President Forever results thread...

[Maxwell]

Mitch Daniels/Susana Martinez - 375 EC, 54.3% - 69,402,013
Barack Obama/Joe Biden - 159, 44.7% - 57,096,866

Closer to the end, my lead started to fade, but then I did some nationwide advertising, and a scandal came up, so I managed to pull my lead back and then some. Middle of the way I was campaigning in Rhode Island!

Obama won New Jersey by 2,000 votes, I won Oregon and Nevada by 2%.

[Maxwell]

Colin Powell/Rudy Giuliani -- 287 EVs, 54.2%
Howard Dean/Wesley Clark -- 251 EVs, 45.8%

There was a stark possibility I could've won the Electoral vote while losing massively the popular vote, mainly because Powel's margins in the non-swing states were in the 60s or better usually. I put too much focus on the Carolinas, Georgia, and Arkansas, which I lost each by about 1-4 points. I think it was okay considering I started way behind and I lost all three debates, triumphantly (though Clark won the VP debates).

[Maxwell]

Senator Bob Graham of Florida -- 1780 Delegates, 44.6%
Governor Howard Dean of Vermont -- 1087 Delegates, 34.4%
Senator John Edwards of North Carolina -- 586, 21%

[Maxwell]

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton/Former Governor Brian Schweitzer - 49.4%, 463 EVs
Senator Marco Rubio/Former Governor Jeb Bush - 31.5%, 75 EVs
Mayor Michael Bloomberg/Reality TV Host Donald Trump - 19.1%, 0 EVs

Basically, Rubio won the nomination in a gigantic fight with Bobby Jindal, who did not endorse him after winning a huge amount of later states. As Bloomberg, I put footsoliders everywhere and anywhere I could, particularly in states where my percentages were going up (California, Colorado, Rust Belt, and, shockingly enough, Alabama and Mississippi.) I did not win a single state, though I came within five points of Alabama.

Top 5 Best Bloomberg Results:

Alabama:
Rubio/Bush - 40.3%
Bloomberg/Trump - 35.6%
Clinton/Schweitzer - 24.1%

Alaska:
Rubio/Bush - 43.2%
Bloomberg/Trump - 29%
Clinton/Schweitzer - 27.8%

Colorado:
Clinton/Schweitzer - 42.7%
Rubio/Bush - 29.3%
Bloomberg/Trump - 28%

California:
Clinton/Schweitzer - 50%
Bloomberg/Trump - 27.4%
Rubio/Bush - 22.6%

Iowa:
Clinton/Schweitzer - 45.9%
Rubio/Bush - 28.1%
Bloomberg/Trump - 26%

Bottom 5 Worst Bloomberg Performances:

Tennessee - 6.1% Bloomberg
Indiana - 6.5% Bloomberg
Oklahoma - 7.6% Bloomberg
Utah - 9.5% Bloomberg
Vermont - 9.6% Bloomberg

1st Place in 0 States
2nd Place in 4 States
3rd Place in 46 States

[Maxwell]

I closed to quickly, but I won as Bloomberg finally. I did not get most of the state percentages, but I did remember what I got overall. Until two weeks before, I was only leading in Rhode Island.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I-NY)/Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) - 41%, 355 EV's
Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN)/Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) - 32%, 110 EV's
Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC)/Mike Beebe (D-AR) - 27%, 73 EV's

[Maxwell]

I feel like I'm running the thread amok, but...

1996, Bill Weld becomes the Republican nominee after months and months of building momentum in early states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Delaware, and the Dakotas, and managed to sweep the entire nation, with Dole only taking the most anti-Weld states of Oklahoma, Texas, Alaska, and his home state of Kansas and McCain taking Hawaii. Once he officially became the nominee, Weld picked Richard Lugar, revered Senator of Indiana, to be his Vice Presidential candidate. From the end of the conventions, Weld possessed an immense, unbeatable lead, and in spite of tons of scandals and negative ads on both sides, Weld won with a victory many thought would be hard considering the economy turning around.

Governor Bill Weld (R-MA)/Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) - 52%, 506 EV's
President William J. Clinton (D-AR)/House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) - 39%, 32 EV's
Businessman Ross Perot (R-TX)/Former Congressman Ed Zschau (R-CA) - 8%, 0 EV's
Activist Ralph Nader (G-CT)/Enviormentalist Winona LaDuke (G-CA)

[Maxwell]

Has anyone managed to win the nomination as Graham in 04? I've been trying recently and I can't.

I did, barely. You have to focus on New Hampshire and Suth Carolina. That'll give him momentum going forward. You also have to raise as much money as you can so you can run tons of ads getting his message out.

Yeah Graham is hard but I've done it too. After sweeping Super Tuesday, Dean and Edwards started catching up to me, so I made Dean my VP to stop the bleeding.

[Maxwell]

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) - 1652 Delegates, 49.3% in last poll
Governor Ann Richards (D-TX) - 1136 Delegates, 31.5% in last poll
Senator Sam Nunn (D-GE) - 619 Delegates, 19.1% in last poll

Throughout the early primaries, the race was between Ann Richards and Al Gore. However, Ann Richards took Alaska fairly easy and Nunn got second in Iowa over Gore, so he pretty soon became fairly irrelevant. Biden got fourth in Iowa, but a very strong 17% back when all the candidates were included, so his New Hampshire numbers were solidified and he won New Hampshire fairly solidly. From there, Biden managed to build momentum with close loses in The Dakotas and South Carolina and big wins on Mini-Tuesday. Eliminated Gore with a win in Tennessee and eliminated Jesse Jackson with an upset in D.C., and from there Richards held on and Nunn did too to try to stop Biden's nomination.

[Maxwell]

President Ross Perot (F-TX)/Senator John McCain (R-AZ) - 36.6%, 335 EV's
Governor Pete Wilson (R-CA)/Congressman Jack Kemp (R-NY) - 37.4%, 200 EV's
Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN)/Senator Daniel P. Monyihan (D-NY) - 26.0%, 3 EV's

I played as Pete Wilson, who after New Hampshire, cruised through the primaries. Through most of the election, Wilson seemed to cruise through the general, but Perot had a strong late showing, with Jerry Brown speaking in favor of him in the news and such, giving him the late boost that he needed. Wellstone's campaign completely fell off the radar after the first two weeks of the general election campaign. In retrospect, maybe I should've had a campaign alliance with the Wellstone campaign earlier, as to hold Perot back for those final couple of weeks.

[Maxwell]

What moron put John McCain as a possible running mate for Perot?  They have pretty much completely opposite ideologies and what's more hate each other (because of the Vietnam POW issue).

The list for Perot running mates is pretty damn ridiculous, I agree, just decided McCain would be a fun one.

[Maxwell]

1976: The Year of Jerry Brown

Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA)/Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN) - 51.9%, 431 EV's
Former Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) - 45.8%, 108 EV's
Former Senator Eugene McCarthy (I-MN)/Bunch of Other People (I-Oth) - 2.3%, 0 EV's

One of the funner and stranger maps I've seen. Reagan pulled a lot of generic Republican states for the time, but he also managed to pull some great states that Republicans don't usually win. I played as Jerry Brown, who started in a tie but led for most of the race, but with McCarthy siding with Reagan, there was a bunch of scandals toward the end and Reagan started to pull up in the numbers. I wanted to test to see how McCarthy dropping out and endorsing Reagan would look, and here's that map...

Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA)/Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN) - 51.9%, 310 EV's
Former Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) - 48.1%, 228 EV's

It's clear that McCarthy, who attacked Brown way more than he attacked Reagan, was actually a harm to the Reagan campaign.

[Maxwell]

30% Green - Nader 0-10%
40% Green - Nader 10-20%
50% Green - Nader 20-30%
60% Green - Nader 30% ->

I played as Ralph Nader in 2000, and won 7.2% of the Popular vote and no electors. However, here are top 10 the best Nader States...

D.C. - 55% Gore, 32% Nader, 13% McCain
Utah - 48% McCain, 26% Nader, 20% Gore
Vermont - 44% Gore, 28% McCain, 26% Nader
Montana - 46% McCain, 29% Gore, 21% Nader
Colorado - 39% Gore, 39% McCain, 20% Nader
Alaska - 48% McCain, 24% Gore, 18% Nader, 10% Buchanan
Massachusetts - 49% Gore, 33% McCain, 17% Nader
Hawaii - 48% Gore, 32% McCain, 16% Nader
Maine - 47% Gore, 37% McCain, 15% Nader
Connecticut - 53% Gore, 32% McCain, 14% Nader

Overall...

Vice President Al Gore (D-TN)/Senator John Kerry (D-MA) - 49%, 388 EV's
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)/Businessman Steve Forbes (R-NJ) - 42%, 150 EV's
Activist Ralph Nader (G-CT)/Activist Winona LaDuke (G-CA) - 7%, 0 EV's
Columnist Pat Buchanan (R-VA)/Activist Ezolza Foster (R-CA) - 2%, 0 EV's

[Maxwell]

Governor William Weld (R-MA)/ Governor Carrol Campbell Jr. (R-SC) - 47.7%, 367 EV's
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)/Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) - 47.1%, 171 EV's
Governor Dick Lamm (Ref-CO)/Congressman Ed Zschau (Ref-CA) - 4.3%, 0 EV's
Others - 1%, 0 EV's

Decided to play just the final round, and the whole game I trailed Chris Dodd, though the momentum was clearly on my side. I played heavy for swing states and my number of states grew. Strangely, my strongest state was California, where I had gained a lead in the last week of the campaign. Not sure how I lost Oklahoma, though. Most states were within a point or two, so things got really tricky with some of the calling.

[Maxwell]

1984: The Rise of Ernest Hollings

Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC)/Senator John Glenn (D-OH) - 46.4%, 290 EV's
President Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/Vice President George H.W. Bush (R-TX) - 48.5%, 248 EV's
Former Congressman John Anderson (I-IL)/Former Governor Pat Lucey (I-WI) - 5%, 0 EV's

Won every state in the toss-up and then some after a level 9 scandal hit Ronald Reagan in the last week.

[Maxwell]

1996: Senator Biden crushes President Perot, Governor Campbell

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE)/Governor Ann Richards (D-TX) - 47%, 527 EV's
President Ross Perot (F-TX)/Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA) -  31%, 11 EV's
Governor Carrol Campbell (R-SC)/Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) - 22%, 0 EV's

Winning the nomination was the hardest part. I didn't win any primaries til a double sweep of Michigan and Ohio. After that, I put all my resources into winning Pennsylvania, and from there I won every state after North Carolina. My momentum allowed delegates from Wellstone and Gore to shift to me over Richards. In good will (and cause I wanted to win Texas), I put Richards, the second runner-up, as VP. 'I was surprised my strategy worked. After that, Biden led most of the way, with Perot having varying levels of momentum. Ultimately, Perot's momentum was too little, too late, and Perot only held the last three of the swing states.

A Giant Sucking Sound might be the funnest simulation.

[Maxwell]

General Wesley Clark of Illinois/Senator Bob Graham of Florida - 53.4%, 450 EV's
President George W. Bush of Texas/Vice President Dick Cheney of Wyoming - 44.6%, 88 EV's
Others - 2.1%, 0 EV's

Wesley Clark, after ending the primaries and tying Bush, surged throughout the campaign to the top of the polls. The last couple of weeks, Clark led Bush by 8 points, heading into toss-ups of Kenucky, South Dakota, South Carolina, Lousiana. Clark won all swing states, and came close to a couple of state that Clark trailed by 10 in the day before (Oklahoma, Montana, Kansas).

I have to say, this is one of the more logical maps I've seen in a while.

[Maxwell]

Bruce Babbitt crushes Bush, edges out Jackson in the primary

Former Governor Bruce Babbitt (D-AZ)/Governor Mario Cuomo (D-NY) - 47.8%, 437 EV's
Vice President George H.W. Bush (R-TX)/Senator Paul Laxalt (R-NV) - 44.1%, 101 EV's
Former Congressman Ron Paul (L-TX)/Activist Russell Means (L-SD) - 4.4%, 0 EV's
Psychologist Lenora Fulani (N-NY)/Life Coach Joyce Dattner (N-CA) - 3.7%, 0 EV's

It goes from one of the most sensible maps to one of the least sensible... Oh well. Babbitt wins most of his states by narrow single digits, and I swear I wasn't going to win Missouri, North Dakota, Nevada, or Delaware if you had asked me before those results really came in. Running on a platform of Leadership, Iran Contra, and attack George H.W. Bush on taxes, I started behind by nearly 10 due to a bruising primary between Jesse Jackson and myself (I won Iowa, he won New Hampshire, ect.) but managed to rise due to some high level ads and some Bush scandals. Plus, Cuomo was probably a much better pick for me than Laxalt was for Bush.

[Maxwell]

That's the best result I've ever seen

[Maxwell]

1976: This map be trippin

Senator Charles Mathias (R-MD)/Senator Richard Schweiker (R-PA) - 49.2%, 398 EV's
Governor George Wallace (D-AL)/Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) - 48.5%, 141 EV's
Former Senator Eugene McCarthy (I-MN)/Peoples - 2.3%, 0 EV's

I went with Leftist Republican v. Right-Wing Democrat. Fun map, I have to say. I managed my funds fairly poorly and ended up with around $500,000 left for the campaign with still two weeks left to go. Led in the polls by 3 points, but despite winning most swing states, the race turned out to be neck and neck in the popular vote (cuz I won states like New York and California by less than a percent).

This is, of course, picking just for the general: Even at my best, I couldn't win Mathias the nomination (though I was very close at one point, barely being edged out by Gerald Ford after he won Texas in the final round by surprise. He had more delegates, but Mathias won by almost 9 points.)

[Maxwell]

Did you edit Mathias in yourself or did he come with the scenario you are playing?

I edited in Mathias.

[Maxwell]

In what was a really boring yet shocking game, I played as Ray Kelly and walloped the Republican primary against John Catismatidis, Pearson, and Golden with 80% of the vote (because i pillared the primary with ads and still had tons of money left over). By the time I was through, I was making changes to the Democratic Primary, and got Christine Quinn, the candidate I wanted to face against. I was leading by 5 by the time it got to the general, when I had started off behind by nearly 30. Then, I did the same thing: showered New Yorkers with ads, attacking Quinn's views on same sex marriage, while talking about the enviorment and leadership, and ended up winning every single borough except for South east Brooklyn (she won by 200 votes).

[Maxwell]

wow that sounds like a great game. Bravo.

[Maxwell]

1996: President Pat Buchanan?

Columnist Pat Buchanan (R-VA)/General Norman Schwartzkopf (R-NJ) - 36.6%, 375 EV's
Governor Ann Richards (D-TX)/Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) - 33.0%, 144 EV's
President Ross Perot (F-TX)/General Colin Powell (R-NY) - 30.4%, 19 EV's

Pat Buchanan forced the GOP to shape up and fly right after his stronger than expected performance in New Hampshire in 1992. Now, he has a much stronger operation and pushes for the GOP nomination again, beating California Governor Pete Wilson, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Senator Phil Gramm, and many many others, probably due to the clustered look of the primary. Besides South Carolina, Buchanan never won a primary with beyond 35% of the vote, showing that voters were not happy with Buchanan. As the field widdled down, even with Buchanan having all delegates, Schwarzkopf began winning primaries. Therefore, Buchanan picked Schwarzkopf for the ticket to end the battle, and soon afterwards, Dick Lugar and Gramm dropped out.

The general had a surprising outcome. For most of the initial campaign, momentum was on Buchanan's side, and he grew his numbers continually until the point where Buchanan had 414 Electorals locked. However, Richards started to gain support and so did Perot (after dipping below 25% at one point), and the race became more competitive. However, too little too late, Buchanan managed a surprising blow out win amongst the electoral college.

[Maxwell]

wow way to go Tom Tancredo! Getting over 40%.

[Maxwell]

2012

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN)/Governor Susana Martinez (R-NM) - 482 (60.5%)
President Barack Obama (D-IL)/Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) - 56 (39.5%)

Why didn't you just go full throttle and pick Allen West for VP or something. I forget, is he an option in 2012?