April Senate Election Discussion Thread - ELECTION TRACKER

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Wonderful, Pacific badly needs some close races.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The election start tomorrow....

Tomorrow night or tomorrow morning? I belive it can be started earlier, but typically it starts on Midnight Friday morning. Has this changed for this election?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

First dozen or so voters look a lot like the polling.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I have eleven as well. A two way tie at eleven between Adam and Goldwater and a fourway tie at eight between Alfred, JCL, Lumine and Shua.

I am going ahead and transfering the rather odd Snowstalker write-in since I think I have seen that done before in other trackers (notably the last special).

Even without that and Cris' vote (had not been cast yet), JCL's count is missing at least one so I can only guess MAxwell miss assigned one of JCL's votes account for one of the over value.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

First Preferences:

Goldwater (17): Murraybannerman, Mordecai, Sirnick, RogueBeaver, Winfield, Cathcon, SupersonicVenue, Devin, TheRileyKeaton, Cinyc, Goldwater, NHI, Pessimistic Antineutrino, Oldiesfreak, MasterJedi, Vosem, dead0man
JCL (12): Spamage, AntonKreitzer, Reaganfan, Pingvin, Tmth, Snowstalker*, Rooney, Cris, DC al Fine, CELTICEMPIRE, JCL, Inks
Shua (13): Maxwell, Spiral, Bmotley, RosettaStoned, JBrase, Small L., ChairmanSanchez, ElectionsGuy, Deus Naturae, Dallasfan, Jerry Arkansas, Gustaf, sbane
Lumine (14): Scott, Sjoycefla, Lumine, Oakvale, Simfan, Superique, Jack Enderman, Polnut, Oak Hills, Flo, Ben, TDAS04, Hifly, Thomas D
Adam  (17): SWE, badgate, Fritz, Dr. Cynic, Arturo Belano, Ebowed, Morgieb, Nix, MalaspinaGold, homelycooking, Mynheer Peeperkorn, Sol, Napoleon, Antonio, bore, Mattrose, BRTD
Alfred (15): BaconBacon, Hatman, ProgressiveRealist, Ogre Mage, Adam Fitzgerald, hawkeye, Sir John Johns, Kalwejt, Badger, TheCranberry, Windjammer, Marokai, MaxQue, Talleyrand, DemPGH
A Person (2): Franzl, A Person

*First Preferenced a write-in of himself.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So we have 65 voters and the election is two thirds of the way over and the last day is Easter Sunday. To match even recent elections, turnout would need to nearly double over the course of the remaining day.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So we have 65 voters and the election is two thirds of the way over and the last day is Easter Sunday. To match even recent elections, turnout would need to nearly double over the course of the remaining day.

I bet there's 52-55 votes out there.

WE have added about 20 since yesterday. And while I expect more, another 30 in just four or five hours, is a quite a lot.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I see the usually suspects are up to their old tricks false narratives and repetition of blatant lies in the hopes that people will believe them.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Luckily, I'm not a Fed anymore, so I don't have to deal with these complaints

Just glad the D-R's continue to send a representative to the halls of the Senate.

I am happy for shua as well. I wanted to get two Federalist in and I did my best to bring it about. However, if it had to fall through to someone, I am glad it was to shua.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

JCL was objectively far more deserving of a Senate seat than a non-entity like Goldwater. What a joke, Federalists.

He should have retired when he lost interest, like I did.

Or me! That's the ethical thing to do.

The Federalist betrayal of their most active and engaged candidate is gross. I'm going to have to first preference JCL next time around at this rate.

You didn't retire, you resigned midterm after first dropping off the radar without much of an explanation. Goldwater posted a leave, two weeks early and fully in tune with the rules, and then came back as amazing a concept as that might be.

Let me tell you something Oaky boy and let me make this very plain. Neither candidate satisfied my expectations regarding their campaign presense, and maybe that played a role maybe that didn't. But we had two candidates and the ability to get both in. I did the best I could to help JCL and put together a winning coalition, as well as advise him to maintain a public campaign to keep his supporters engaged. I also contacted enough people to get him in, and asked thme to support him.

Maybe you beleive in forcing people to vote a certain way, and maybe things operate differently for other parties, but I am not a heavy handed SOB. I never was as RPP Chair and I won't be as Fed Chair. The reason is that always backfires. You should know that better than anyone. If you want someone's vote, the best way to get is to earn it yourself, because surrogates only have limited effect. I full expected JCL to rally the more conservative members and surge out early with Goldwater away and not engaged in the campaign in those last few days before the voting started. That didn't happen. Maybe more effort on his part would have chnaged that, maybe not. I do know that I did everything I could that was feasible on my end.

I know you don't give a crap anymore and feel no compunction about trashing the hard work of others, but I will tell you this that I would give anything to have the Oakvale I knew in 2010, 2011 and 2012, back again.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It should embarrass everyone involved, but at least we have a good signal of who actually pays attention and who just votes as they are told (or just doesn't give a crap about what someone does once they are elected). Christ, Shua has probably been the most effective critic of Labor's proposals in the Senate, and we nearly turned him out. That would not have been good for anyone in the long run.

I found that most people voted the way they themselves wanted. I actually expected Goldwater to struggle and whilst I had Goldwater slighlty higher on my pre-election vote predictions, many of them were less reliable voters and JCL's appeared to be a committed base ready to surge the minute the voting opened. By Friday afternoon several Indies voted for Goldwater early as aopposed to late, which I didnt' expected in his absence, and some expected JCL voters crossed over.

As amazing as it might seem Goldwater is a respected individual and while it would be nice if he had offered more in thep ast month, month and a half, he is hardly the worst Senator ever to serve in that chamber as certain folks have tried to claim this week.

Your right shua is a good Senator and so is Lumine, which is why I asked every member to try and preference both. 

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

JCL was objectively far more deserving of a Senate seat than a non-entity like Goldwater. What a joke, Federalists.

He should have retired when he lost interest, like I did.

Or me! That's the ethical thing to do.

The Federalist betrayal of their most active and engaged candidate is gross. I'm going to have to first preference JCL next time around at this rate.

You didn't retire, you resigned midterm after first dropping off the radar without much of an explanation. Goldwater posted a leave, two weeks early and fully in tune with the rules, and then came back as amazing a concept as that might be.

Let me tell you something Oaky boy and let me make this very plain. Neither candidate satisfied my expectations regarding their campaign presense, and maybe that played a role maybe that didn't. But we had two candidates and the ability to get both in. I did the best I could to help JCL and put together a winning coalition, as well as advise him to maintain a public campaign to keep his supporters engaged. I also contacted enough people to get him in, and asked thme to support him.

Maybe you beleive in forcing people to vote a certain way, and maybe things operate differently for other parties, but I am not a heavy handed SOB. I never was as RPP Chair and I won't be as Fed Chair. The reason is that always backfires. You should know that better than anyone. If you want someone's vote, the best way to get is to earn it yourself, because surrogates only have limited effect. I full expected JCL to rally the more conservative members and surge out early with Goldwater away and not engaged in the campaign in those last few days before the voting started. That didn't happen. Maybe more effort on his part would have chnaged that, maybe not. I do know that I did everything I could that was feasible on my end.

I know you don't give a crap anymore and feel no compunction about trashing the hard work of others, but I will tell you this that I would give anything to have the Oakvale I knew in 2010, 2011 and 2012, back again.

Jesus, overreact much? Chill.

My point is just that JCL's been a Federalist candidate for the Senate a couple of dozen times. It's probably about time you should admit that you guys aren't willing to support him - that'd be okay, Labor did the same thing with Snowstalker. I just think it's kind of sad to see JCL (who I obviously agree with on <1% of anything) strung along with a constant refrain of "maybe next time...".

Forcing people to vote a certain way when the majority of voters are zombies is basically just what any kind of PM campaigning is - most of your voters, most voters period, will vote for whoever they're told because they don't know what happens in Atlasia or even who the candidates are. That's a shame but it's a long standing fact of life.

e: I'm not "trashing" anyone's "hard work" - there's no particular indication that this was a failure of effort on behalf of the Federalist Party.

I know he has Oakvale, and even before he dropped out of the special to succeed Tmth, I began working to put together a coalition for him. He did have votes, the supporters as I had nearly 18 voters on a list that didn't include DC, Hagrid, PiT and Dereich. The problem is that candidates don't run in isolation, some have long standing ties to a particular candidate or a long standing working relationship, or maybe that do stuff together on other boards or finally a key issue that makes the difference between a first and a second. Two or three crossed over to vote for Goldwater, and the above four compensated for that. If Cassius had voted, he probably would have voted for JCL. There was another likely JCL voter who didn't vote either. Turnout is a step away from enthusiasm and energy. Maybe some combination of the Easter weekend and perhaps the lack of a public campaign, made that two vote difference. JCL is lucky he got that close, as I expected Angus, Smoltchanov, Grumps and Smid to vote for shua. 

There were a loto f people who wanted JCL to get in and he got a lot of votes that in conjunction with those who were closest to him ideologically formed a natural base substantial enough to win. I even PMed him that if got the turnout he needed amongst the core group, he would probably be in the Senate. And I do recall serving with Snowstalker in the Senate not to long ago, now that you mention it.

More often, they vote based on what they know from previous campaigns, previous interactions and conections, or a key issue, which blunts the effectiveness of requests. I am new to the chairmanshaip. I am contacting people who don't know me and suppose Maxwell is contacting the same people for shua. Just a short while ago, he was in this hot seat, and I was the one trying to facilitate shua's election.

You seem to do that a lot though.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It should embarrass everyone involved, but at least we have a good signal of who actually pays attention and who just votes as they are told (or just doesn't give a crap about what someone does once they are elected). Christ, Shua has probably been the most effective critic of Labor's proposals in the Senate, and we nearly turned him out. That would not have been good for anyone in the long run.

As amazing as it might seem Goldwater is a respected individual and while it would be nice if he had offered more in thep ast month, month and a half, he is hardly the worst Senator ever to serve in that chamber as certain folks have tried to claim this week.

Considering I'm required to actually deal with the Senate, I'm trying my best not to comment however, "hardly the worst Senator ever" is perhaps the most absurd reasoning imaginable.  The results of this election, and I'm sure the results of the next regional Senate elections as well further prove that most people don't actually have a clue what happens in the Government board.  

And I don't have to deal with the Senate?

I don't get what you are trying to contradict. Goldwater is not the best Senator, no one said he was. But some have claimed he was the worst, even the worst ever, and that is "the most absurd statement imaginable" because I have had to deal wtih the Senate long enough to know that is ridiculous, man.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Yankee, you and I both know that our expectations are usually higher than "not the worst Senator ever." I've called out plenty of Senators other than Goldwater on inactivity, as have you. Is that really the best defense that you can muster?

What are you talkaing about? I was responding to the statements I have heard over the past week regarding him, and why people were motivated to support him as some seem shocked to realize that connections between people and such can be more powerful then anything in this game.

Consider the facts. Goldwater has written no bills. He's sponsored a total of four amendments, none of them in the most recent session. His contributions to debate have been negligible; excluding votes, you could probably count the comments that he's made on the Fantasy Government board over the past two months on one hand. There are literally dozens of people who would contribute more if they were in the Senate - I'm shocked that you couldn't find anyone else in your party who would run.

Maybe my standards have been dulled by certain Senators, many of which you guys sent our way over the past year that frankly just being there seems to be a substantial improvement. But Goldwater never struck me as being a problem activity wise, there was always a bigger concern in that regard, often more then one.

If this issue is so important, why did you quit reporting the various stats like you were doing late last year?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

>takes a leave of absence
>continues posting on the rest of the forum
>gets re-elected to the Senate anyway

How long have you taken leave of the facts?

Goldwater was not on the site, more or less posting during the stated duration of his leave.

Thanks for the JCL vote by the way, really provided some unexpected assistance.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

When I knew I was going to be absent for a month of my possible future term... I didn't run.

Would have been worth the month of absence for the three months to follow though and overal much better then who got elected instead in that regard.

also would have been legal for one that long back then

While we are on the subject, if Alfred were to resign or get expelled...

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I think the real issue is that someone is upset because they can't get a grip on the Failderalist Party and is going about raging all across the FE board as a result.

If I am lacking a grip on anything right now it is my own damn sanity because I keep subjecting myself yet one more item of bullcrap every single day I come on here any more. And the reason I am raging all over your ass and others including close friends like Duke in private, so don't take it as personal or partisan, is that frankly after what happened to me last month I don't have the patience or the concern anymore to keep putting up with it.

Not that you would give a damn or care, but real reason I am upset is because I have lost something far more important than some stupid election on a ing stupid ass website. And when I got off this damn site and walk out in the living room, he isn't going to be sitting there asking me to stay talk to him and I think about that every time I come on.

Before it was just part of the game, the lies, the distortions the bs. Now a part of me keeps screaming saying, this is not worth it. And it isn't.

I never said anything about Alfred, other then say hey man you cannot do this and posted the rules against it, after which I then reponded to those who falsely claimed that Goldwater's leave was twice as long and that he was posting during it, which none of your people have owned up to have been wrong about, I would point out. Just another false narrative that there is no accountability or sense of obligation to tell the truth about. I urge you to go check that thread again before blabbing your mouth off again about something you clearly do not know what the hell you are talking about.

I don't give a damn anymore Adam. Take your spin and your bs. Your people will believe whatever bs any one of them spreads anyway and I will just count on the good faith of tohse who bother to check and find the truth, be it the exact dates of Goldwater's leave, my efforts to help JCL, or the true wait time for a freshman Senator to get a bill on the floor.

Just stick it, Adam.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am just so damn sick of this place and so many of the people in it anymore. Were it not for my desire to keep my promises, I would be gone. I would have left in March, because when your standing in the rain fighting back tears as someone you care about is being buried, you begin to question what you are doing and why. I would give everything I have done on this god forshaked hell hole of site in five years to be with him one more day.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I told Duke, Dallas and Jbrase when it happened. I told Cincy when I exploded in a PM to him on Tuesday and I told Dereich this morning. Aside from that I told no one because I didn't think it appropriate to flash my personal business in the forum's face like so many do on the Forum Community Board. That said perhaps you should have at least considered that maybe it was something more then a few voters voting the way they want to, that was making be blow up with people. After all, that thing been happening for years, science man, its the variable that changes.

I really hate it that things have reached the point where they are between myself and both Oakvale and Nix, but there are numerous issues that keep knawing at me from last year. If there is a place to hit my for hyprocisy it is not for activity in the Senate but criticizing Oakvale's style. I do still think it is harmful to a game where people can just leave, but I fully understand and share the motivation now.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I wanted to vote at first but when I saw that none of the candidates contacted me before or during the election and the only message I got was from a supporter three hours before the polls closed I decided not to. I will keep it that way in the future. Votes just shouldn't be taken for granted.

You know after you posted in the poll thread giving a rather weak endorsement of shua, I contacted JCL and asked him to contact you directly and try to sway you to his side before the polls even opened.

I recommended he contact you two weeks prior to that as well to get your support.

Guess that means he didn't.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Bmotley isn't a Federalist.

G-D it

You also didn't count the Snowstalker JCL vote, which was hardly anything but considering no one else wrote him in and was just a way to vote for him in first preference without actually having to put him in the first slot.

Also there is the fact that we had two third party canddiates vying for our votes and no left wing third party candidates like in August and December doing the same to Labor, which also skews the numbers greatly.

Damn me and my obligations to other people, otherwise I wouldn't bother stating the obvious on this.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Bmotley isn't a Federalist.

G-D it

You also didn't count the Snowstalker JCL vote, which was hardly anything but considering no one else wrote him in and was just a way to vote for him in first preference without actually having to put him in the first slot.

Also there is the fact that we had two third party canddiates vying for our votes and no left wing third party candidates like in August and December doing the same to Labor, which also skews the numbers greatly.

Damn me and my obligations to other people, otherwise I wouldn't bother stating the obvious on this.

Snowstalker's not in a real party; I didn't count independents or those in parties who didn't have candidates, since they couldn't be counted as having defected.

I thought he was still labor officially.