Owner Account

Hey folks, been talking to players and there is clearly a demand for this, so I'm going to ahead and make an announcement to this effect: IC activity is going to be suspended on Thursday for a Thanksgiving break - I also expect IC activity to be reduced on Wednesday and Friday, so don't worry about activity levels or speed of reaction to media cycles and the like on those days. 

Have a good Thanksgiving, and yes, expect another announcement shortly about stuff going on IC.

Approved.

Approved.

Approved.

Masked.

Approved and welcome back.

Approved and welcome back.

117,450,000

53,200,000

53,800,000

52,150,000

58,450,000

41,150,000

11,100,000

14,900,000

62,100,000

74,300,000

27,900,000

97,350,000

28,800,000

15,150,000

Approved.

Name:
Seat:
Party:

Link to bio

1. Post a formal announcement for your intent to seek the office in one of the appropriate threads for character outreach to the masses (your campaign thread, your press office, the activity forum, etc). This must be a speech of at least 150 words and linked in your primary campaign thread.

2. Register your candidate in the appropriate thread.

3. You are STRONGLY encouraged to post a platform in your Press Office of no less than seven planks to define your campaign, which will be used to determine the starting support for each candidate. If you do not post one, your opponent may develop a major advantage. These will lose effectiveness if posted after date in the Calendar. A platform can make or break a candidacy.

4. Post a campaign fundraising thread and a campaign warchest in the appropriate location.

5. Start an official campaign thread in election forum, with the first post having links to your Press Office, Biography, Fundraising Thread, Warchest, and Announcement. This is going to be the nerve center of your campaign, so everything should be funneled through it.  

Fundraising:

You may spend up to ten of your AP per round on a fundraising activity. No fundraisers will be graded in the final 12 hours of the campaigns. 
 
There are four types of fundraisers: 
1. Targeted speech, with a specific interest group and location noted. Cost 1 AP
2. Direct email/mailer to supporters. Cost: 2 AP
3. An appeal to a Special Interest Group. Cost: 3 AP
4. Anything else you want to try, requiring my approval beforehand. Cost determined on proposal.

Hours System of Campaigning:

The Presidential elections will use an hours system to allot player activity. Each election round, each candidate will receive a pool of 30 Activity Points (AP) to spread around. 

Each event will be posted within your official campaign thread (except fundraisers). Do not post any campaign material in another thread if it costs AP (again, except fundraisers). There are benefits to posting early and often, rather than dump-posting in the moments prior to a round's end. I will be tracking narrative, targets and locations, ability to counter opposing narratives, and ability to fulfill a full-time campaign schedule throughout each week of the campaign (not rounds). 
 

Costs: 

Stump Speeches - Give a speech of no more than 500 words. Stump speeches are the most common way of campaigning and are generally standardized, so you just need to post one stump speech for your round. Cost: 1 AP. 

Focused Speech – Differing from a stump speech in that the focused speech is new content for your campaign. Focused speeches should be at least 400 words and will have a greater impact than a standard stump speech. Cost: 2 AP.

Surrogate Speeches - Have someone give a speech under 400 words in a single location on your behalf. Cost: 1 AP. 

Public Rallies - Package a speech and up to 2 surrogates in a massive rally at a single location. Cost: 3 AP if a custom speech is used, 2 AP if the stump is used. Additionally, rallies are tiered; a basic rally is $300,000, while additional payments of $100,000 will be calculated in terms of larger attendance, more media coverage, etc. up to a total of $1,000,000. 

Talking Points - Giving local NPCs and media talking points for your campaign within a specific city/region of the state. Cost: 1 AP per 3 talking points. 

Advertising and Infrastructure Spending - Does not cost activity, only money. 

Other - Information available on request on a case-by-case basis. 

Rules to follow: 

1. The top of EVERY post in your campaign thread should include a running budget of both your funds and Activity Points. 

2. All campaign events posted before midnight on the declared "feedback days" will apply to a grading period. 

3. You are responsible for keeping up with the calendar. 

4. The Elections Administrator commits to getting polling out periodically with enough time for candidates to plan and change their strategies. 

Infrastructure 

There are three kinds of infrastructure investments that can benefit your campaign. 

Campaign Offices

GOTV Campaigns

Targeted Outreach (Youth Voters, Elderly Voters, Evangelical Voters, etc. Others). Remember, it is on you to properly target your speech and make sure that your targets are relevant.

Each investment in these costs $500,000 and can be invested in multiple times. Your campaign should note what locations in the state they're being purchased in, as detailed or as broad as you would like. Pay attention to not just major cities, but rural areas, business corridors, etc. You are STRONGLY encouraged to attempt to use this space to carve out a unique strategy for targeting the voters and demographics you think are needed to help you win! 

Parties can purchase GOTV infrastructure and Targeted Outreach independently of the candidate. They should post their investment in the appropriate thread.

All of these costs are recurring, meaning if you want for them to carry over across weeks that you must continue to pay for them. In the case of GOTV Campaigns, these are the most effective in the round leading up to an actual vote.

Advertisements:

Candidates can run five kinds of advertisements. 

1. Print Ads. These ads run in newspapers for across the state. Players should design a quarter-page advertisement to run in newspapers across a state (should be more than just text) for a cost of $1,250,000.  Players may upgrade these costs for a half-page ad ($2,500,000) or a full-page ad ($5,000,000). 

2. Billboard Ads. These ads are for billboards in major cities, on important highways, along train tracks, etc. These should be designed substantively by the candidate, and described in detail (or better, create it and attach the picture). These cost $1,500,000 and must be paid for each round to maintain them. 

3. Internet Ads. These are embedded ads in websites like news sites, Facebook, etc. These should include details of how the ad looks, and what it includes within it (a certain level of detail is expected). You MUST target these ads using online criteria and explain them (you cannot just say "young people". How do you know they're young? Note certain kinds of internet activity you would target). They cost $1,750,000 per advertisement, per target. Players may upgrade the volume of these ads by paying $3,500,000.

4. Radio Ads. Radio advertisements should include text (with music and who is speaking) that runs roughly 30 seconds at a regular speaking speed (Admins will be checking). Each Radio Advertisement costs $1,600,000 to run. You may increase the time of allowed by fifteen seconds for each ad with an additional payment of $800,000 per fifteen seconds, up to a length of three minutes. By adding $1,000,000 to the cost, you guarantee that the ad is played at prime listening times. 

Each run of the advertisement should be priced individually. 

5. TV Ads. Players should post a description of an advertisement that runs across a 15 second television spot. *be sure to set the scene and describe the mood of the piece*. Each TV Advertisement costs $1,800,000 to run. You may add fifteen seconds to the run time, up to a length of three minutes, for an additional $1,000,000 per time unit. 
 
Each run of the advertisement should be priced individually. 

6. Push Polling. Push polling is a type of campaigning that relies on spreading information (or more usually, misinformation) about a candidate or a candidate's opponent masked as a poll. There is little interest in actually collecting data from these polls - it's more about implanting ideas in the heads of voters. These must be targeted, with each run of push polling costs $1,000,000 and will reach approximately 200,000 people, and the candidate must construct a question to be asked in the poll. Additional questions may be added to the poll for $500,000 per question. Note that push polls (especially negative push polls) are generally considered unethical. 

Other improvements:

1. Transportation Improvement. This means that you have invested in better campaign transportation across the state. Essentially, this means that your ability to do appearances is increased. By paying $5,000,000, you will gain an additional five (5) AP to use in the round that this was purchased. You may only purchase this once per round and the additional AP may not be spent on fundraising.

Penalties:

1. No Extensions will be offered due to the flexible schedule to an individual candidate - any requested and granted extension will be given to all players in the race. This includes in the final post before Election Day. 

2. FEC Violations

(a) Either campaign may contact the Elections Administrator with any concern over spending of their opponent, which will IC count as informing the FEC of a potential violation.

(b) Any campaign who has a single error during the Election will not have it count IG as a violation, but will have it rectified by the Elections Administrator through either changing how the money was spent or potentially disallowing the spending entirely.

(c) With the second FEC violation, a campaign will lose all funding that occurs as part of the error and be subject to an IC scandal from a formal FEC notice. These will increase in severity over time with additional violations.

(d) The Elections Administrator may communicate with a campaign over a perceived "honest mistake" and can clarify the intent of the post. In these cases, the Elections Administrator can choose to waive the penalty. This is entirely the discretion of the Elections Administrator.

2014 Senate Election Seats for player races:

Arkansas
Georgia
Iowa
Kentucky*
New Hampshire*
South Dakota

*Signifies a player incumbent

November 28-December 21

November 28-December 1 – Primary begins
December 2-5 – Primary, platform deadline
December 6-9 – Primary concludes
December 10-13 General starts
December 14-17 General
December 18-21 General concludes

Rules will follow guidelines set in the 2010 and 2012 elections, and will be posted in their own thread.