AF Primaries: Illinois Primary (Deadline Monday 11th 6pm EST)

[12th Doctor]

One speech:

I'm really not trying to be an asshole with this question... do I get extra momentum for coming within 10% of a state's sitting governor?  That is a major expectations victory.  Seriously, my goal in Michigan was just to show up and get delegates... I was thinking 20% would be a victory!

is what Chris Soult said.  Now I'm not a 'fighting' man, but frankly, this sounds just arrogant on his part.  To come to Michigan at the very last minute after asking Joe for an extention on the game isn't exactly the kind of campaign I run.  I realize that I'm probably not going to do well in this state, nor am I trying to 'win Maine' here, but I do think that ultimately Joe Republic has a last say in this game.  Vote for integrity, vote for Cereal.  Thank you.

Since that was not a speech... and it was totally off the record... I don't think that should count.  Nor was a telling Joe how to run the game, more like I was merely inquiring.  In real life, it would be a huge momentum boost for a Representative to come so close to a sitting governor in his own state.

Anyway, I made my intentions to campaign in Michigan very clear.  Did you really think I was gonna just sit around and let you have all those delegates and all the momentum without putting up a fight for it?

As for the extension, I am far from the first candidate to ask for one, and Joe said that he wouldn't be in that night anyway.

Fianally, I made it very clear the question was nto intended to sound arrogant, and I am more than willing to accept Joe's answer.  And I really wasn't expecting to get close to 40%... I was shooting for 20%, like I said.

[7,052,770]

Speech 1:  Corruption and Waste in Government
Mississippi used to be one of the most corrupt states in the country.  Hundreds of people were employed in all sorts of state and county jobs that were meaningless.  No previous governor ever had the guts to clean it up.  But I did.  You surely remember hearing in my first term about the huge mess in Mississippi as I cleaned house, getting rid of the corruption and extraneous employees freed up enough money to considerably improve education, cut taxes, and provide assistance to the poor and homeless.
Now Washington DC is full of corruption, mostly from Republicans.  So what kind of president do we need?  We need one that's proven that he can clean up corruption.  None of my opponents can say that they have.  So, if you want less corruption and waste in Washington, and more bang for your tax buck, you need me, Gov. John Mabus, as your president!



Speech:  Education
Sec. Berstein was up here yesterday talking about education.  And, Sec. Berstein's a good man who honestly cares about education, but what experience does he actually have with education?  I inherited the worst education system in the country when I came in as governor of Mississippi, and improved it considerably by paying teachers more, bringing in qualified administrators, and stopped teaching just to those godawful standardized tests.  So for someone with a proven excellent record on education, vote Mabus.

[12th Doctor]

Maine

Speech #1

Hello.  Thank you.

There are three things in my life that I know I will always remember and cherish.  The first was the day that I married my beautiful, wonderful, intellegent, amazing wife Kate.  The second was getting to hold each of my children in my arms for the first time.  And the third is having had the opportunity to represent the people of Maine in the United States House of Representatives.

Ever since I moved here, 24 years ago with Kate, who was born and raised here, this state has taken me in, and I am proud to call it my adopted home.  I want to be the President of all Americans, but I will never forget where I am coming home to once all this is done.

You have put your trust in me, and I thank you for that.  And I trust each one of you.  I don't need to run around with ads and speeches here, because I know that you each of you will make the right choice.

So, I just wanna say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you for all you have done for me and my family.

God Bless you all.  God Bless America.  And God Bless the state of Maine.

[Jake]

Maine

Campaign Organization:

Level 3

Campaign Speeches:

College Education

The future. No matter what, the future is always ahead of us. Always flowing towards us without halt. While we live in the present, we must always take actions that will lead to a better, rather than worse, future. Now, one of my "hot button" issues has always been higher education. The steps a young adult takes after high school are the most important steps of life. I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that could afford to put me and my three sisters through college without needing to accrue significant debt, but I realize that very few Americans can do that. Entirely too many bright young adults graduate from high school and either don't have the money to attend college at all, or can attend, but have astronomical debt upon graduation.

Now, what's the solution to this problem? I think it lies in a two part attack. First, the government must reduce interest rates on Federal Student Loans, and at the same time extend the grace period before repayment is needed. Second, the government must expand federal work study programs to cover more eligible students. Any funds placed towards this initiative can be viewed as an investment in the future of millions of young adults, who will in turn use their education to continue America's progress.

Protecting Peace

On the eve of World War Two, President Franklin Roosevelt declared that America must act as an "Arsenal of Democracy" if we wish to preserve of way of life. Six decades later, America's position in the world has changed. No longer can we simply provision the weapons and supplies so others may fight tyranny. Instead, we must act as the "Defenders of Democracy", working to guard the rights of the citizens of the world. Now, this is not an easy task, and is not one to be approached lightly, but it is certainly a mission that we must fufill, or I'm afraid no other nation will take up the mantle. Already, we've acted post 9/11 to remove tyranny in Afghanistan and Iraq. The ultimate fate of those missions is not yet known, but with continued resolve and careful guidance, we can succeed and guarantee freedom for the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan. That is the mission of the 21st century.

North Korea

Currently, we are engaged in a war of words with North Korea, after that nation's recent test of a nuclear weapon. America must act on two fronts here, both diplomatically and militarily, to guarantee the continued freedom of South Korea. Let me make myself absolutely clear. We must maintain diplomatic dialogue with the North Koreans, but at the same time, they must know that any further flaunting of weapons of mass destruction will lead to further sanctions, pushing their country deeper into ruin. I call today on Kim Jong-Il to end his proliferation of missile and nuclear weapons technology and rejoin the community of nations. Give up your weapons, and the international community will respond with aid to rebuild your nation and bring it into the 21st century.

Responsibility

In life, every has responsibilities. As a Congressman, I have a responsibility to represent my constituents and serve their interests. As a father and husband, I the responsibility to provide for my family and teach my children so they can be successful in life. And as a citizen, I have the responsibility to make good decisions, follow our laws, and speak my mind and vote so that our nation can flourish. However, responsibility seems to be lost of many of our youths today. We now see rampant drug use, astronomical teen pregnancy rates, and a general attitude of complacency among high school students. Our youngsters are failing to shoulder their responsibilities. Now, we can play the blame game all we want, but I know that game will not solve our problems, actions will. To combat teen pregnancy, we must enact laws promoting safe-sex policies and begin a nationwide campaign to ensure that teens who engage in risky sexual behavior do so with knowledge of how to prevent pregnancy. The worst thing we can do now is sit back and let the status-quo continue, because the ills of teen pregnancy, abortion, broken single parent homes, and poverty, are inextricably linked together. Only by removing the cause of these problems can the effects be lessened.

Educating...Better

We're now in year six of the great experiment in bureaucracy known as the No Child Left Behind Act, and you know what, things still haven't gotten any better. Instead of the promised advances that were supposed to accompany the increase in standards and federal funding, we've gotten a mess, with schools being downgraded and punished for failing to increase their students test scores to arbitrary federal minimums. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the need for such bureaucracy on the federal level. If local school boards wish to measure preformance based on local standards that's their prerogative, but we cannot continue to stiffle schools with regulations. Regulations which, by the way, have led to some schools cancelling music, art, and after school programs because they must spend that money on more math and english teachers. We're currently failing our children. It's time to repeal No Child Left Behind and start returning control of schools to the local communities.

General Campaign Hours:

126 hours

[Joe Republic]

Two things I have learned from AF Primaries:

1) In Joe's world the pundits are always right so do what they tell you to do in the analysis.

2) Soulty has no life.

Both of these are correct.

[Joe Republic]

One speech:

I'm really not trying to be an asshole with this question... do I get extra momentum for coming within 10% of a state's sitting governor?  That is a major expectations victory.  Seriously, my goal in Michigan was just to show up and get delegates... I was thinking 20% would be a victory!

is what Chris Soult said.  Now I'm not a 'fighting' man, but frankly, this sounds just arrogant on his part.  To come to Michigan at the very last minute after asking Joe for an extention on the game isn't exactly the kind of campaign I run.  I realize that I'm probably not going to do well in this state, nor am I trying to 'win Maine' here, but I do think that ultimately Joe Republic has a last say in this game.  Vote for integrity, vote for Cereal.  Thank you.

This isn't really a speech that would convince people to vote for you, but more of a commentary on the game itself.  As such, I can't really include it.  Even if I did, it would probably have close to zero effect anyway.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Could I have... er... 100 hours of fundraising please?

[Joe Republic]

Maine results (and analyses) are up - congrats to the winners!  Now it's Tennessee and Virginia, and the new deadline is in the thread title.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Maine results (and analyses) are up - congrats to the winners!  Now it's Tennessee and Virginia, and the new deadline is in the thread title.

Already?!  I mean... er... 13% ain't bad for no campaigning at all. Ahem.

[Joe Republic]

The deadline for Maine was two hours ago.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The deadline for Maine was two hours ago.

I knew that! *whistles*

[12th Doctor]

Bah!


When I sent in my campaign speeches in Washington and Michigan last second, it was only because I was extremely busy, and that was the the only time I had.  It wasn't meant to be sneeky.

I would have done more this time, but I didn't have the time.

Why do I get the feeling that Jake did this to me on purpose?

Anyway, what goes around comes around, I suppose, and guess who is next?

[Jake]

Virginia

Campaign Organization

Level 1

Campaign Speeches

College Education

The future. No matter what, the future is always ahead of us. Always flowing towards us without halt. While we live in the present, we must always take actions that will lead to a better, rather than worse, future. Now, one of my "hot button" issues has always been higher education. The steps a young adult takes after high school are the most important steps of life. I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that could afford to put me and my three sisters through college without needing to accrue significant debt, but I realize that very few Americans can do that. Entirely too many bright young adults graduate from high school and either don't have the money to attend college at all, or can attend, but have astronomical debt upon graduation.

Now, what's the solution to this problem? I think it lies in a two part attack. First, the government must reduce interest rates on Federal Student Loans, and at the same time extend the grace period before repayment is needed. Second, the government must expand federal work study programs to cover more eligible students. Any funds placed towards this initiative can be viewed as an investment in the future of millions of young adults, who will in turn use their education to continue America's progress.

What You Deserve

All too many politicians are all too happy to tell you what they can get for you. I'm running for President to get what you as Americans deserve. I know that you deserve to know that your children are safe from predators, I know that you deserve to know that you're family will be able to receive health coverage if one of you gets seriously ill, I know that you deserve the best education we can provide, and I know that you deserve to live out your golden years safe and secure. Those are guarantees our government must make to you and your family. No other candidate is prepared to offer such guarantees; some like Governor Cereal are all too happy to call such guarantees "pork" and toss them out the window. However, these guarantees are what every citizen deserves from their government. Those are my values, those are your values, and those are your neighbors' values. Now, give me the chance to defend your values as your President and guarantee you these rights.

Educating...Better

We're now in year six of the great experiment in bureaucracy known as the No Child Left Behind Act, and you know what, things still haven't gotten any better. Instead of the promised advances that were supposed to accompany the increase in standards and federal funding, we've gotten a mess, with schools being downgraded and punished for failing to increase their students test scores to arbitrary federal minimums. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the need for such bureaucracy on the federal level. If local school boards wish to measure preformance based on local standards that's their prerogative, but we cannot continue to stiffle schools with regulations. Regulations which, by the way, have led to some schools cancelling music, art, and after school programs because they must spend that money on more math and english teachers. We're currently failing our children. It's time to repeal No Child Left Behind and start returning control of schools to the local communities.

Taxes

Right now in Washington we currently have one of the largest budget deficits in history. Not only are we running short of funds to cover current programs, we're unable to fund genuine increases in education, health care, and Social Security. Now, every candidate has a different opinion on how to address this issue. Governor Cereal wants slice and dice the federal budget, guaranteeing that we cut enough programs to get back in the red. Representative Soult wants to increase spending on health care, but fails to state where the funding will come from. Here's my plan. I want to create a new tax bracket containing those earning over one million dollars a year. Those tax payers will see a substantial tax raise on everything they earn over one million dollars. By raising taxes on those that can bear it, we can afford to begin sending more money to the states to fund education, committ resources to a genuine single payer health care system, and ensure the solvency of Social Security for the rest of this century. These are goals that all Americans, from the richest to the poorest, can be proud to work to achieve.

My Home

I was born here in the Shenandoah Valley. In my household, we attended mass every week, prayed before every meal, and I was expected to act as as good a Catholic as possible. I've taken those values through my life with me, from college at Mount Saint Mary's, to law school at the University of Virginia, to my law firm here in Winchester, and finally to Congress for the past 14 years. My values are the values held by Virginians. I believe that God is inseperable from government, because at the core of it acting as a good neighbor and a faithful follower of God will lead you to serve the people well. You all know that everytime I vote in Congress, I do so for you, representing your values. When I vote to protect the unborn, when I vote to preserve traditional marriage, and when I vote to increase spending on social services, I'm voting for YOU and your values. I feel blessed every day that God has put me on the path where I can bear the awesome responsibility of serving in Congress. Now, give me the chance to defend your values as your President.

Campaign Ads

Maverick @ Level 1

>Newspaper headlines blare "The Maverick?"

v/o: What politician would throw his support behind a safe-sex campaign, a ban on legal abortion, privitizing most AMTRAK routes, expanding funding for higher education, and support repealing President Bush's tax cuts for the richest Americans?

>Cut to me talking on my Virginia Ranch

Me: I would. I recognize that there are all sorts of problems in America. Some can be answered with conservative solutions, some with liberal solutions, and some with moderate solutions. It doesn't matter which plan we use to fix a problem, or which party came up with it, what matters is getting the job done. I'm campaigning to be President of all of America, not just the Republicans. That's why I urge all voters to come to the polls on Tuesday and vote for James Wallace in the Republican Primary.

>I walk off camera

[FWIW: Both Virginia and Tennessee have open primaries]

General Campaigning

154 hours

[Jake]

Tennessee

Campaign Organization

Level 1

Campaign Speeches

Educating...From Kindergarten to College

Education is one issue where almost all Americans can agree that we are failing to succeed. We're now in year six of the great experiment in bureaucracy known as the No Child Left Behind Act, and you know what, things still haven't gotten any better. At the same time, entirely too many bright young adults graduate from high school and either don't have the money to attend college at all, or can attend, but have astronomical debt upon graduation. Instead of the promised advances that were supposed to accompany No Child Left Behind's increase in standards and federal funding, we've gotten a mess, with schools being downgraded and punished for failing to increase their students test scores to arbitrary federal minimums. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the need for such bureaucracy on the federal level. If local school boards wish to measure preformance based on local standards that's their prerogative, but we cannot continue to stiffle schools with regulations. Regulations which, by the way, have led to some schools cancelling music, art, and after school programs because they must spend that money on more math and english teachers.

And don't even get me on the topic of college education. It used to be that you could be successful in life without going to college and getting your degree. No longer. It is essential for today's youth to attend college to succeed. Now, I can't say that we as a government are succeeding in giving everyone the chance to attend college. To solve this problem, we need a two part attack.First, the government must reduce interest rates on Federal Student Loans, and at the same time extend the grace period before repayment is needed. Second, the government must expand federal work study programs to cover more eligible students. Any funds placed towards this initiative can be viewed as an investment in the future of millions of young adults, who will in turn use their education to continue America's progress. We're currently failing our children and failing our young adults. It's time to repeal No Child Left Behind and guarantee a college education to every high school graduate. This is something we cannot fail at.

Nuclear Power

We've all heard the endless talk about the "energy crisis" in America. Many are rightfully worried about what America can do to attempt to wean itself off of Middle Eastern oil. Everytime I consider what steps need to be taken, one sticks out paramount in my mind; Nuclear Energy. 62 nuclear power plants are currently active in the United States (including 2 here in Tennessee), providing about 20% of the nations energy. Many opponents of nuclear power like to scare you folks with talk of radiation spreading and poisoning our cities. They conveniently ignore the statistics that show that in the millions of hours American nuclear power plants have operated, never has there been a leakage of dangerous radiation and the worst accident in our history occurred at Three Mile Island, and resulted in zero casualties from radiation. Since the incident occurred at Three Mile Island in 1979 we have not constructed another nuclear plant, despite the fact that we've discovered new ways to make generating nuclear power much safer than its already sterling safety record. It's time to stop being scared, and embrace nuclear power as the wave of the future.

What You Deserve

All too many politicians are all too happy to tell you what they can get for you. I'm running for President to get what you as Americans deserve. I know that you deserve to know that your children are safe from predators, I know that you deserve to know that you're family will be able to receive health coverage if one of you gets seriously ill, I know that you deserve the best education we can provide, and I know that you deserve to live out your golden years safe and secure. Those are guarantees our government must make to you and your family. No other candidate is prepared to offer such guarantees; some like Governor Cereal are all too happy to call such guarantees "pork" and toss them out the window. However, these guarantees are what every citizen deserves from their government. Those are my values, those are your values, and those are your neighbors' values. Now, give me the chance to defend your values as your President and guarantee you these rights.

Taxes

Right now in Washington we currently have one of the largest budget deficits in history. Not only are we running short of funds to cover current programs, we're unable to fund genuine increases in education, health care, and Social Security. Now, every candidate has a different opinion on how to address this issue. Governor Cereal wants slice and dice the federal budget, guaranteeing that we cut enough programs to get back in the red. Representative Soult wants to increase spending on health care, but fails to state where the funding will come from. Here's my plan. I want to create a new tax bracket containing those earning over one million dollars a year. Those tax payers will see a substantial tax raise on everything they earn over one million dollars. By raising taxes on those that can bear it, we can afford to begin sending more money to the states to fund education, committ resources to a genuine single payer health care system, and ensure the solvency of Social Security for the rest of this century. These are goals that all Americans, from the richest to the poorest, can be proud to work to achieve.

My Crusade

When someone says the word "crusade" most people think of the battles in the Holy Land a thousand years ago. To me, the word has a somewhat different meaning. For the last 14 years, I've been fighting a crusade across America. From my home in Virginia, to the Midwest, Mountain West, Deep South, and here in Tennessee, I've been fighting for your values. I've defended the lives of the unborn with my votes for parental consent laws and a ban on partial birth abortion, I've worked to end the suffering of family farmers by fighting for an end to government price controls to give them a chance to sell their product and support their families, I've voted time after time to strengthen government's power to go after sexual predators because I honestly care more for our children than some pedophile's constitutional rights, and I've been on the floor of Congress fighting my heart out to bring more money to our local schools because America's future is tied to our children's future. Folks, those are my values, those are your values, and those are your neighbors' values. Everytime I vote in Congress, I do so for you, representing your values.  I feel blessed every day that God has put me on the path where I can bear the awesome responsibility of serving in Congress. Now, give me the chance to defend your values as your President.

Campaign Ads

Maverick @ Level 1

>Newspaper headlines blare "The Maverick?"

v/o: What politician would throw his support behind a safe-sex campaign, a ban on legal abortion, privitizing most AMTRAK routes, expanding funding for higher education, and support repealing President Bush's tax cuts for the richest Americans?

>Cut to me talking on my Virginia Ranch

Me: I would. I recognize that there are all sorts of problems in America. Some can be answered with conservative solutions, some with liberal solutions, and some with moderate solutions. It doesn't matter which plan we use to fix a problem, or which party came up with it, what matters is getting the job done. I'm campaigning to be President of all of America, not just the Republicans. That's why I urge all voters to come to the polls on Tuesday and vote for James Wallace in the Republican Primary.

>I walk off camera

[FWIW: Both Virginia and Tennessee have open primaries]

General Campaigning

126 hours

[Jake]

Now, maybe Soulty won't need to whine after he underpreforms.

[jerusalemcar5]

I am interested to see who wins my delegates and money.  I am assuming it'll be Widdershins unless something changes.

[12th Doctor]

Well... I guess I'll start off with 100 hours of fundraising.  Jake can have VA and TN... I see no point in challenging.

[Joe Republic]

Jake, you've overspent your budget.  You may do any of these three things:

1. Revise some of your expenses to bring you back into line.
2. Find somebody who hasn't already endorsed your campaign to do so in the relevant thread.
3. Keep it as it is.  You'll still be entered into the TN & VA primaries and will receive a vote share and possibly some delegates, but your candidate will be forcibly withdrawn from the rest of the race, due to bankruptcy.


This applies to anybody else who overspends, by the way.


Edit: Add #4: Use any available campaign hours for fundraising.  Money raised that way is added to the balance immediately.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

4.  You forgot the possibility of fundrasing.  Perhaps with any remaining hours automatically turned into fundraising (perhaps at a penalty for efficiency if it is done automatically instead of at the candidate's direction)  and the suspension of the campaign until the deficit is paid for.  Jake has enough hours that he should be abe to fundraise himself out of his current dilema.  Assuming average fundraising results, 24 hours whould be enough to cover Jake's financial shortfall, and he had 100 hours left according to your acounting.

[Joe Republic]

Jeez, I'm an idiot.  Ernest is completely right.  If you use the 100 remaining hours for fundraising, that money is also added to the balance immediately.

[Jake]

Jake, you've overspent your budget.  You may do any of these three things:

1. Revise some of your expenses to bring you back into line.
2. Find somebody who hasn't already endorsed your campaign to do so in the relevant thread.
3. Keep it as it is.  You'll still be entered into the TN & VA primaries and will receive a vote share and possibly some delegates, but your candidate will be forcibly withdrawn from the rest of the race, due to bankruptcy.


This applies to anybody else who overspends, by the way.


Edit: Add #4: Use any available campaign hours for fundraising.  Money raised that way is added to the balance immediately.

Virginia only has 11 districts, so my expenses should be good.

[12th Doctor]

Jeez, I'm an idiot.  Ernest is completely right.  If you use the 100 remaining hours for fundraising, that money is also added to the balance immediately.

Wait... I put 100 hours into fund raising, I don't think Jake did.

[Joe Republic]

Virginia only has 11 districts, so my expenses should be good.

*slaps head* ... never mind then.



(I need a vacation.)

[Joe Republic]

Jeez, I'm an idiot.  Ernest is completely right.  If you use the 100 remaining hours for fundraising, that money is also added to the balance immediately.

Wait... I put 100 hours into fund raising, I don't think Jake did.

I know, it was a suggestion for how to remedy an overspent budget.

[Jake]

Virginia only has 11 districts, so my expenses should be good.

*slaps head* ... never mind then.



(I need a vacation.)

Not to nitpick, but the ad cost should be 11x50,000, or 550,000.