May I suggest another inspiration?Taking a bit of a tangent from doing more states in my US State Soccer Leagues universe to do a quick box on the first American Championship. It's been mentioned once of twice in some of the state boxes, but I've slowly been working out how I want the format to be and thought a look at the early days would be fun. A lot of the inspiration for this early format came from a mixture of the European Cup Winners' Cup, the NCAA basketball tournament, and the National Challenge Cup.
Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes VII (Do Not Post Current Politics or Political Figures Here)
- Thread starter BigVic
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This American Century-Part 2
McCain’s second term would end up going far less well than his first. The wars were the first front in his administration’s decline. The insurgencies in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan kept the U.S. bogged down and prevented the rapid declaration of victory. The war in Iran proved an even bigger disaster, with the death toll rapidly eclipsing all three of the other major Middle Eastern wars combined. In April of 2005, McCain announced the resumption of the draft to mass protests. Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out a brutal insurgency not only in Iran but beyond. Members of the IRGC massacred American embassy staff in Damascus, caused a massive spike in gas prices by destroying a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and even assassinated General David Petraeus in 2007. It is little wonder that the Iran War thus quickly became the most controversial theater of the War on Terror. Protests against the war occurred on a regular basis, often leading to clashes with law enforcement. The NYPD infamously shot and killed 7 antiwar protestors during an antiwar rally in Madison Square Garden in 2007, an event which many have credited with being the political downfall of Mayor Hillary Clinton who was accused of obstructing accountability for the officers involved. The National Union Party was also criticized for lackluster domestic policy, having a poor response to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, being accused of picking repeated media fights with media critics like Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow and Tucker Carlson and pursuing policies of media censorship that many held violated the First Amendment. Right-wingers balked at the McCain administration’s support for immigration reform, gun control measures, and environmental protections while the left took umbrage at their opposition to same-sex marriage, pro-corporate and anti-union economic policies and harsh ‘law and order’ policies.
The National Union Party was weakened, but not defeated going into the 2008 election cycle. While many Republican and Democratic officeholders no longer associated with the National Union Party, a majority of both the House and Senate remained affiliated with the party even as they maintained official Democratic or Republican registration. The Coalition for the Constitution controlled 193 seats in the House after the 2006 midterm elections while their Senate presence numbered at 29. The majority of anti-National Union figures were Democrats, which was likely a factor in the events of the 2008 primary cycle. The National Union Party itself had a clear heir apparent: Vice President Lieberman, the handpicked choice of President McCain and a staunch ally of the administration. Lieberman, like McCain, sought to run in both parties’ primaries. However, he would not go unchallenged in either. On the Democratic side, antiwar activists convinced one of their earliest Congressional allies to enter the race: California Representative Barbara Lee. Lee, a progressive Democrat, ran on ending the wars, but beyond that against the legacy of Bill Clinton. Lee promised sweeping reforms–a carbon tax, universal healthcare, a minimum wage increase, student loan forgiveness and even an end to the War on Drugs. Lee was thus the favorite of many activists within the Democratic Party. As Lieberman was himself a Democrat, many more moderate Democrats sat out the race, leaving it a Lieberman vs. Lee contest on that side. The Republican Party, meanwhile, was more crowded. While McCain’s endorsement certainly boosted Lieberman, Lieberman’s more liberal tendencies and accusations he was pushing McCain left against his own instincts meant many Republicans were willing to challenge him. In the end, three would prove somewhat viable–Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, Tennessee Senator Jimmy Duncan and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Notably, two of the three also ran on a platform of ending the Iran War–Hagel and Duncan both were considered fairly dovish, while Bush simply challenged Lieberman as being too socially liberal.
In the course of the campaign, Lieberman was on a very defensive footing. He struggled to balance between the two parties and with the administration’s popularity waning, he faced challenges. Lieberman only succeeded in winning the National Union Party primary in Iowa–it went to Hagel in the Republican field and, in an upset, Lee managed to win there in the Democratic caucus. A victory in all three contests in New Hampshire was blunted by Lee winning Nevada and Duncan taking South Carolina. By Super Tuesday, many thought Lieberman would blow it–but then the results came in. On the Republican side, vote-splitting allowed Lieberman multiple wins he otherwise wouldn’t have been able to gain. Meanwhile, his performance on the Democratic side was worse, but survivable for Lieberman. In the end, after much back and forth, Lieberman managed to win the National Union and Republican nominations, but the Democratic nomination was to be decided by a brokered convention. The DNC’s superdelegates faced a difficult choice–on one hand, Lee had a majority of the popular vote. However, nominating Lee was a big risk. Lieberman had already secured the NUP and Republican nomination and given Lee was a woman, African-American and rather progressive, many Democratic leaders feared she would be quite likely to go down in defeat. In the end, the DNC handed the nomination to Lieberman, retaining the National Union Party coalition over mass protests–the 2008 DNC ended in a riot that, while thankfully less catastrophic than the one in Chicago 40 years prior, left the party embarrassed and millions of Lee voters incensed. To double down on keeping Republicans in his corner, Lieberman selected Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to be his running mate.
There were alternatives to Lieberman mobilizing, fortunately for the disaffected. Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura had announced an independent campaign and sought to rebuild Paul’s party coalition for the 2008 cycle. Ventura was able to bring together the Green, Libertarian and Reform Parties together once more, bolstered by his choice of fellow idiosyncratic antiwar politician Mike Gravel, former Senator from Alaska, as his running mate. Ventura/Gravel could not, however, bring the Constitution Party into the fold. The Constitution Party saw an opening by winning disaffected Duncan supporters and initially offered the Senator himself their nomination. When Duncan declined, they turned next to Judge Roy Moore, who accepted. Moore earned a few other right-wing parties’ support–notably the Conservative Party of New York, the American Independent Party and the Alaskan Independence Party. His running mate was Representative Virgil Goode. Notably, Moore and Goode had been for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq even while they opposed the Iran War. The Constitution Party thus focused their campaign on extreme social conservatism, nativism and right-wing economics rather than the added antiwar component from supporting Paul 4 years prior. The Socialist Party meanwhile nominated New York activist Howie Hawkins. Hawkins had sought the Green nomination, but lost to Ventura. Undeterred, he ran with the support of the Socialist Party, the Working Families Party, the Working Class Party and the newly-formed People’s Party.
Lieberman was in a far weaker position in 2008 than McCain had been in 2004. The administration’s popularity was already waning by the time the economy dipped into a recession. McCain pursued stimulus measures that passed mainly with the support of National Union Party-affiliated members of Congress, but the economy continued to worsen in the march towards election day. Emboldened Iranian resistance forces continued to attack and kill American forces overseas as protests continued at home. Insurgencies in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan likewise picked up and some pundits and politicians began calling for winding down these wars. Lieberman’s numbers began to fall–by September he was polling at 30% nationwide. With Ventura and Moore at 25% each, Hawkins at 10% and 10% undecided, Lieberman looked vulnerable. The debates seemed to validate this–facing Ventura (mostly running to Lieberman’s left) and Moore (decidedly running to the right), Lieberman struggled. The candidate did not have as much charisma as McCain, was not nearly as high-energy and it was feared by the NUP and Republicans that they may have miscalculated. The second debate and the VP debates went alright for Lieberman’s campaign, but he maintained a slim national lead even if he stopped slipping. It was sheer luck that saved Lieberman–McCain’s administration announced the capture of Osama Bin Laden just days before the final debate. This gave Lieberman a much needed achievement and paved the way for his best debate performance. Lieberman hammered Moore’s inexperience and Ventura’s isolationism as obstacles to ensuring American safety. He touted the capture of Bin Laden as proof that the National Union Party was the best option to keep the nation safe. Moore stumbled in his retort, accusing Lieberman’s ‘cosmopolitan values’ of undermining national security, a remark Lieberman and Ventura denounced as anti-Semitic. Further hurting Moore was a series of sexual misconduct allegations made against him by several women who claimed he had engaged in inappropriate relationships with them when they were teenagers. Moore denied any wrongdoing.
On Election Night, Lieberman’s victory was clear. He won 43% of the popular vote and over 400 electoral votes. His closest competition was Jesse Ventura, who won 28% of the popular vote but finished in third in the electoral college. Second place in the electoral college went to Roy Moore. Despite a comparatively dismal 21% in the popular vote, Moore managed to win seven states compared to Ventura’s 3. Howie Hawkins’ Socialists finished in fourth place with 5% of the vote. They won no states, though 1 elector voted for Hawkins in Vermont. Remaining votes largely went to local independent candidates or write-ins for Barbara Lee. The National Union Party took some severe blows, however. The NUP affiliates in the House nearly lost their majority, though they still retained firm control in the Senate. Lieberman took office trying to maintain a balanced cabinet, retaining many McCain cabinet members and adding the former President himself as Secretary of State. Many Democrats in Congress have gotten nervous about impending primary challenges from supporters of Lee and the ‘True Democratic Caucus’ emerging in 2009 from members who endorsed Ventura over Lieberman citing his seizing the Democratic nomination over the will of the majority of Democrats. Led by John Lewis, this caucus indicated plans to grow. They were not the only challenge on the horizon for the NUP. The Tea Party had formed as part of a conservative backlash to the NUP administration and several members were elected as Republicans and one (Tom Tancredo of Colorado) as a Constitution Party member. Many of these Republicans had backed Duncan in the primary and in the general either were neutral or endorsed Moore. Many of the Tea Party members have vowed to dethrone NUP aligned figures like House Speaker Eric Cantor. It is not clear if the NUP can long endure, especially as Lieberman has vowed to see the Iran War through ‘to completion.’
(Note the electoral map does not include the split electoral votes caused by Lieberman winning NE-2 or a Ventura elector in Vermont backing Hawkins.)
Question, do u know the state popular vote totals in each state for 2004 or 2008? I know that would be a daunting task to undertake and I don't assume that you have or haven't. I just want to know the states Moore came closest to winning in 2008 and how much of a swing it would take to throw the election to him (also Paul too in '04).
I don’t have specifics but I can offer some insight for 2008:
Moore was within 5% of winning the following states:
Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Dakota, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee
And within 10% in the following states:
Mississippi, North Carolina, Missouri, Iowa, Montana, Alaska
Moore lost by 12% in Georgia and by 14% in Utah and Texas.
Ventura came within 5% in the following states:
New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon
Ventura came within 10% in the following states:
Washington, Illinois, Alaska
Ventura lost California by 14% , Wisconsin and Michigan by 11% and Massachusetts by 12%.
Besides the above, Ventura beat Moore for second place in DC, New York , Colorado, New Mexico and most of New England and the Midwest while Moore placed second in Arizona, most of the south and Great Plains.
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A note: you could use YAPMS for this — it has a split EVs option.
(Note the electoral map does not include the split electoral votes caused by Lieberman winning NE-2 or a Ventura elector in Vermont backing Hawkins.)
You mentioned Oregon twice for Ventura, within 5% and 12%. So if Moore won those states he came closest in that'd get him to 186 electoral vote but would still leave Lieberman with more than 270 for a narrow victory. However, if Ventura also won his closest states (minus Alaska which goes to Moore) then that'd put him at 146 electoral votes and deny anyone a majority in the electoral college (206 for Lieberman, 186 for Moore, and 146 for Ventura). If that was the outcome of the election how would the contingent election play out? It's mentioned that the NUP has a very narrow majority in the House and since the contingent presidential election is held by state delegations instead of one vote per member could this be enough to deadlock the contingent election for president? Do any other party in the House control a majority of state delegations? If not, could a deal be reached between the candidates? The VP election would be a lot simpler since the Senate is mentioned to be under firm NUP control, so Tim Pawlenty is a shoo-in for the vice presidency and possibly could become Acting President on January 20, 2009 in the case of a continued deadlock in the House of Representatives contingent election for president between Lieberman, Moore, and Ventura.
But more interestingly, if Ventura and Moore did well enough to win the states that they beat out each other for second place in (like DC, NY, CO, NM, MA, CT, RI, and AZ) then that'd put the electoral vote at 217 for Ventura, 196 for Moore, and 125 for Lieberman. And since the NUP Senate can only decide between the top two VP candidates Gravel and Goode I have a good feeling that the NUP and the Coalition of the Constitution would easily vote for Goode to be VP. And then there's the case for the House which is difficult to calculate who would win there. Not much would be different with more states going to Ventura and Moore, unless them doing better indirectly effected the results of several House races, which is unlikely but you never know. Does Moore stand any chance of getting elected in the House given that the Tea Party will be seeking to oust Speaker Eric Cantor in the January 3, 2009 speakership election?
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Jefferson of Kentucky, scion
Of a Welsh and ancient line,
I dedicate undying
Faith to this land of mine.
A president I am, undaunted,
Of Dixie, ever free,
To the president of the Union I've granted
A lifelong disloyalty.
First thing I thought when I saw the flag.
Good job
Ah Shattered Union, a game despite being released during the Bush Presidency is still relevant today for Current Politics reasons that shall not be gone into and I really wish THQ Nordic would do a HD Rerelease of it largely to go back and do the biggest draw of the game namely crushing Californians with Texan Mega Tanks!.
I am impressed that Russia went with Oblast rather than Republic with all those non-Russian people living in "Novo-Arkhangelsk".
Technically Speaker of the House would be highest in the line of succession but apparently the elections were controversial.
EU apparently backs the Senate faction, which could just be politics but could (at least in part) be based on legal arguments as well.
You could simply use Inspect Element and screenshot it.
There is also a Wikibox editor online, here's the link: https://n.bellok.de/wikibox/
Might look bad and complex but play around a bit and it's actually quite versatile.
Hopefully Rudy won't become attorney general like in WWZ.