On January 20th, 2009, the promising administration of Barack Hussein Obama began and initially, it seemed like the President would have his way on some things. While the inability of the Democrats to win in Alaska, Minnesota, and Oregon in extremely close races in 2008 did hurt some of his ideas in the Senate. However, as 2009 turned to 2010, things began to change. While the President had successfully bailed out the auto industry and thus secured thousands of jobs for many across the country, he was unable to get what he wanted most passed through Congress.
During the 2009-2011 session of Congress, the establishment wing of the Democratic Party had consistently ignored and pushed away the ideas of those in the progressive wing in the party, all the while the Republican Party under Mitch McConnell and John Boehner stood in staunch opposition to the President. When the President pushed for the thing he argued most for on the campaign trail, the Affordable Care Act, in Congress with the help of Vice President Joe Biden, a rare moment of unity was seen as both the Republicans and those in the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party, such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, voted against the Healthcare plan, though for very different reasons. Whereas the Republicans were entirely against the plan itself, the progressives believed it didn’t go far enough. This led to the President having no landmark achievement as the 2010 midterms rolled around and the Republicans were able to have a 260-175 Majority in the House and a 54-46 Majority in the Senate, giving them complete control of Congress.
With Congress against due to the Republican Majorities and the Progressive Wing of the Party becoming more irked at him by the day, the President discovered the one thing that could’ve potentially increased his chances of re-election, which had been low following December of 2010. It had been revealed that Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the head of Al Qaeda, was in a compound in Pakistan. Desperate to have at least one major victory going into election season, the President and his cabinet authorized Operation Neptune Spear in the hopes of killing Bin Laden and rallying the American people around the President. On May 2nd, 2011, two black hawk helicopters went for the compound under the cover of night with Seal Team Six and several other military units with their only objective being the hope to kill Bin Laden and leave. However, minutes into the operation, several things went wrong and the mission became a failure as the US soldiers were forced to surrender after being overwhelmed. The next morning, Osama Bin Laden recorded a video of their executions before mocking the ‘weak americans’ over their failure and stating that more attacks will come in the future.
Hours later, the President addressed the people publicly and took full responsibility for the failure of the mission before announcing that he would not run for re-election as President, being the first President since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1968 to do so. The next day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton resigned from her position stating that she was done with the job, though many within the media began to speculate that she would run for President some time in the future (she would be replaced by John Kerry of Massachusetts, who’d be replaced in the Senate by Bill Weld for the 2011 Special Election in November). As Mitch McConnell gave a sarcastic ‘Mission Accomplished’ comment to reporters about his thoughts on the situation, the 2012 Presidential field began to materialize. As the Democratic front-runners look to be either Vice President Joe Biden or Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a dark horse could emerge and become the nominee from out of nowhere while for the Republicans, several candidates have already began to hint at potential bids, with the most interesting ones being former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Former Senator Rick Santorum, Senator Norm Coleman, and even Actor Gary Sinise, though none has announced as of yet.
As of right now, it is unknown who will lead America’s March Forward.
Welcome everyone towards America’s March Forwards, hosted by myself and GoTFan
The current schedule is tentative for the time being but sign-ups will go up to , with gameplay starting in two-three days from today. Following some of Cabbage’s format, this game will have four phases :
Early Campaign (June 1st-October 1st, 2011 in game)
Largely a period to set up your campaigns and work to gain traction; there will be two-three debates for each party, with candidates of that specific party being allowed to participate in the debate (Independents can comment on the debates if they’d like to). Schedules will be expected, but do not need to be extensive. Announcements are not required, but are encouraged (and may result in an early polling bump).
Late pre-primary campaign (October 1st, 2011-January 2nd, 2012 in game)
Each week will be a month-long turn, with a debate in the December turn for all remaining candidates. Schedules expected. Failure to post a schedule at all during this phase (not every turn, just in general) will be considered a dropout.
Primaries (January 3rd-September 6th, 2012 in game)
Primaries will be held every few days; this will probably be the most intensive part of the campaign until the run-up to the general election. If a brokered convention happens, then me and GoTFan will work on a mechanic to figure it out.
General Election (September 7th-November 6th, 2012 (Election Day) in game)
The final battle between the two nominees (and, quite possibly, the players now serving as their vice presidential nominees), and any independents or third party candidates who join, as well. September and October will be weeklong turns, with the last three days of the game being Nov. 4, 5, and Election Day (November 6th), respectively.
Candidates may be chosen from the lists provided below or requested by PM if not listed.
(Note: Ridiculous and/or impossible candidates (i.e. FDR, Justin Bieber, or your creepy relative) can and will be rejected.) Real people preferable. Also, please keep your ideas reasonable. No Joe Biden running Independent or something like that).
PM me or GoT for endorsements, and the first polls will be posted on once everyone’s in. Endorsements will not be the same system as Cabbage’s credit system as I never really understood it’s purpose and still don’t. Instead, players will be limited to two endorsements a turn with your polling indicating your level of endorsements you can receive. <1-4.9% will see you be allowed state legislators/mayors as endorsements, 5-9.9% will see U.S. Representatives added in, 10-14.9% will see Senators, Governors, former executive officials and the like be open to endorsing you. However, until the conventions, party leaders are locked from making an endorsement. This means Barack Obama, Joe Biden (if he isn’t selected by a player), Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Daniel Inouye, Nancy Pelosi, and Steny Hoyer are barred from endorsing a candidate until the Nominee has been decided for the Democrats. For the Republicans, Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, Chuck Grassley, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy are barred from endorsing a candidate until the nominee has been decided for the GOP.
The Primary schedule of this 2012 game will follow the primary schedules of the last few 2012 games. Congress is much the same as OTL aside from a few differences as to who is the current incumbents in certain areas (David Harmer in CA-11, Mike Keown in GA-02, Benjamin Lange in IA-01, Mariannette Miller-Meeks in IA-02, Andy Barr in KY-06, Andrew Raczkowski in MI-14, Ed Martin sharing with Lacy Clay in MO-01 due to redistricting, Jon Barela in NM-01, Randy Altschuler in NY-01, George Phillips in NY-19, Matt Doheny in NY-21, Scott Bruun in OR-05, Keith Rothfus in PA-12, John J. Loughlin in RI-01, Morgan Philpot in UT-04, Keith Fimian in VA-11, and John Koster in WA-02 for the House. For the Senate, Norm Coleman in Minnesota, Ted Stevens in Alaska, Gordon Smith in Oregon, Mike Castle in Delaware, Ken Buck in Colorado, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Dino Rossi in Washington won (and Bill Weld replaced Kerry in the Senate). For Governors, Tom Foley in Connecticut, Charlie Baker in Massachusetts, Tom Emmer in Minnesota, Chris Dudley in Oregon, and John Robitaille in Rhode Island won).
Current members in the Obama Administration besides the obvious Obama and Biden are barred from endorsing any Democratic Candidate until the convention.
Democratic Candidates
Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) [AshtonShabazz]
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-NY) [NewYorkExpress]
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Shadow Senator Paul Strauss (D-DC)
U.S. Representative Dennis Kuchinch (D-OH)
Former Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN)
First Lady Michelle Obama (D-IL)
U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA) [RGM2609]
Among Others
Republican Candidates
Former Senator Rick Sntorum (R-PA)
Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Governor Luis Fortuno (R-PR)
Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ)
U.S. Representative Mike Pence (R-IN)
Director David Petreaus (R-NY)
General Stanley McChrystal (R-KS)
Actor Gary Sinise (R-IL) [NOTTYLER]
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)
Among Others
Independent/Third Party Candidates
Among Others
Have fun, ya’ll!
