The National Weekly Atlasian

[Јas]

Upset?

I still dont understand why everyone thought I wasn't favoured to win. Spill the beans already!

My own $0.02...
Personally, I thought you were slight favourite simply due to the districts demographics and your experience. However, I did think Verily would come closer and had a genuine shot.

There are a number of reasons why Verily may have been perceived as very competitive.
He is a left leaning moderate and so presumably would have been someone leftists would consider voting for him.
He has stronger appeal to moderates.
He received the outright endorsement of the right (though I suppose that could actually have hurt him) and so could expect whatever votes that bloc can give in your District.
Your debate highlighted that you two had almost identical positions on issues.
Your own campaign was not particularly high profile.
While you have a solid leftist voting record, you haven't yet moved any legislation.
Finally, Verily was simply a good candidate - at ease with the issues, eager to get involved, good temperament, etc... - though, this is not to say that you were by any means a bad candidate, btw.

Finally, I would say that nobody (that I've seen) predicted that you were going to be beaten by any particularly large margin in the election, that this is Atlasia and elections are more often than not unpredictable, and that some predictions may have been put forward disingenuously.

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PBrunsel defeats Afleitch
by South Park Conservative

Thank Goodness!!!

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Wait, so who done it?

Eentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.

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OP-ED: Regions Are Active, Contrary to Popular Myth
by South Park Conservative

   One commonly repeated myth around Atlasia used to deny regional rights is that regions are inactive. However, using the midterm elections' results, this just doesn't add up. In the December Senate elections, using a system that head anti-regionalist Senator Jas set up a year ago, there were only 6 active candidates for a 5-person position, of which only 4 were on the ballot. This is hardly a sign of an active system.

 But, you may add, many regional elections are uncontested as well. However, if one is the look at turnout, the "inactivity" myth against regions doesn't hold up. While the national Senate elections had only 49% turnout, the Pacific's elections, which actually had two contested races, had 61% turnout. The Midwest had 47% turnout, despite the election being for a trivial position. Even the Southeast, whose elections are still going on, has 43% turnout so far, despite both the Governorship and Lt. Governoship being uncontested.  Additionally, the Southeast has several close elections on regional propositions, another sign of an active region. It is clear from these results that either the activity gap between regional elections and federal elections is nonexistant or insignificant.

The system I put forward helped maintain the election as a vigorously competitive one evidenced by the fact that your own publication wasn't prepared to call it until 17 minutes before the close of polling. Compare that with the regional elections which were they are almost entirely mere formalities. How many of those elections were in any doubt at all? How many regional candidates faced any genuine opposition?

In the Senate election candidates actively campaigned for the seats, either through their own threads, answering publicly submitted questions from voters, or through targetted PMs. Pray tell, how much similar activity did we see from the gloriously active and fruitful regional candidates?

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Under ordinary circumstances, I would have called the race much earlier. However, given that I was a candidate in the election, I bent over backwards to avoid personal bias. You also forget to mention that two of the candidates' elections were called before the voting booth even opened and an additional candidate was called on the first day of voting.

During the final 10 hours before close of polls, there were perfectly reasonable scenarios where anyone could have lost.

The Pacific region faced what started out as a close race, but became a landslide when JCPers came out to vote for CultureKing and Alcon.

So you're defining these races as competitive?

Additionally, the Midwest Lt. Gov. election was a close race between GMantis and TCash, with several other write-in candidates also receiving votes.

Neither poster looked for the position. Nobody looked for the position.
If this is defined as competitive and interesting than your vision for the future of Atlasia then the game itself is in danger.

In the Southeast, the outcome of three propositions is still in doubt, and won't be known until the booth closes.

Nicely skipping over the elections there...

Mind you, any activity in the Senate elections, was due to the efforts of Franzl and I. Had we not declared our candidacies after the filing deadline, it would have been the most boring election in Atlasian history. I do not think it is a sign of active federal elections when all of the incumbents' re-elections were assured and the remaining closeness is between two last-minute candidates.

While the result placed the newcomers 5th and 6th, there was no safe seats.
And if you think the system prefers incumbents, see the result of the election of these seats 4 months ago when all incumbents were defeated.

Additionally, the fact that many people participated in the regional elections without being PMed shows that regional activity would be even higher if it warranted the same attention that national politics is.

Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.
You have no basis on which to draw that conclusion.
How many people would have turned out without prompting for the national election?
How many people became aware of the regional elections because of the national elections?

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Under ordinary circumstances, I would have called the race much earlier. However, given that I was a candidate in the election, I bent over backwards to avoid personal bias. You also forget to mention that two of the candidates' elections were called before the voting booth even opened and an additional candidate was called on the first day of voting.

During the final 10 hours before close of polls, there were perfectly reasonable scenarios where anyone could have lost.

Yes, but in the end, the election's results went as expected.

Really? The RPP seemed to be talking up their ability to get 2 Senators elected as defying expectations.

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So you're defining these races as competitive?

They were competitive, at least for the first few days of it.
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Analysing Pacifican elections whilest ignoring possible JCP voters is far than sensible.

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Neither poster looked for the position. Nobody looked for the position.
If this is defined as competitive and interesting than your vision for the future of Atlasia then the game itself is in danger.

You said that all of the regional elections were undoubtful, when in the Midwest Lt. Gov. election, anybody could have won. This Lt. Gov. election still got almost as much turnout as the national senate election did, so I would question your vision for the future of Atlasia when an unimportant regional election can get almost as much turnout as a national election.
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Of course it was competitive, there were no candidates. 0
Nobody knew who, if anyone, was interested in the position.
Nobody expressed any interest in the job.
Spinning this as a positive is preposterous.

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Nicely skipping over the elections there...

I admit that the other elections there were uncompetitive. Even Duke admits that he would have liked at least some competition.

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While the result placed the newcomers 5th and 6th, there was no safe seats.
And if you think the system prefers incumbents, see the result of the election of these seats 4 months ago when all incumbents were defeated.[/quote]

Turnout was down considerably from August, as well. I didn't say that this system is biased toward incumbents, I think it is biased toward disinterest.
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Had we still be operating the system of single-member districts (which the now membership of the RPP wanted), then we would have had more races where there was only 1 candidate.
The new system means that for 3 straight elections, there have been no safe seats.
Find a regional position for which you can say the same.

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Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.
You have no basis on which to draw that conclusion.
How many people would have turned out without prompting for the national election?
How many people became aware of the regional elections because of the national elections?

Many people would have turned out without prompting for the national election, but I know from my own personal experience that turnout would have been considerably lower without prompting. When one adds in what it would have been without others prompting, turnout would have been even lower that it already was. Also, you neglect to mention that when a regional election had considerable attention paid to it, it got 12% higher turnout that the national election.
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Turnout is only one measure of attention. How many posts did the regional elections generate in the main board? Compare that with the speculation for the national election.

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Under ordinary circumstances, I would have called the race much earlier. However, given that I was a candidate in the election, I bent over backwards to avoid personal bias. You also forget to mention that two of the candidates' elections were called before the voting booth even opened and an additional candidate was called on the first day of voting.

During the final 10 hours before close of polls, there were perfectly reasonable scenarios where anyone could have lost.

Yes, but in the end, the election's results went as expected.

Really? The RPP seemed to be talking up their ability to get 2 Senators elected as defying expectations.

I was referring to your saying that all of the incumbents appeared vulnerable at one point. The only true upset of the night was my victory over Franzl, and even that could have been averted if Franzl had declared early enough to vote for himself.

We can debate this all you want. But as far as I'm concerned it is indisputable that the system maximised competition and ensured that the result wasn't certain until very near to the close of polling. The system may not be perfect, but it is far, far better than that which preceded it.

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Neither poster looked for the position. Nobody looked for the position.
If this is defined as competitive and interesting than your vision for the future of Atlasia then the game itself is in danger.

You said that all of the regional elections were undoubtful, when in the Midwest Lt. Gov. election, anybody could have won. This Lt. Gov. election still got almost as much turnout as the national senate election did, so I would question your vision for the future of Atlasia when an unimportant regional election can get almost as much turnout as a national election.
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Of course it was competitive, there were no candidates. 0
Nobody knew who, if anyone, was interested in the position.
Nobody expressed any interest in the job.
Spinning this as a positive is preposterous.[/quote]

Isn't that how Midwest elections are traditionally run?
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Yes...1 candidate less than most regions manage.

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Nicely skipping over the elections there...

I admit that the other elections there were uncompetitive. Even Duke admits that he would have liked at least some competition.

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While the result placed the newcomers 5th and 6th, there was no safe seats.
And if you think the system prefers incumbents, see the result of the election of these seats 4 months ago when all incumbents were defeated.[/quote]

Turnout was down considerably from August, as well. I didn't say that this system is biased toward incumbents, I think it is biased toward disinterest.
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Had we still be operating the system of single-member districts (which the now membership of the RPP wanted), then we would have had more races where there was only 1 candidate.
The new system means that for 3 straight elections, there have been no safe seats.
Find a regional position for which you can say the same.[/quote]

The official party position is supportive of the new system. Even I now admit that districts were a bad idea from the start. However, I still don't believe that national elections are the way to go. Additionally, it might be considered ironic that if I hadn't moved to the Mideast, the most pro-regional rights region would have 4 senators in the upcoming Senate. Surely having several candidates for office is indicative of activity, is it not?
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Interesting. So, by your standard, how many regions are demonstrating activity?

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Please use the correct titles of the Midwestern office holders!

[Јas]

Please use the correct titles of the Midwestern office holders!

Any comment on Presidential speculation?

The speculation is unfounded.

And ftr, it's 'ican'tbelieveit'snotverin' not Icantbelieveitsnotlikeverin'.

[Јas]

The Consolidated Electoral SYstem Reform Act, Section 8, Clauses 2 and 3 state:

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KoTBP has already ascended as the Presidential candidate in the Candidate Declaration Thread. If someone were to declare themselves to be his running mate, then I don't see why he couldn't be on the ballot.

KoTBP will be in no position to accept the running-mate and so the 'ticket' wouldn't be validly declared.

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ftr, it's 'ican'tbelieveit'snotverin'

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The senate is dead.  Good thing we elected the most competent PPT , I didn't think I had enough time for the job, but apparently five minutes is more than enough

When the Senate falls into inactivity, it's not usually the fault of any single person.
The PPT informed the chamber of his position and was still unanimously approved.
There is a Vice President (and if needs be, a Dean of the Senate) who can also manage Senate business.

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I'm rumoured to be running for President?

Yes - SPC started the rumour.

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     What's funny is that even though Bgwah ran for an open seat with a more serious opponent, he won much more decisively than Colin did.

Nonsense.
In case you didn't notice, there was only one valid option on the ballot last time.
It was the most predictable Presidential election in Atlasian history.

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     What's funny is that even though Bgwah ran for an open seat with a more serious opponent, he won much more decisively than Colin did.

Nonsense.
In case you didn't notice, there was only one valid option on the ballot last time.
It was the most predictable Presidential election in Atlasian history.

     As far as I could tell, most people didn't realize that afleitch/write-in wasn't a valid ticket until Lewis mentioned it.

Even given that, afleitch never stood a chance given the lack of a declared running-mate.

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Senate Humming Along Nicely

While the spike in activity may only be temporary, the senate is currently taking on a few measures.  The "Free Palestine Bill", currently making another journey through the senate, seems headed for passage after a few compromises were worked out.  The fact that this bill, previously immediatley shot down by Sens. Al and Jas in favor of meaningless international resolutions, may signal a tide is turning in the senate of cooperation and productivity.

While I'd love to take the credit, I was but 1 of 8 votes to table that bill.

[Јas]

While I'd love to take the credit, I was but 1 of 8 votes to table that bill.

Notice that except for myself, all the other senators have left the senate since.  Now, we actually have a senate willing to work towards more than pointless "OMG You are so mean" measures

I see you're still opting for random replies. I don't see what your reply has anything to do with what I said. I was merely noting that while you claimed it was myself and Al who brought down your bill, it was in fact 8 Senators.

And whatever about your feelings that my resolution, at least it would not have had very significant detrimental effects for Atlasian relations with all sides in the Middle East - a reason why your bill was quickly rejected the first time it was presented.

(And, ftr, your above statement is also wrong. Bacon King was a Senator then and remains so now.)