AF Primaries: Illinois Primary (Deadline Monday 11th 6pm EST)

[Joe Republic]

Welcome to the first ever game of Atlas Forum Primaries!  In this game, you'll be able to assume the identity of a fictional politician, and enter the race for a major party nomination for a presidential election.

Candidates will be given a level playing field to begin with, and must rely on strategy and wits to keep ahead of the rivals.  You'll be given a campaign budget, based largely on your support amongst your party peers, and the amount of valuable campaign time spent fundraising.  Don't worry too much about the ins and outs of a full-blown presidential campaign; after all, this is only for fun, and extensive political knowledge isn't really necessary.

If you're interested in playing, please be aware that the game will probably take several weeks, and depending on if it works out, the winners of each primary may well face each other in a general election game.


If you would like to play, you'll need to do three things:

First, pick a name for your politician.  It can be your real name if you like, but it doesn't particularly matter.  The only thing that does matter is that the name must be realistic, i.e. a sensible first name and last name, and must be fictional.  I'm enforcing a strict rule here that no real-life people can be used or referenced to.

Second, pick one of the two main parties; i.e. Democratic or Republican.  I'm sorry that it has to be limited to just those two, and I know that we have a lot of members here who are independent or from third parties, but I really want to keep the game as simple as possible.

The last thing is that you'll need to fill out a brief summary questionnaire of your candidate's political views.  I realize that the questions and answers are ridiculously simplistic, but for the sake of keeping things fairly easy, please stick to it.  After all, real politicians' complex views are often labeled with basic buzz-words, so it'll still be somewhat realistic.

Your issue positions may require some thought.  You may answer the questions as honestly and accurately as you wish, but you should be aware that certain opinions may help you in some states, but hinder you in others.  Also, you'll be expected to stick to those views throughout the campaign, lest you be labeled a 'flip-flopper' or 'waffler', which will be highly damaging.  You will be given the opportunity to clarify your positions at a later time, however.

You will not be allowed to pick your candidate's home state or office at this time, but you may be given the opportunity later.  All will be explained once we have a full set of candidates.

I'll be happy to answer any questions in the mean time.

So for now, all prospective candidates please just fill out the following form!

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[Joe Republic]

Joe,

In my case (it seems right now I've got the GOP's liberal wing, whatever thats worth locked up)...I'm wondering, in the general...would it be possible for someone to pull an Anderson?

I'm leaning toward 'no' at this stage.  Maybe if we ever do a follow-up game, but for now I want to keep it simple.

[Joe Republic]

Al, I think you forgot the 'encourage immigration' part.

Also, I have no choice but to ignore any clarifications of positions for now.  You'll be able to do that once you all hit the campaign trail.

[Joe Republic]

By the way, I'm really pleased with the amount of interest in this.  I'll leave it open for new candidates for a little while longer, and then we'll move on to the first stage.

The candidates so far:

Democrats

Alexander Bernstein (Akno21)
Josh Craddock (Josh22)
Carlos Gonzalez (Jerusalemcar5)
Jackson McDaniels (Preston Caldwell)
David Hanover (Boss Tweed)
Salvor Hardin (Speed of Sound)
Andrew Leitch (Afleitch)
Alcon Nighthawk (Alcon)
Al Widdershins (Al)


Republicans

Richard G. Arage (Bullmoose)
Andrew Berger (...duh)
Ernest Calhoun (Ernest)
Chris Soult (Supersoulty)
Govert Vandervoot (Fezzyfestoon)
James Wallace (Jake)

[Joe Republic]

When will this start again?

Tomorrow, at some point.  Stay tuned.

[Joe Republic]

Mr. Mabus served 2 terms in the US House and one term as governor of Mississippi.  He declined to run for a second term for governor to concentrate on the following year's presidential election (and because his chances of victory looked pretty slim).

You can't pick your home state just yet, but you might be given the opportunity in the very first round.  All will be revealed at that time.

[Joe Republic]

I hope I'm not too late. C'mon Joe you can let me in.

I certainly can.

[Joe Republic]

That'll just about do it.  No more declarations of candidacy may be filed from now on.

Welcome to the primaries, everybody!  I sincerely wish everybody the best of luck from now right up until general election day.

The very first round is actually more of a formality, but an incredibly important one nonetheless.  Before now you were all forbidden from choosing your candidate's home state and political office.  Now is your chance to do so.  But of course, there is a catch.

You will be able to choose your own home state OR your political office.  Whichever you choose, the other will be selected for you randomly.

However, this is where it gets complicated.

There are only a limited set of offices, which are: Governor, Senator, Representative, Cabinet Secretary, Military General, Businessman and Reverend.  In this scenario there is no Vice President running for a party nomination.  Each office is granted points for political experience and prestige, which will most definitely help you in the primaries.  The list above has these offices arranged from best to worst, which means that being a Governor or Senator will certainly help you far more than being a businessman or minister.  The better offices will be considered part of the 'top' group, the medium offices are the 'medium' group, and the worst offices are the 'bottom' group.

Your home state will give you a clear advantage in that state's primary, and even your neighboring states' primaries too.  I have also categorized the states into three groups; 'top', 'medium' and 'bottom'.  The 'top' states are those that are highly politically advantageous, e.g. they are large (which means lots of primary delegates, and later, electoral votes), or they are swing states, or they have an early primary.  The 'medium' and 'bottom' states follow the same rationale, and are therefore not quite as useful.

As certain states would be more advantageous for a Democrat than for a Republican (and vice versa), the categories of states are different for the two parties.

I hope all of that makes sense.

So now, all you candidates need to do is make a post here stating whether you want to choose your office OR your state, and which of the following options you want too.

Option 1: Top office and Bottom state
Option 2: Medium office and Medium state
Option 3: Bottom office and Top state

Do not state which office or state you want; just which of those two categories you want to choose from.

I will then send you a PM with the categories you have selected.

[Joe Republic]

Democrats

Completed:

Alexander Bernstein (Akno21)
Josh Craddock (Josh22)
Josh Fleming (Jtfdem)
Carlos Gonzalez (Jerusalemcar5)
David Hanover (Boss Tweed)
Salvor Hardin (Speed of Sound)
Andrew Leitch (Afleitch)
Jackson McDaniels (Preston Caldwell)
John Mabus (Harry)
Alcon Nighthawk (Alcon)
Al Widdershins (Al)


Republicans

Still to complete Task 1:

Chris Soult (Supersoulty)

Completed:

Richard G. Arage (Bullmoose)
Andrew Berger
Ernest Calhoun (Ernest)
Andrew M.A. Cereal (M&C)
Justin C. Coleman (Bacon King)
Chris Scott (MHS2002)
Govert Vandervoot (Fezzyfestoon)
James Wallace (Jake)
Colin Wixted

[Joe Republic]

I've just clarified my earlier post now.

Do not state which office or state you want; just which of those two categories you want to choose from.

I'll let you keep 'Cabinet Secretary', Josh, because that's already a medium office.  I'll now send you a PM with the state that I have randomly selected for you.

[Joe Republic]

Sorry about that.

I didn't mean to sound aggressive before.  Just clearing up any confusion.


Afleitch, please state whether you want to choose your office or your state.

[Joe Republic]

Option 2: Medium office and Medium state

Which one do you want to choose yourself?

[Joe Republic]

Bottom Office and Top State. Why the hell not?

Which would you like to choose yourself?

[Joe Republic]

Sorry guys, the filing deadline has passed.  But there will still be opportunities for anybody to participate; just not as a candidate.

[Joe Republic]

Bottom Office, Top State.

Sorry it took time to respond Joe.  Busy with classes, plus my internet where I live has sub-par service so I wasn't able to log on yesterday.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.  YOUR EXCUSES ARE FEEBLE.


Nah, it's ok.  It happens.

[Joe Republic]

Actually, I just noticed that you also need to pick which one you want to choose yourself.

[Joe Republic]

Three.  Jtfdem hasn't returned my PM yet; M&C needs to respond to my above post first; Supersoulty hasn't made any contact here yet.

I'll give them until tomorrow evening, and then I'll just have to pick both their offices and states for them.

[Joe Republic]

Only Supersoulty left to go.  I'll give him another few hours before I'll randomly assign an office and state, and then we can get started on Stage 2.

[Joe Republic]

Mostly the second one.  But don't worry too much, there will actually be a full day before Stage 2 officially starts, which will give you all a little time to prepare yourselves after my instructions.  If it helps at all, not being the first to read the instructions for Stage 2 should not prove to be a massive hindrance.

[Joe Republic]

Alright, that's been enough time.  Sorry Supersoulty, but I've had to assign your office and state randomly.

Here are the full set of candidates as they stand:


Democrats

Secretary Alexander Bernstein (Kansas) (Akno21)

Secretary Josh Craddock (New York) (Josh22)

Senator Josh Fleming (Utah) (Jtfdem)

Secretary Carlos Gonzalez (Washington) (Jerusalemcar5)

Secretary David Hanover (Kentucky) (Boss Tweed)

Governor Salvor Hardin (Tennessee) (Speed of Sound)

Governor Andrew Leitch (Nebraska) (Afleitch)

Representative Jackson McDaniels (Louisiana) (Preston Caldwell)

Governor John Mabus (Mississippi) (Harry)

Representative Alcon Nighthawk (Washington) (Alcon)

Reverend Al Widdershins (Michigan) (Al)



Republicans

Governor Richard G. Arage (Indiana) (Bullmoose)

Senator Andrew Berger (Alaska)

Mr. Ernest Calhoun* (Minnesota) (Ernest)

Governor Andrew M.A. Cereal (Michigan) (M&C)

Governor Justin C. Coleman (Oklahoma) (Bacon King)

Senator Chris Scott (North Dakota) (MHS2002)

Representative Chris Soult (Maine) (Supersoulty)

Secretary Govert Vandervoot (Arkansas) (Fezzyfestoon)

Representative James Wallace (Virginia) (Jake)

Senator Colin Wixted (Indiana)


(* Ernest's character is a businessman, and as such he doesn't have a fancy title like the rest o'yas.)


Stand by for instructions for Stage 2...

[Joe Republic]

Well, well, well.  Y'all have got yourselves some purdy lookin' states, and some mighty fine offices.  I guess it's now time for one last thing before we actually start hittin' the campaign trail.  There's just the little issue of....

M O N E Y

Probably the most important thing a politician can have, except maybe good looks.  And popular support, I guess.

Stage 2 is the all important step that every prospective presidential candidate must do before he can even *think* of running for office: The Fundraiser.

This is where things start to get fun.  The premise of this stage is that you all need to canvass, campaign and generally harrass your fellow forumites to endorse your candidacy.  Basically, each and every person who is a member of this forum (and has at least 50 posts to their name, just to be safe), will be given an imaginary sum of $3 million, which is theirs to donate to whoever they please.

Note that each forumite will be able to 'split' their endorsement, and divide up their $3m any way they want, and give to whoever they want.  This means that you might be able to snick a little cash from somebody who has already pledged their support for somebody else, if you know how to charm them.

Just in case you're unlucky and nobody feels any generosity towards you, you'll be given a standard budget of $1 million anyway, just for a little pocket money.  Consider it your great uncle's inheritance money stashed away for a rainy day.  (Note that every candidate will be getting this $1m each anyway.  Call it socialism.)

This also means that you won't be able to endorse your own or anybody else's candidacy.  It's kind of a given anyway.

And now the piece de resistance.  As you may have noticed, we have a grand total of five Cabinet Secretaries running for office, straddling both parties.  This presents something of a conundrum: exactly which party is in power?  Here also lies the solution:

Whichever party raises the most money for their candidates in total also claims the current White House.  Although it won't matter in the primaries, in the general election, being from the party in power will have certain benefits that are yet to be defined (but will almost certainly be worth it).  Therefore, you're not only raising money for yourself, but also for the team.

Lastly, if you want to (and I would strongly advise it), you might want to write yourself a little character reference.  No more than five sentences, describing your candidate any way you wish.  Don't worry about describing your positions in any detail, since you've already submitted them anyway.


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Now, the candidate endorsement thread will not open until tomorrow (I hope), so get out there and start canvassing your forum buddies!!


N.B. No endorsements from anybody will be accepted here or recognized, so don't bother.

[Joe Republic]

Damn, I forgot about that, Ernest.  Alright, I'll make an exception in this case.  How does an initial salary of $10 million sound?  We can say that you're storing the rest of your cash in the vault until you reach the general election campaign.   And if that sum doesn't sound enough, you'll also have a yet-to-be-determined advantage in fundraising skills on the campaign trail.  Does that sound good?

I'll understand if people complain about this, but don't forget that the position of Businessman is an otherwise weak one in terms of political experience and prestige.  It'll still be relatively fair.

[Joe Republic]

By the way everybody, feel free to post your five-sentence personal reference right here in this thread.  Trust me, it'll probably help you if you write one, but it certainly isn't essential.

[Joe Republic]

All good so far, except Bullmoose's which is over five sentences.  Please amend it.

Also, I received this question by PM, which I can answer here:

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No, not at all.  The only stipulation is that the forum member must have at least 50 posts.

[Joe Republic]

Also, I'm going to try and get the endorsement thread up later today, but I'm not sure since I don't really know my plans for the rest of the day.