Fear and Loathing in 72’ – The Election Game (GM Vacancy)

[Lumine]

June 6th:

Democratic California Primary:

Sam Yorty: 40.67% (306)
George McGovern: 32.49%
Morris Udall: 10.37%
Ed Muskie: 8.41%
Fred Harris: 7.75%
George Wallace: 0.31%

Democratic South Dakota Primary:

George McGovern: 70.53% (14)
Ed Muskie: 15.03% (3)
Fred Harris: 8.23%
Morris Udall: 5.41%
George Wallace: 0.80%

Democratic New Jersey Caucus:

Fred Harris: 27.06% (35)
Ed Muskie: 23.73% (30)
George McGovern: 21.68% (27)
Sam Yorty: 15.92% (20)
Morris Udall: 6.17%
George Wallace: 5.44%

Democratic New Mexico Caucus:

Morris Udall: 27.45% (7)
George McGovern: 26.78% (6)
Ed Muskie: 24.11% (5)
Sam Yorty: 13.22%
Fred Harris: 7.34%
George Wallace: 1.10%

Democratic Colorado Caucus:

Ed Muskie: 28.51% (14)
George McGovern: 26.02% (12)
Morris Udall: 21.36% (11)
Fred Harris: 12.56%
Sam Yorty: 10.21%
George Wallace: 1.34%

[Lumine]

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[Lumine]

And that's it for now, gentlemen, the final turn of the Democratic Primaries will start tomorrow (or today, depending on your timezone). And then, assuming as I do that there won't be a clear nominee... the sheer insanity and frenzy of the DNC!

[Lumine]

After doing a throrough count of the delegates, it seems I made quite a few mistakes along the road, which means the current numbers don't match. I did three separate counts and got different results in all of them, and truth be told I don't think I can handle those numbers anymore...

As a result, we will keep the current delegate numbers, and I will close the discrepancy with uncommitted delegates, for the sake of simplicity. Because of that current standings are:

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The total has been updated from 3016 to 3032, and the last primaries remain with their 487 delegates.

[Lumine]

Turn Fourteen: Can anyone stop Saigon Sam?

June 7th to June 20th, 1972

In the News!

Democratic insiders worry about DNC

Rumours have extra candidates preparing convention runs, amidst panic on possible Yorty nomination

Arrests made at Watergate Hotel

Five unknown men caught by DC Police trying to break into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, investigation to be opened

Libertarian Party Convention a success

Libertarians nominate Professor John Hospers as President, Theodora Nathan as Vice-President

1.- Primaries: This is it. After fourteen turns and a lot of madness, we reach the final stages of the 1972 Primary Season with five caucuses to be contested: Delaware, Maine, Oklahoma, Texas and New York, all of them bringing the grand prize of 487 delegates. As all standing candidates found success in the latest turn, chances are this turn will indeed end in a brokered convention as the current frontrunner, Yorty, still needs 433, a number virtually impossible to obtain without an endorsement. Best of luck, because after this comes the DNC!

Democrats:

June 14 – Texas (151), Delaware (12), Maine (18) and Oklahoma (38) Caucuses
June 20 - New York Primary (268)

Primary Polling

Gallup: Democratic Primary:

Sam Yorty: 30% (+8)
George McGovern: 25% (-4)
Fred Harris: 19% (+2)
Ed Muskie: 18% (+3)
Morris Udall: 7% (+2)
Undecided: 1% (-2)

Proof of how much the narrative changes, last turn seemed awfully like "Who can stop McGovern?", and it worked to an extent few people suspected. Sam Yorty emerged as the undisputable victor riding a wave of dissafected and even angry voters that give him over a third of the delegates and a clear polling lead. Indeed, the Democratic Establishment is so scared of Yorty and his unlikely alliance of working class voters, Wallace supporters and union bosses that the question now is: "Can anyone stop Sam Yorty?". Despite his relatively weak standing on the final states due to geography, Yorty is the man to watch.

On the rest of the field, most of the candidates also got a lot of benefits by learning the lessons of the Yorty campaign and engaging on clever GOTV efforts, and that includes Harris taking advantage of Wallace's collapse to ride his own momentum into clear victories, Muskie seizing the momentum of his debate to capture other caucuses and cement his comeback, and Udall capturing McGovern votes for a win of his own despite lingering doubts on his economic platform. That leaves McGovern as the loser, first because of poor planning in terms of where to campaign, second because of one single quote: "Abortion, Acid and Amnesty". First used on the debate and then by the rest of the field, it's a question McGovern has not clearly address despite multiple opportunites, and much like in OTL he has been badly hurt by that effect.

[Lumine]

Primary Candidate Data

Notoriety = N, Organization = O, Finance = F

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[Lumine]

Early States, Tentative Polling:

Gallup: Texas Caucus:

Sam Yorty: 31%
Ed Muskie: 26%
Fred Harris: 22%
George McGovern: 9%
Morris Udall: 5%
Undecided: 7%

Gallup: Maine Caucus:

Ed Muskie: 61%
George McGovern: 13%
Morris Udall: 9%
Sam Yorty: 6%
Fred Harris: 5%
Undecided: 6%

Gallup: Delaware Caucus:

Ed Muskie: 28%
George McGovern: 26%
Morris Udall: 19%
Fred Harris: 12%
Sam Yorty: 10%
Undecided: 5%

Gallup: Oklahoma Caucus:

Fred Harris: 55%
Sam Yorty: 17%
Ed Muskie: 11%
George McGovern: 9%
Morris Udall: 4%
Undecided: 4%

Gallup: New York Primary:

George McGovern: 27%
Ed Muskie: 21%
Morris Udall: 19%
Sam Yorty: 15%
Fred Harris: 11%
Undecided: 7%

[Lumine]

I would like to get to the convention as soon as possible, and since it is the weekend I wonder if it might be possible for the turns to be ready by Sunday. If not, I'll understand and grant one or two extra days.

[Lumine]

Will need an extension until tomorrow, possibly Tuesday.

I'll be busy on Monday, so Tuesday Afternoon it is. From there on I hope to start the DNC as soon as possible.

[Lumine]

About seven hours left here. Results will be posted then, and hopefully I will also be able to start the Convention!

[Lumine]

Three hours!

[Lumine]

Well, I think that's it. Very good work, gentlemen, results will be in shortly.

After that... the DNC begins tonight as well!

[Lumine]

June 14th:

Democratic Texas Caucus:

Sam Yorty: 31.62% (57)
Ed Muskie: 30.01% (54)
Fred Harris: 24.53% (40)
George McGovern: 10.39%
Morris Udall: 3.45%

Democratic Maine Caucus:

Ed Muskie: 66.72% (18)
George McGovern: 14.21%
Morris Udall: 10.56%
Fred Harris: 4.33%
Sam Yorty: 4.18%

Democratic Oklahoma Caucus:

Fred Harris: 51.28% (20)
Sam Yorty: 22.48% (11)
Ed Muskie: 15.70% (7)
George McGovern: 7.99%
Morris Udall: 2.55%

Democratic Delaware Caucus:

George McGovern: 31.23% (5)
Ed Muskie: 30.35% (4)
Morris Udall: 20.78% (3)
Sam Yorty: 9.10%
Fred Harris: 8.54%

June 20th:

Democratic New York Primary:

Morris Udall: 24.99% (78)
George McGovern: 24.68% (74)
Ed Muskie: 23.26% (65)
Sam Yorty: 17.02% (51)
Fred Harris: 10.05%

[Lumine]

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[Lumine]

Before the Democratic National Convention:

June-July 1972:

Kennedy will NOT run for President or accept VP Nomination:
(Yes, Kennedy is not available as a candidate or as a VP, don’t insist!)

Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy (D-MA) ended months of speculation regarding his plans on the 72’ race, issuing a press conference in the aftermath of the final New York Primary. Mr. Kennedy, whom polling showed to be the favorite for his party’s nomination months ago and a strong contender against President Nixon, stressed that despite his concerns over a brokered convention and the immediate failure of the primaries to produce a nominee he will not run for President under any circumstances, Senator Kennedy also stressed that he would not accept being drafted, nor would he take a Vice-Presidential nomination if offered. While it is still believed that some delegates will hold up for Kennedy, this has been reported as the end to any late bid that might storm the convention and succeed in the first attempt.

Rise of the Favorite Sons:

While most of the delegates coming to Democratic National Committee are indeed pledged to a candidate, there’s a sizable bloc of delegates who have refused to lend their support to the current candidates in the first ballot. As a result and given their geographical disparity, a growing number of “favorite son” candidates have declared they will accept votes from their state’s delegates in order to avoid a more chaotic vote.

From Iowa comes Senator Harold Hughes, from South Carolina comes Governor John C. West, from Florida, Governor Reubin Askew, from Washington DC is delegate Walter Fauntroy, and from Idaho we have Governor Cecil D. Andrus. In the middle between being a serious candidate and a favorite son we have Senator Adlai Stevenson III (D-IL), who has been nominated by Mayor Daley and the Illinois delegates formerly pledged to John Lindsay. Closing the list come forty or so unpledged delegates from the rest of the country, speculation naming Ted Kennedy, Shirley Chisholm, Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey (all currently not candidates) as the probably beneficiaries of those votes.

Late Entries?

Whereas it has been established that no major contenders will enter the race before the first ballot of the DNC (save for current candidates and favorite sons), mounting speculation points to the second ballot as the real battleground, provided the first one does not produce a nominee. Many have been named as potential compromise choices for a late bid, chief among them former Vice-President Hubert Humphrey (D-MN), but concrete signs have appeared from at least two Democratic heavyweights; former Florida Governor George Smathers and Indiana Senator Birch Bayh, both seen as mostly moderate despite Smathers’s affiliation to the conservative wing and Bayh’s role in the liberal wing. Predicting the outcome of these late bids is beyond impossible, but private interviews with delegates suggest Smathers would find immediate support among unpledged delegates in Florida and South Carolina, and in Bayh’s case a large part of the Indiana delegation might switch to him.

[Lumine]

Democratic National Convention:

July 10-13 1972:

Evening, ladies and gentlemen!

We have been immersed in the world of the 1972 Primary Season since July, and after three months of hard work, speechwriting and chronic backstabbing disorder it is time for Democrats to fight over their nominee. I must confess the results of this primary were beyond my wildest hopes, for we have a solid number of candidates still standing yet no clear nominee, opening up an interesting gameplay road which I intend to exploit. To make a convention playable to this level is new ground on Election Games, so let us make this an interesting DNC!

Let’s take a look at gameplay then:

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[Lumine]

That should cover it, please do read the rules carefully so we don't have mistakes.

Going by my schedule, you have until Thursday at this very same hour to post nomination speeches or do your preparations for the First Ballot. Then results will be revealed.

Best of luck to everyone, I hope this will prove an interesting innovation!

[Lumine]

Also, since the question already came up, no formal endorsement requests, that was left for primary season (unless it's from one candidate to another).

[Lumine]

What about the RNC?

It was held on August in OTL, it will come later.

[Lumine]

Ten hours until first ballot!

[Lumine]

Technically three hours left, but the results are ready now. Thus I ask the players, should I just release?

[Lumine]

Technically three hours left, but the results are ready now. Thus I ask the players, should I just release?

How much time left?

10-20 minutes, give or take.

[Lumine]

DNC 1972, First Ballot:

(1517 votes needed for nomination)

Sam Yorty: 1217 (40.13%)
Edmund Muskie: 567 (18.70%)
George McGovern: 531 (17.51%)
Fred Harris: 420 (13.85%)
Morris Udall: 154 (5.07%)
Adlai Stevenson III: 67
Reubin Askew: 30
Harold Hughes: 10
Birch Bayh: 10
George Smathers: 6
John C. West: 6
Mike Gravel: 6
John Lindsay: 5
George Wallace: 4
Walter Fauntroy: 3
Ted Kennedy: 3
Shirley Chisholm: 2
Cecil D. Andrus: 1

Walter Cronkite: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, no candidate has managed a majority and the Democratic Party is headed for the first brokered convention since 1952. The results serve to confirm Sam Yorty's status as frontrunner in a Convention which overrepresents the moderate and conservative wings against the anti-war Democrats, yet the question remains on whether Yorty can reach a majority without a candidate's support, just as the question remains on the issue of a potential "Stop Yorty" unity candidate. Favourite sons and non-candidates aside, reporters have begun to take note of the strong performance by Illinois Senator Adlai Stevenson, and with the candidacies of George Smathers and Birch Bayh all but certain for the upcoming second ballot their numbers should improve by a lot as well. In the meantime, we can expect some of the minor candidates to recieve votes to endorse or drop out in the upcoming hours.

[Lumine]

Right, second ballot to be held in 20 hours or so. Tomorrow afternoon I will also be releasing some brief news releases on what's going on at the Convention floor. Smathers and Bayh can announce their candidacies and do what formal candidates do as well. Additional candidates who are interested in joining in, let me know!

[Lumine]

Who are playing Smathers and Bayh?

And is Stevenson actually running?

Maxwell and Tmthforu.

Stevenson is an NPC candidate, selected among 1972 Illinois officeholders as the perfect candidate for Daley to support at the beginning of the convention. He can be taken by someone else, though, if there's any interest in him.