Forward? – A 2012 Election Game (Gameplay Thread)

[Blair]

Chris Christie.
Fighting For You.

Campaign Schedule

January 11th: Governor Christie flew from New Hampshire to South Carolina to continue his campaign. He spend the morning holding a series of TV, and Media interviews with National and Local media in South Carolina. The highlight was an in depth interview with Bill O'Reilly, where Christie admitted the New Hampshire result 'was a couple less points than we expected'' but said it was 'still historic in an open race to win in both Iowa, and New Hampshire', which Christie put down to the fact that 'the voters in New Hampshire and Iowa, knew that I was on there side''. Christie also said that he 'looked forward'' to proving the polls wrong in South Carolina, and was 'confident that we're gonna do a lot better than the folks in the media think.'' Later in the day the Governor held a round-table with evangelical leaders in Mount Pleasant, and later held a Town Hall where he reaffirmed his support for the 'pro-life cause' and pointed to his record 'De-funding planned parenthood and blocking liberal justices from renomination' in New Jersey.

January 12th: Governor Christie spend the morning holding a ''commander-in-chief'' forum discussion at the U.S.S Yorktown where he said it 'beyond vital that republican voters pick someone who can keep America safe'. Citing his record ''as a U.S Attorney who put terrorist behind bars'' and as the ''only guy running who's actually got experience in National Security Matters''. In a town hall held later in the day Christie reaffirmed his commitment to the PATRIOT ACT, and attacked the ''zealots on the fringe of the party who are more concerned with scoring petty points than keeping America safe.'' Christie reaffirmed that he ''would never apologize for supporting the PATRIOT Act'' and promised that he'd support an increase in both defense and intelligence funding, and vowed to make ''Killing Osama Bin Laden'' his number one priority.

January 13th: Governor Christie traveled to Columbia where held a special rally with Governor  Haley Barbour, where he blasted Joe Biden for wanting to impeach Clarence Thomas. Calling the Vice-President's remarks 'beyond stupid', Christie said it showed 'the Democrats have given up even pretending to even care about the rule of law''. Christie later told the crowd that 'if you want to keep Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, and kick Joe Biden out of office, you've got to vote for me.'' Later in the afternoon the Governor met with farmers in the Tobacco industry and pledged to 'end the burden of excessive regulations and taxation'' which are 'crippling the agriculture industry across America''. Governor Christie was later joined by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad who praised Christie 'as a dedicated champion for rural Americans'' and someone 'who knows leadership is about more than giving a speech on the floor of congress, it's about lifting folks up, and allowing everyone to reach their god-given potential.'' 

January 14th: Governor Christie traveled to Miami-Dade in Florida to hold a ''Cubans for Christie'' event and rally with Representative Ilena Ros-Lehtinen. Christie started the day giving radio interviews to local media, and then visited a Cuban diner, and held a roundtable discussion with Cuban business leaders, before giving a speech to the Chamber of Commerce where he promised to 'kick Washington into Shape' by 'cutting  spending, lowering taxes and fixing entitlements'' before promising to 'get a real bi-partisan deal to eliminate our deficit'' and telling the crowd 'I've done it in New Jersey, let me do it for all Americans''. Christie later visited the eternal flame memorial for Cuban Freedom Fighters, and Bay of Pigs Veterans, and hailed them as 'Heroes, who represented values that make me proud to be an American; bravery, valor and liberty''. In the evening Christie held a rally with Rep Ros-Lehtinen who said that that the 'cuban community here in Miami have an ally, a friend and a champion in Chris Christie'' and urged them ''to make their voices heard in the primary, and support Governor Christie.''

January 15th: Governor Christie returned to South Carolina overnight, and in the morning toured the new Boeing Plant with Governor Nikki Haley in North Charleston. Meeting with workers Governor Christie touted the his tax plan which would 'end the Federal Government treating working folks like a cow on market day'' and reaffirmed his pledge to 'lower individual rates of tax'' to let workers have more control of their own pay-packet. Governor Christie later gave a speech where he praised 'South Carolina's long status as a right-to-work state'' which he said 'has attracted jobs and investment''. Christie pointed to his record 'fighting the union fat-cats in New Jersey'' and promised that as President he would force Unions to ''stop blocking the road to real reform'' and accused them  of 'not giving a hoot about the National Economy.'' Governor Christie later visited a charter school to meet with parents, and to hold a Educational Town Hall promoting 'real school choice' and argued that charter schools 'can lift millions of poor Americans out of poverty, including African-Americans, who have been let down by failing public schools, that Democrats refuse to fix.''

[Blair]

Chris Christie.
Fighting For You.

Campaign Schedule Part 2

January 16th: Governor Christie started the day with a series of radio interviews with evangelical stations, and gave a print interview to the Weekly Standard, where he argued that the party needed someone ''who can win, whether that's a win in Iowa, a win in New Hampshire, a win in November, or a win when Congress gets to work repealing Obamcare''. He also dismissed claims that he was a ''some sort of secret liberal backed by the establishment'' as 'deluded fantasies', who ignored 'the fact I've fought for every conservative cause in New Jersey, and I've managed to win in one of the most Democratic states in the nation''. Christie also announced that he would be endorsed by Paul Ryan, a much respected figure on the Conservative wing of the Republican Party, and that Ryan ''will be playing a very large role in my campaign, and in helping to develop serious policies to eliminate our budget deficit, and to reform our inflated entitlement spending.'' Christie spend the remainder of the day holding a serious of 'Telling it like it is'' Town Halls across the state, including a tele-Town Hall on Veteran issues where he pledged to 'end the backlog of veterans trying to get disability aid'' and would 'allow veterans to get healthcare anytime, anywhere''.

January 17th: In a campaign appearance in Mount Pleasant with Rep. Paul Ryan, Governor Christie blasted Ernie Fletcher over reports that he was going to pick Fred Upton as his Vice-President. Deriding the Governor for ''not even denying the reports'', Christie said it ''showed that conservatives, and republicans simply cannot trust Governor Fletcher,'' and told the crowd ''trust me, I'm going to pick a running mate who supports the Republican Party, who supports repealing Obamacare and who stands up for Americans over the useless union bosses holding our country back''. Christie later held a town hall with Ryan to further touting his plan to 'clear up the economic mess that the Democratic party, and Hillary Clinton have placed us in''. Later in the evening Christie traveled to Charleston to hold a rally with Governor Nikki Haley who attacked Ernie Fletcher for 'siding with the the union bosses, the Democratic Party and the crooked establishment, when he refused to condemn his friend Fred Upton'' and said it ''was clear that South Carolinas simply cannot trust him'' and that 'Chris is the only guy running who has your back''.

January 18th: Governor Christie started the day by meeting workers at a automobile factory in York County where he again promised to ''fight to for real-high quality manufacturing jobs'' which can 'high-start our economy''. Christie then delivered a high profile speech, attended by local and National Press where he unveiled his plan for ''12 Million Jobs'', delivered through 'genuine market led reforms, such as national right-to-work, repeal of the Individual and Employee mandate, true energy independence, and real investment in technical colleges to teach proper skills''. After the speech Christie traveled to Brown Mackie College in Greenville, South Carolina to meet students, and hold a Q&A about education, job training and hi-tech jobs. In the afternoon, and evening Governor Christie held a series of Town Halls in Mount Pleasant where he touted his plan to 'protect religious liberty from the ravenous assault by elements of the Democratic Party'' and argued that ''Bobby and John Kennedy would look in horror at how the Democrats have attacked religious liberty', and said that 'there's lots of old school democrats outraged about this, I've reached out to these folks in New Jersey.'' Christie again reaffirmed his commitment to pick a running mate 'committed to constitutional conservatism'' and to ''appoint Justices like Justice Alito.''

January 19th: In the morning Governor Christie meet with campaign staff at the HQ in Charleston, and went out canvassing with volunteers, before attending a special phone-bank session that was reaching out to Evangelical voters. Later Governor Christie gave another major prime-time speech in  Summerville called '130' where Christie outlined his record at tackling the 'corrupt establishment rot' in New Jersey, and pointed to his record at 'putting over 130 of the most corrupt elected officials and appointed officials behind bars, for using the government as a slush fund''. Christie praised the Tea Party's rise 'for making people realize across the country that we need to get our government back''. The Governor also derided claims that he was an 'establishment stooge'' and pointed to his record ''putting corrupt republican politicians in prison'', and said 'he'd stood up to republicans when they didn't push hard enough against the unions, when they didn't stand up for school choice, when they didn't fund our pension system, I told the Republican party went it was wrong''.

January 20th: In the last full day of campaigning Governor Christie started with an early morning visit to a Veteran Hall where he held a town-hall with Veteran voters and promised to 'fully fund, and boost our Armed Forces'' whilst also ''cleaning house in the Veterans Department'' to get 'proper care and services for those who've carried out the ultimate service.'' Later Governor Christie held a rally with campaign supporters in Mount Pleasant where he said 'it's time to pick someone who can fight, and win for America''. Christie also pointed to his economic plan ''as the only comprehensive plan to create jobs, lower taxes, and lift this country up'' and said 'I shook up the establishment in New Jersey, let me shake up the establishment in D.C. Let's send a message to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid... let's tell them we want our country back.'' Later in the evening after his final campaign rally with Governor Haley and Paul Ryan, Christie gave a speech to campaign workers and told them 'to shock the media establishment, and show them just how much South Carolina wants a fighter in the White House.''

January 21th: Governor Christie spend the day with Mary-Pat Christie, and campaign staff delivering leaflets, and knocking on doors in Charleston, before driving to Mount Pleasant to take part in campaign events with Evangelical pastors, and leaders who were involved with the campaign. Governor Christie then returned with Mary-Pat to watch the Primary results come in.

[Blair]

Surrogate Schedule

Mary-Pat Christie: Campaigned with Chris Christie in South Carolina, and attended a series of Town Halls to appeal to evangelical voters where she outlined her Husband's faith, and his commitment  ''to fighting for American families''. Will also appear in a series of local, and National TV Interviews with her Husband to discuss their marriage, Chris' role as Father and her commitment 'to helping American families open, and run small businesses' as First Lady.

Jon Huntsman Jnr: Will hold a series of roundtable, and outreach sessions with the Mormom Community in Nevada, and will visit Utah with his Father to promote the campaign, and reach out to supporters of Governor Romney. Also will write a series of Newspaper articles, and Media Interviews  before the South Carolina to argue Christie ''is the only candidate who has stood up against those republicans who don't want American leadership in the World. He's stood up against the Isolationists.''   

Nikki Haley: Appeared at a set of campaign rallies with Governor Christie, promoted his economic vision for the state of South Carolina, and carried out media interviews to argue ''Governor Christie has the economic vision that can lift up South Carolina'' and touted his history ''taking on the establishment, and standing up for Liberty.''

Paul Ryan: Appeared in South Carolina to support Governor Christie's tax plan, and to argue Christie ''has stood up against the establishment in both parties who have refused to cut spending.'' Later appeared in Conservative media outlooks like RedState, National Review and Fox News to promote Governor Christie to conservative, and Tea-Party aligned voters, arguing 'Chris is our champion to beat Hillary Clinton.''

Susanna Martinez: Recorded a series of spanish and English radio ads, and videos to air in Florida and Nevada where she promoted Governor Christie's support for law and order policies, his Catholic faith and his ability to bring Americans together. Campaigned in Miami, and Las Vegas to promote the Christie Campaign.

Ilena Ros-Lehtinen: Appointed Chairwoman of the Florida Campaign (with two other vice-chairs to be announced next week) and held a 'Cubans for Christie' Rally and Event. Appeared in Cuban, Spanish and English Media in the Miami-Dade region, and promoted Christie's 'support for the Cuban community' and his commitment to the ''true American values of Liberty, valor and patriotism.''

Haley Barbour: Hold a series of outreach events in Northern Florida, before travelling to South Carolina to meet with Evangelical supporters, and to promote Christie to retiree, veterans and other traditional republican voters. 

[Blair]

Debate

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Rebuttal— Governor Christie, the rate of gambling addiction is one of the highest in the nation in New Jersey. In areas with more gambling addiction, bankruptcies increase, robberies increase, and crime does too. There has to be some kind of action against this addiction. You have to be the big man sometimes and stand up against this. Families will spend more than a trillion gambling in the next decade, and it consistently outweighs the revenue. I want people to have more in their paycheck, and no addiction should be taking money out of their paycheck. People lose thousands of dollars daily gambling. Something must be done.

Now this is one issue where we disagree. I believe in both state's rights, and in the free market. I don't think we should allow the federal government to excessively dictate what states can, and can't do. Of course we know there's problems with gambling addiction; but a white paper released by the IDEA said there's absolutely no link between the introduction of online gambling, and an increased rate of addiction.

The illegal gambling industry is worth over $15 billion, and frankly I think it's better to allow individual state's to regulate it, and then use the revenue gained to help work on anti-addiction programs, rather than just outright banning which would still leave folks with an addiction to illegal gambling.

It's a matter of both pragmatism, and principles; it's brought tax revenue and jobs into New Jersey, it's help boost Atlantic City, and it's shown the importance of both state's rights, and the power of free markets. I'm happy to support that.

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Well look Ernie, I know it's been a while since you held office (chuckles), so I'll tell you what's happening in New Jersey.

In the 8 years before I was Governor there were 115 increases in taxes and fees. But under my spell as Governor I've not raised income, sales or corporation tax.

I've had the Democrats, who control both the Senate and the Assembly, come to my desk with a millionaire's tax, and with an increase in corporation tax, and I vetoed it, and told them that I wasn't going to sign a budget with increased tax rates. And I didn't. I was also the first Governor to cap property tax rates at 2%, rather than the 4% the Democrats won't.

I'm from a state dominated by Democrats; if I had republican majorities I would have been able to pass proper expansive tax cuts across the board, whilst also cutting our excessive spending. But I had to work with the Democrats, and I had to make sure that we balanced the Budget, and that meant cutting back some of tax reliefs. That's the thing Ernie; sometimes when you have to balance a budget you have to make tough calls.

Rebuttal to Paul

The reason we have this problem with terrorists today is because of our hawkish and interventionist foreign policy, Al Qaeda was only able to become what it is today because we armed them and trained them when they were still the mujahideen in the 80's, they started attacking us because they had the guns we gave to them and because we have troops in their holy land, something that to them shouldn't happen, they started attacking us because we intervened in the Lebanese Civil War in the 70's, they started attacking and hating us because we bombed Muslim countries like Libya in the 80's!

Sending troops is not only bad to end the war beacause it generates more hatred, but it also is bad to the soldiers, they could be here in America working, but instead they are in other countries, fighting for something that sometimes didn't even originally involve us, I have served during Vietnam, I have been endorsed by other veterans such as Jesse Ventura, and people like us have seen what exactly is war and how horrible it is, and no man deserves to pass trough it.

By keeping troops in Afghanistan and other countries and intervening in their wars and problems that don't threaten us, we are only generating hate against our country, we are only generating more and more future problems with terrorism, so to stop this, we need to end the war in Afghanistan and our military presence in other countries by bringing back our sons and daughters, closing the military bases and opening ourselves to cooperation with other countries.

I'm sorry Representative Paul but someone has got to call you out on this these ridiculous, dangerous views. I don't understand why no-one else in this race is prepared to stand up and defend American values.

The problems in Afghanistan do threaten us. Where you asleep when Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda leadership were hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan? If we pulled out all our troops tomorrow we'd have seen a massive vacuum in Afghanistan, and we'd seen Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden and the other murdering fanatics being protected by the Taliban.

You mention Libya, but Ronald Reagan bombed Libya because they'd already supported terrorist attacks in Germany. You're entire ideology says that if someone attacks the United States it's somehow our own fault. Unlike you Representative Paul, I'm prepared to stand up, and fight back against those who harm America.

[Blair]

Huntsman on CNN: ''Governor Christie is the only candidate standing for up for American Leadership.''

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Paul Ryan on Hannity: ''Governor Christie has fought for real Conservative economic reforms'', credits him 'with bringing fiscal sanity to New Jersey'' and says 'he'll whip Washington D.C into shape.''

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[Blair]

Chris Christie.
Fighting For You.

Christie at U.S.S Yorktown in South Carolina.''I'll fight for Reagan's vision of a strong, proud America, leading on the World Stage', blasts 'Zealots' in the GOP who are ignoring 'national security needs', and  says 'I'm ready to be Commander-in-Chief.''

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Christie on Trade at Town Hall: ''I'm not here to offer easy answers.''

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Governor Christie Speech on corruption- '130'.

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[Blair]

Campaign Advert 1: 130. (Airs in South Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Missouri, Maine, Colorado and Michigan)

Narrator: Are you sick of corrupt and crooked Politicians?

Politicians who use taxpayers like you, as a piggybank to fund their extravagant lifestyles. Politicians who give jobs and favours to their close friends and families. Politicians who think that they can cover up, and lie about their crimes.

In New Jersey one man stood up against this disgusting corruption.... US Attorney Chris Christie.



Chris Christie put 130 corrupt, and crooked politicians and appointed officials behind bars, and he didn't even lose a single case!

Sharpe James, who dodged paying taxes, and gave multiple houses to his girlfriend, was prosecuted and put behind bars by Chris Christie.



Wayne Bryant, who gave multiple no-show jobs to his family, and who traded public funding for kickbacks, he was prosecuted and put behind bars by Chris Christie.



Chris Christie even stood up to corrupt republicans like James W Treffinger, who had committed wire fraud and extortion.

Not only did Chris Christie fight corruption as US Attorney, but as President he's vowed to...

(cuts to Christie at a town hall) ''sort out the ethical mess in Washington. I don't care if I have to annoy republicans, or Democrats- I'm going to clean up the mess that we've been left in. I'll make sure that we end pork-barrel spending projects, I'll make sure we don't return to the practice of earmarks, and just like in New Jersey, I'll make members of Congress are transparent about their outside income.

Corruption is the most corrosive issue for American Politics. I've fought against it in New Jersey, and I'll fight against it as President.''

Chris Christie is the only candidate who has a serious record of fighting corrupt politicians, and he's the only candidate who can sort out the mess left in Washington D.C.

[Blair]

Campaign Ad 2: Establishment. (Airs in same as Ad 1)

(Chris Christie talking straight to the Camera)

In this campaign some folks have attacked me as being a pawn for the establishment. These fake attacks are absolutely ridiculous, and I'll tell you why.

As a US Attorney I stood up to corrupt politicians in the New Jersey establishment, from both parties. I put over 130 of them behind bars. I didn't ask if they were republicans or Democrats. I simply did my job, and prosecuted them.

I was the first Governor of New Jersey to fix, and fund our $120 Billion underfunded pension system. No previous Governor, Democrat or Republican had done that.

The establishment wisdom in New Jersey told me not to fight the powerful Establishment unions, but I did, and I reformed our education system to remove tenure parks for Teachers and ensure all kids in New Jersey get a quality education.

I only decided to run for President when grassroots activists from Iowa flew to New Jersey to ask me to run. Citizens drafted President Eisenhower in 1952 and citizens drafted an actor called Ronnie Reagan to run for Governor in California. Our country is at it's best when citizens decide our political future, not party bosses.

In this campaign I've put the people of America first. I've told the establishment in my party where it's been wrong; whether that's on helping non-violent youthful drug addicts, or on ending Washington D.C's out of control spending.

I was moved by the outpouring of support from voters in both Iowa, and New Hampshire who voted for me to be the Republican nominee. This campaign is about fighting for ordinary hard working Americans. This campaign is about fighting for you. I'd love if you could join me, and take the fight to the establishment.

[Blair]

Rebuttal to Christie

Paul: Christie, why do you think interventionism is an american value, our founding fathers advised non interventionism, were they against the american values? In Washington's farewell address he explicitly advised that our foreign policy should be non interventionist, if a hawkish, interventionist foreign policy is an american value, Washington wasn't defending this value.

American values are liberty, freedom and valor. It's not about interventionism, for the sake of intervening, it's about fighting back when radical Islamic terrorists attack us. It's shocking you still don't understand this.

I seem to recall that the founding fathers were more than ready to protect, and defend themselves against the French in the 1790s, and the British in 1815. But to be honest Rep. Paul I'm much more concerned about defending Americans, and protecting us from another attack from Al-Qaeda, who were in hiding in Afghanistan before we went in. I know when you're on the floor in Congress you can make these long winding speeches, but when you're President you've to be prepared to defend America. I'm prepared to do that.

[Blair]

Campaign Ad 3: 12 Million (Airing in South Carolina)

The Obama-Clinton Economy simply isn't working. Unemployment remains too high, too much money is taken away from working people in tax hikes, and this is then wasted on useless big-government spending. But we can end the Obama-Clinton economic stagnation.



However Governor Chris Christie has a plan to help create 12 million jobs, and to help bring growth, jobs, and investment into South Carolina.



Chris Christie's plan would repeal the job-killing mandates of Obamacare, and would cut taxes to lift the tax burden off businesses, allowing them to create new jobs, rather than handing over more money to the federal government.



His plan would gut the Estate Tax, and get rid of the excessive regulations, red tape and bureaucracy which is stopping job creation.

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He'd make America truly Energy independent by building the Keystone pipeline, expanding off-shore Drilling and supporting Fracking, Ethanol and other new American fuel sources.



And finally, Governor Christie would stand up for American jobs by cutting corporation tax to 25%, and would end the scandal of tax loopholes that encourage US companies to shift profits, and jobs offshore.



(Cuts to Christie speaking) America has struggled in the past, we've been in economic turmoil but by the strength of hard work, with the support of our families and with a focus on the great pioneering spirit that built this country, we can lift this Economy up.

My plan to help create 12 million jobs, through tax cuts, regulation repeals and real investment into high-quality jobs will be the first step on the road to recovery. I know that the American people, when they're united behind strong, principled leaders can rise up, as they've always done. So please join me, and let's lift this broken Obama-Clinton Economy back to life.

[Blair]

Ad 4 Stand up for America (South Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Missouri, Maine,
 Michigan, Colorado, Arizona)

(Narrator shows a disabled veteran talking to the Camera)

''I was in an armored column in Kandahar in 2009. We'd been sent to flush out a Taliban terror cell that had been targeting a woman's refuge with mortar attacks. But before we could get there an IED went off to the right side of our Humvee....

All I remember of the blast is a flash. When I woke up I was being flown back to the States. I lost all of my left leg, and half of my right. Every day when I get up I'm reminded of the damage, but I'm also reminded of the sacrifice that I, and thousands of other troops made to America.

(Camera cuts to the veteran lifting himself up off the seat)

It takes me a bit longer now to stand up.

But serving in the US Army showed me that we need a President who is prepared to stand up for American troops, for American values and for American Leadership around the world. We're the greatest country in the History of the World. My Grand-dad stood up against the Nazis when he stormed the beeches of Normandy in 1944, and my Dad served in the Air-Force in the Gulf War when we stood up against Saddam Hussein.

I know that American leadership matters. I'm supporting Chris Christie for President because he's the only candidate who's standing up for America. As a US Attorney he dedicated his time in office to combating terrorism, and put arms smugglers, and radical Islamic terrorist behind bars.

As President he's got plans to fully fund our military, to aggressively target Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, and to make sure that the terrorists I was fighting in Afghanistan don't get there hands on Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Governor Christie has also stood up for Veterans in New Jersey by introducing dedicated mental health staff, and a 24 Hotline for Veteran Support. As President he'll let Veterans get healthcare anywhere in America, and he'll put an experienced professional in charge of the VA. I know and trust Governor Christie will stand up for Americans.

I know the cost of serving my country, and I know that Governor Christie has the experience, the skills and the courage to protect America. He's the only guy who's standing up to fight for America. Please join me, in standing up, and supporting Chris Chistie to be our next commander in Chief.

[Blair]

Chris Christie South Carolina Speech.

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