The New Campaign Trail

[Alben Barkley]

2008 mod:

You can only play Obama right now but McCain will be playable soon the mod maker said.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/ob8e09/now_playing_in_theatres_the_2008_presidential/

I'd kinda rather have a 2008 primary or 2008 general with Hillary mod (why isn't she even a VP choice?) but this is still cool.

Was able to get real 2008+MO/MT despite not winning the debate.

[Alben Barkley]

2008 on "Cakewalk" mode with Evan Bayh as running mate:



Won 59.2-39.5 in the NPV.

I think that's the best you can do other than maybe winning Mississippi. I think Sebelius can flip KS and NE, but you can't win states like KY and TN with her.

[Independents for Nihilism]

I'm incompetent at loading mods so I'm still playing the default campaigns - here's 1976 where I won as Ford while losing the popular vote. I spent my last night in Pennsylvania and managed to pull it (and also Hawaii somehow) out and win.

Ford/Baker - 48.8%
Carter/Mondale - 49.2%

[Alben Barkley]

I'm incompetent at loading mods so I'm still playing the default campaigns - here's 1976 where I won as Ford while losing the popular vote. I spent my last night in Pennsylvania and managed to pull it (and also Hawaii somehow) out and win.

Ford/Baker - 48.8%
Carter/Mondale - 49.2%

It's not that hard once you figure it out. If the mod you want is already available from the mod loader at the new site (and most of them now are), simply select "Mod Loader" and then pick the candidate you want to play as in the mod year you want from the dropdown menu. So as an example "Jefferson (1796)." Then hit "Submit." Then the Mod Loader will disappear and you can just hit "Click here to begin" in the middle of the page as usual. Now you should see the mod you wanted loaded and ready to go (or you can now pick it from the dropdown menu mixed in with the other campaigns). Just go through the menus as normal but make sure you pick the candidate you selected in the mod loader (in this case Jefferson), and also if there are multiple VP options, pick the one you chose in the loader. (In a few cases, such as the Carter/Wallace VP mod, the VP won't show up in the menu; usually just choosing the first VP listed will load them.)

For mods that aren't in the mod loader (2008 is one of the few still not there), get the code from the subreddit. Here is the 2008 mod. Usually (including here) there will be multiple codes linked in a Google Doc, an intro code (which makes the campaign show up in the menus) and codes for the candidates/VPs you want to play as. In order to load them, select "Mod Loader" on the new site but leave the dropdown menu on "Other." Then copy and paste all the intro code from the Google Doc into the "Code 1" box. You always do that no matter who you're playing as. Then select one of the candidate/VP codes, whichever one you want to play as this time, and copy and paste all of that code into the "Code 2" box. Then hit "Submit" and proceed as if you'd loaded the mod normally.

For all mods, one important thing to note is that it will at first look like it didn't work and you launched a default campaign (so in the Jefferson 1796 example, it looks like I'm playing Polk 1844 at first), but that's OK. Before doing anything, you just have to click "Latest Polls/Electoral Map," then go back. Now the correct candidates and questions/answers should be loaded and you're good to go.

[Chips]

Looks like 1932 mod is about to come out. They said that it's possible to narrowly win as Hoover on Easy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/ogedol/1932_mod_development_update_the_mod_is_almost_out/

[Alben Barkley]

THE SOUTH HAS RISEN AGAIN!

[darklordoftech]

For the sake of a challenge, how about a 2008 with Edwards mod?

[Meatball Ron]

Has anyone here won on "Impossible" mode? I can almost always win on "Hard" but have yet to ever win on "Impossible"

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Has anyone here won on "Impossible" mode? I can almost always win on "Hard" but have yet to ever win on "Impossible"

I've won as Humphrey/Muskie a couple times on Impossible, usually hinges on if Nixon's sabotage is leaked right

[Alben Barkley]

1932 mod is out:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/oha5p4/1932_modded_scenario_v10_playable_hoover/

Can only play as Hoover at the moment.

[Chips]

Snoo, the creator of the most popular 2020 mod right now has just released 1984. You can only play as Reagan and have the option to either self-sabotage or try to win Minnesota.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thecampaigntrail/comments/ohn30l/1984_mod_reagan/

[Independents for Nihilism]

Turns out my whole issue with loading mods is that I was entering the game before loading them. Now that I've got them working, here's a classic Kerry win, where I flipped Ohio (and also Iowa) but lost the popular vote (Bush actually won a majority). Notably, the polls had me losing Wisconsin going into election night, if that had held then it would have been an electoral tie. That would have been fun to see.



Kerry/Gephardt - 48.7%
Bush/Cheney - 50.2%

[Alben Barkley]

1984 Mondale released. Got this absurdly unrealistic map with Bill Clinton as my VP on my first try, albeit on Very Easy mode (which I figured should be the only way to win but maybe not):

[Alben Barkley]

Did it again, this time on Normal. Won again, this time by 1 point in the popular vote and with the below map. (Georgia was the tipping point.)

[Chips]

1984 Mondale released. Got this absurdly unrealistic map with Bill Clinton as my VP on my first try, albeit on Very Easy mode (which I figured should be the only way to win but maybe not):

History literally flipped upside down!

[CascadianIndy]

Did a few test runs, Clinton definitely seems like the best VP you can choose so far, I think.

[Alben Barkley]

Eisenhower 1952 now out. I got a Civil War map with Earl Warren as my running mate and running as an outspoken anti-McCarthy/Taft, pro-Civil Rights liberal Republican:

[Chips]

My favorite mods so far are 1980, 1996 and 2004.

[CascadianIndy]

Ran a best Carter/Brown Normal game, with ME's electoral vote count personally altered.

Carter/Brown def. Reagan/Bush

PV: 330, 46.2%, 40,508,307, 208, 47.3%, 41,455,762

[CascadianIndy]

President Gerald R. Ford/Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller def. Governor James E. "Jimmy" Carter/Senator Walter F. Mondale

Ford/Rockefeller: 388, 40,417,310, 50.2%
Carter/Mondale: 150, 38,496,101, 47.8%

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

In 1984 with Mondale on hard I can't seem to get anything much better than this:

Lost the PV 54-44.

[CascadianIndy]

In 1984 with Mondale on hard I can't seem to get anything much better than this:

Lost the PV 54-44.

My best run on Hard with Mondale is this, with the PV being 51/47.

[CascadianIndy]

Last two posts of the day:

1988 Election

Governor Michael S. Dukakis/Senator Albert A. Gore Jr. def. President George H. W. Bush/Senator James Danforth "Dan" Quayle

Dukakis/Gore: 414, 47,909,356, 52.0%
Bush/Quayle: 124 43,116,563 46.8%




1996 Election

President William J. Clinton/Vice President Albert A. Gore Jr. def. Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole/Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack F. Kemp, Businessman Henry Ross Perot/Economist Pat Choate

Clinton/Gore: 432, 47,620,799, 50.1%
Dole/Kemp: 106 38,295,386 40.3%
Perot/Choate: 0, 9,109,804, 9.6%

[Alben Barkley]

So this is what a McGovern victory map looks like according to the new 1972 mod:



Easiest game mode. Tipping point was Maryland, won by 2.3 points; both Connecticut and West Virginia were closer. Lost the popular vote 48.3-50.

[CascadianIndy]

1972 Election



George McGovern/Shirley Chisholm:310, 38,551,158 49.4%

Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew: 228, 38,223,462 49.0%



I'm almost certain this is the ceiling for McGovern on Cakewalk mode. Maybe you can expand into Alaska (decided by 3% in my game, but considering how carefully I had to balance campaigning in New Jersey, West Virginia, Hawaii, and Delaware (all decided by less than 1.5%) to win, I'm genuinely not sure if it's possible.