The National Atlasian: Keeping You Informed

[Colin]

KEmp Released from the Hospital
Said to Be In Good Condition

Chief Justice KEmp was released from the hospital yesterday three days after his status was upgraded to Good condition. He is said to be at his family home for Christmas and will be returning to the Supreme Court after the holidays. The police have still not been able to find the killer, or killers, although the authorities officially said yesterday that NixonNow was innocent and that all accusations against him were false. The Police have said that they will continue the investigation until the assassins are found. 

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Candidates Line Up
With the Presidential Races in Two Months Parties Search for the Man Who Can Beat PBrunsel

Peter Bell and Hugh have both announced their candidacies in the past week while Nym90 seem to be on the verge of announcing his bid for the Presidency. This is all in an attempt to bring down a President who appears close to becoming Atlasia’s first two term President. AFDNC Interim Chairman Alex Knobel said that “The Left must be united,” and that “Nym could do it. Siege could do it.” But it is also a matter of who runs. If the UL puts out a candidate, especially if they produce a Siege40/Trondheim ticket, they could have even more success than Al did in the last elections. Also a new party on the left, the Farmer Labor Party, has a few people how could try for a run. While the AFDNC may be looking for a unified left their chances are being reduced by the amount of candidates that are being brought up. Also centre-leftist Hugh Bartlett has said today that he will run for President as an Independent affiliated with MAMA. It still has to be seen if Hugh can bring in any more support than his last run though he seems to be relegated to second or third preference. While some have said that PBrunsel is a do nothing as President he is widely popular and has a good shot at not only getting the AFRNC nomination but also the Freedom Party nomination. In the Centre some have been whispering about an Ernest/Andrew ticket although their has not been any official word from either Ernest, Andrew, or the Union Party about any Presidential plans. Although the AFDNC has been working toward this united left theory it has to be said that most of Al’s votes in the last Presidential Election went to Harry after Al was eliminated so the left has been united for a long while. This is sure to be an interesting electoral season as more people come into the race. 

[Colin]

Gubernatorial Candidate, Presidential Hopeful, and Attorney General
A Look at Peter Bell’s Many Faceted Current Political Situation [/i]

Mr. Bell has his hands full. He is the hardworking Attorney General, the Candidate for Northeast Governor and he’s looking into a presidential run. He has a good chance of winning the Governors race and being a well respected member of the forum he may do well in any Presidential race if he runs. Mr. Bell is a left leaning independent which makes his status as a presidential candidate rather odd. If he does runs he is likely to get few first preference votes since the Centre-Left is a very small contingency and Hugh Bartlett is also probably running for President as a Centre-Leftist. If the AFDNC nominates Mr. Bell then people more on the far left may feel like Mr. Bell does not represent their views and may run another candidate, but the effect that this will have is practically nil since most if not all the second preference votes would go to Mr. Bell. The main problem is would the AFDNC be willing to endorse a candidate who is outside of the AFDNC, an Independent and a man has long been associated with the UAC. If the AFDNC does think that he can unify the left and bring in Centrist votes then he may be the lefts candidate. The problem would be would he bring in Centrist votes? While he may get second preference from the likes of Nation and Hugh it seems rather far fetched to think that the mainstream Union or Freedom Party voter would vote for Mr. Bell over President Brunsel. But then again nobody thought that True Democrat could win in a contest with Andrew and nobody thought that The Bulldog could get within one vote of beating Chris Soult so it a moderate leftist like Mr. Bell may be able to win over enough support to win.

[Colin]

Although the AFDNC has been working toward this united left theory it has to be said that all of Al’s votes in the last Presidential Election went to Harry after Al was eliminated so the left has been united for a long while.

Several voters voted for Al who did not preference anyone else, such as Michael Z and freedomburns.

Thank you Akno I will change that to most.

[Colin]

Although the AFDNC has been working toward this united left theory it has to be said that all of Al’s votes in the last Presidential Election went to Harry after Al was eliminated so the left has been united for a long while.

Several voters voted for Al who did not preference anyone else, such as Michael Z and freedomburns.

Thank you Akno I will change that to most.

4 voters voted for Al but did not preference Harry. Harry lost by 6. If those 4 are added Harry only loses 51% to 48%, which means Harry lost a nailbitter, not a landslide, have some have said.

He would still lose though.

[Colin]

Okay. Number One, Akno I don't know what goes on in these backroom discussions of yours. How should I know if you were behind Peter's run.

Lewis, you're right I do not know everything about the forum since I've only been here two months and because there is no official history of Atlasia I just know tidbits from word of mouth. I also didn't take into account the Progressive Caucus and I didn't know about his Centrists for Nym campaign, although if it was just Nym vs. Supersoulty then being a left-leaning Centrist that would make sense.

[Colin]

Mr. Bell has his hands full. He is the hardworking Attorney General, the Candidate for Northeast Governor and he’s looking into a presidential run. He has a good chance of winning the Governors race and being a well respected member of the forum he may do well in any Presidential race if he runs. Mr. Bell is a left leaning independent which makes his status as a presidential candidate rather odd. If he does runs he is likely to get few first preference votes since the Centre-Left is a very small contingency and Hugh Bartlett is also probably running for President as a Centre-Leftist. If the AFDNC nominates Mr. Bell then people more on the far left may feel like Mr. Bell does not represent their views and may run another candidate, but the effect that this will have is practically nil since most if not all the second preference votes would go to Mr. Bell. The main problem is would the AFDNC be willing to endorse a candidate who is outside of the AFDNC, an Independent and a man has long been associated with the UAC. If the AFDNC does think that he can unify the left and bring in Centrist votes then he may be the lefts candidate. The problem would be would he bring in Centrist votes? While he may get second preference from the likes of Nation and Hugh it seems rather far fetched to think that the mainstream Union or Freedom Party voter would vote for Mr. Bell over President Brunsel. But then again nobody thought that True Democrat could win in a contest with Andrew and nobody thought that The Bulldog could get within one vote of beating Chris Soult so it a moderate leftist

Oh, I did. But that's beside the point...

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The point being...
Here's Pete's political affiliation history:
-Only person on the original register to be registered as neither Democratic nor Republican but Independent.
-Voted for Nym in the first election
-Set up the Progressive Party with Dunn (RIP), ILikeVerin and me
-Left us to set up the UAC with JFK, ILikeVerin, Gustaf, Andrew...UAC promptly overrun by Republicans
-Proclaimed himself a "Centrist for Nym" in the second presidential election
-Switched to the Democrats almost immediately after the election
-Was rather inactive for the better part of three months
-Switched registration to Independent
-Voted Al as first preference, PB over Harry in the third presidentials, explaining he based his decisions on character not policy.
-Currently active in setting up the Progressive Caucus.

You really think the Far Left disapproves of him?
And, more to the point:
You really think we'd approve of him more as a Democrat than as an Independent?
Think again.

Nice of you to leave out the whole lord executioner thing.

Oh yes how could that have slipped by mind. Now I know why Harry doesn't want Peter to be the nominee he executed him twice. 

[Colin]

Supesoulty beat The Bulldog by 3 votes. Just making a minor correction there.

Great paper, keep up the good work.

Oh is that the official count now. I didn't know their was that much of a gap between their two votes but it doesn't take away that The Bulldog almost won.

[Colin]

Supesoulty beat The Bulldog by 3 votes. Just making a minor correction there.

Great paper, keep up the good work.

Oh is that the official count now. I didn't know their was that much of a gap between their two votes but it doesn't take away that The Bulldog almost won.

Yes, there was some confusion as to the count, so it's understandable.

And also thank you for your complement. I would love to do an interview with you sometime.

[Colin]

Supesoulty beat The Bulldog by 3 votes. Just making a minor correction there.

Great paper, keep up the good work.

Oh is that the official count now. I didn't know their was that much of a gap between their two votes but it doesn't take away that The Bulldog almost won.

Yes, there was some confusion as to the count, so it's understandable.

And also thank you for your complement. I would love to do an interview with you sometime.

Sure. We'll have to arrange a time over AIM.

Problem is you signed off.

[Colin]

Mr. Emperor Meet President Brunsel
President Out of Race; Chief Justice Emperor Receives Broad Support [/i]

On Christmas Eve Chief Justice Ken Emperor announced that he was going to run for the Presidency siting that he wants to unite Atlasia and bring more activity to the White House. This was just the beginning of the bad news for the President who had seen his approval rating slide from in the high 60s down to the high 40s in the most recent polls.

The Chief Justice almost immediately received endorsements from key Centrists such as Don Johnson, Chairman of the Union Party, and Senator John Kennedy. Mr. Emperor also received endorsements from many Republicans, including Senators StatesRights and Bono and SoFA Steven Nichols.

Facing a large challenge on the right from Mr. Emperor and sinking approval from all over Atlasia including his own party the President could see the writing on the wall Mr. Brunsel said that he will not stand for re-election, making him the next in a long line of one term Atlasian presidents. This has made the right secure for the chief justice while the endorsement from the Constitutional Union Party has made sure that he will have Centrist support come February.

Mr. Emperor then shocked some when he announced that his VP nominee is Alcon San Croix of South Dakota, a Democrat and a moderate liberal who has minimal government experience. Some said the nomination was odd and would leave a liberal a heartbeat away from the Presidency but this is another attempt by Mr. Emperor to shore up support on the left and centre-left. Also with the last Centre-Left candidate dropping out of the race, Mr. Bartlett or Oregon, it has made it possible for him to pick up the moderate left vote as well.

It seems as though Mr. Emperor is in for a landslide victory unless the Democrats can come up with someone electable. The problem for the AFDNC is that all their good moderate candidates have said that they will not run for the Presidency and one of the best hopes for the Presidency, Governor MAS, defected to the Union Party after hearing about Mr. Emperors Presidential candidacy.

[Colin]

Okay. Number One, Akno I don't know what goes on in these backroom discussions of yours. How should I know if you were behind Peter's run.

Lewis, you're right I do not know everything about the forum since I've only been here two months and because there is no official history of Atlasia I just know tidbits from word of mouth. I also didn't take into account the Progressive Caucus and I didn't know about his Centrists for Nym campaign, although if it was just Nym vs. Supersoulty then being a left-leaning Centrist that would make sense.

Nym vs Gustaf (vs StevenNick). This was at the tail end of his time in the UAC.
And write a story on my candidacy, please.

I will, I am a very busy man.

[Colin]

What’s Up With the Centre-Left
Bartlett; Bell; Bartlett/Bell; The Continuing Lack of Decisiveness on the Centre-Left[/i]

 The Centre-Left has been in shambles since the fall of the AFIP and their recent string of Presidential Candidates shows how week this section of Atlasian politics is. First Mr. Bartlett announced that he would run as a MAMA Independent candidate for President. This was followed by former Attorney General Bell saying that he would look into a presidential campaign.

As soon as Chief Justice Emperor was receiving his vast amounts of support the left was looking for a candidate. The AFDNC was thinking about settling on Mr. Bell as their candidate but that decision fell through. Next Mr. Bartlett decided to announce that Mr. Bell was his VP nominee. The problem was Mr. Bell didn’t want the job saying that he would rather run for Governor followed by Mr. Bartlett’s departure from the race due to personal reasons.

The Centre-Left as a whole is basically a microcosm for what is going on in the rest of the left. No Democrats or other Leftists, save Lt. Gov. Trondheim, have wanted to run. Along with most of the AFDNC moderates saying that they would rather stay out of this race former President Nyman’s indecisiveness on whether he should run or not has hurt his standing among the electorate.

It looks like because of this lack of leadership on the part of the AFDNC is probably going to lead to a landslide for the Chief Justice but will Mr. Emperor’s broad support last through the race. Their have already been comparisons between Mr. Emperor and former President Gustaf Lundregen, who left office early after an inactive stay in the White House. Although Mr. Emperor has dismissed the comparisons saying that he will not resign from office it will still have to be shown whether his broad coalition can hold together.

[Colin]

A major update will be posted later in the day. Probably tonight. At least three major stories and some early endorsements.

[Colin]

Waiting.

Sorry wasn't on last night, I was watching football. I'll do the update right now.

[Colin]

Early Endorsements for Gubanatorial and Senatorial Races

THESE ARE ALL SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT A LATER DATE

The Mideastern Regional Gubanatorial Race

1. Peter Bell
2. DanielX

While we at the National Atlasian agree more with the views of Mr. DanielX former Attorney General Bell is more experienced and a better fit for the job. We consider his almost infinite knowledge of the Constitution and his intrinsical understanding of Atlasian law to be very important for the Governor of the Mideast.

District 1 Senate

1. ColinW
2. Nation

Do not want to discuss due to conflict of intrest.

District 2 Senate

1. Bono
2. Akno21

We believe that Bono should remain in the Senate. He has always been a voice for fiscal responsibility and economic conservatism. While some of his positions may be rather extreme he is still the better choice.

District 3 Senate

1. NOTA

We consider none of the people running in the District 3 Senate to stand up for the beliefs of this newspaper and neither right-wing candidates have the personality and decorum to be Atlasian Senators.


District 4 Senate

1. StatesRights
2. Josh22

We believe that Senator StatesRights is still the man who is best for District 4. He has always been a voice of conservatism and is now Atlasia's elder statesman. We believe in another term for Senator StatesRights.

District 5 Senate

1. John F. Kennedy

For lack of any opposition this newspaper is endorsing John F. Kennedy for Senate.

[Colin]

Bumps On the Road to the White House
New Candidates Seem Close to Entering the Race[/i]

While the Emperor/San Croix ticket is currently enjoy record popularity among all Atlasians there are some murmurs of dissent from some of Mr. Emperor’s biggest supporters, Republicans.

A few days ago Senator StatesRights said he was contemplating a run for the Presidency under a StatesRights/Jake ticket. He has set up an exploratory committee and from the looks of it his campaign is very popular among many Republicans and other rightists.

A poll from about a week and a half ago said that a Generic Conservative Candidate could possibly get 20% of the vote in a three way race. While that is still coming in third there are enough AFRNC pocket votes to ensure that a candidate such StatesRights could probably get an even higher percentage than that.

While this may take away a certain amount of Mr. Emperor’s votes he is still looking at a potential landslide since many StatesRights voter’s will second preference Mr. Emperor with only the die hard First Past the Post people voting only for StatesRights.

So it seems that nothing can derail the Emperor/San Croix ticket. Even with a more Conservative candidate in the race Mr. Emperor seems to be on the road to Atlasia’s first Presidential landslide.

[Colin]

Nym doesn't have the personality or the decorum to be an Atlas Senator? Now that needs explaining.
(No problems with you not endorsing him o/c, in fact I thought you'd endorse Naso.)

That was more directed at Phillip and Naso.

[Colin]

What Has Happened to the Left?
Is Trondheim/Democrat the Best They Could Come Up With?[/i]

When the Left united behind Lewis Trondheim of Hawaii and True Democrat of Pennsylvania many thought what could be a worse ticket for the left. Lets take a look at the candidates.

Lewis Trondheim has lost every race where he has actually faced opposition. The only office he ever achieve was Lt. Gov. of the Pacific Region. He was an unsuccessful VP candidate, has stood for governor and lost to Wildcard, and his only claim to fame is that he is the second in command for Al’s AFL-CIO.

True Democrat is also not a heap of experience either. He was a Senator for a month and won that because of AFDNC pocket votes and GOTV efforts. While he was an okay Senator, and was expected by many to be much worse, he still has only held that position and Lt. Gov. of the Northeast.

So what type of ticket is the left putting up? A ticket that has at least half of the experience of the Emperor/Alcon ticket or a StatesRights/Jake ticket. At least those tickets have at their heads men who have much experience in Atlasian government and politics.

The Trondheim/Democrat ticket is, most definitely, a sacrificial lamb ticket by the left. None of their good candidates want to take on the almost unstoppable Mr. Emperor or don’t have the time to be President.

The AFDNC’s and, conversely, the United Left’s best candidate, would have been Senator Nyman. Since he nor any other electable candidates from the left are running for the office of the Presidency we can expect Mr. Trondheim to poll rather well but will have to pull a miracle to beat Mr. Emperor.

[Colin]

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I never stood for governor. I may have written myself in once. I did stand for lieutenant governor, losing to King, and -before that- twice for Senator, losing to StevenNick (in the first ever Senate election, after a very strange SC ruling) and John F Kennedy.
I'm a member of the AFL-CIO, but if I am "second in command" there, I don't remember it. I am Vice Chairman of the Progressive Caucus though, maybe that's where the confusion comes from.
And my only claim to fame is that nobody has stood in more elections than me - there has not been an Atlas general election - after the very first one - when I have not stood for office.

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Thank you I will post a correction.

[Colin]

Correction

In our article on Lewis Trondheim we said that Mr. Trondheim stood for Governor of the Pacific Region and was second in Command of the AFL-CIO. This should read that Mr. Trondheim has often been a candidate in the Pacfic Region and District 5. He has run for Lt. Gov. and lost, and has run for Senator twice and has lost. He is also Vice-Chairman of the Progessive Caucus not the AFL-CIO.

[Colin]

I would like to be interviewed by the National Atlasian at some point soon. I am not on AIM as much as I once was, but I would be more than willing to respond to a list of questions emailed to me.

Well I will certainly try to do that sometime during the week.

[Colin]

Senator John Kennedy Says That He Will Not Seek Another Term
Bartlett, King Both Vie For the Precious D5 Seat[/i]

Two days ago Senator Kennedy announced that he will not be running for another term. Mr. Kennedy, who has been Senator and President with many stints as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, said that it was because of personal reason and would not give a definite answer on his dropping out of the race.

Almost immediately former Senator King announced that he was going to run as Constitutional Union Party candidate for the illustrious Senators seat. Soon former Senator and a former leader of the AFIP, and current Independent, Hugh Bartlett announced his intentions to run for election to the D5 senate seat.

His announcement was fallowed by endorsement by several major left-wing Atlasians. Mr. Bartlett, who has experience as Senator from doing a term from District Three, has said that we will stand committed to the “fundamental ideals of social justice and economic reason” and that he wont release “any rash and impossible policies during my [Mr. Bartlett’s] campaign”. Hugh then went on in his speech to state that District Five is composed of beautiful natural wonders and the best people in Atlasia.

King has stated that we will serve the legacy of Senator John Kennedy and will give the centre-right a strong candidate to stand up to Mr. Bartlett. As always the District Five race will be between two great men, two great politicians and two great Atlasians.

It seems as though the politics of District 5, which were consider, just three months ago, to be the most stable in the country, have become as volatile and as competitive as the rest of Atlasia. 

[Colin]

Debate Begins Over Senator JFK’s Memorial
New Monument to Former Senator Proposed[/i]

In the Senate today, Senator Chris Soult of District One presented a bill before the Senate to build a monument to former President and President Pro Tempore John Kennedy near the Potomac River.

This automatically got rave reviews from the other Senators and has a very good chance of passing. The monument would be shaped like a rotunda and would have, at its centre, a statue of the well liked Senator and President.

The monument’s budget is $50 million dollars which was thought by some to be too much but the criticism of the plan were few and far between. Many consider this to be a great honour to the person who many consider to be the best politician, best president, and best senator, in Atlasian history.

Of course Senator Kennedy said that this would not be the end of his political career and that this will not be the last of Mr. Kennedy. We here at the National Atlasian certainly hope not. 

[Colin]

I would like to issue a small clarification-I statd that District Fie had the BEST, but not the only, natural beauty in Atlasia, and that the people, not just politicians, of D5 were of the highest quality. Also, I was a leader but not head of the AFIP.

Corrected it.