well as 3 for my eulogy for Pataki   .  So, 38 in total if my arithmetic is correct.

General Questions:

1.  We can make extra speeches/campaign posts for fun, right?

2.  Can there be negative CP's, due to extensive NCP's used against you?

Also can I make up my staff, and give them fake backstories?

Thanks for being the first to post your allocations! I'm pretty sure that you did the arithmetic correctly (I'll check for sure when I calculate the Round 2 allocations at the end of the 48 hours) and yes, you can do extra speeches and campaign posts if you would like, though they will no longer be worth any extra CPs.

If enough NCPs are used against you, you can have a negative net total of CPs (e.g. if 10000 NCPs are used against a candidate that candidate will be in the negatives in that state).

You may create fictional staffers and talk about them if you so choose (I put that in bold so everyone will see it).

Thanks! And feel free to ask any more questions.

[/]

                                      Campaign Staff
Campaign Manager  Matt Rhoades
Deputy Campaign Manager  Adam Brandon
Finance Director   Foster Friess and David Koch
Director of African American Outreach  Herman Cain
Director of Hispanic Outreach  Congressman Raùl Labrador
Veterans Coalition Director   Lt. Colonel Oliver North
Director of Democratic Outreach  Jim Matheson
Polling Director Scott Rasmussen


The Santorum Campaign would also like internals polls paid for by our Finance Directors for all 50 states, If possible???

Those are all MAJOR people joining your team - Rasmussen, Matheson, North, Labrador, Cain, Koch - and equate to big endorsements. I object to being able to claim anyone you want on your team.

It would probably best to go with the campaigns' actual staffs then. Except for Bill Gates, of course.

I object to both DKrol and DimpledChads ideas. For starters, DimpledChad that means that you would have all of the big name Democrats and that is basically unfair to all Democratic Oponents of yours and DKrol, it wasn't a rule beforehand about that and you can also basically take anybody else you want.

I'm indifferent TBH. Darthebearnc should rule on this though. As in, clearly state how staff should be selected.

The official policy has been initiated (see above). However, AelroseB made a good point that I didn't think of... you are certainly allowed to create fictional staffers if you would like