Glad Seaborn is up 19 points in national polls now. You should put up a map of how the states and the Electoral College looks
2018 Presidential Election
- Thread starter Marky Bunny
- Start date
Still surprised the Green nominee is getting 6%. Hayden Straus got 6% in 2018 after the whole Franklin Hollis fiasco, and he was a former United States Senator. Nobody of that stature is going to be the Green nominee this time. I think a decent portion of that 6% will gravitate to Seaborn in the end.
Haven't done one of these in a while. Here' some infoboxes, including the two Senate Majority Leaders before current SML Cody Riley:
Cast (all previously established)
Peter Coyote as Arthur Breech
Edward James Olmos as Roberto Mendoza
H. Richard Greene as Robert Royce
Danica McKellar as Elsie Snuffin
Cast (all previously established)
Peter Coyote as Arthur Breech
Edward James Olmos as Roberto Mendoza
H. Richard Greene as Robert Royce
Danica McKellar as Elsie Snuffin
Breech's birthplace is his actor's home town, same as his alma mater, Grinnell College. The obvious implication in the infobox is that Breech decided he liked Hawaii so much he stayed there after getting his law degree and eventually went into politics.
Democrats have been pretty locked out of the Senate ITTL: the last Democrat before Breech to serve as Senate Majority Leader was a slick youngster named John Hoynes. That means Breech's two years in charge of "the world's greatest deliberative body" are the only time Democrats have held control of the Senate ITTL's 21st century compared to about 11 years (2001-2003, 2007-2015, 2021-present) IOTL.
Democrats have been pretty locked out of the Senate ITTL: the last Democrat before Breech to serve as Senate Majority Leader was a slick youngster named John Hoynes. That means Breech's two years in charge of "the world's greatest deliberative body" are the only time Democrats have held control of the Senate ITTL's 21st century compared to about 11 years (2001-2003, 2007-2015, 2021-present) IOTL.
Most of Mendoza's bio comes from the show itself. My biggest addition is having him be appointed to the District Court for the Eastern District of New York (the spot he's in when Bartlet picks him for the court) in the first vacancy on that district Newman fills. Thanks to the inexorable march of time, he's now the second senior-most justice and one of only two (besides Jackson Hoyt) current justices who were holdovers from the Ashland Court.
Mendoza is usually considered TTL's first Hispanic justice, but like the person IOTL who holds that distinction (Sonia Sotomayor), some say that Hoover appointee Benjamin Cardozo (a Sephardi Jew with distant Portuguese ancestry) was the first instead. Like OTL, though, most people do not count Cardozo as the first ("Hispanic" was not an ethnic identifier during Cardozo's lifetime & most definitions of "Hispanic" exclude Portuguese people).
Mendoza is usually considered TTL's first Hispanic justice, but like the person IOTL who holds that distinction (Sonia Sotomayor), some say that Hoover appointee Benjamin Cardozo (a Sephardi Jew with distant Portuguese ancestry) was the first instead. Like OTL, though, most people do not count Cardozo as the first ("Hispanic" was not an ethnic identifier during Cardozo's lifetime & most definitions of "Hispanic" exclude Portuguese people).
Royce didn't have a biography written about him during his campaign. He'd been established as being only 36 when he won his first Senate seat, but I gave him a December birthday so he'd be 37 when he took office. Which is still nearly a full decade younger than his actor, but Greene seems to be one of those guys who looks old even when they're 40, so we were able to fudge his age a bit.
His birthplace is a reference to both John Anderson & Robert Michel, the latter of whom had the same type of focus on bipartisanship and deal-making that Royce had as the GOP's leader in the Senate. Royce's rise seems quick looking at rising to Senate Majority Leader from having no leadership rank four months earlier, but the missing context is that Royce had consciously chosen to wait to seek a leadership office until Earl Dern (the Senate GOP leader before Moseley) retired so that when Moseley inevitably replaced him, he could run for caucus whip. He accumulated favors this way, and combined with his popularity among his colleagues, he got the nod easily...then Moseley shit the bed almost immediately after taking over from Dern (see the notes for the Colorado list) and Royce was tagged in to replace him.
His birthplace is a reference to both John Anderson & Robert Michel, the latter of whom had the same type of focus on bipartisanship and deal-making that Royce had as the GOP's leader in the Senate. Royce's rise seems quick looking at rising to Senate Majority Leader from having no leadership rank four months earlier, but the missing context is that Royce had consciously chosen to wait to seek a leadership office until Earl Dern (the Senate GOP leader before Moseley) retired so that when Moseley inevitably replaced him, he could run for caucus whip. He accumulated favors this way, and combined with his popularity among his colleagues, he got the nod easily...then Moseley shit the bed almost immediately after taking over from Dern (see the notes for the Colorado list) and Royce was tagged in to replace him.
The wonderfully-named Elsie Snuffin is now one of the hosts of Jeopardy! and that's where I added onto what was established about her in the show. The only real new addition is that she's divorced, and that her middle name is Winifred (an obvious shout-out to McKellar's most notable role). The "George Bailey" (no, not that one) listed there is Will's half-brother who served as Commandant of Cadets at the Air Force Academy, which means he was at least a brigadier general in the Air Force.
The paper that ITTL is her doctoral thesis is the same paper that McKellar co-wrote IOTL as an undergraduate. No wonder the show made a joke about Elsie struggling as a sitcom writer because she wrote jokes "smarter than the show" she was writing for.
The paper that ITTL is her doctoral thesis is the same paper that McKellar co-wrote IOTL as an undergraduate. No wonder the show made a joke about Elsie struggling as a sitcom writer because she wrote jokes "smarter than the show" she was writing for.
2022 Presidential Debates
| No | Date | Type | Venue | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunday September 25th 2022 | Presidential | Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York | "Vinick/Santos" Open debate |
| 2 | Sunday October 9th 2022 | Vice-Presidential | Elmhurst University, Elmhurst, Illinois | "Round Table" debate |
| 3 | Monday October 17th 2022 | Presidential | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | "Town Hall" debate |
| 4 | Wednesday October 26th 2022 | Presidential | Washington University, St Louis, Missouri | "Half on FP, half on Domestic policy" |
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Seaborn campaign releases names of VP candidates undergoing "final round" of vetting
Thursday, June 15th, 2022
The Seaborn presidential campaign released the list of seven candidates that were undergoing what spokeswoman Kamiya Williams said was the "final round" of vetting. The unprecedented announcement came after senator Dante Jenkins (D-NJ), one of the 15 candidates the campaign had admitted to having vetted, said on a radio interview yesterday that he had been informed he would not be chosen as Seaborn's running mate by the campaign, kicking off a firestorm of speculation and questioning of the other 14 candidates.
"We have proceeded to the final stage of vetting with these seven great candidates," Williams said, "After this stage, if he hasn't already, President Seaborn will interview each candidate individually and from there, make his decision."
The candidates the campaign announced had made its shortlist consist of:
Gov. Elizabeth Bartlet (NH)
Gov. Jarrod Daniels (MN)
Sen. Alicia DeSantos (FL)
Sen. Andrew Howard (WA)
Sen. Ben Newell (CO)
Sen. Rudi Robinson (IN)
former Gov. Bobby Tyler (VA)
Gov. Jarrod Daniels (MN)
Sen. Alicia DeSantos (FL)
Sen. Andrew Howard (WA)
Sen. Ben Newell (CO)
Sen. Rudi Robinson (IN)
former Gov. Bobby Tyler (VA)
The announcement of a list where a majority of candidates are people of color (DeSantos is Hispanic while Robinson and Tyler are African-American) and/or women (DeSantos and Bartlet) was met with approval by liberal activists and Democratic supporters on social media.
"So gratifying to see @samseaborn listened to us after 2018." one supporter tweeted.
Meanwhile, Republicans and conservatives on Twitter quickly labelled the group "the seven dwarves", saying that none were up to the task of becoming president.
The Duke campaign issued a tweet ("The #7Dwarves include 2 cases of nepotism and 3 diversity hires. What a great example of the Democratic Party!") that some saw as offensive, while the South Carolina Republican Party's account was temporarily suspended by Twitter for reposting a racist meme labelling Robinson and Tyler (the only African-Americans on the list) as "pygmies" while the other candidates were referred to by other derogatory names for diminutive people.
I think any of these choices would be a good pick, or at least a safe pick, except Elizabeth Bartlet. No offense to her, but every other attempt Seaborn has made to return to the Bartlet era has been an unmitigated disaster, from Josh Lyman and CJ Cregg during the 2018 campaign to Abby Bartlet for HHS secretary. The smart thing is just go with a safe pick.
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Who is the second case of nepotism the Duke campaign is referring to?
Seaborn campaign releases names of VP candidates undergoing "final round" of vetting
Thursday, June 15th, 2022
The Seaborn presidential campaign released the list of seven candidates that were undergoing what spokeswoman Kamiya Williams said was the "final round" of vetting. The unprecedented announcement came after senator Dante Jenkins (D-NJ), one of the 15 candidates the campaign had admitted to having vetted, said on a radio interview yesterday that he had been informed he would not be chosen as Seaborn's running mate by the campaign, kicking off a firestorm of speculation and questioning of the other 14 candidates.
"We have proceeded to the final stage of vetting with these seven great candidates," Williams said, "After this stage, if he hasn't already, President Seaborn will interview each candidate individually and from there, make his decision."
The candidates the campaign announced had made its shortlist consist of:
Gov. Elizabeth Bartlet (NH)
Gov. Jarrod Daniels (MN)
Sen. Alicia DeSantos (FL)
Sen. Andrew Howard (WA)
Sen. Ben Newell (CO)
Sen. Rudi Robinson (IN)
former Gov. Bobby Tyler (VA)
The announcement of a list where a majority of candidates are people of color (DeSantos is Hispanic while Robinson and Tyler are African-American) and/or women (DeSantos and Bartlet) was met with approval by liberal activists and Democratic supporters on social media.
"So gratifying to see @samseaborn listened to us after 2018." one supporter tweeted.
Meanwhile, Republicans and conservatives on Twitter quickly labelled the group "the seven dwarves", saying that none were up to the task of becoming president.
The Duke campaign issued a tweet ("The #7Dwarves include 2 cases of nepotism and 3 diversity hires. What a great example of the Democratic Party!") that some saw as offensive, while the South Carolina Republican Party's account was temporarily suspended by Twitter for reposting a racist meme labelling Robinson and Tyler (the only African-Americans on the list) as "pygmies" while the other candidates were referred to by other derogatory names for diminutive people.
Andrew Howard is a member of the Howard family of Democratic politicians.
Every choice is a safe choice until they actually get picked. Then they become a candidate, and weaknesses that weren't apparent before can surface. Things that look good on paper don't necessarily work out in practice
I am sure the Seaborn campaign is very carefully vetting each candidate with a fine tooth comb for any nasty surprises that could come out.
And Duke's point again, is what? Or is just another case of blowing chow, because he or his campaign needs to be a news cycle for relevance?
I am surprised not to see either Lou Thornton or Meredith Payne not on the list, as for Rudi Robinson, him being included on the list is just a nod to the African American community! Tokenism if you like. Elizabeth Bartlet is more of a nod to the Bartlet wing, my bet its likely to be Andrew Howard, its a low risk pick, doesn't offend anyone. Actually Sam has the luxury of choosing someone like Howard, whereas Duke will be hard pressed to find a choice with gravitas or someone who wants to be associated with a potential losing contender. Duke will likely be forced to find a low rent choice - more of his caliber - who just wants to be in any kind of news cycle. I can imagine that Duke's search for Veep is a question of looking for the proverbial 'needle in the haystack'. I noticed he hasn't released a final list of name's! Wonder why? Could it be, that our friend from Oklahoma is getting rejected, to the point its getting embarrassing? 🤔
Any chance of a reveal on a potential Seaborn-Duke map? It's unusually quiet in the polling stakes.
I'm surprised Thornton is not on the list too. I was predicting it would be her until now.
Really not much upside to Andrew Howard. DeSantos could deliver Florida. Ditto Robinson Indiana. It's funny that ITTL the Senator from Florida's name is DeSantos while IOTL the Governor of Florida is DeSantis.
It's basically a "Democrats are out-of-touch elitists" attack.
What the fuck.
Just a reminder that candidates publicly confirming who they are vetting is very unusual.
Duke is doing what presidential nominees usually do, which is keeping who he's looking at quiet until he announces his nominee.
Unusually quiet? There was a presidential poll released five days ago.
We are going to start releasing state maps, but don't expect them with every single new poll. It's a bit more work to do state-by-state predictions when two third-party candidates (Andrew Long & the Greens) are taking a combined 15% in the polls.
So Seaborn releasing a list of potential running mate's, could be a bit of rope-a-dope for Duke's benefit and that he's keeping his real list under wraps! In other words just a case of messing with Duke's head! Cruel if true 👍 but I like it! Duke should realize he's in the major leagues now! If I was Seaborn I'd screw around with Duke a bit more, so in no time at all, he won't know what's up, or what's down! I think LBJ did that with Goldwater in '64, pretty cool too! It showed that whatever LBJ did, Goldwater reacted, hence the Goldwater is a reactionary stuck! All Seaborn has to do, is anything that Duke does, run an ad about it or make a nuanced statement and forces Duke to respond and then twist Duke's response, to make him look and sound dumb or off the wall. It's dirty tricks at their best! Didn't Nixon do that sort of stuff with McGovern too?