Brink

Locked.

Anchor: April Robinson is now America's first female Vice President. Vice President.

Neil Diamond - America

Anchor: Very shortly, Tyler Grayson will take office as the 43rd President of the United States. Grayson will be the eight President to hail from the State of Ohio. The most recent President to hail from that state was Warren G. Harding. Harding's inauguration had the first electronically amplified inauguration speech in 1921. In an interesting note, instead of going straight to the festivities, Harding would become the first President since Jefferson to immediately submit his cabinet nominees to the Senate after the inauguration. 

Mr. Grayson will be using the Martin Luther King, Jr bible today to be sworn in with. The bible has been flown in from the King Center in Atlanta.

Anchor: As is tradition, Chief Justice William Rehnquist will be swearing in the new President, however, first before we get there let's go down to the God Bless America and the national anthem.

Jennifer Lopez - God Bless America

Anchor: Now, the Washington D.C. high school marching band with the national anthem.

D.C. High School Marching Band - National Anthem

Chief Justice Rehnquist: Are you ready, Mr. President-Elect.

President-elect Grayson: Yes, sir.

Chief Justice Rehnquist: Please raise your right hand, and repeat after me. I, Tyler Grayson, do solemnly swear.

President-elect Grayson: I, Tyler Grayson, do solemnly swear.

Chief Justice Rehnquist: That I will faithfully execute.

President-elect Grayson: That I will faithfully execute.

Chief Justice Rehnquist: The office of President of the United States.

President-elect Grayson: The office of President of the United States.

Chief Justice Rehnquist: And will, to the best of my ability.

President-elect Grayson: And will, to the best of my ability.

Chief Justice Rehnquist: Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. 

President-elect Grayson: Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. 

Chief Justice Rehnquist: So help me God.

President-elect Grayson: So help me God.

Chief Justice Rehnquist: Congratulations, Mr. President.

Rhenquist and Grayson shake hands. Hail to the Chief starts playing.

Anchor: Now you have it, the 43rd President of the United States, Tyler Grayson has been sworn in. You can now hear the 21 gun salute in the background as this is the first time he receives those honors as President. The President will now deliver his first address to the nation, the inaugural.

@Michael post below with your speech.

Clinton and Grayson walk into the capitol building and get ready for the ceremonies to come. In the meantime, Ray Charles sings "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" 

Ray Charles, I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free

Anchor: Coming up next in today's program will be the inauguration of America's next Vice President, April Robinson. Robinson will be sworn in by Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg using the Lincoln bible.

\

Justice Ginsburg: Madam Vice President-Elect, are you ready to take the oath.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: I am.

Justice Ginsburg: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, April Robinson, do solemnly swear.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: I, April Robinson, do solemnly swear.

Justice Ginsburg: That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Justice Ginsburg: Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Justice Ginsburg: That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

Justice Ginsburg: That I take this obligation freely.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: That I take this obligation freely.

Justice Ginsburg: Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

Justice Ginsburg: And that I will well and faithfully discharge.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: And that I will well and faithfully discharge.

Justice Ginsburg: The duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

Vice President-Elect Robinson: The duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

Justice Ginsburg: So help me God.

Vice President-Elect Robinson:  So help me God.

Justice Ginsburg: Congratulations, Madam Vice President.

The 2001 Inauguration of President Tyler Grayson

Anchor: Welcome to the inauguration day of our next President Tyler Grayson. The day has come, all the circumstances have come together, and it is now time for the inauguration of America's soon to be 43rd President, Tyler Grayson.  Grayson is an Ohioan who won the Presidency by defeating California Republican Charles Fong.

It is 9:45am and outgoing President Clinton is soon to arrive to the capitol building along with soon to be President Grayson. Let's go down to the festivities. Oh, and here is the arrival now.

Clinton and Grayson arrive in presidential limo. Aretha Franklin is performing as they arrive.

Aretha Franklin, We Shall Overcome

For the record, Damien will not be allowed to be attacked for flip-flopping on the rules issue if he decides to switch them. If Damien makes changes to the rules that he has already introduced by way of amendment or what have you, that will be fair game. 

On the House Rules fiasco, the AB has made a decision. Because the AB believes that Damien as well as the AB was dealt a hand of confusion when it comes to this rules issue, we have decided to let Damien make the decision on whether he would like to change the initial rules being debated. If he decides not to, that will not be open to attack. If he does decide to change them, he may.

On another note, as the Community Manager, I would like to make a request. Let's get over all of our grudges so we can have a productive congressional session. Grudges do no one any good.  

Sutherland, Schultz come out as election winners

After a highly contested 2000 election, there are many winners and losers coming out of it. CBS News has complied a list of some of the winners and losers of the 2000 election cycle.

Winners:

Andrew Sutherland: Sutherland comes out of this election with a promotion from House Minority Leader to Speaker of the House. Sutherland also is seen by many as a good bit of the reason for Democrats winning so much. His blue dog style is seemingly well liked by the American people, as seen by his promotion.

Miriam Schultz: Schultz, in what could be considered as a Democratic wave, holds onto her position as Senate Majority Leader. Schultz now is considered as the most powerful Republican in Washington. She has the power, by her hand, to successfully put down the Grayson agenda if she considers it too far to the left. Her energy compromise with Senator Anderson Sherman at the end of last session, also brings her up on the winners list.

Lisette Egidia Tran: As the leader of the DNC, Tran was successfully able to lead Democrats to closing in on the Democratic victories in 2000. Once former Chair and now Vice President Robinson left the DNC top job, Tran was thrown into a spot having to take over the elections. Arguably, if Democrats had been unable to pull things off, Tran could have lost her position. Her re-election as party chair also speaks to the trust in her by Democrats.

B. Byron Baudin: While Baudin, lost in the election along with his running mate, Baudin seemingly did not have as much at stake in the election. Also a benefit to him, is his losing with grace and soon issuing a press release saying that he was not done yet. Also, his election to the position of House Minority Leader speaks to his new power within the Republican Party. It maybe 2001, but Baudin could certainly be on his way to a Presidential run in 2004.

Losers:

Charles Fong: Fong definetely comes out of this as the biggest loser. The longtime House Majority Whip had the biggest stake in this election cycle, with his future on the line. The announcement that Fong had lost Oregon was heartbreaking for Republicans across the country. His now retirement from politics obviously speaks to his political future practically having run down to about over.

Ben Rinehart: Rinehart's second run for US Senator in Michigan did not start or end well at all. At the beginning, Dolores Huerta got angry at him and that just led to a lead that he could not come back from. Not that Titus Storm is a winner of this election, as he also had issues with Mrs. Huerta. Those did not end as bad for him as they did for her. Unfortunately for Rinehart, his career is also one which is temporarily over.

John White: The now former Speaker of the House had a rough go this election cycle, losing the House. The 46 year old spent a lot of time and passion into this election cycle in the House as well as places such as Missouri Senate. In the Missouri Senate race, his effort did not go down in vain. That doesn't change the fact however that the Speaker put a ton into the U.S. House over the time since he took the Speakership in the beginning of 1998. The loss of the House for him had to be heartbreaking, as he did not take a leadership position for the 107th Congress.

Sherman Potter: The Missouri democratic senate candidate had a lot of Democratic money pumped into his race. This and his many missteps on the trail make him a big loser in this cycle. From original attacks on him not addressing the abortion issue, to a gaffe on Missouri being in economic downturn, this was not a great race for him. The odds of Potter being able to make another run for the Senate is currently low.

The GOP will be allowed to contest up to five NPC cabinet nominees in the Senate. All player characters will be automatically subject to being contested.

Departing staffers, officials unhappy about new federal lobbying rules

The Restricting Lobbying Act, which was a piece of legislation signed by outgoing President Bill Clinton, is starting to make somewhat of a stink inside of the Beltway.

The legislation doubled most lobbying restrictions on the federal level. For example, employees of the legislative and executive branches were originally banned from lobbying on matters which were directly related to the federal government or the District of Columbia for two years. That restriction is now for four years.

For house leadership staff, the restriction was increased from one year to four. Committee staff was doubled from one year to two. Member's personal staff saw an increase from one year to three. Senate officers and staff were originally at one year, it was now increased to two. Members of the House were increased from a year to four. Senators went from two years to six.

This bill also does things such as increase the current restriction for former employees or officials that they can not lobby on behalf of a foreign entity. That provision was increased by five years, going from one to six.

It should be noted that the bill amends parts of law that are only pertaining to the federal level. This has led to an slight increase of of lobbyists on the state and local levels. It has also created a boost in private sector employment.

CBS News political analyst Gordon Brink sees the purpose of this legislation, and does see some future impact.

"This slows the revolving door, sure," Brink said. "However, I do not think that private sector companies will find some loophole to where these folks can have positions in their companies, then transition to lobbying roles once the exemptions and such expire. The only people this should really affect majorly when it comes to getting jobs at companies are former Senators."

The legislation has frustrated many staffers and people who can now say that they used to work in the Beltway. Lobbying was going to be the path many of these staffers took after their Senator or Representative left office. These include former Rebecca Morris staffer Eric Ross who was expecting to go into lobbying after public service.

"My former boss's name is a one that you really can't say too much of around Washington if you are looking for a job," Ross said. "Unfortunately that is all the experience I have within the Beltway. I am not interested in working in a Democratic administration. Lobbying would have been the only chance I had to keep going in Washington. I could have seen myself working at a restaurant as a stop gap for a year, and after I could have gotten a lobbying job. Now I will have to come up with a new plan. Odds are, I will end up with some job in the private sector."

Don't miss Lloth's announcement about POTUS and VPOTUS approvals!

Also, reminder that the game is off break and we are in quarter one 2001.

A couple of things related to multis that are not addressed in the VGS rules.

1. For simplicity's sake, if you are elected as a party chair, you are required to use a character that is already in Congress.

2. When it comes to cabinet members however, they will be allowed to have two characters between the cabinet and Congress. However, it will be by AB discretion whether a player can have three characters between the two sections. At this point, for the Grayson Administration, that will be allowed. The factors going into that will include current game/party activity, and others that will be determined by future boards deciding.

The game is on shutdown until the 26th. Nothing will be going on during this time. Take your holidays off, you all deserve it!  

Due to recent kerfuffles in the main Telegram chat, the Administrative Board in consultation with concerned players will be invoking a new policy on the main Telegram chat. 

If things start getting out of control in the main Telegram chat, a member of the AB and/or the Owner will give a warning to the individual or individuals causing the issue. If said individual or individuals do not stop, they will be temporarily muted from the Telegram chat so things can calm down. Once everyone has cooled off, those individuals will be unmuted. 

Senate:

Presidential:

Election Night drawing closer and closer

As election night draws nearer and nearer, Americans are voting at the ballot box to determine their country's future.

Before long, all of America will get to watch and wait as ballots are counted all across the nation. Both houses of Congress are on the line tonight, as is the Presidency. By the end of the night, Americans will have an idea at how the country will look for it's first full Presidency in the 21st Century.

So far, there have been no reports of any major issues with voting. In an interesting twist, there have been no problems with voting in the State of Florida which has been famous for it's long, long lines on election nights.

Politicians all across the country have cast their votes today, from President Clinton to DNC Chair Tran to Colorado Republican Jerome Hooper, whose chances at getting a Senate seat have looked increasingly dim in recent weeks.

Former ABC News political reporter Kirk Roman sees the defining race of this election night being the Presidential one.

"The defining race will certainly be the Presidential race," Roman said. "With the current climate regarding hate crimes, possible cases of police brutality and Congressional gridlock, the American voters will certainly be looking for someone at the helm to lead, set the pace and define the agenda for the new millennium."

National Review Contributor Charles Rosenbaum also sees the Presidential election as a defining factor this election cycle.

"I'd have to agree. The Presidential Election is THE factor that elections today are being impacted by. I seriously doubt that the House GOP would be doing as good as it is if the Fong Campaign didn't make the decision to campaign there [New England]. This includes the House and Senate races, where Senate candidates like John Kensley and Ben Rinehart are running populist campaigns that are, as of the polls, losing.

Rosenbaum is also comparing this election to the ones back in 1998.

This election, I'd say, is very similar to 1968, where our political landscape evolves. Don't be surprised if in a few cycles, states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and New Jersey are going to be moved to the Right. Why? Look at West Virginia, look at Arkansas, look at Tennessee. Heck, look at Texas, where Bill Clinton defied a decades-old adage that no Democrat could lose Texas and win the Presidency. Things have changed and are about to change even more."

Whether this election will be similar to the one in 1998, only time can tell that. Either way, an interesting election cycle is to come to a head tonight, as America decides.

TVs in the Grille start being changed to news channels where the Huerta story and the election are being covered.

Washington braces for Election Night

Things have quieted down in our nation's capitol recently with most members of Congress out to their home districts or seats to campaign for themselves or their preferred Senate or Presidential candidate.

Some have said it is even quieter then normal in Washington, fueling speculation about how important this election is to not only the nation, but both political parties.

"I cannot speak to it being quieter in Washington then normal," CBS News political analyst Gordon Brink said. "However, this is a very important election for both parties. Will we continue in alternating parties between Presidents, as we would get with Charles Fong? Or will we see four more years of a Democrat in the Oval?"

With issues such as education, race relations, white nationalism, the Panama Canal, and more all on a potential President's plate, it makes sense why both parties see this as an important election for their future as well as the country.

Daily Show Contributor and New York Daily News Political Reporter Anderson Scooper is watching the races in Congress particularly closely today.

“The White House is going to be very contested. We all expect that," Scooper said. "But congressionally, I think everybody knows that Democrats are going to make gains in the Senate and most likely take the house. The question is: how large their gains will be? If Democrats get wins in races like Rachel Andrews in Pennsylvania or Sherman Potter in Missouri, we could see just how well Democrats do nationally.”

Brad Adams, the former Chief of Staff to House Speaker John White, is interested to see how the Republicans campaigning will work out for them.

“The Republicans were smart, they made this race about a simple phrase and issue. A raise in taxes vs. a cut in taxes, it will be interesting to see what the American people choose,” Adams said.

The election night coverage on most of the networks is slated to start at 7pm. So grab your popcorn, and get ready for what could be a very exciting election night in America.

Waitress brings Congressman Castillo his food.

"Here you go, sir."

4 minutes ago, Bolster said:

[Congressman Jonathan Castillo walks in, and waves to Bethany]

 

Castillo: "Beth! What are you doing here? You're flight to Florida got delayed or something?"

 

[Sits next in he both with her and looks at the menu and orders the New York Strip]

Waitress asks if he wants the 11 ounce or the 14 ounce.

2 minutes ago, Evan said:

 

[She pays the waiter and tips a Jackson ($20)]

 

Lincoln: "Why thank you, dear. It has been an interesting morning. This is probably the most dead I've seen this place in a few years. Unless that's the norm on the eve of Election Day?"

"It depends ma'am, I think it is quiet the days before the close ones as everyone is out hitting the trail. Who do you think is going to win?"

5 hours ago, Evan said:

[Congresswoman Beth Lincoln walks in, humming a tune similar to Robert Foster's Suwanee River]

 

Lincoln: "This place looks dead. Then again, it's early morning on the eve of Election Night. Oh the joys of macromanaging..."

 

[She would sit down at one of the booths, ordering a Cajun ribeye with a basket of fries.]

Waitress brings by the Congresswoman's food.

"Nice morning, huh Ma'm? Here you go!"

Important announcement on behalf of Tyler, he is getting ready to take a final, so let's wish some good luck to him.

Quote

After reviewing the accounts of the Democratic Party, we found a mistake was made where funds for the DCCC/DSCC and their respective PACs were double-counted on both their proper accounts and the DNC accounts. The amount totals to $29m in the PAC account, and $17m in the DNC warchest. The DNC will be required to cut the offending amount in addition to 20%. Furthermore, I (Tyler Swanson), had messed up in answering a question on where certain accounts can be spent, and thus had to make corrections to the DNCs funding sources. Any PAC violations coming from these edits have been noted and will not count against them. I refuse to punish players for a mistake they made because I gave them incorrect information.

Update on the game calendar, we are moving the convening of Congress to December 27th. This will allow the parties some time to kick off leadership elections for the new Congress and for the AB to have enough time to clear out Congress. This will therefore put inauguration day on the 29th, thanks for everyone's cooperation!