2010 US Presidential Election

[Tim Thomason]

bbcworldnews.com
World Leaders Meet at Funeral of C.A.F. President Boma
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

The traditional Ijaw funeral of Central African Federation President Benjamin Boma will be held on Wednesday with a flurry of national leaders attending. Unlike African leaders of the past, Boma made great aims in diplomacy with first-world nations, making several trips to the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and recently, China, in his attempts to turn the often war-laden nation into a thriving economy.

Some of the guest list:

US President Matt Santos (seen here visiting the CAF in 2008) will be arriving on Wednesday for the funeral, but will leave immediately afterwards, as he is on a tight schedule for the upcoming American presidential election.


President-elect Erik Tuleev of Kazakhstan will have his first face-to-face meeting with US President Santos and much of the international establishment at the funeral. Tuleev was elected in Kazakhstan's first direct election on October 23rd, the day after Boma's assassination.


Acting President Mugaba will deliver the eulogy for Boma, who he considered to be a father figure and helped him enter politics in 2003 and to become Prime Minister earlier this year.


Newly installed Russian Prime Minister Ivanovich will attend in place of President Davydov.

[Tim Thomason]

The CAF can't be an *exact* analogue with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), as that nation was referred to multiple times on the show. But here's a nice map of Africa I edited (with some nearby countries), that contains all four fictional nations. Can you spot them all?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Google Hosted News (AP)

Charleston, West Virginia-Republican Senate candidate Charles Oakley has experienced a sudden surge in the polls, and is now running even with Democrat Brett Harrison. Oakley, a six-term Congressman, is widely regarded as the Republicans' best chance at winning two Senate seats for the Mountain State. Both candidates are campaigning to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Don Rossiter.

Although Harrison is still favored to win, Oakley's slow-but-steady approach to campaigning and easygoing style appears to have won over many voters in West Virginia's urban districts, and a race that had been fairly predictable is now considered a toss-up just days before the election.


Congressman Oakley, campaigning in Hungtington
________

I didn't know if Oakley had been cast or not, but this seemed like a good choice ("Just a good old boy...never meanin' no harm...")

I'd also like to know if we're going to see a "Florida 2000" scenario with this election, since I don't think it's happened in the WWU yet (I don't think Santos/Vinick counts because Vinick didn't challenge the result.) Perhaps, for the sake of drama, there could even be a Constitutional crisis in the making?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Central African Federation (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia)

The Central African Federation (CAF) is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by the Central African Republic and Sudan on the north, Uganda on the East, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the south, and Congo on the west. The CAF covers a land area roughly equal to that of the neighboring Central African Republic. It has an estimated population of about 3.2 million as of 2008. The capitol city is New Louisville.

Most of the CAF consists of Sudanian savannahs. Much of the country lies within the basins of the Ubangi River, which is a tribituary of the Congo.

History

Human settlement in what is now the CAF began about 1000 BC. The arrival of Muslim traders in the late eighteenth century began cultivating trade with the various tribal regions. The slave trade arrived beginning about 1845, followed by rapid colonization by the French during the "Scramble for Africa." The area became a part of France's colonial territory along with the French Congo. As with the Central African Republic, large private companies were established to exploit the region's rich diamond mines.

Independence

The country formally gained independence on January 1, 1960, which is still celebrated as Freedom Day. Roger LeCarre became the country's first democratically elected president in 1962 but was overthrown in a coup which led to a military junta ruling the country for the next twenty five years. Following the largely peaceful overthrow of the junta by a pro-democracy movement in 1988, attempts at reconcilation between the various tribal factions produced a number of governments before leading to a long and bitter civil war beginning in 1992. The war lasted for a decade, during which thousands on both sides died and tens of thousands more became refugees, creating a humanitarian crisis by the time the war ended in 2001.

Recent Developments

With the election of Benjamin Boma, a former human rights activist and leader of the original pro-democracy movement, stability and prosperity began to return to the country. Boma granted amnesty to those who had fought on both sides in the civil war and led the creation of a new parliament. He also encouraged foreign investment in the country's natural resources, helping the country return to some of the prosperity it had enjoyed during the early 1960s.

In 2010, President Boma was assasinated by gunmen in the capitol. Widespread rioting and looting in the cities followed before order was largely restored by government troops. Former prime minister Jean Luc Mugaba has assumed the office of the presidency as the head of an interim government.

Chinese Involvement In The C.A.F.

In the aftermath of Boma's assassination, the Peoples' Republic of China sent several thousand troops to the CAF, ostensibly to protect China's mining interests. Acting president Mugaba has said he welcomes their presence as a "Stabilizing influence" on the outer provinces. The United States and France have both expressed concern about the presence of foreign troops on CAF soil.

[Prometheus_2300]

Originally Posted by Tim Thomason

The CAF can't be an *exact* analogue with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), as that nation was referred to multiple times on the show. But here's a nice map of Africa I edited (with some nearby countries), that contains all four fictional nations. Can you spot them all?

I thought Qumar was annexed by Iran or something during the show, since it disappeared from the map in the situation room in the 6th or 7th season? No mention of Qumar during those seasons, even during the Palestinian-Israel Conference

Oh and great map

[Tim Thomason]

I haven't done these in a while:

Originally Posted by Prometheus_2300

I thought Qumar was annexed by Iran or something during the show, since it disappeared from the map in the situation room in the 6th or 7th season? No mention of Qumar during those seasons, even during the Palestinian-Israel Conference

Oh and great map

Well, Qumar's been firmly established to exist in this thread. The later (RL) images of a fully intact Iran are considered apocryphal, or perhaps wishful thinking of the Situation Room guys. The last mention in-show was in "Disaster Relief" (late 2003), referring to the events of the Zoey Bartlet crisis. I'd like to think they would've addressed the dissolution of one of their major enemies from Seasons 3 to 5.

The best image I can find of the "No Qumar" thing on short notice. There should be national borders around the Straight of Hormuz, but there's not for some odd reason.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS

Screen grab of air strikes being carried out against Qumar by Iranian fighter jets


Iranian air strikes have reportedly been launched against the tiny but oil-rich nation of Qumar within the last hour, according to Al Jazeera and the BBC.

Qumar's Foreign Ministry reported that several air strikes had been carried out by Iranian fighter jets against oil refineries along their shared border. Witnesses reported "Enormous fireballs" as oil tanks were hit. Casualties are said to be in the hundreds.

In a response broadcast on state-run television from his palace compound in Jabal Nafusa, the Sultan of Qumar blasted the air strikes as an "Unprovoked act of agression." It is not known exactly what percipiteated the Iranian response, however tensions between the two countries have grown in recent years as Iran has long claimed Qumar as part of its historical territory. Western observers are especially concerned about a conflict due to Iran's continued progress on its nuclear program. Last month the Iranian government reported that its reactor had been completed ahead of schedule and that the first fuel rods had been inserted.

President Santos has been informed of the attacks and is reportedly returning to Washington from the Central African Federation to meet with his top military advisors.

Former President Walken has issued a statement condemning the attacks as "An act of war. We were in the process of negotiating with Iran, and this is how they respond, by attacking a country that has worked hard to regain its status as an importaint American ally." As acting President, Walken ordered a bombing campaign and limited invasion of Qumar following the kidnapping of Zoey Bartlet; in recent years, however, both the United States and Qumar have sought to rebuild their traditional long-standing alliance.

The attacks come in the wake of sharp disagreements between the two candidates over Iran. In a recent ad, President Santos accused Walken of being irresponsible and promised that a conflict with Iran would never happen while he was President.
________

Well, you wanted to know what happened to Qumar...

Note: My own guess is that they did in fact try to repair their relationship with the U.S. after Bartlet resumed the presidency, as they were a long-standing U.S. ally and seemed to have "Learned their lesson" as they were rarely mentioned in later seasons.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo! News (AP)-Los Angeles-The body of former White House media director and campaign manager for then-presidential candidate Matt Skinner Madeline Hampton has been found in a hotel room, according to police. Her death appears to have been a suicide, with no foul play involved.

Hampton left the Bartlet administration following the leak of a memo Hampton had written for a Bartlet challenger which caused embarrassment for then-President Bartlet. She later served as the campaign operator of junior senator and environmentalist Seth Gilette. She was recently fired by Skinner following the release of several e-mails disparaging other candidates in the 2010 Republican primaries.

DNC chairman Josh Lyman, who once had a close relationship with Ms. Hampton, was notified of the discovery and in a statement has expressed "Deep shock and sadness" at her untimely death.

No memorial arrangements have yet been announced.

[Jay Cruger]

Wednesday, October 26, 2010

New York Times endorses Lewis


It has been many years since New York State had a governor with the vision, judgment and authority that it needs now to turn Albany’s budget from obesity, to resist powerful interests, to plot a course out of an ethical netherworld in which state the government has become a national embarrassment. For the state’s fed-up voters, the choices are Matthew Lewis, the Democratic District Attorney, and Blake Marshall, the Republican former one-term Mayor of New York City.

Mr. Marshall has cheapened the campaign with idiotic and aimless swagger. Even if Mr. Marshall had chosen to be a serious candidate, his “platform” is little more than sputtering threats to cut and close and freeze.

Despite several position books, Mr. Lewis’ candidacy has been more skeletal than it should have been, and there have been times when he failed to stand up forcefully for his stated principles. But he has a strong record in office over the last four years and has proposed serious solutions for some of the state’s problems.

We believe that had Mayor Marshall's opponent Former Congressman Ralph Colazzo gained the nomination for his party and not backed out of the recount in the primary that he could have won, he would have been the most competent choice or Governor. Now at 11% in the polls it seems that he would only be successful in denying Marshall a majority.

Alas, the current polling says that neither Colazzo nor Lewis can win we have decided against the natural successor for George Parker and have chosen our own "maverick", DA Matthew Lewis.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

CNN
Qumar Update

Iran's sudden attack on Qumar has thrown the Presidential election into turmoil as the Santos campaign suspended its final push while President Santos returns to Washington to deal with the crisis and the Walken camp remains in Michigan where former Acting President Walken is said to be closely monitoring events.

Secretary of State Arnold Vinick is headed for New York, where he will be representing the United States at an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council scheduled for Thursday morning. The council is expected to adopt a unanimous resolution condemning the attack on Qumar and call for an immediate cease-fire.

In an official statement, the Iranian president launched into a fiery tirade against the United Nations and the United States in particular, saying that "Iran will not rest, will not stop, until its historical territory is rightfully reclaimed." All further questions were directed to the Iranian ambassador, leading some to speculate whether or not a power struggle was taking place in Tehran between moderates and religious hard-liners.

Early polling suggests that the attack has done little to affect the Presidential race, with both Santos and Walken still effectively tied. Observers believe that many voters may now feel that Walken was vindicated in his stance on Iran, while a vast majority of Americans from across the spectrum are voicing their support for Santos as commander-in-chief during the crisis.

The various candidates in the other major races are remaining mostly silent about the attack on Qumar, except to offer words of support for Santos. In California, both the Seaborn and Lassiter campaigns were united in their condemnation of the Qumar attack. In Ohio, Caroline McIntosh and Hayden Straus put aside their political differences to offer similar sentiments, as have Andrea Wyatt and Dan Kalmbach in Maryland. Senator Matt Hunt of Arizona, who hs been one of President Santos' strongest critics on foreign policy, seems to have voiced the feelings of most of the candidates with the following statement: "We are all Americans, and right now we are all outraged by this cowardly act by Iran. I think I speak for everyone-both Democrat and Republican-when I say that at this time, we stand with the Qumari people during this dark hour."

[AbetterAmerica15]

Santos Ad "Two Presidents" 1

[AbetterAmerica15]

Santos Ad "Two Presidents" 2

[AbetterAmerica15]

Santos Ad "Two Presidents" 3

[AbetterAmerica15]

Santos Ad "Two Presidents" 4

[AbetterAmerica15]

Santos Ad "Two Presidents" 5

[AbetterAmerica15]

Santos Ad "Two Presidents" 6

[disputed]

politico.com, Wednesday October 27th

Daily 10: Senate

• OHIO: You almost have to have a grudging respect for the ability of these two candidates to still be going. They’ve set new standards for shambolic campaigns, and the thought of either of these two becoming a Senator at this stage must fill the Buckeye State with fear. Saying all of that Carrie McIntosh actually put out a positive ad yesterday drawing attention to some of her achievements whilst working in the private sector – it was a welcome relief to the constant negativity of this campaign.

Who Won Tuesday: McIntosh
Latest Poll: McIntosh 47%, Straus 45%

• FLORIDA: John Tandy and Eric Swenson continue to baffle observers, it’s often difficult to tell which one is the Republican and which the Democrat. Yesterday Tandy dedicated most of a primetime interview to pushing the case for deficit reduction, whilst Swenson was travelling around Miami defending his support of the stimulus plan. Weird. Final debate is tonight and it’s still too close to call.

Who Won Tuesday: Tandy
Latest Poll: Swenson 45%, Tandy 42%

• VERMONT: Someone someday will write a book about the last two years in Matthew Skinner’s life. Yesterday for the first time in his attempt to win the vacant senate seat in Vermont he actually found a poll that had him ahead of Alison Benstead. The excitement though was quickly crushed by an attack by a long term opponent, Florida Senator Rafe Framhagen who accused Skinner of interjecting himself into every debate regarding gay rights but then claiming that he didn’t want to talk about his sexuality. Skinner fired back telling Framhagen to keep his nose out of the Green State.

Who Won Tuesday: Benstead
Latest Poll: Skinner 44%, Benstead 42%

• INDIANA: Credit to Damon Matteo who has run an excellent campaign in the Hoosier State, against a background where his party is unpopular and he’ll be on the same ballot as a President who is unpopular in the state he still retains a good chance of winning this race. His opponent Frank Barkey hasn’t given up and spent yesterday campaigning with very popular Governor Stephen Kendrick and his running mate Emily Rudden.

Who Won Tuesday: Tie
Latest Poll: Matteo 46%, Barkey 44%

5. NORTH CAROLINA: There is some talk that David McNamara’s campaign believe they have some momentum going into the final week and that with Andrew Wu’s ever improving poll numbers will come their firewall against Congressman Brett Logan. Unfortunately, that bares only a passing resemblance to what everyone else is seeing. Logan, who is still struggling with the DUI revelations from last month, seems to be growing in confidence and his people are trailing a internal poll that they claim has Logan as much as 7 points ahead.

Who Won Tuesday: Tie
Latest Poll: Logan 48%, McNamara 45%

• NEW YORK: It stills seems like some form of parallel universe when you look at New York’s electoral math at the moment. The Republicans took take the electoral votes, a Senate seat and the Governorship in one foul swoop. Incumbent Senator Michael Daschowitz is fighting for his life and hammered Jay Cruger on his on again/off again support for the right to choose yesterday telling a rally that “New Yorkers simply can’t trust that he (Cruger) won’t simply change his mind again, should the political landscape suit him.”

Who Won Tuesday: Daschowitz
Latest Poll: Matteo 46%, Barkey 44%

• ILLINOIS: It seems clear that Jim Hoehner Jr. has a bright future ahead of him. His political skill in making this race so close can’t be overstated. That being said it still remains to be seen whether he can really get over the top against George Montgommery. Hoehner was boosted by a timely visit from 2006 Vice-Presidential nominee Ray Sullivan yesterday and continues to say that electing a younger less partisan Senator would be best for Illinois.

Who Won Tuesday: Hoehner Jr./
Latest Poll: Montgommery 49%, Hoehner Jr. 46%

• COLORADO: There is no race where the two sides have such differing views on how the land lies. Former majority leader Jack Moseley all but declared victory at the end of last week and a series of polls last week seemed to support that view. However, Camille Aubry’s campaign is saying both publicly and privately that they much closer than these polls suggest. It’s difficult to know whether President Santos pulling out of the state is a help or hindrance to Aubry.

Who Won Tuesday: Tie
Latest Poll: Moseley 49%, Aubry 44%

• MINNESOTA: St Paul Mayor Jack Hunter won a poll in the Washington Post yesterday saying he is the most likely Senator in the class of 2010 to succeed in the role. Last nights debate further confirmed Hunter’s superiority in TV debates as again Daniels struggled to clarify whether he was running on the President’s record. Hunter for his part sounds confident and decisive and that looks like it will give him the edge – he hit 50% in a poll for the first time in the election cycle yesterday and that may well be telling.

Who Won Tuesday: Hunter
Latest Poll: Hunter 50%, Daniels 46%

• GEORGIA: Grace Hardin has hit the panic button with a string of negative ads over the past few days – however, he seems to have made a glaring error, in that he appears to be targeting his opponent’s grandfather! For his part the younger Max Lobell continues to attack Hardin’s support for President Santos and some of his more dubious expenses from his time in Washington.

Who Won Tuesday: Lobell III
Latest Poll: Lobell III 51%, Hardin. 44%

• MARYLAND: It may be that Andi Wyatt’s hopes of making it to the Senate were doomed the day her former husband leaked classified information to the New York Times but history will tell of a candidate who didn’t do nearly enough to distance herself from her toxic former spouse. Dan Kalmbach is stretching his lead and has completely changed the narrative from whether the is too self obsessed to fight for his state to whether Wyatt is being entirely honest about her campaign and what involvement her former husband has had.

Who Won Tuesday: Kalmbach
Latest Poll: Kalmbach 50%, Wyatt. 43%

[disputed]

newyorktimes, Wednesday October 27th

Editorial: Presidential Endorsement

This paper has offered a strong and reasoned analysis on every Presidential election going back to 1860 when we endorsed Abraham Lincoln over Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge and John Bell. This year we have set out to do exactly the same yet for the first time in the papers history we do not feel sufficiently well positioned to offer our endorsement to either of the candidates.

The United States is battered and drifting. We have had twelve years of Democratic Presidents the last four in particular have been trying for all Americans. We recognize that in seven days time America must reach a decision, however, with a heavy heart we simply cannot endorse either of the two candidates as we feel both are simply too flawed.

Firstly to the President, the man who many will have assumed would secure our endorsement, the man who we did indeed endorse four years ago. The ensuing period has seen Matthew Santos mismanage two wars abroad, offering a disappointing response to the economic crisis and fail wholesale to deliver the kind of reform that our healthcare and education system requires – reform that he promised four years ago.

We do not doubt that President Santos is a good man, we do however, harbour serious doubts about his ability to drive through the changes required in America. He failed to adopt an agenda or approach that would get past a hostile Congress and didn’t realise until too late that his team lacked the heft and skill to fix this country. He deserves credit for his belated handling of the war in Kazakhstan and for his ability to personally sacrifice to drive through a belated (and undersized) stimulus package. The last twelve months have seen him show flashes of the President that many of us hoped he would be – but in spite of a small late flourish we simply can not recommend that our readers offer him another four years in Washington.

It was for many of these reasons that we encouraged former Secretary of State Lewis Berryhill to run against the President in the primary race. Had it not been for the unforeseen circumstances involving the Vice-President last September we would have continued to support Secretary Berryhill throughout the primary process.

The President made some much better decisions over the past year. Selecting Wendell Tripplehorn as Vice-President ahead of California Governor Gabe Tillman was a shrewd move which helped bring a lot of talent back into the fold, no one more so than Chief of Staff Nate Singer who has done a great job in managing the message both from the White House and the campaign.

The fundamental problem with four more years of President Santos boils down to whether we believe he can achieve anymore in the next four years than he has in the last. After much soul searching we have concluded that he can not.

Mr. Walken on the other hand will undoubtedly get things done. Our issue with him is in what he is likely to do. We tip our hat to his campaign team and advisors who have done a wonderful job of shaping the campaign’s message but it is simply too big a jump for this newspaper to believe he will not follow the philosophy he has backed for years. He backs tax cuts that pay for themselves but promises that he can’t offer anything in the early years – this differs so drastically from his campaign four years ago that we can’t help but smell a politically motivated rat.

Walken is due credit for his service during the Bartlet Kidnap Crisis, but three days as a crisis leader is not training to lead the long term strategic direction of the United States. His healthcare plan will not eliminate the moral scandal of 40 million uninsured Americans and his education plan will do little to close the gap with the rest of the world.

It’s difficult not to see a Walken Presidency as one that will be more bullish in it’s foreign policy and at a time that America is truly exhausted of wars on foreign soil we feel this is the time for a more constrained international outlook. Walken proved in his last three days in the White House that military action is a lot higher up his lists of options than we are comfortable with.

The 1985 movie Brewster’s Millions played with the idea of supporting “none of the above” as a viable electoral choice. Unfortunately, when pushed this newspaper has been left with exactly that conclusion today.

[disputed]

politico.com, Wednesday October 27th

SANTOS TEAM STUNNED BY NYT SNUB

The campaign to re-elect the President were reeling tonight after the revelation that the last bastion of left leaning journalism The New York Times has chosen not to endorse the President’s bid for a second term.

Tomorrow’s editorial which was trailed on their website this afternoon suggests that “with a heavy heart we simply cannot endorse either of the two candidates” and accused the President of having offered a “disappointing response” to the economic crisis that may well define his presidency.

Senior Democrats were stunned when the news reached them, whilst the New York Times has had a fractious relationship with Santos few expected this dramatic turn of events. Former Virginia Governor Mark Renton told MSNBC that he was “astonished” by the editorial and accused the Times of “nothing more than tabloid journalism”.

The Walken campaign were far more upbeat about their inability to secure the nomination saying “I think it’s fair to say we were never banking on it. What this does tell you is that even Matthew Santos’ biggest natural supporters don’t think he’s up to the job.”

The New York Times has endorsed a candidate in every Presidential Election since 1860 and has backed the Democratic candidate in every election since 1960. The last Republican to secure the nomination was Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.

[Tim Thomason]

nbsnews.com
Has CNN gone too far?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Halloween spoof section of CNN's website is currently attempting a "World War III"-scenario using real-world names and locations set amongst the current electoral landscape. Says CNN producer Mandy Hampton "The articles, detailing a faux-attack on Qumar and eventually US involvement, are clearly labelled as fake and are for entertainment purposes only. They're only accessible from the main page by clicking the 'Halloween Chills and Thrills' tab. I don't see what the big deal is?"

On his MSNBC show, George Allard seemed genuinely concerned that it could lead to people believing that Qumar was actually under attack. Allard went on to say "Some of these articles have erroneously shown up on Yahoo! News, of all places. The people at Yahoo! and CNN need to be especially distinguishing, as they have tried so hard in the past to be serious news organizations. Send it over to The Onion or something."

Former NBS news anchor, and legendary television moderator, Timothy Thomason was quoted as saying, "Ms. Hampton's idea of putting forth a fictionalized version of herself in these articles is just confusing and idiotic."