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[SWE]

Glorious news!

[Maxwell]

Glorious news!

Indeed comrade!

[Maxwell]

Federalist Endorsement Vote - Nick in the Lead

June 15th, 2014 -- While we can not predict the result yet, we have a strong number, and we can make a statement about the current results within the Federalist Endorsement vote. After a long period of NOTA winning, the Former GM and Northeast Governor Sirnick has taken a lead over Pacific Governor and Former Vice President DemPGH and NOTA. Still, it's a wonder if he will take a majority - It's up to the discretion of Federalist Chairman Yankee to decide if he will pick the winner by plurality or by majority, and he may just leave the race endorsement-less through that decision. The results are as follows at this point in time -

Federalist Endorsement Results (As of 9:23 PM)
Former GM and NE Governor Sirnick - 48%
PA Governor and Former VP DemPGH - 22%
NOTA - 30%

We will continue to follow the votes as they come in.

[Sec. of State Superique]

I want an interview

[Flake]

The Porcupine Interview - President Duke


1. What do you think has been your biggest accomplishment so far as President?

I think my defining moment came when I decided to tackle the Pacific cluster**k that had been allowed to go on for far too long, even before RimJob. The pacific had been dead since the JCP's dismantling, and it had appeared as if most had left it for dead, which didn't sit well with me. After consolidation failed early in my first term, I made it my goal to make sure all 5 regions were functioning properly and had the opportunity to grow and expand, and I think that the team that worked on the Pacific, including oakvale and DemPGH, accomplished that. Today the Pacific is a thriving region with an active council, and those effects will hopefully be felt and continue long after I leave office.

2. Do you regret doing anything (or anyone) during your term?

I tend to live without regrets because the past is the past, and we cannot dwell on it or we will never progress to a better future. I guess legislatively, there were a few bills I signed that I should have paid closer attention to, but it was during my exams and I tend to be spacey when I have so much going on in my head. Those are more mistakes than regrets though. I can't really say I regret anything. I think I have been fair and open minded towards most everyone during my tenure. No shame in that!

3. Do you believe your presidency has been successful?

Yes and no. Activity wise, I wish it had been better. When I came into office, there was tremendous hope that Atlasia would stop its downward trend that had been occurring post-dissolution, where we had a spike in activity and then a slow, gradual decrease in activity. Early on, a lot of my old friends returned to the game, wanting to help me and be active, but then real life got in the way of all of us and that never panned out. There were periods of activity followed by lulls. Something people must understand is, activity is only as good as we, as a whole, make it. The President can't manufacture activity very well. I tackled consolidation and government reform early in my first term and failed, and now we are trying to again as I am preparing to leave office. If we can pass something, I'd be thrilled.

Legislatively, it has been successful. We have managed to pass all my big campaign promises, from tax reform, the a Pacific package, to small business loan programs, mental healthcare reform, (hopefully) education reform and technology expansion, and labor relations and rights improvements. Healthcare reform has also been on my to do list, but bar study has gotten in the way, and the rest of the Senate hasn't made much headway either sans Yankee. However, I remain confident we can pass something before the next administration comes in.

4. Why do you believe the 'Era of Good Feeling' is over?

The Era was a glorious time where we all held hands in harmony, or at least the dissenters typically kept to themselves. Over the last few weeks, partisanship and the like has heated up, which isn't bad at all for the game, considering how tame the last 2 elections were. I mean, who attacked me last time I ran outside of some disgruntled right wingers? Very few. That was good and bad.

Now, we see the right attacking the left and the left firing back. The Senate still seems to be working well, but it's clear day to day, partisanship is on the rise, and I don't view that as a bad thing at all.

5. How would you rate the Senate? Was it more productive in your first or your second term?

First term was far more productive in terms of overall activity. I think we set a record for legislation passed during that time, including a record number of redrafts. My second term has been plagued by more inactivity, with Alfred tied up with studying and Tyrion's admitted distractions in his life. The queue has also dried up to the point where we have tons of open slots and nothing to fill them with. All of this is too bad, because Cinci has been a great VP..

6. The next presidential election is coming up very soon, will you endorse any candidate?

I am on the fence about making a public endorsement. I'm not sure if my endorsement will carry any weight. I have relationships with both candidates. SirNick has been a longtime supporter of mine and I always like supporting my supporters, and DemPGH and I worked closely together in the Pacific and we have had great success there. If I do come to a decision on whether to make a public endorsement, it will be close to the election. I am leaning towards one candidate, but that is all I will say.

7. Do you believe your actions in the Pacific saved the region?

Absent a GM report, who knows, but in terms of activity, I do think our actions influenced the current outcome there. I believe one GM report did show unemployment down to 15% from a high of 25%, so something good happened there. I don't take all credit for it though, oakvale, the governor, the council and the citizens all pitched in and made it what it is today. I think some of the policies we forced down their throats have led to job creation and growth, and I'm happy about that. I just want to thank all of them for their hard work during this period. As I have always said, I couldn't do it all alone.

8. Will you serve in another elected position soon?

Who knows. I've pretty much served in every office known to man. The South's governor, a senator, an IDS legislator, VP, and now President. I have accomplished really all there is to accomplish in Atlasia, sans being a cabinet member, but I have no idea if I'd ever want to do that. If my government reform plan passes and becomes a reality, I might want to serve in the House. Who knows? I will be stepping away from public office for a bit with the bar, job interviews and the like consuming most of my attention, but I do plan to stay involved however I can.

9. Do you feel the Federalist Party has been fair to you during your term?

I don't like to rehash past events. Obviously, both sides had a communication issue during my first term, and that culminated with Maxwell's announcement to run for President prior to my re-election decision than then Reaganfan's near victory during the primary. I certainly understood their issues with me, but I had never pretended to be a right winger when I ran for office, so I felt the expectations of me were a bit unrealistic. I do think we have accomplished some legislative things Federalists should be happy with, but I know we will never see eye to eye. I have always had the backing of the people closest to me, and I am thankful for that. You can't force everyone to like you.

10. Will you join The People's Party after your term is over?

I won't say one way or the other where I will go after office. Obviously, The Party is my home and the first run we had was some of the most fun I have ever had in this game, and I consider that team to be the dream team, Nix, Cinci, myself, Polnut, Oakvale, Ben, etc. If we can all reunite again someday, great. But I am very close to Senator Yankee and he has been one of my best friends and most loyal allies in Atlasia for years and years, and I will do what I need to do for him in the Federalist Party should it continue to exist in the future, whether I am a part of it or a part of something else. He and I told each other years ago we would always have each other's backs, and that has been true always, even when it wasn't politically expedite to support each other. For that, he has my eternal support.

11. Why are you taking this course of action regarding the Iraq situation?

The situation in Iraq is concerning. We can't let the country fall to the terrorist insurgence because then we destabilize the region, which is especially sad considering we just reached a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. On the other hand, I do not want to get back into an all-out war with Iraq, which will drain resources and kill off our best and brightest. We are going with airstrikes initially and working with our international allies to determine what else can be done. One thing is for sure, it is not in our best interest to leave this alone because an Iraq run by terrorists is not one that is good for anyone in the world.

12. What moment has been your favorite so far as President?

Moment? God, that's difficult. We threw some radical gay parties over the last few months, especially when we granted asylum to all the handsome boys all over the world to come to our humble land. I think Matt and I's improbable victory in the Federalist Primary in February was also a lot of fun, because frankly, we expected to lose it given the polling data and general sentiment that the Feds would rather lose the election to prove a point. So when some votes went the opposite way than we expected, it gave us new energy. I also had a lot of fun during the Pacific Stimulus debate, and it was the first time that the Federal government really interacted that closely with a region. We typically view both sides as separate entities with little interaction. I wish that wasn't the case.



But hey, thanks for interviewing me. Believe it or not, no one ever asks to interview me. This is only my second one in all the years I have played this game. I guess no one finds me interesting enough, who knows. My first was on Yankee's news network.

Maybe this will start a trend and people will knock down my doors to ask me questions!

[Maxwell]

Great interview Flo!

[Maxwell]

Tomorrow we will have an interview and our first update of results, so get ready!

[Maxwell]

Porcupine's First Results Update

As of TNF

Presidential Race
DemPGH/Windjammer - 63%
Sirnick/Dallasfan65 - 37%

Too early to call a prediction, but in terms of the figures, things don't look good for Sirnick.

Pacific
Flo - 75%
Tyrion - 13%
Superique - 13%

One of two very shocking results, Flo not only leads, but leads big. If he holds this even a little, it looks like he would be headed toward a Senate seat. Still, not enough numbers to give this a solid call.

Northeast
Bore - 56%
Deus Naturae - 44%

As expected, Bore holds a narrow lead over Deus. The left-leaning nature of the Northeast allows Bore to survive consistent competitive elections, and I suspect that will happen again. Still, turn out is high in this election, so I would keep an eye on this race and see if Deus can't turn this thing around.

IDS
N.C. Yankee - 50%
Maxwell - 40%
Abstain - 10%

Yankee holds a narrow lead, but later voters look to lean Yankee, so we'll see.

Midwest
RR1997 - 58%
TNF - 42%

RR1997 still holds a lead, but TNF looks to be creeping up on RR1997 slowly but surely.

Mideast
DC Al Fine - 67%
Madman Motley - 25%
Benconstine - 8%

Running an active campaign, DC Al Fine is looking like he will win his re-election in a walk. He faced two challengers, Madman Motley, and Former Attorney General Benconstine, and as expected, did not face much of a challenge. We will see how these results play out later.

[CatoMinor]

Decision 2014: An odd coalition emerges

As the real race for President is officially underway with polls open, Labor is expected to have very strong showing this cycle. As expected by many, DemPGH has taken the lead and is holding strong against the People's Party candidate Sirnick, whose ticket includes Dallasfan of the Democratic-Republican Party and has been endorsed by the Federalists. What has been surprising however is the high number if votes DemPGH is receiving from Federalist voters. As of last count a little under half of the Federalist voters have voted Labor. If trends hold, then DemPGH is set to become President with the backing a very odd coalition of voters.

[Maxwell]

Porcupine Interview - SOEA and Senate Candidate Superique

The current Secretary of External Affairs, Superique has a history in the Pacific. He was one of the last members of the Liberal Party, and tried to lift activity in the region as the Pacific speaker. His efforts, unfortunately, failed, and he was recalled. This was during the darkest period of the Pacific, during Operation Rimjob. Since then, Superique tried to restore trust in his ability, and since his appointment as SoIA, he has proven to be one of the strongest cabinet members in Atlasia history. He's been known for his policy chops, and now he's running for Senate, challenging Senator Tyrion on his activity. As a member of TPP, his stances seem to be nuanced, centrist, and pragmatic.

You've been a Pacifican since the beginning. How do you feel about the current Pacific Legislature, and is there anything more they can do about their economic situation?

I’m quite pleased with the current Pacific Legislature. All of them, Cranberry, Devin and Flo, are doing an outstanding job and I’m quite happy that they are being able to bring economic recovery and balancing the budget. Obviously, that is something that doesn’t involve just the councilmen and I might say that President Duke, Governor DemPGH and Crisis Manager Oakvale participation were extremely crucial for the success of the current Pacific Recovery.

Now, regarding to other options to bring more economic recovery, I must say that in the regional level we are bringing the right balance of actions: low or zero deficits may arrive in the next budget, low tax rates (based on the previous levels) and thousands of investment on development and growth.  During Duke’s Administration, there were some similar movements to attract investments on the federal level, such as tax cuts and even a package of aid for the Pacific Region. Even so, I believe that we can do more: I would consider revising some of our current Labor legislation and some of our regulatory mechanisms to see if we can bring more flexibility when hiring people and bring more investments to the nation. After all, we have Nixcome and this minimum income allow us to bring more flexibility to labor laws without harming The People of this nation.

You're running for Senator of the Pacific. Do you have any specific criticisms of Senator Tyrion, and what would you bring to the Senate that is different from what Tyrion has brought?

I don’t think that Tyrion is a bad senator and I don’t believe that he is being that inactive but, if you compare his second term to his first, you can see that he could have been doing more. I applaud his efforts on Game Reform and I would like not to abandon that. However, I think that this nation is being far complacent with TNF bulk of regulatory laws and the Senate needs someone to bring more opposition to those bills. 

I didn’t want to be controversial but it seems to me that the current leadership of the Labor Party is taking more radical decisions than on previous years. The Labor Party has a strong and gradual plan; they were able to make Atlasia a Social Democracy in many ways and I’m not opposed to that but now they are following to a more Socialist plan which I cannot agree and cope with. I believe that gradually giving control of our companies to unions and moving forward with nationalizations are dangerous for the progress of the very some workers that Labor intend to support. Those new measures, that are part of a program of “Empowerment”, may leave some unintended consequences on our economy. 

I have a more pragmatic view and I see that those new measures that clearly have a Socialist base are not going to be good to our people.  Is distributing wealth important? Sure, but creating wealth is also crucial.  When you start with a bunch of new regulations, new nationalizations and more taxation, you end up harming growth and in the end you may very well harm your redistribution efforts.  Moreover, we’ve got to take a look at our budgets, we are spending on Foreign Aid, Tax Cuts and social programs but we don’t know where the money is coming.  It’s time to create a Budgetary Commission and, on day 1 as Senator, I will propose legislation that creates a Senate Commission to calculate our current debt and start proposing measures to reduce it.

On the healthcare conversation, what, if anything, do you view as wrong with our current healthcare system, and what would you change?

The idea behind Fritzcare is a good one but the system is so confusing that is even hard to make a good diagnosis of its situation. There are concerns if providers are being paid properly, there are concerns over its financing and there is a concern if it’s a single-payer system or if it’s a public option in a market system. I think that we must answer those doubts and make a system that is first of all understandable and sustainable.

I’m currently enjoying the changes proposed by Shua and Yankee and I would probably support them. If private insurers are able to provide better care than the public insurer, why then should we prohibit them? Having Fritzcare as a public option competing against private insurers is totally fine to me and, in the end, I believe that Fritzcare will prevail against the others, but if it doesn’t, it’s not a problem either because that would mean that workers had found out better options for them. Nonetheless, I’m concerned with ideas such as reforming our healthcare system to become a Singapore Style one and I’m also worried about attempts to end with the Fritzcare Board that help to reduce inefficiency and abuse.

What are your views on the Iraq situation, and why should we intervene?

First of all, there are many libertarian and some communist citizens of Atlasia that are worried about Iraq and which actions we are going to make. I just want to stress that we are not planning a full-scale war there and it’s not mines and President Duke’s desire to put ground troops on the region.  Now, stressing that, we can talk more calmly about Iraq.

The things is that we played a very important role on this country’s instability and now it’s time to help their government with these insurgency that is coming up.  The Iraqi Government is asking for our help and we shall help them. The ISIS is extremely dangerous; it’s a radical Sunni group that is promoting massive killings over Iraq and promoting sectarianism, moreover, they have strong ties with terrorist groups. If ISIS is able to take power in Iraq, then we are going to face more instabilities in the Middle East and a wide spread of terrorism across the globe and that’s something that we don’t need to see if we make a pragmatic support to the Iraqi Armed Forces.

The White House and I want a very “clinical” intervention with multilateral aspects.  We are sending drones and intelligence agents for them and we are considering aerial support for their actions but this is not a unilateral move. I’m having talks with NATO Nations and we are approaching Turkey and Iran. There’s not a single parallel with the 2003 Iraqi War and we are going to be very careful. I don’t want an imperialistic Atlasia but we need to know that if we don’t do anything in Iraq and let them fight, we will probably help to foster more instability in the region, giving more incentives to the Sunni and Shiite conflict, raising oil prices and dismantling part of the confidence that we were able to bring to the region with the Israel-Palestine Deal and that’s something that not a single Atlasian want.


Finally ambition - You ran for Vice President on a ticket with LumineVonReuental, do you think you could run for President in the future?

Yes, I would love to be President but I’m not thinking of running anytime soon, maybe next year. I have been SoIA, I’m SoEA, and The People know what I can offer to them. I just hope I can elect to another post before trying to run for President. I’m not that good when it comes to votes so I hope I can revert that trend first xD

[Sec. of State Superique]

Sorry for not answering the other questions