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> Elections in 2064?, A Serious Consideration!
Accel
post Feb 3 2004, 03:29 PM
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Hello everybody.

The recent poll of how funny it be to have XY as President of the UCAS let me to ask about how the election is decided.

I mean, I remember the absentee voting cards in Super Tuesday, I believe. I bought it too late (after Dunkelzahn's secret, after which the outcome was no secret any longer) to have an effect. I can't remember of anything that alike with the election in 2060, though I have been more diligent in timely buying my regular SR fix since then. I cannot even remember the competitors to the Haeffner/Daviar-Ticket (flying through SONA did not help.)

Do you think (or KNOW) that the SR-Staff intends to elaborate on the election in '64 and/or involve the Players' Community in its decision?
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JongWK
post Feb 3 2004, 04:33 PM
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The 2060 Election was a landslide victory for the Haeffner administration. While they enjoy a good deal of popularity and could be reelected again, recent developments might toss in a competitor or two.

I support the idea of a player ballot, but we'd need several candidates and a sourcebook to do that. 2064 is still far away...
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moosegod
post Feb 3 2004, 06:10 PM
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I doubt we'll get the option.

For a number of reasons that I can't properly/don't feel like articulating.
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Playing Games
post Feb 3 2004, 06:19 PM
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What about CAS?Or is this bored full of yella' belly yanks?

-Says the Californian-
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Reaver
post Feb 3 2004, 06:23 PM
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QUOTE (Playing Games)
What about CAS?Or is this bored full of yella' belly yanks?

-Says the Californian-

CAS votes in thier president with a belching contest, which is kinda difficult to do with voting ballots. ;)
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Req
post Feb 3 2004, 06:33 PM
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Actually, I'd heard it was tractor pulls. :D
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Reaver
post Feb 3 2004, 06:34 PM
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QUOTE (Req)
Actually, I'd heard it was tractor pulls. :D

Or wet t-shirt contests if the candidates are female. :D
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Req
post Feb 3 2004, 06:36 PM
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QUOTE (Reaver)
Or wet t-shirt contests if the candidates are female. :D

Yeah, but that's the way it should be done in all countries.
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FlakJacket
post Feb 3 2004, 08:11 PM
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I would strongly have to disagree with that statement. I mean, would you want someone like Margaret Thatcher involved in anything like that?
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Accel
post Feb 3 2004, 08:44 PM
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I second FlakJacket. To add an argument:

http://www.cdu.de/image/personen/am-030204.jpg

See Angela Merkel, serious contender for the office of Chancellor (Prime Minister) in Germany.
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Large Mike
post Feb 4 2004, 12:05 AM
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You know, if Hef gets voted out, that means Nadja's off as well. There will be no more Lucien Cross or Damien Knight tied to the government. This means that S-K could just all over putting offices in every damn town in the UCAS. *I* don't like going up against Lowyfer even when I have home turf advantage. God I hope Nadja hits a grand slam on this one.
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post Feb 4 2004, 12:19 AM
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QUOTE (Accel)
I mean, I remember the absentee voting cards in Super Tuesday, I believe. I bought it too late (after Dunkelzahn's secret, after which the outcome was no secret any longer) to have an effect. I can't remember of anything that alike with the election in 2060, though I have been more diligent in timely buying my regular SR fix since then. I cannot even remember the competitors to the Haeffner/Daviar-Ticket (flying through SONA did not help.)

Roz Hernandez ran again, and evidenced by a comment in SoNA calling her a, "two-time Presidential loser."

Personally, if I was a normal, everyday breeder UCASer there is no way I'd vote for Haeffner. Especially since every time I read the UCAS chapter of SoNA I get this real sense of dread and sadness, and it pains me to think of such a place.

The problem is that the '57 election had a lot of backstory they had to create for the candidates, and while I can believe it was intentional to downplay the '56 election, no one cared in '52 or even really mentioned it in '60 in canon or OOC. It seems too specific and uninteresting to put a lot of effort into it beyond a reference in SOTA:2064 or some other product with room for fluff.

QUOTE (Reaver)
QUOTE (Req @ Feb 3 2004, 06:33 PM)
Actually, I'd heard it was tractor pulls.  :D

Or wet t-shirt contests if the candidates are female. :D

You know... CAS has had two or three women Presidents. UCAS has had 0.

And they're backwards?
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Dashifen
post Feb 4 2004, 12:46 AM
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QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)

You know... CAS has had two or three women Presidents. UCAS has had 0.

And they're backwards?

Well said.
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Fortune
post Feb 4 2004, 01:13 AM
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QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)
You know... CAS has had two or three women Presidents. UCAS has had 0.

And they're backwards?

IIRC, the UCAS has indeed had a female President. I don't recall if it was just an interim position though, nor do I remember her name off-hand (Betty Pritchard maybe???).
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post Feb 4 2004, 01:21 AM
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Ah. Touche. I even mentioned that two weeks ago.

Betty Jo Pritchard was the President between Steele/Booth's removal and Dunk's inauguration.

My bad.

But CAS still had them first, had more of them, and most importanly--Elected them.
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Accel
post Feb 4 2004, 01:29 AM
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QUOTE (Large Mike)
You know, if Hef gets voted out, that means Nadja's off as well.  There will be no more Lucien Cross or Damien Knight tied to the government.  This means that S-K could just all over putting offices in every damn town in the UCAS.  *I* don't like going up against Lowyfer even when I have home turf advantage.  God I hope Nadja hits a grand slam on this one.


I do not understand in what way Saeder-Krupp is impeded in doing so now if they intended? With Cross, Knight, or without.

QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)


The problem is that the '57 election had a lot of backstory they had to create for the candidates, and while I can believe it was intentional to downplay the '56 election, no one cared in '52 or even really mentioned it in '60 in canon or OOC. It seems too specific and uninteresting to put a lot of effort into it beyond a reference in SOTA:2064 or some other product with room for fluff.


I do not expect a full-blown adventure like Super Tuesday, more like an annual update on what is going on behind the scenes. Something like "State of the Art", only about What's On, What's Off, Who's In, Who's Out. Fast Facts, Adventure Hooks.
Currently, you can see development only in the broad scale or on specific aspects.
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Kanada Ten
post Feb 4 2004, 02:03 AM
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Cast your vote for Senator Vanessa Carlino of the UCAS New Century Party!

She stands for strong North American ties, helping to build an economic block to compete with the NEEC and defend against Aztec aggression.

Her strong record in the House and Senate show a candidate willing to stand up to foreign corporations trying to steal American resources! A strong showing for individual liberties, demonstrated by her ACCLU membership, a regard for mundanes with her backing of the Telesma Registration Act, and a competent media personality as seen in her numerous trid appearances. Vote Vanessa!
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*
post Feb 4 2004, 02:21 AM
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QUOTE (Accel)

I do not expect a full-blown adventure like Super Tuesday, more like an annual update on what is going on behind the scenes. Something like "State of the Art", only about What's On, What's Off, Who's In, Who's Out. Fast Facts, Adventure Hooks.
Currently, you can see development only in the broad scale or on specific aspects.

Wasn't that the point behind SOTA?

I guess a Presidential election just doesn't seem exciting because, well, because the damn President and Vice President are bulletproof--or at least they are protrayed that way, and the mainstream media loves them.

Not that there isn't a shortage of reasons to not like them, and the litany of complaints can be awe-inspiring. Just around the second term a great dragon popped out of the rift less than (eh...) a mile from the White House, the shedim were unleashed (through said rift, apparently) creating zombies, the UCAS is playing the continent's cop, it's gotten overrun with security, parts of it are under martial law or "emergency" status pretty close to it, the environment sucks, there are no resources and recycling doesn't even cut it, the government's so corrupt that the VP is an active boardmember of a megacorporation and no one blinks and eye, oh... the whole SCIRE thing.

The most offensive thing is just how backwards the country is, and how the UCAS seems to be infinitesimally less free than the US is (in theory or reality).

But even beyond all that, people like the Dynamic Duo and, more to the point, who's going to demand changes who isn't going to be labeled a A/B/etc.-wing nut, assuming anyone notices at all?

BTW, I have begun noticing similarities between the '57 candidates (well, not Brackhaven) and the Dems. But that just shows how screwed up I am.
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Accel
post Feb 4 2004, 02:36 AM
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QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)
Wasn't that the point behind SOTA?


Of course, it just had a slightly different emphasis. Or how much information did you gain from it about the recent political or economical development? ;)

QUOTE
I guess a Presidential election just doesn't seem exciting because, well, because the damn President and Vice President are bulletproof--or at least they are protrayed that way, and the mainstream media loves them.


It is not about the result of the election but about the way it is going. The drek-digging, the mud-slugging. Opportunities plentiful, I'd say.

QUOTE
the government's so corrupt that the VP is an active boardmember of a megacorporation


I stumbled about this one as I first read Dunk's Secrets. Well, it is a non-profit-org, but still.

QUOTE
BTW, I have begun noticing similarities between the '57 candidates (well, not Brackhaven) and the Dems. But that just shows how screwed up I am.


Anticipation of evolution?

While I am at it: Go Kerry! </ad> :D
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post Feb 4 2004, 02:44 AM
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Of course, it just had a slightly different emphasis. Or how much information did you gain from it about the recent political or economical development? ;)

I wouldn't know. I haven't seen it anywhere around here, and I don't buy books blind.

QUOTE

QUOTE

the government's so corrupt that the VP is an active boardmember of a megacorporation

I stumbled about this one as I first read Dunk's Secrets. Well, it is a non-profit-org, but still.

I meant Ares.

We could always consider these folks.
QUOTE

SENATOR DAVID RALPH (D-IL)
Known as "Senator Safety" for his persistent failed attempts to restore a nationally uniform speed limit on UCAS highways, 62-year-old David Ralph has served without particular distinction-positive or negative-in the UCAS Senate for the past 16 years. He began his career as an aldercritter for the moderately prosperous 47th Ward on Chicago's Westside, an office he won in 2027 with spectacularly low voter turnout. That election pretty much set the pattern for Ralph's career-he got into power and stayed there because he never pissed off anyone important. He remained a Westside alderman for nearly a decade, never espousing any position that might make large numbers of people disagree with him. Instead, he took up quirky crusades-his attempt to re-open Meigs Park as an airfield was one of his few successes. (The "Mirth and Girth" commemorative stamp for the "Great Moments in Chicago History" series was a notable failure-Chicagoans apparently have long memories, and plenty of folks didn't want a painting of a former mayor in women's undies gracing the stamp albums of total strangers.) In 2036, Ralph was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on a "Good Riddance to California" platform. Rumors of Mafia ties ran rampant during the campaign, but when the infamous "Doesn't He Make You Ralph?" leaflet alleging direct backing from the O'Toole Family was proved to be the work of Ralph's Republican opponent, the rumors were largely discredited.

As for why he's on the Scott Commission, my official Conventional Wisdom says it's because he hasn't made any real enemies. ("Senator Safety," indeed!) Asked how he felt about his appointment, he replied, "Ummmm can I get back to you on that?"
SENATOR MELISSA WASHINGTON (R-ME)
Melissa Washington made her splash in public life as "The Weather Lady" in Biddeford, Maine. When her oldest son was killed in a freak magical accident, Washington-who had never held political office before-campaigned on a platform calling for tighter licensing and regulation of magical artifacts, talismans, and materials. She deflected charges of anti-Awakened bigotry by drawing careful distinctions in most of her speeches between regulation of substances (which she ardently supported) and regulation of actual magicians (which she opposed on civil-liberties grounds). At first, she didn't get much of anywhere. In 2046, the voters of Maine felt they had more pressing problems than runaway magic to deal with-a slowing economy for one, perennial secessionist talk of joining Quebec for another. Then the Maine North Star broke the story that Washington's opponent, cranberry magnate Dale deVere, had taken a hefty bribe from Mitsuhama Corporation in return for voting to loosen existing regulations governing corporate magical research. Suddenly, Ms. Washington's call for greater regulation seemed like a good idea. She is now serving her second term in the Senate, where she has acquired a reputation as a quietly effective coalition-builder.

An elf, Washington is the only metahuman Congresscritter on the Scott Commission. When anti-magic hysteria began swirling around some quarters of DeeCee following reports that the killing may have been magical in nature, Ms. Washington made a surprisingly eloquent public appeal for calm deliberation, and cautioned against "a rush to make magic or its users the culprits because we find it unfamiliar and frightening."
REPRESENTATIVE JESS RUMMENS (T-IA)
All Jess Rummens ever wanted was a career in politics, and his fortunes rose with those of the Technocratic Party. (In the wake of its disgrace, lucky Jess hasn't fallen very far, thanks to his friends in high places.) Helped by his family's agribusiness connections and the Vincenzo upset of 2036, Rummens entered the House as a freshman Technocrat on Vincenzo's coattails, at the young age of 29. He has made "the preservation of the UCAS family farm" his personal crusade, though critics frequently allege that the "family farms" aided by Rummens-sponsored tax breaks are owned by families only on paper. In his 21 years as a Representative, Jess Rummens has proposed so many agriculture-related tax breaks that every such tax goodie is known as a "Rummens Special," whether Rummens backed it or not. Aside from farm tax relief, Rummens is chiefly known for his unsuccessful bid to establish a small endowment for the Preservation of the Art of Hog-Calling.

Why Rummens on the Scott Commission? Either he's another "safe" choice, or he knows where a lot of bodies are buried. When asked about Rummens' response to his appointment, his office replied "No comment."
REPRESENTATIVE SARAH LYNN (I-VT)
Now here's an interesting lady-but in what way, well, the jury's still out. Sarah Lynn, along with failed Presidential candidate Arthur Vogel and veep candidate Gary Grey, helped found the Gaia Awareness Network-a precursor to Vogel's One World Party-in 2035. The Network never really got off the ground, and Sarah Lynn became a somewhat pathetic fixture in her hometown of Bennington, Vermont-neighbors remember her as "that nice girl" who hung around grocery stores trying to get people to sign petitions supporting ecological referendums in which nobody much was interested. While recent law-school grad Vogel was setting up his career and Gary Grey was bonding with his totem in the wilderness, Sarah Lynn worked any odd job she could get to keep eating, while pouring ever more time (and whatever money she could scrounge) into the flagging Gaia Network. She took a trip to Europe sometime in 2040, and spent quite awhile traipsing around God-knows-where until 2046, when she came back to the States just in time to run for the House seat left vacant by the Technocratic incumbent's death in a boating accident. Vermonters, increasingly worried about the growing power of megacorporations over everyone and everything in their state, saw Sarah Lynn's anti-corporate, pro-environment stance as a breath of fresh air, and kept her relatively steady in the polls despite her Technocratic opponent's corporate-fueled war chest. The turning point came during a town meeting, where Lynn's opponent confronted her with "evidence of extensive involvement with European fringe policlubs." After a moment of stunned silence, Lynn replied with spirit, "Yes, I've worked with some of them. Here as well as over there. Plenty of them are as concerned with the environment as a lot of these people here. And if you call working to ensure cleaner air and water and a better environment for us all 'fringe' politics, then I proudly claim that label." The crowd gave Lynn a standing ovation, and she rocketed to a 12-point poll lead that she never lost.

Since entering the House, Lynn has pressed for various environmental laws, succeeding just often enough to keep her in office for several terms. On other issues, she is notoriously hard to predict-a "typical Vermonter, always has to look like no one's telling her what to do," as one disgruntled opponent once put it. Her response to being named to the Scott Commission? "Has to be done. Might as well be me. Next question?"
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Snow_Fox
post Feb 4 2004, 03:52 AM
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QUOTE (FlakJacket)
I would strongly have to disagree with that statement. I mean, would you want someone like Margaret Thatcher involved in anything like that?

Thank you SO much for that visual, now excuse me, I have to go gouge out my mind's eye. :eek:

I think UCAS gets the attention because most cannon material is set in Seattle which is a part of the UCAS.Besides when you look at how the governments are set up the UCAS has a strong executive branch but the CAS seems to be a fist full of sand in a swiss watch-it dfoesn't budge and so lets the local government rule.
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FlakJacket
post Feb 4 2004, 04:18 AM
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Actually if you want a political spin on things, how about the elections in Seattle itself? A lot more local and a lot dirtier. The Mafia and Yaks seem to make a sport out of offing each others tame politicos in the local assemblies, throw in Brackhaven being a big noise locally and the prospect of elections for Mayor of the Metroplex as a whole as well. Gives you enough of a grand scene to play out on without it having to be a national/uber-plot thing.
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White Knight
post Feb 4 2004, 08:55 AM
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Couldn't player voting for the 2064 election be run through the Shadowrun website? Add a touch of metaplot, a few associated adventure hooks, maybe print a short summary in the next SOTA book and the whole thing could work well without being too much hassle.
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Accel
post Feb 4 2004, 11:40 AM
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QUOTE (FlakJacket @ Feb 4 2004, 04:18 AM)
Actually if you want a political spin on things, how about the elections in Seattle itself? A lot more local and a lot dirtier. The Mafia and Yaks seem to make a sport out of offing each others tame politicos in the local assemblies, throw in Brackhaven being a big noise locally and the prospect of elections for Mayor of the Metroplex as a whole as well.

I am actually preparing some adventure work on this, because our ingame timeline reached a convenient point (we're lagging a little)

Yet there isn't that much info on it either. My reason to stay well behind the official timeline is because then I can see development and do my own thing without contradicting canon. However, this only works if there is official development. Instead, some things are almost never mentioned in years. And then, all of a sudden, a loud pop occurs, and the last five years' events are revealed as everything was there all the time, you just didn't see it. Hard to work with that.

QUOTE (White Knight)
Couldn't player voting for the 2064 election be run through the Shadowrun website?


That would really be participation of the players' community! Would it be representative, or worse, coherent with the über-plot, though?

QUOTE
Add a touch of metaplot, a few associated adventure hooks, maybe print a short summary in the next SOTA book and the whole thing could work well without being too much hassle.


I second that! Or even a book on its own: "Who is Who in 2064". I would buy it, I Promise. Does not need to be as thick as SONA or Dot6W.

By the way, what actually did happen to Schultz? Disappeared in SCIRE, alright. But since DEUS is gone? Anyone heard anything since?
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Nath
post Feb 4 2004, 04:30 PM
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SoNA was kinda precise on the CAS political scene, and Sprawl Survival Guide caught up about the UCAS. BTW a women is leading the Democrats, and the Technocrats seem in good shape enough to be serious contender for Haeffner (on my own I think the death of Lars J. Matthews has the potential to ruin Daviar's political career). We haven't been as much informed about the political scene than we ever were since the beginning of SR, and we're still only mid-2063. we could have the primaries getting a good chunk of the media chapter of SOTA:2064, some political organizations in Loose Alliances, and there's still the website. The results could still shows up in SOTA:2065.
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