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

[Josh/Devilman88]

It's ok Joe I understand.

[Joe Republic]

Alright, the first batch of endorsement funds are in, and here's how it looks:

S U M M A R Y
BALANCE SHEET

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DEMOCRATS

Alexander Bernstein    12,550,000
Salvor Hardin                 9,650,000
John Mabus                   7,250,000
Al Widdershins              6,550,000
Carlos Gonzalez            5,550,000
Andrew Leitch               4,300,000
Josh Craddock               2,900,000
Alcon Nighthawk            2,600,000
Josh Fleming                  1,550,000

Total                          53,900,000

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REPUBLICANS

Richard G. Arage          17,050,000
Ernest Calhoun            15,050,000
Andrew Berger               9,650,000
Andrew M.A. Cereal        9,500,000
Chris Soult                     9,100,000
Govert Vandervoot        7,150,000
Colin Wixted                  4,950,000
James Wallace               4,850,000
Justin C. Coleman          4,350,000
Chris Scott                     1,450,000

Total                          83,100,000

And as I said earlier, whichever party raised the most money for their candidates would win control of the current (outgoing) White House.  Discounting the personal salaries, that puts the Democrats at $43.9m, compared to the Republicans at $64.1m.

So congrats you Republicans - you've won the White House!!

The benefits of this will not really take effect just yet, but it will be helpful later on (i.e. during the general election campaign).

For the Democrats who are roleplaying Cabinet Secretaries, unfortunately you'll now need to refer to yourselves as 'Former Secretary'.  Note that this is purely cosmetic; your chances at winning the Democratic nomination won't be affected by this.

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I'll try and write up the next stage as soon as possible, but I can't promise it'll be tonight.

In the mean time, you'd better pack your bags, because you're all headed for Iowa!

[12th Doctor]

Take your time, man.  On the bright side, you should feel good that I am excited enough by this to ask.

[YRABNNRM]

I'll take third place

[MHS2002]

Ok, time to mortgage the house.

[7,052,770]

99 Counties to Victory!

[Josh/Devilman88]

Boy this airplane is very slow

[afleitch]

I'm just going to go on the phone to John Anderson

[Speed of Sound]

Second? Woo! Iowa, here I come!

[7,052,770]

Iowa doesn't do gays and socialists.  Victory for Mabus is all but gauranteed.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I've always liked Iowa

[Colin]

Iowa isn't too bad. Des Moines seemed like a nice little town and it wasn't all just cornfields.

[MaC]

IOWA ROCKS!

[12th Doctor]

I've been sitting in this diner forever.  When do we get to leave....

Wait... uh huh.  So, I shouldn't even be campaigning yet?

We don't have a schedual?  We don't even know what we are supposed to do?

Ummm... okay.

I'll have another piece of sweet potato pie, please.

[Joe Republic]

Cool your beans, I'm in the process of typing it up as we speak.

[MODU]

Cool your beans, I'm in the process of typing it up as we speak.

Faster, you slow Ohiohead!  Sheesh!  They have babies to kiss and pockets to pick!  hahaha

(Seriously guys . . . give Joe a little slack.  )

[Joe Republic]

Hello, and welcome to the...

I O W A   C A U C U S

Although this is Stage 3 of the game, this is the first stage of the actual campaign.  And of course, it's a pretty important one.  The better you perform here, the better chance you'll have at winning the nomination.  But as in real life, a victory here does not guarantee victory at the end of the road.

Since this is the first step of the campaign, I'm going to need to explain how campaigning will actually work.  I'll *try* and keep it simple, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.


How it works

Your character will be granted 'points' based on the following criteria:

• Your office.  The higher your character's office, the higher the points scored.  This score is of course not subject to change (since you can't change your office).
• Your home state.  If the state where the primary is being held (in this case Iowa) also happens to be your home state, you'll get a high number points.  If you are from a neighboring state, you'll be given a lower points score.  If you're from a state in the same geopolitical region, you'll still get a few points.  Again, this will not be affected by any actual campaigning on your part, for obvious reasons.
• Your issue positions.  Your positions will be analyzed in accordance with what the majority of state party voters will agree/disagree with you on, and you'll be given a points score on that basis.  You will be able to 'clarify' your positions on certain issues during the campaign, which will affect your points score here.  More on that later.
• Momentum.  As the game progresses, this will prove to be the deciding factor in your fate.  Your performance in each primary will determine how many points you will be allocated for this criterion, which means that the better you do in each primary, the more points you get.  Momentum points are cumulative, which means that the more primaries you do well in, the likelier you are to win.  Of course, your momentum points are all set at zero at this stage.
  
• Name Recognition.  This is the first of two criteria that your campaigns will directly affect.  The quality and quantity of your campaigns will affect how many points you'll win here.  This is also set at zero to begin with.
• Character.  This is the perception of your character as seen in the media.  This is where you'll be able to boost your own ego in various ways, and damage those of your opponents.

Whoever has the highest points score at the end of each stage will win each party's primary.  But fear not if you're a runner-up, since you'll get a share of the 'momentum points' too.


How to campaign

This is where things get pretty complicated.  Note that since campaigning itself is highly complex, I've had to massively simplify things to make it into a workable sim.

Running your campaign can be done in a number of ways.  Not only will you be using your amassed financial warchest, but also a great deal of time, which will be dealt with in terms of 'campaign hours'.

1.) First off is your campaign organization.  This is basically your infrastructure; headquarters, staff, etc.  The more effective your organization, the more effective your own campaigning will be on the number of points you score.  You can 'buy' levels of organization with your funds; either Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3.  Each level costs $100,000 per congressional district per level, which means that as Iowa has 5 districts, each level of org will cost $500,000.  You cannot split up your organization by congressional district (e.g. only pay for org in one area and not others).

• Level 1 organization ($500,000 in Iowa).  This will double the effect of any other campaigning you do.
• Level 2 organization ($1,000,000 in Iowa).  This will treble the effect of any other campaigning you do.
• Level 3 organization ($1,500,000 in Iowa).  This will quadruple the effect of any other campaigning you do.

2.) Second is your campaign time.  Between now and the day of the caucus, there are 2000 hours of campaign time (we're starting out in mid-December, and the IA caucus is late January).  Since there are only 60 campaign hours between IA and the NH primary, you're advised not to spend all your time here.  Basically, any surplus time you have left once you've finished here will just be carried over into the next stage.  Your time can also be spent in a number of ways:

• Fundraising.  If you're feeling a little light, you can use some of your time to rake in some extra cash.  For each hour spent fundraising, you'll earn a random figure between $10 and $10,000 (the figure is randomized for each hour).  As Ernest is a self-financed businessman, he'll earn anything between $20 and $20,000 for each hour.  Fundraising is unaffected by your level of campaign organization; it is purely random and dependant on the amount of time spent doing it.
• Speeches.  You can give a maximum of five speeches in each primary on any topic you like, although for obvious reasons you're advised to keep it somewhat relevant.  Each speech will cost you two hours of campaign time.  Your speeches will be judged on quality, not quantity, and believe me when I say that only a single paragraph is enough.  You may lose points for lengthy, wordy speeches.
• General campaigning.  This is all the time you'll spend wandering around shaking hands, kissing babies, and being talked at by old people.  Throughout the game you'll earn one Name Recognition point for every 3 hours spent doing this per congressional district.  As Iowa has 5 districts, this means that you'll earn a point for every 15 hours spent campaigning.  Your level of campaign organization (if any) will affect this.

3.) Third is what else you can use your money for, which is namely campaign ads.  You can produce a maximum of three ads per primary, but the topic of each ad must be limited to one particular political issue you wish to talk about; yourself as a person; or one of your opponents.  Each ad will cost you either $50,000 per congressional district in the state (i.e. $250,000 in Iowa); $100,000 per CD (i.e. $500,000 in Iowa); or $150,000 per CD (i.e. $750,000 in Iowa); depending on how much of an effect you want the ad to have.  This is your opportunity to get really creative.  Don't just base the effectiveness of your ad on how much money you spend on it.  If it's a crappy or irrelevant ad, it'll probably backfire and you'll have wasted your money.  You can use any kind of medium you want here, but make sure you'll actually be able to post it on the forum.



Iowa Caucus Summary

Entry into the Iowa Caucus is not compulsory, and you can skip it and wait for the NH primary instead.  You'll lose out in your opportunity to win momentum points, but at this stage the effect will not be great.

You can submit your campaign instructions right here in this thread.  (So as to reduce confusion between the two parties' primaries, I'll probably re-post them into two separate threads at a later time.)  You may make minor edits to your instructions at any time, but once we reach the deadline I'll lock this thread while I calculate the results.

What you'll need to post:

1. The amount of time you want to spend fundraising, if any.  Remember to post this in whole hours, not days or weeks, etc.  I'll inform you of how much money you've raised as soon as I can.  I advise you to tackle this first, before you post the rest of your campaign, so that you can utilize your new funds if you want to.

2. The level of campaign organization you want to buy, if any.  Remember that for Iowa, L1 is $500k, L2 is $1m, and L3 is $1.5m.

3. Your (maximum of) five speeches.  Remember to keep them brief and to the point, and that each one will cost you two hours.  You don't have to make any speeches if you don't want to.

4. The amount of campaign hours spent on general campaigning.  Don't forget that you'll earn one point for every 15 hours spent campaigning in Iowa (dependant on your level of campaign org).

5. Your (maximum of) three ads, and how much money you want to spend on each.  For the Iowa caucus you can spend either $250k, $500k or $750k.  You don't have to produce any ads if you don't want to.


Important Reminders

You have a lot of time and money right now, but if you spend it all at once in Iowa and New Hampshire, you'll soon find yourself screwed for the rest of the campaign.  Spend both of them wisely.

As I said earlier, you don't have to spend any time or money at all in Iowa; you can save it for NH instead at a very slight penalty in lost momentum.

I won't set a deadline for candidates to post their campaigns just yet, but if it gets ridiculously late, I'll just assume that any AWOL candidates have decided to skip Iowa and head for New Hampshire instead.

From here on out in this thread, you are a politician.  If you say anything off-hand or out of turn, you may affect your own campaign in doing so.  (Questions about the game itself are exempt.)

Last of all, good luck!!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

So that we can plan ahead, could we have a schedule of the primaries and caucuses past New Hampshire to be used in this game?

[Joe Republic]

So that we can plan ahead, could we have a schedule of the primaries and caucuses past New Hampshire to be used in this game?

Certainly, but I'll need to draw it up first.

For the record, we'll be using the primary calendar that was used in the 2004 Democratic primaries, since they were the most recent.

[Joe Republic]

Primary Schedule


NH: 60 hours after previous primary

Mini-Tuesday (AZ, DE, MO, NM, ND, OK, SC) 60 hours

MI & WA: 48 hours

ME: 12 hours

TN & VA: 24 hours

DC & NV: 36 hours

WI: 36 hours

HI & UT: 80 hours

Super Tuesday (CA, CT, GA, MD, MA, MN, NY, OH, RI, VT) 80 hours

FL, LA, MS & TX: 80 hours

KS: 36 hours

IL: 36 hours

AK & WY: 48 hours

CO: 288 hours

NC: 48 hours

PA: 120 hours

IN: 80 hours

NE & WV: 80 hours

AR & OR: 80 hours

ID & KY: 80 hours

AL & SD: 80 hours

MT & NJ: 80 hours

[Joe Republic]

I'd probably better post an example campaign for those who are stuck.

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1.) I'd like to spend 100 hours fundraising.

For that, I earn a random figure of $516,460.


2.) I'll buy Level 2 campaign organization, for $1,000,000.

3.) My five speeches:

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... you get the idea.


4.) I'll spend 500 hours campaigning in Iowa.

5.) My first ad, for which I'll spend $500,000:

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...but make yours better.

[Josh/Devilman88]

How do you know what views Iowa or any state has on the issues? Are you making it up by how you think they believe or are you using a website?

Also do you have to use money to make a speech?

[Joe Republic]

How do you know what views Iowa or any state has on the issues? Are you making it up by how you think they believe or are you using a website?

I'm using a combination of research (of which I haven't yet finished), and a portion of instinct.  Mostly the former, though.

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No, just two hours per speech.

[Josh/Devilman88]

How do you know what views Iowa or any state has on the issues? Are you making it up by how you think they believe or are you using a website?

I'm using a combination of research (of which I haven't yet finished), and a portion of instinct.  Mostly the former, though.

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No, just two hours per speech.

OK, Thanks.

[bullmoose88]

Any preliminary polls etc?

Ie...matchup polls or which candidate do you think is best on issue x,y,z polls?