Éminence grise - a 2020 Election Game (Rules, Signups, and OOC)

[Boobs]

Éminence grise
a 2020 election game

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton / Timothy Michael Kaine - 81,991,936 (57.69%) 471 EVs
Donald John Trump / Michael Richard Pence - 56,722,103 (39.91%) 67 EVs

The 2016 presidential election saw the effect of political inexperience completely sink the Republican Party's prospects, while a highly disciplined and focused campaign by Clinton never lost footing. Clinton's campaign successfully managed to keep both Bernie primary voters and convince swing voters to rally around her, in addition to attacking Trump on both policy and personality issues.  It was, however, Trump's many gaffes and personally issues that pushed more and more traditional Republican voters away from the ticket. Clinton's promise of a one-term administration made her candidacy much more palatable to many Republicans who were on the fence. The early resolution of Clinton's email server scandal, cleared completely by FBI Director Comey, and the October surprise of the Access Hollywood tape, released the week before Halloween, was the ultimate nail in the coffin of the Trump campaign. Hillary Clinton's stunning landslide victory, the largest since Ronald Reagan's landslide 1984 re-election, made her the first woman President and the largest vote-getter in history, nearly 12 million votes more than Barack Obama's 2008 election.

Riding on Clinton's coattails, the Democratic Party gained a net of 56 seats in the House of Representatives and 8 seats in the Senate, taking control of both chambers.

President Clinton and the 115th Congress passed several progressive legislation, such as Medicare-for-All, a revenue-neutral carbon tax, and others, as well as appointing two new Justices to the Supreme Court, renominating Merrick Garland to take Antonin Scalia's seat in early 2017, and Sri Srinivasan to replace Anthony Kennedy after his retirement in the summer of 2018. Clinton's relative success domestically was matched by breakthrough progress with North Korea, although relations with Russia continued to sour.

In the 2018 midterm elections, Clinton's positive approvals and the strong economy, with unemployment down to 3.5% and real wage growth up for the third year in a row, tempered some of the Democrats' losses. However, Republicans were still able to win the Senate, gaining 6 seats, but failed to capture the House, albeit thinning the Democrats' majority from 244 seats to 226. In gubernatorial elections, Democrats had a net gain of 1, although both parties picked up 4 Governor's mansions each.

(For reference, Democrats won New Hampshire, Missouri, and Indiana in 2016, and held on to Virginia and won New Jersey in 2017)

Between Election Day 2018 and the sitting of the new Congress, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced her retirement. President Clinton nominated Kentaji Brown Jackson, judge of the DC District Court. Although Brown Jackson was confirmed and took Ginsburg's seat in late December, Clinton's gambit was seen as deceitful and tricky.

The relationship between President Clinton and the 116th Congress was a lot less cooperative than that with the 115th Congress, although thanks to moderate Republicans in the House and Senate, the signature accomplishment of 2019, a tax reform bill, passed. Although unemployment was up, slightly, the economy was still relatively strong, but economists warn of an upcoming recession.

Clinton's approvals sit at an average of 57%. She has not reneged on her promise to serve one term, and both ambitious Democrats and Republicans have leapt at the opportunity.



Rules:
(which I stole from Wxtransit, who may or may not have stolen from Lumine's game, thanks, Lumine and wxtransit)

This game will cover the 2020 US Presidential Election from September 1st, 2019 to November 3rd, 2020, divided into three main phases:

Primary Phase: Assuming campaign announcements to have come earlier in the year, this primary season will take us from September 2019 to June 2020, with players from the Democratic and Republican Parties fighting to emerge as the frontrunner or even the nominee of their respective parties.

Convention Phase: Both main parties will enter this phase to decide on their eventual nominee, although the gameplay will be very limited if a player has already won his respective nomination. Should a party lack a clear nominee, a gameplay system encouraging backroom deals as the ballots move forward will be put in place.

General Election Phase: Taking us from September 1st to November 3rd, 2020, with eight turns of a week to account for the final stage of the campaign as players play the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, and potentially some key surrogates for their campaigns.

2.- The in-game length of turns will vary from days to an entire month depending on the circumstances, but all turns will last one week (from calendar Saturday to Saturday, no more) in RL. Duly informing of a turn absence will yield no penalty (a polling freeze or very limited loss), but simply not posting will bring consequences.

3.- Personal message me for endorsements! No candidate may recieve more than 2 per turn, and there are some special endorsements that will be reserved for key events or dates (for example, New Hampshire or Iowa Governors, or relevant newspapers like the Des Moines Register or the New Hampshire Union Leader).

4.- There will be debates, several of them to account for the OTL high number of GOP debates and their undeniable impact on the race. The first few turns will all feature limited debates.

5.- Like other games, I will use a number randomizer to determine positive and negative news for the candidates. 1-5 will be positive experiences (1 being great news) and 95-100 will be negative experiences (100 being terrible news). 6-94 will be no news. Real life news will also feature as part of the game for players to exploit (or influence).

6.- Third Party candidates are allowed to join, but their respective gameplay will be focused on the General Election. The only exception is the Americans Elect Primaries, which may be a factor if a player wants to run for their nomination (thus making them more successful and relevant than in OTL).

7 - If your candidate is not included in the provided list below, make sure to personal message me so that I can approve/reject the candidate. Please make your candidates realistic (they must be real people who would plausibly seek the nomination in 2020, if you don't know if they could work, just ask).

8. Have fun.

Candidate List

Declared Candidates:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (NewYorkExpress)
Sen. Katie McGinty (Ishan)
Vice President Tim Kaine (JacksonHitchcock)
Mr. Mark Cuban (Jaguar)
Gov. Larry Hogan (Terp40hitch)
Fmr. Gov. Bill Halsam (NTP)
Gov. Greg Abbott (Wxtransit)


Potential Candidates:
Democrats:
Vice President Tim Kaine (VA)
Sen. Cory Booker (NJ)
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI)
Sen. Russ Feingold (WI)
Sen. Kamala Harris (CA)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN)
Sen. Chris Murphy (CT)
Sen. Michael Bennet (CO)
Gov. Kate Brown (OR)
Gov. Tom Wolf (PA)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (NY)
Gov. Roy Cooper (NC)
Fmr. Gov. Terry MacAuliffe (VA)
Fmr. Gov. John Hickenlooper (CO)
Fmr. Gov. Deval Patrick (MA)
Attorney General Tom Perez (MD)
Sec. of State and Fmr. VP. Joe Biden (DE)
Sec. of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro (TX)
Rep. John Delaney (MD)
Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (IN)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (NY)
Mayor Eric Garcetti (CA)
Others (PM me)

Republicans:
Sen. Susan Collins (ME)
Sen. Cory Gardner (CO)
Sen. Ben Sasse (NE)
Sen. Ted Cruz (TX)
Sen. Mitt Romney (UT)
Sen. Rick Scott (FL)
Sen. Tom Cotton (AR)
Sen. Bob Corker (TN)
Sen. Rand Paul (KY)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC)
Sen. James Lankford (OK)
Sen. Joni Ernst (IA)
Sen. Jeff Sessions (AL)
Fmr. Sen. Marco Rubio (FL)
Fmr. Sen. Pat Toomey (PA)
Fmr. Sen. Jeff Flake (AZ)
Fmr. Sen. Rick Santorum (PA)
Gov. Doug Ducey (AZ)
Gov. Greg Abbott (TX)
Gov. Asa Hutchinson (AR)
Gov. Scott Walker (WI)
Gov. Phil Scott (VT)
Gov. Charlie Baker (MA)
Gov. Larry Hogan (MD)
Fmr. Gov. Nathan Deal (GA)
Fmr. Gov. Nikki Haley (SC)
Fmr. Gov. John Kasich (OH)
Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (FL)
Fmr. Gov. Paul LePage (ME)
Fmr. Gov. Brian Sandoval (NV)
Fmr. Gov. Mike Pence (IN)
Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (AR)
Rep. Mark Sanford (SC)
Rep. Peter King (NY)
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT)
Mr. Donald Trump (NY)
Mr. Mark Cuban (TX)
Ms. Meg Whitman (CA)
Others (PM me)


Libertarians:
Fmr. Gov. William Weld (MA)
Fmr. Gov. Gary Johnson (NM)
Mr. Zlotan Istvan (CA)
Mr. Adam Kokesh (AZ)
Mr. Austen Peterson (MO)
Others (PM me)


Greens:
Fmr. Gov. Jesse Ventura (MN)
Fmr. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (GA)
Ms. Jill Stein (MA)
Ms. Cheri Honkala (PA)
Ms. Roseanne Barr (GA)
Others (PM me)


Independents:
PM me.

[Jaguar4life]

I will be Mark Cuban as a Republican if I can’t get a custom version of my character

[NewYorkExpress]

How many 2020 games can we have going at the same time?

I think I'll reprise my previous Election game performance of Elizabeth Warren...but I'm not thrilled about the prospect of doing two games at once.

[Boobs]

How many 2020 games can we have going at the same time?

I think I'll reprise my previous Election game performance of Elizabeth Warren...but I'm not thrilled about the prospect of doing two games at once.

This likely won’t start for a couple of weeks.

[_]

After some thought, and given that this won't start for a couple weeks, I'd like to play as Governor Charlie Baker (R)

[Huey Long is a Republican]

I'll probably reserve Fmr Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee

EDIT: Why is Corker still in the Senate?! He would've likely left even if Hillary won. He's very unpopular in TN and not all that appreciated. If anything, this would allow him to be primaried by Blackburn (opinion polls for OTL show just that)

[terp40hitch]

Since this will start in a few weeks then I will sign up as Carly Fiorina

[NewYorkExpress]

I'll probably reserve Fmr Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee

EDIT: Why is Corker still in the Senate?! He would've likely left even if Hillary won. He's very unpopular in TN and not all that appreciated. If anything, this would allow him to be primaried by Blackburn (opinion polls for OTL show just that)

At what point was it said Corker won re-election. It's quite possible Blackburn beat Corker in a primary and won from there too...

[Huey Long is a Republican]

I'll probably reserve Fmr Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee

EDIT: Why is Corker still in the Senate?! He would've likely left even if Hillary won. He's very unpopular in TN and not all that appreciated. If anything, this would allow him to be primaried by Blackburn (opinion polls for OTL show just that)

At what point was it said Corker won re-election. It's quite possible Blackburn beat Corker in a primary and won from there too...

Look at the Character List for the GOP.

[NewYorkExpress]

I'll probably reserve Fmr Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee

EDIT: Why is Corker still in the Senate?! He would've likely left even if Hillary won. He's very unpopular in TN and not all that appreciated. If anything, this would allow him to be primaried by Blackburn (opinion polls for OTL show just that)

At what point was it said Corker won re-election. It's quite possible Blackburn beat Corker in a primary and won from there too...

Look at the Character List for the GOP.

Aren't Senators still given that honorific even after their retirement/defeat?

[Huey Long is a Republican]

I'll probably reserve Fmr Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee

EDIT: Why is Corker still in the Senate?! He would've likely left even if Hillary won. He's very unpopular in TN and not all that appreciated. If anything, this would allow him to be primaried by Blackburn (opinion polls for OTL show just that)

At what point was it said Corker won re-election. It's quite possible Blackburn beat Corker in a primary and won from there too...

Look at the Character List for the GOP.

Aren't Senators still given that honorific even after their retirement/defeat?

Fmr Senator, but not Senator

[NewYorkExpress]

I'll probably reserve Fmr Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee

EDIT: Why is Corker still in the Senate?! He would've likely left even if Hillary won. He's very unpopular in TN and not all that appreciated. If anything, this would allow him to be primaried by Blackburn (opinion polls for OTL show just that)

At what point was it said Corker won re-election. It's quite possible Blackburn beat Corker in a primary and won from there too...

Look at the Character List for the GOP.

Aren't Senators still given that honorific even after their retirement/defeat?

Fmr Senator, but not Senator

Well, than I would say change it to Blackburn (or Haslam...don't forget about him) but I'm not in charge here.

[Huey Long is a Republican]

I'll probably reserve Fmr Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee

EDIT: Why is Corker still in the Senate?! He would've likely left even if Hillary won. He's very unpopular in TN and not all that appreciated. If anything, this would allow him to be primaried by Blackburn (opinion polls for OTL show just that)

At what point was it said Corker won re-election. It's quite possible Blackburn beat Corker in a primary and won from there too...

Look at the Character List for the GOP.

Aren't Senators still given that honorific even after their retirement/defeat?

Fmr Senator, but not Senator

Well, than I would say change it to Blackburn (or Haslam...don't forget about him) but I'm not in charge here.

He can still be on the list, but as a Former Senator.

[Huey Long is a Republican]

Also, important question, why isn't Al Gore in the Democratic list? He still has some popularity and Influence in the party.

[NewYorkExpress]

Also, important question, why isn't Al Gore in the Democratic list? He still has some popularity and Influence in the party.

If Gore wanted to run for President again, he would have done so in 2008.

That said, someone certainly could ask for him, and HCP certainly could grant the request...as it's not as outrageous as what Jaguar usually asks for.

[Huey Long is a Republican]

Also, important question, why isn't Al Gore in the Democratic list? He still has some popularity and Influence in the party.

If Gore wanted to run for President again, he would have done so in 2008.

That said, someone certainly could ask for him, and HCP certainly could grant the request...as it's not as outrageous as what Jaguar usually asks for.

He teases it from Time to Time and he might run in 2024.

I agree on the Jaguar part

[Huey Long is a Republican]

Can we get Primary Schedule, Delegates per State, and Delegate Nomination Count?

[wxtransit]

I'll take Greg Abbott, if possible.

[NewYorkExpress]

Official results of the 2016/2018 elections would be nice (as in, a list of winners for all Senate/House/Governor's mansions that are different in partisan officeholder to real life).

[Continential]

I will choose Maggie Hassan

[NewYorkExpress]

I will choose Maggie Hassan

Sure, steal New Hampshire from the one politician (other than Sanders) who would win the primary in a walk.

[terp40hitch]

Since this will start in a few weeks then I will sign up as Carly Fiorina

Actually can I take Larry Hogan

[Huey Long is a Republican]

I will choose Maggie Hassan

Why not take someone like O'Malley or Biden, to make it a bit fair in the early states

[Huey Long is a Republican]

I will choose Maggie Hassan

Sure, steal New Hampshire from the one politician (other than Sanders) who would win the primary in a walk.

To be fair, the same could be said for Warren in Massachusetts

[NewYorkExpress]

I will choose Maggie Hassan

Sure, steal New Hampshire from the one politician (other than Sanders) who would win the primary in a walk.

To be fair, the same could be said for Warren in Massachusetts

Massachusetts is literally Warren's home state. Unless Warren did something really stupid, like insult the Boston Red Sox, she'd win in a landslide.