The Campaign Trail Game Has Returned.

So I won a commanding victory against McKinley as Bryan/Matthews:

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But was really surprising was the margin of victory in Delaware:

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For the first time I have deadlocked 1860 as Douglas....
Only managed to carry four states, and finished 3rd out of 4 in the electoral college, but was enough to stop Lincoln winning and enough for Douglas to be a candidate in the House vote.
 

Rosenheim

Donor
Best game I've ever had as Bryan in 1896 on Normal Difficulty. https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/campaign-trail/game/1405749

K6Pwb56.png

Was only 95 votes off from winning Michigan, which would basically max out the plausible map for pick ups. Not 950 or 9500 votes. 95.

The next closest state (percentage wise) was Ohio which I won by 5000, followed by Maryland. Wisconsin is the next closest McKinley win, but that went 51.30 - 47.52, with him having around 17,000 more votes. A lot of the midwest was relatively close, but New York actually went relatively solidly for me somehow 50.0 - 48.4, (23,000 vote difference), so I likely would have one the contest even if a lot of the coinflip states went the other way by a few thousand votes.
 
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Best game I've ever had as Bryan in 1896 on Normal Difficulty. https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/campaign-trail/game/1405749

K6Pwb56.png

Was only 95 votes off from winning Michigan, which would basically max out the plausible map for pick ups. Not 950 or 9500 votes. 95.

The next closest state (percentage wise) was Ohio which I won by 5000, followed by Maryland. Wisconsin is the next closest McKinley win, but that went 51.30 - 47.52, with him having around 17,000 more votes. A lot of the midwest was relatively close, but New York actually went relatively solidly for me somehow 50.0 - 48.4, (23,000 vote difference), so I likely would have one the contest even if a lot of the coinflip states went the other way by a few thousand votes.

How did you do this BTW?
 

Rosenheim

Donor
How did you do this BTW?
#1, pick Claude Matthews as your running mate. Quite frankly I think that his values might have been entered in wrong, as he gives you a nice boost compared to the rest of the field.
#2, ignore the West (you'll win it if you're pulling ahead anyway), focus soley on the midwest.
#3, moderate on everything but labor issues (who already distrust Bryan so he needs to go hard for them to win them over).
#4, keep the south happy (no condemning lynching, be okay with being in bed with the former Confederates, etc)

That typically will ensure a large win. The trouble is getting New York on board. To get it, you need to:
#1, Choose to campaign heavily in New York
#2, pray that some the New York related events pop up. When the Tammany machine comes knocking, I just promise them no prohibition as the country doesn't like it if you fully cave. That will give you a little boost in the state. Another event is whether William Randolph Hearst will support you. He wants you to back imperialism (Bryan was historically anti-imperialist for his time). Doing so will give you another small boost in NY and CA.
It's fully a crap shoot whether or not you'll win the state though, much less pairing with the wide victory above.
 
A strong electoral win in 1960 with a Nixon & Goldwater ticket. Goldwater really helps in the South (I even carried Texas, despite LBJ).
360 to 171 with 6 for Bryd. The popular vote was far closer though 51.3 to 48.7%.
 
Won with Hughes in 1916 with Elmer Burkett as my running-mate. Went anti-war, even attacking the British for the handling of the Irish rebellion.
It was 296 to 235 in the electoral college, but the popular vote was a squeaker with Hughes winning by just 18,271 votes nationally.
 
My first EVER victory as Clay in 1844! Been trying for ages and finally eked out an electoral college win by 584 votes in Pennsylvania. My strategy was pro-Texas annexation and anti-abolitionist, balanced by going heavily anti-nativist and pursuing a full blooded Whig tariffs/national bank/internal improvements programme to keep the North on side. It worked, just.

 
A Romney landslide with Rob Portman as my running-mate. 362 to 176 in the electoral college. I even carried Delaware by just 228 votes and Washington state by 37,100 votes.
 
Just played 2000 as Gore with Graham. It produced the same electoral result as 1996, 379 to 159, with just a state each flipping from 96, (Bush wins Kentucky, but Gore takes Colorado).
 
"woke" Lincoln

pro-war, maximum left-prog Wilson

Truman played in a manner that maximizes his EV total
 
For those more vintage-thinking, I found the following on Classic Reload, a website for older video games:
  1. Power Politics: The Presidential Election Game (1992), allowing to either create a candidate or to reuse one from the past 30 years to run. The player has to set his schedule, choose a VP, decide on the issues and even use dirty tricks in order to earn the support needed to get enough money to run.
  2. President Elect (1988 edition of game released on 1981), allowing to choose Historical runs (1960 to 1984-1988) or Ahistorical ones, using around 69 hypothetical candidates such as Jesse Helms, Robert Byrd or Orrin Hatch. Here, the VP is merely a modifier denoting a geographical origin. Campaign runs for nine weeks. More about this game here - manual here for the copy protection.
 
I managed to get Nader some electoral votes, for the first time.

I did this by playing with Gore on normal and running self-sabotage. Nader carried Rhode Island and DC:


Nader got 12.8% of the national popular vote. I don't think I've gotten Nader above 2% of the vote actually running as Nader, even in Easy mode.
 
I was reminded of the good old days when all we had to worry about was binders full of women - decided to attempt a world where Romney didn't make the mistakes that cost him 2012, plus a single populist answer on farming subsidies which I credit for winning me Iowa. Overall 285-253 Ev, 50%-49%.


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