The Campaign Trail Game Has Returned.
- Thread starter DTanza
- Start date
Go full socialist to help Humphrey and prevent some world from having Nixon as president.
Stalemated 68 as Wallace & Chandler, threw everything I could at Tennessee, but didn't take it losing by just 12, 339 votes to Nixon. but I did get 14% nationally.
It was Nixon 264, Humphrey 229 & Wallace 45, but Humphrey won the popular vote with just under a million more popular votes.
Nixon won Nevada by just 98 votes, and Delaware by 1,032 votes.
www.americanhistoryusa.com
It was Nixon 264, Humphrey 229 & Wallace 45, but Humphrey won the popular vote with just under a million more popular votes.
Nixon won Nevada by just 98 votes, and Delaware by 1,032 votes.
American History USA
Click to see the Electoral College map from my game, and then try it yourself!
www.americanhistoryusa.com
1916 and 1976 are the hardest for me, so I'm quite pleased with this. Nabbed New Hampshire with just over a 100 vote margin.
www.americanhistoryusa.com
American History USA
Click to see the Electoral College map from my game, and then try it yourself!
www.americanhistoryusa.com
And here's my outing as Hughes. Never held a lead in Missouri and had written it off by election night, so it's a fine feather in my cap.1916 and 1976 are the hardest for me, so I'm quite pleased with this. Nabbed New Hampshire with just over a 100 vote margin.
American History USA
Click to see the Electoral College map from my game, and then try it yourself!
In 1976 as Carter, it is a better strategy to run to the center, but it is possible to win, and win by even more than OTL, by going as liberal as possible. At least on easy like this. Leading to a result that is a bit weaker in the south and a bit stronger in the rest of the country compared to OTL (but also weaker in all areas compared to the best Carter strategy). Even with that strategy, the south ends up being Carter's strongest region, though, there's just really no way to run as Carter and appeal more to the north than south-which isn't exactly unreasonable given his OTL support, to be fair
Now, on normal, I've never been able to win as Carter with the maximum liberal strategy. I've gotten sorta close in the sense of results like this one, where Carter loses the popular vote by just about 3.6%, and loses in an electoral college landslide but one where Carter could have won the electoral college with a uniform national swing that actually had him lose the popular vote by 0.1%. Doing it on normal does result in a near total collapse in the south, winning just SC, and narrowly, as well as GA and AR (which still go to Carter by over 60% of course). Many southern states lost only narrowly, but it does at least end up with Carter doing better in the north than south in terms of the electoral college
I just got a really lucky game on normal with that strategy though. Still didn't actually win, but where I usually lose by a couple percent, I lost by just less than half a percent. And the electoral college was extremely narrow, 271-267, with the tipping point state for Ford being Oregon, which went to him by just a hair under one tenth of a percent. If I had gotten just a hair luckier, I could have actually won as Carter on normal taking the most liberal stances possible
Now, on normal, I've never been able to win as Carter with the maximum liberal strategy. I've gotten sorta close in the sense of results like this one, where Carter loses the popular vote by just about 3.6%, and loses in an electoral college landslide but one where Carter could have won the electoral college with a uniform national swing that actually had him lose the popular vote by 0.1%. Doing it on normal does result in a near total collapse in the south, winning just SC, and narrowly, as well as GA and AR (which still go to Carter by over 60% of course). Many southern states lost only narrowly, but it does at least end up with Carter doing better in the north than south in terms of the electoral college
I just got a really lucky game on normal with that strategy though. Still didn't actually win, but where I usually lose by a couple percent, I lost by just less than half a percent. And the electoral college was extremely narrow, 271-267, with the tipping point state for Ford being Oregon, which went to him by just a hair under one tenth of a percent. If I had gotten just a hair luckier, I could have actually won as Carter on normal taking the most liberal stances possible
American History USA
Click to see the Electoral College map from my game, and then try it yourself!
www.americanhistoryusa.com
Long story short, Humphrey 434 EVs landslide. Pretty cool to look at.
American History USA
Click to see the Electoral College map from my game, and then try it yourself!
www.americanhistoryusa.com
Deadlocked 1968 running as a "total war" Wallace, I managed to take Tennessee and it's 11 electoral votes by just 8,109 votes from Nixon. The electoral college was 253 to Nixon,229 to Humphrey and 56 for Wallace. That win in Tennessee for Wallace and Humphrey's win in Wisconsin by 6,279 votes denied Nixon 22 electoral votes and outright victory in the electoral college although Humphrey carried the popular vote by 439,886 votes (43.41 to 42.80- 0.61%).
From the real world result only three states are changed as Humphrey wins both Wisconsin and Ohio from Nixon whilst Wallace takes Tennessee from Nixon.
www.americanhistoryusa.com
From the real world result only three states are changed as Humphrey wins both Wisconsin and Ohio from Nixon whilst Wallace takes Tennessee from Nixon.
American History USA
Click to see the Electoral College map from my game, and then try it yourself!
www.americanhistoryusa.com
Last edited:
A reverse-2000 - Al Gore wins the presidency while losing the popular vote. Took me several tries to get this odd result. (I think it can only be done on easy mode. The way to do it is to have Gore run a mainstream liberal campaign but to make him anti-abortion and to select the 'repeal Roe v. Wade' option. This splinters his base to Nader, but doesn't stop him winning some swing states - it only means that his winning margins in New England and California shrink drastically.)
American History USA
Click to see the Electoral College map from my game, and then try it yourself!
www.americanhistoryusa.com
Rosenheim
Donor
Finally got close to the tippy-top with Clinton 2016 (revised), with Sherrod Brown as VP:
Ohio was decided by 200 votes, Georgia and NC by 4000. Arizona was around 40,000 votes in favor of Trump, so I don't think it could be easily expanded into.
Ohio was decided by 200 votes, Georgia and NC by 4000. Arizona was around 40,000 votes in favor of Trump, so I don't think it could be easily expanded into.
Last edited:
Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but the '2016a' scenario contains a secret option hidden in the code that allows you to play as Trump and pick Ted Cruz as your running mate. You've got to use the 'inspect element' tool in Chrome or Firefox and find a long string of numerical identifiers for candidates and their running mates beginning with 'campaignTrail_temp.running_mate_json = JSON.parse'. Copy the whole string to the console, insert into the list the following:
{\"pk\": 113, \"fields\": {\"candidate\": 166, \"running_mate\": 176}, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"},
and hit enter. Then select Trump in the 2016a scenario and you should be able to run with Cruz as well as with Scott Brown, Chris Christie or Ben Carson. A winning game with Cruz is linked above. The main differences are you sometimes get a couple of questions asking you to address your fractious relations with Cruz in the primaries.
It's deliberately very hard, Romney was in a horrible position that election and he'd already dug himself a hole through inaction by the convention.
I'm having issues getting this done, could you explain in detail?
Sure. You can do it either in Chrome or in Firefox (possibly in other browsers too but I haven't checked). Right-click anywhere on the page in the loading screen of the Campaign Trail game. Then click the menu option 'Inspect' (in Chrome) or 'Inspect element' (in Firefox). A window should open at the right of the screen (on Chrome) or at the bottom of the screen (in Firefox). Click the option where it says 'console.' Then paste in the following string into the console (apologies for how long it is) and hit enter:
campaignTrail_temp.running_mate_json = JSON.parse("[{\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 90, \"candidate\": 80}, \"pk\": 57, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 120, \"candidate\": 116}, \"pk\": 76, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 177, \"candidate\": 167}, \"pk\": 115, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 38, \"candidate\": 18}, \"pk\": 7, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 39, \"candidate\": 19}, \"pk\": 8, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 164, \"candidate\": 155}, \"pk\": 106, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 163, \"candidate\": 154}, \"pk\": 105, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 151, \"candidate\": 145}, \"pk\": 97, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 150, \"candidate\": 144}, \"pk\": 96, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 178, \"candidate\": 168}, \"pk\": 116, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 76, \"candidate\": 70}, \"pk\": 47, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 73, \"candidate\": 69}, \"pk\": 46, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 89, \"candidate\": 79}, \"pk\": 56, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 114, \"candidate\": 107}, \"pk\": 74, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 126, \"candidate\": 119}, \"pk\": 82, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 103, \"candidate\": 93}, \"pk\": 66, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 104, \"candidate\": 94}, \"pk\": 67, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 125, \"candidate\": 118}, \"pk\": 81, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 135, \"candidate\": 131}, \"pk\": 87, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 30, \"candidate\": 16}, \"pk\": 1, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 137, \"candidate\": 132}, \"pk\": 89, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 148, \"candidate\": 143}, \"pk\": 94, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 31, \"candidate\": 17}, \"pk\": 3, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 146, \"candidate\": 142}, \"pk\": 92, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 81, \"candidate\": 77}, \"pk\": 48, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 45, \"candidate\": 20}, \"pk\": 22, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 62, \"candidate\": 25}, \"pk\": 41, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 108, \"candidate\": 105}, \"pk\": 68, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 121, \"candidate\": 117}, \"pk\": 77, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 49, \"candidate\": 21}, \"pk\": 26, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 58, \"candidate\": 24}, \"pk\": 37, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 55, \"candidate\": 23}, \"pk\": 33, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 85, \"candidate\": 78}, \"pk\": 52, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 159, \"candidate\": 153}, \"pk\": 101, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 71, \"candidate\": 67}, \"pk\": 44, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 72, \"candidate\": 68}, \"pk\": 45, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 18, \"candidate\": 36}, \"pk\": 18, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 111, \"candidate\": 106}, \"pk\": 71, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 99, \"candidate\": 92}, \"pk\": 62, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 156, \"candidate\": 152}, \"pk\": 98, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 29, \"candidate\": 27}, \"pk\": 12, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 27, \"candidate\": 29}, \"pk\": 13, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 95, \"candidate\": 91}, \"pk\": 58, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 157, \"candidate\": 152}, \"pk\": 99, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 100, \"candidate\": 92}, \"pk\": 63, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 129, \"candidate\": 68}, \"pk\": 85, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 127, \"candidate\": 67}, \"pk\": 83, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 169, \"candidate\": 165}, \"pk\": 107, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 173, \"candidate\": 166}, \"pk\": 111, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 171, \"candidate\": 165}, \"pk\": 109, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 97, \"candidate\": 91}, \"pk\": 60, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 40, \"candidate\": 29}, \"pk\": 15, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 175, \"candidate\": 166}, \"pk\": 113, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 174, \"candidate\": 166}, \"pk\": 112, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 96, \"candidate\": 91}, \"pk\": 59, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 170, \"candidate\": 165}, \"pk\": 108, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 113, \"candidate\": 106}, \"pk\": 73, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 40, \"candidate\": 27}, \"pk\": 10, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 160, \"candidate\": 153}, \"pk\": 102, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 44, \"candidate\": 23}, \"pk\": 34, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 86, \"candidate\": 78}, \"pk\": 53, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 109, \"candidate\": 105}, \"pk\": 69, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 33, \"candidate\": 27}, \"pk\": 9, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 172, \"candidate\": 165}, \"pk\": 110, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 42, \"candidate\": 36}, \"pk\": 20, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 41, \"candidate\": 36}, \"pk\": 19, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 33, \"candidate\": 29}, \"pk\": 16, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 82, \"candidate\": 77}, \"pk\": 49, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 112, \"candidate\": 106}, \"pk\": 72, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 147, \"candidate\": 142}, \"pk\": 93, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 161, \"candidate\": 153}, \"pk\": 103, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 88, \"candidate\": 78}, \"pk\": 55, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 87, \"candidate\": 78}, \"pk\": 54, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 122, \"candidate\": 117}, \"pk\": 78, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 98, \"candidate\": 91}, \"pk\": 61, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 128, \"candidate\": 67}, \"pk\": 84, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 130, \"candidate\": 68}, \"pk\": 86, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 64, \"candidate\": 25}, \"pk\": 43, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 63, \"candidate\": 25}, \"pk\": 42, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 61, \"candidate\": 24}, \"pk\": 40, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 60, \"candidate\": 24}, \"pk\": 39, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 149, \"candidate\": 143}, \"pk\": 95, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 59, \"candidate\": 24}, \"pk\": 38, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 158, \"candidate\": 152}, \"pk\": 100, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 51, \"candidate\": 21}, \"pk\": 30, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 50, \"candidate\": 21}, \"pk\": 28, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 47, \"candidate\": 20}, \"pk\": 24, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 31, \"candidate\": 29}, \"pk\": 17, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 31, \"candidate\": 27}, \"pk\": 11, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 123, \"candidate\": 117}, \"pk\": 79, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 124, \"candidate\": 117}, \"pk\": 80, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 138, \"candidate\": 132}, \"pk\": 90, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 57, \"candidate\": 23}, \"pk\": 36, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 56, \"candidate\": 23}, \"pk\": 35, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 48, \"candidate\": 20}, \"pk\": 25, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 33, \"candidate\": 17}, \"pk\": 5, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 46, \"candidate\": 20}, \"pk\": 23, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 101, \"candidate\": 92}, \"pk\": 64, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 110, \"candidate\": 105}, \"pk\": 70, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 34, \"candidate\": 16}, \"pk\": 2, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 162, \"candidate\": 153}, \"pk\": 104, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 136, \"candidate\": 131}, \"pk\": 88, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 37, \"candidate\": 17}, \"pk\": 6, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 32, \"candidate\": 17}, \"pk\": 4, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 83, \"candidate\": 77}, \"pk\": 50, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 43, \"candidate\": 36}, \"pk\": 21, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 139, \"candidate\": 132}, \"pk\": 91, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 52, \"candidate\": 21}, \"pk\": 31, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 53, \"candidate\": 21}, \"pk\": 32, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 115, \"candidate\": 106}, \"pk\": 75, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 102, \"candidate\": 92}, \"pk\": 65, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 84, \"candidate\": 77}, \"pk\": 51, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}, {\"fields\": {\"running_mate\": 176, \"candidate\": 166}, \"pk\": 113, \"model\": \"campaign_trail.running_mate\"}]");
After this you should be able to navigate to the '2016a' scenario and play as Trump, where you will now be able to choose Cruz as a running mate.
If you want to know how I figured this out, I examined the code of the game itself using the 'Inspect Element' tool and found a hidden piece of text describing Cruz as a potential running mate for Trump. To add him to the game you have to add a clause to the list above that pairs Trump's candidate identifier (166) with Cruz's identifier as a running mate (176).
There are all sorts of other curiosities in the code. For example, there are pieces of code that suggest it should be possible to run as Gary Johnson or as an alt-history Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul in 2012, as well as some code for John C. Breckinridge and John Bell in 1860. But I haven't managed to get any of those to work yet - though I will tell you if I do!
Yeah, it's one of the most difficult elections to win. The trouble is that it's hard enough to win both Ohio and Florida, but even if you can do that, it's still not enough. Romney's 2012 total + Ohio and Florida only gets you to 253 electoral votes so you need another big state too. Pennsylvania is your best bet, but you can't afford to run too far to the right or you won't win it.
Here's the best Romney victory I managed on Normal mode. I got a few lucky answers that helped me narrowly win the popular vote and carry Colorado and Virginia. But Pennsylvania is the place to focus your attentions - I have managed a couple of times to win it by very narrow margins and eke out a 273-electoral-vote win. In this game I picked Portman as my running mate and generally ran as a conciliatory moderate, avoiding the most aggressively right-wing answers, but also throwing a bone or two to the right by taking a hard line on Cuba and supporting Arizona's immigration enforcement.