Vols21

I hate that debates have become gotcha interviews where only one candidate is supposed to answer. The moderators kept telling them to quit talking so they could answer more questions. I was thinking: how about less questions and more answers?! I’d much rather let everyone have a minute to answer a broad question than asking someone about something from 13 years ago and get mad when others want to weigh in on important topics and even try to answer someone else’s questions from 3 or 4 back rather than talk about the “gotcha” posed to them. ita a debate so let them give their opinions on every topic (then the ND Gov isn’t having to try to get a word in by talking over others)

Interesting discussion. First thing I thought about as I read over it, was if the Great Depression triggered with a Democrat in office as President, the state biases would still swing blue. They are hard coded to real history, and our alternate time line seems to have little impact on them. As written, if FDR was President when the Great Depression hits, then Hoover comes in after for the recovery, FDR’s party would still get all the election bonuses for the era because that’s how it happened in real life. the danger in going too far the other way is you could have politicians acting out of character (Southern Democrats trying to end slavery instead of Abe Lincoln just to swing some state biases in their direction). I like the concept of the people staying In character (with strong penalties for a human going against that) but states and election variables being more fluid based on how the game is playing out (with new wars, economic events, etc that could influence them)

ok, I only have 1 drafted for 1772. So put Thomas Miffin on the Gov track if I am able to include 1768 (and if not, never mind) then Nathanial Greene to military Francis Dana to Admin Thomas Fitzsimmons to back room Gunning Bedford to Leg, John Sullivan = private sector and I noticed I have John Adams, but he has 0 command. Is that an oversight or a glitch?

Did I only get 1 guy drafted? And everyone else more than 5? How did that happen

New Hampshire primary election results NBC News stayed with the drama as it unfolded and the votes were counted. Senator Byrd had an early lead in the rural areas, but it dissipated when votes from Concord and Manchester came in, At the end of the night the winner was announced: Gov. Earl Long of Louisianna who will tally 4 delegates Sen. Byrd was a close second and brings in 2 delegates. Gov. Pat Brown (CA) and George Smathers (FL) both were able to score 1 delegate each. Others receiving votes in order were James Farley (NY), Robert Kerr (OK), and the darling of the debates Wayne Hayes finished a distant last. Spin doctors from the Byrd camp quickly went into action commending Byrd's strong showing in this liberal state which is in the backyard of rival Speaker Tip O'Neill who endorsed Long. The fact we still almost won speaks volumes to widespread support for Senator Byrd's policies and actions.

NH Primary - early returns The primary to see who would Congressman Chester Merrow (R) was handily won by John W. King, a protege of Senator Byrd which has his camp excited. For Governor: Hugh Gallen emerges as the winner and will face incumbent Hugh Gregg (r) in November. next the Presidential results for New Hampshire's 8 delegates and stake some early momentum.

The first primary state is New Hampshire. Senator Byrd comes in as the front-runner. The early polls give him the edge. But then we come to the big debates: as the front-runner, Byrd took a lot of pot shots from the other candidates. Congressman Hayes of Ohio was scoring points early as he attacked his fellow Buckeye, President Bricker. Then former Gov. Brown got the line of the night when he said that Senator Byrd might very well be "Bricker on steroids". "We don't need someone to the right of Bricker's extreme views, we need someone with a heart and someone who will fight for what is right". Smathers did a good job of sounding Presidential while not taking a definite stand on some key issues. Farley waxed poetic about the New Deal and how we need to expand it - exactly what he entered the race to do. Gov Long seemed to coast along, until OK Senator Kerr sparred with him over his handing of some civil rights riots in New Orleans. Long countered and held his own. Senator Byrd tried to punch back after the many attacks on him, but he seemed to stumble along after Pat Brown's comparing him to Bricker. The papers the next day called Hayes and Brown the winners of the debate and it was no surprise when they said that Byrd was the clear loser and will need to do more to sell himself and distance himself from comparisons to the President, The election is 2 days away, so we will find out how much if any damage was done by the debates and how much it might help underdogs like Hayes and Brown. A snap poll taken by NBC after the debate showed the race has tightened, but Byrd still has a slight lead.

sounds like you're in the same boat I am. I came in with 2 Gov's and no one in Congress. 1 of the Gov's lost a squeaker, so I guess if the other dies in office my faction will be totally left in the cold (at a time when the party seems to win everything).

In addition to the random card, certain events could trigger an assassination attempt roll (after a Civil War, if domestic stability falls below a certain level, etc). and also certain eras, there were prevalent (such as the 60's), so maybe for those time periods there could be an added event check during the early primaries / prior to the convention to see is there was an assassination attempt on one of the candidates (like we have with the scandal roll now, but just do it once). could also see Hale vs Frail having an impact on the success of the attempt (someone with Hale much more likely to survive and maybe even the attempt was thwarted, whereas Frail would be more likely to end in death or severe wounding that might force them out of politics for now so they can recover). I like the idea of more probability toward non-obscure statesmen. Along those lines, could be something like 40% President, 30% Gov, 20% Senator, 10% Rep.

NH (5j and RI (3) will cast votes for President Bartram and Richard Adams. question: Wythe does not show having any command? Is that still a prerequisite for VP?

at what point do we have a Constitutional Convention to address such things? or was that done prior to the reboot?

looked like I had only 3 guys not on a career path, so I ran them all for something and made sure the 3 listed on my sheet as Governors were tagged for re-election. (one I'm not sure actually was unless he was chosen as a replacement for the MA guy who died, but Bourne had Gov listed under current office - so I put him in the MA Gov race either way)

option 1 of pre-entering the incumbents works well. then if someone plans to not run (maybe they intend for their Rep to run for Gov. (or Senate in later years) or they are term limited, they could notify you so it could be marked as an "open seat"

I can help if you need

note: 2 of the 5 faction leaders entered the race. the reason for the other 3 not entering: LBJ - wished to focus on the Senate where he feels he can do more good. He deferred to the current Party leader JFK - lost to Bricker badly in the last election and wasn't up to a rematch Tip O - doesn't have any Command points. for the minor candidates, I filtered each faction by command and age requirement. Then I used a random # generator for the number of qualified candidates plus 3 (if the random # was in the +3 range, that meant that faction would not enter a minor candidate, so it left a small chance for that to happen). Once each random candidate was chosen, I tried to think of a logical reason why they would be running (for storyline purposes - the game doesn't care as we saw with a Hollywood actor running last time even though he had shown no interest in politics until then). As I read about them, it was interesting to note that Smathers was twice elected as the Florida "favorite son" so we get to see if his streak continues in the game election. I thought it turned out an interesting mix of candidates for the primaries, but curious to other opinions and predictions.

The Democratic Primary became crowded as several candidates threw their hats into the ring. The early front-runner is the Leader of the Party, Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia. The 75 year old wants to build on his recent Legislative successes and throwing all his energy into capturing the White House. HIs main rival according to the national press will be former Gov. Earl Long of Louisianna. The 65 year old "Man of the People" is the leader of the left wing faction of the party and a polar opposite the Traditionalist Byrd. We see them clashing often on the issues. Other candidates to watch: Former Governor Pat Brown of California. Liberal rising star in the party despite his setback in the last California state election. He hopes to capture some delegates on the west coast to help Gov. Long's cause (same faction). Senator Robert Kerr of Oklahoma is the Conservative candidate. He is seen as an ally of Byrd's (same faction) and could be a buffer in the Midwest where Gov Long could have some reach due to proximity. Wayne Hayes - Congressman from Ohio (the President's home state - which he hopes to exploit by pointing out some flaws of his fellow Buckeye). At 51, the moderate from JFK's faction is looking to be a consensus builder with voters discouraged by the extreme views of the 2 frontrunners. Senator George Smathers of Florida. The 49 year old Moderate is the youngest candidate in the race. He entered with the encouragement of close friend, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. It will be interesting to see if he can capture the delegates of his home state against the 2 front-runners, but those could be pivotal in a close race. lastly, is a man endorsed by Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill who wanted a strong liberal voice to bring the party back to the left and the policies of FDR. Some wanted Senator Jackson from Washington to run, but Tip knew he needed an icon to rally the people behind. He went no further than the "Father of the New Deal" and man who orchestrated Roosevelt's rise to power: James Farley of New York. At 79, he is the oldest candidate and a true longshot, but his job is remind Democratic voters about the importance of the New Deal and try to peel away support from Byrd whose efforts helped "undermine Social Security" when he passed a law to privatize it. Can Farley gain some traction in the northeast and New England states (where our first primary of New Hampshire will be held)? A lot of eyes are on some of these "secondary" candidates to see if they can rise up in the polls, maybe win some states, and if their performance on the campaign trail might enhance their chances at the VP slot if they are unsuccessful in winning the nomination.

update: next step is the elections. I'm working on the sheet to add all the states for the Presidential primaries. one thing I'm going to do differently is run the Congressional primary concurrent with each state's presidential primary (rather than running during the general election). for one, we will get to see the main election and 2) give more importance on key primaries (or upsets where incumbent gets defeated) - plus I think it will be easier to keep up with and report on. that said, I have used a randomizer to select minor candidates for the President's race after going thru each faction leader to determine if they wanted to run as a major candidate. I'll write up each candidate when I get time. Shaping up to be an interesting race

Foreign Policy The following Ambassadors were sent to increase Trade Relations Dean Rusk (4) to UK - success Clark Clifford (3) to France - not successful Henry Kissinger (5) to Germany - success Arthur Goldberg was sent to Israel to offer a loan and came close to bungling the negations. not successful These Ambassadors had the daunting task of improving diplomatic relations William Rogers (4) with Spain -- successful! -- improves to 7 Thomas Pickering (3) with Russian - successful! improves to 6 Dean Acheson (4) to Japan - successful - improves to 8 Frankling Roosevelt Jr (3) with China - not successful (came ever so close, 27, needed 25) All in all, very good term for Foreign Relations. With his high level summit, and nuclear weapon treaties, plus the work of his Ambassadors and Sec. State, President Bricker has taken us from the brink of war with Russia and animosity with China to near friendly relations with both. We have a strong alliance with England, France, Germany, Israel, and friendly terms with Japan and Spain. The Cold War has thawed some, but it might not take much to put it back in the deep freeze with a misstep or 2 on the Interational stage.

Appointments to federal circuit courts President gets to fill some vacancies (1 per faction in his party, all selected by a random roll) Trad: "former Congressman" Dick Poff from Virginia (real life VA Supreme court) Conservatives: Former State AG and current LT Gov from SD, Joe Bottum (real life - appointed to SD Circuit court in 1965. so not far off) Center: Jesse Udall - AZ Supreme court (current and real life which he was until 1972) -- his Judicial moves from 2 to 3. Center-Left: John Paul Stephens from Illinois - former Supreme Court law clerk, and currently is a leading antitrust litigator. (in real life Nixon appoints him to Court of Appeals in 1970 and later reaches the Supreme Court - this random appointment in the game sets him up for that)> Judicial rises from 3 to 4!! Liberal: Herbert Brownell - at the urging of Gov. Rockefeller, Ike's former Attorney General from NY gets the nod (in real life, he was considered by Nixon to replace Warren when he retired, but Brownell declined) this feature really helps out in the game as most of these guys were not going to do much else (3 with Jud ratings of 1, which got bumped to a 2 - which won't help them much) and it sets up 2 of them for possible appointments to the Supreme Court in later years. Of course they won't be doing anything in these new roles, but it gives them something interesting to do within the game (and increase their statesman rating a little bit) For storyline purposes, it allowed me to show some power that Rockefeller wields in NY and maybe adds to my in-game "feud" in Illinois between Gov. Stratton and members of the President's faction - as Stephens is not part of Stratton's faction and was not his first choice for the bench.

Senator Harry Byrd and Jesse Helms celebrated their legislative achievements. They laughed that they may have given Tip the gavel to appeal to his ego, but they kept all the power to themselves. They conferred with other power brokers like LBJ and JFK, thanking them for their support on most issues. They all agreed that if the far left factions could have just moderated their positions a little, they could enjoying this bounty of wealth too. The topic of conversation drifted to whether Kennedy had any desires to run for President again. Many in the room wondered if Senator Byrd might also have higher aspirations after working with Johnson and Helms to score such a great success. No one wanted to show their cards just yet. Meanwhile, the crafty Speaker met with confidants to plot strategy for the 1964 elections. Tip said he would personally campaign all across the northeast and upper Midwest to ensure more liberal candidates are elected. "We need to replace these middle of the road guys with Democrats more in line with our way of thinking and only then can we push back on this conservative agenda and control Congress. Plus we need to rally behind a strong, more Liberal candidate for President this time. No more elitist "Kennedy or Reagan dream tickets" we need a man of the people to lead our charge. Now just who will this man be?"

Faction gains after President Bricker signed all these into law Red Team Will - Traditionalist: 2700 Vols - Conservative: 2350 Tyler - Moderate: 1650 Lars - Center-Left 1100 Orange - Liberal -100 Blue Team Brad - Southern Traditionalists: 5100 Short King: Center-Right: 1750 Murman: Moderate: 550 PMan: Liberal -150 MarkW Progressive, far left: -950 Leader of the Democratic party, Senator Byrd scored major points for his Southern hard-liners. These folks love what the Democrats are doing for them in Congress. Meanwhile, the liberals are not so happy and looking for changes (+2 red) a lot of the point gains came from the Farm Subsidy bill - since it gives 100 pts to every Gov, Senator, and Rep from states where agriculture is king. Those points made half of some faction totals, and turned a few negatives into positives.

Legislation part 2 the more contested proposals as it came down to Helms vs Tip in the house and Senator Byrd the leader of the Democratic party in full support of Helms and the conservative positions. Tip relied on statehood friends like John Kennedy who still wasn't too happy that Tip did not support his run for President in 1960 (siding and riding the roads with Humphrey instead). 1) Ban Requirement for Union Dues: 358-89 and 65-35 it passes and Tip sulks 2) Ban the Black Panthers and other militant groups: passes 304-143 and 56-46 3) DC Statehood - Tip sees it as a chance to increase his influence. It gets voted down in House: 143 to 304 4) Ban Lynching Nationwide - some hot debates here. But it also fails in the house 159-278 5) Abolish metaliic currencies - voted down 169-278 6) Privatize Social Security - a real hot button President Bricker called Congressman Howard Buffet and his son Warren to help with the details (Buffet's assistance came at a cost). After much debate and arm twisting - the bill passes the House 278-169 and passes the Senate 65-35. Byrd and Helms are all smiles 7) Farm subsidies: Buffet got President Bricker's support and promise not the veto the bill to help farmers all over the country It passes 281-156 and 67-33 #8) Tax Producers of farm equipment -- to help pay for the subsidies. It also passes by the same margins. 9) Limit Child Labor in factories: what a floor fight!! alliances forged in earlier battles fell apart here in the House, it looked like Tip Oneill would score a big win, but then GA Representative Carl Vinson rallied his side with his debate and then Minority Leader Charles Halleck took to the floor with fiery words that turned the tide just enough. Final Vote: 218 in favor - -219 opposed. The proposal to limit child labor fails. 😎

Legislation some of the proposals were slam dunks and others more contested. Here are the easy ones: Make Columbus Day a federal holiday - passed with no opposition (my, how times have changed) as did the bill to fill vacancies for federal judges. Grant funding to local police departments: passed house 358-89 and Senate 78-22 Create Committee to establish nationwide primaries passed both by the same numbers (wide spread support after the craziness in the Republican convention in 1960. Federal criminalization of Marijuana - passed 335-32 and 78-22 Subsidize facilities and research for Mental Health passed 317 to 130 and 67-33 Ban Requirements for Union Dues passed 358 to 89 and 65-35 a handful of items never made it to the floor for a vote and were killed in committee: Ban unfair labor practices including strikes (seen as a victory for Speaker Tip) immigration reform - 3 proposals failed to garner any support

Since that meeting with Helms did not go as planned. Tip barks at his secretary to call China right away - "I don't care what time it is there. Get me Ambassador Roosevelt on the phone!!" While he waits, he opens up a care package that he received earlier today from an old friend in Minnesota. mmmmm fresh cheeses.

do Amendments require a 2/3 vote? or are the rules different in this timeline?