Talk Elections

Here's an idea suggested by Devilman88 regarding possible bonuses in the next round of primaries after each set of results is released.


I would probably make a few changes, however.  How about each candidate receives a percentage bonus equal to the vote share they won in the previous primary?  This way, it would take into account large margins of victory, or relatively small victories like we just saw in Iowa.

Also, I would make it so that the momentum bonuses are only valid for the next stage only.  So the bonuses from the Iowa results would only be valid for New Hampshire, and New Hampshire's momentum bonuses would only be valid for Nevada, etc.

And lastly, the results of multi-state primaries would be averaged out for the next stage, as if it had only been one single state.

So, your thoughts?

I like the idea. In real life, momentum from previous primaries plays a huge role. Anyone who plays President Forever knows that.

Yes, but perhaps lower bonuses than those.

Yes; your idea of the bonus totals is good.

Actually, I might make it so that momentum bonuses do carry over beyond the immediately next stage, but will of course be influenced by newer results as they come in.

Perhaps each candidate's percentage of the vote in each state so far would be averaged out to produce their next momentum bonus?  Or possibly just their vote percentage from, say, the last three contests?

Do you mean lower than Devilman's idea, or mine?

Yep. I'm glad Obama and Huckabee won New Hampshire. I'm also glad that McCain's great showing in Iowa provided him with momentum in NH.No doubt Romeny's Michigan win helped him in South Carolina.

Huckabee wouldn't have been a serious contender had it not been for Iowa. Obama's win in Iowa proved that he could compete with Clinton, and he was a serious candidate.

I know there's only been a handful of votes, but I'm eager to move on to the next stage.  I've decided to follow through with the suggestion, and include momentum bonuses based on the average percentage each candidate has won over the previous three stages.

Wrong. This is about momentum. The momentum shifted away from Obama and Huckabee following their Iowa wins. I don't care what it "proved." It didn't help them in New Hampshire.

To address your concern, Hamilton, the momentum bonus in this game will only really help those who drive up big margins in each primary.  I guess if we applied this model to the real-life Iowa caucuses of 2008, neither Huckabee or Obama would have won significant momentum bonuses, because they didn't take relatively large shares of the vote, and they didn't win by big margins either.

I think there should be a winner-bonus set aside from the percentage of the vote. In real life, winning matters way, way, way more than the margin. Just look at results like the McCain wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina.