Campaign season
| System | The campaign |
|---|---|
| Where | Career Mode, on the campaign board that appears once a candidacy is under way |
| Activities | Door-knocking, leafleting, the local radio circuit, town halls, phone banks |
| Extras | Campaign events, debates, endorsements, the running mate book, the presidential campaign screen |
Once a candidate has filed for a race in Career Mode, the ordinary monthly schedule is replaced by a campaign board. The board uses the same month, the same action points and the same campaign money as everyday life, but campaigning is judged differently: it builds the candidate's recognition and favourability with the seat's voters rather than moving any other figure. The board disappears once the race ends, and any activity still under way at that point stops without using up further time.
The campaign board
The board is headed with the name of the race and the office being sought. It shows how many rivals remain in the field, or the name of the opponent in a general election, along with the date of the next vote. It also shows the month's action points spent, the campaign's money on hand, and a button leading to the race itself. Below this sits The Trail, a set of five activities that are only available while a candidacy is live:
- Door-knocking, in which the candidate delivers a line on the doorstep.
- Leafleting, which is paid for out of campaign funds and carries no line.
- The local radio circuit, in which the candidate delivers a line on air.
- Town halls, in which the candidate speaks from the front of a room.
- Phone banks, which are paid for out of campaign funds and use a script for the volunteers.
A panel beneath the board shows who each activity reaches. During a primary, activities reach voters from the candidate's own party. Once a candidate becomes the nominee, they reach the whole electorate of the seat.
Campaign events
Any engaged activity can throw up an event during the month, and only one such event happens at a time. A door-knocking session might bring a local news crew to the street, a leaflet might prompt someone to come back with a question, or a radio interview might be steered onto an unexpected topic. Each event names its subject, and the candidate answers in their own words, usually from a short list of suggested positions.
Debates
Debates arrive as invitations rather than as something the candidate schedules directly, and they become possible as a contest approaches. Only candidates near the top of the field are likely to be invited. The format depends on the office: debates for a state legislative seat are usually held as a town hall or on the radio and are never televised, while debates for the US Senate, for governor and for the presidency are usually shown on television.
A debate has three rounds. The moderator puts a question to the whole stage, and the candidate answers within 400 characters while every other candidate answers separately, unable to hear anyone else's answer. The candidate may then challenge one other candidate, once, during the night. Afterwards, the result panel reports what share of the party watched the debate and how the candidate's answers were scored. Declining an invitation lets the debate go ahead without the candidate, and the result then names one of the remaining candidates as the winner.
A career candidate for the presidency debates on the presidency game's own stage in September and October; see Presidential Debates.
Endorsements
During a primary, a figure from the party's own ranks can endorse the candidate. Only people who already know the candidate and think well of them are in a position to do this, and it happens on its own rather than at the candidate's request. An endorsement adds to the candidate's recognition and favourability with the endorser's own wing of the party, and it is reported in the news. A sitting member defending their seat receives the same donations, endorsements and debate invitations as a declared candidate.
The running mate
Winning a presidential nomination opens a book of possible running mates, reached by a button on the convention screen. It lists every eligible figure in the nominee's party: the rest of the primary field, sitting governors, members of Congress, prominent figures from the nominee's home state, and other well-known party figures, organised into tabs with a search box. The sitting President and the presidency's current holder never appear on the list.
The choice can be left open for several months, but it must be settled by October. If it is not, the running mate defaults to the sitting Vice-President, where the nominee already holds that office, or otherwise to the primary runner-up. A nominee who is renominated may keep their existing running mate or choose a new one. If the ticket wins the general election, the running mate becomes Vice-President. Losing the general election ends the running mate's role along with the ticket, and a later run for the presidency always starts with the choice unmade.
The presidential campaign
After the nominating convention in July, a presidential nominee campaigns on the presidency game's campaign screens until the vote in November. During the campaign the nominee responds to campaign events, sets out a manifesto, and takes part in debates in September and October. The voters judge each answer as a campaign promise rather than as a policy already in force, and their reaction changes how the whole country sees the nominee. A month of this campaign changes the voters' views more than an ordinary month of career life does.
The campaign screen also offers five actions, and one of them can be used each month:
- Visit state, which campaigns in one chosen state.
- Hold rally, a rally seen by the whole country.
- Media appearance, which reaches one audience, chosen from a list of outlets.
- Op-ed, which speaks to swing voters.
- Mobilization drive, which works on one chosen group of voters.
Each action improves how the voters it reaches see the nominee. State polls can also be bought from the same screen, and they are paid for from the campaign account. A sitting President who runs for a second term has the same campaign season, with campaign events, a manifesto and debates, and the voters' reactions to these change how the country sees the President.
Campaign money
Career Mode tracks two pools of money: personal savings and income, and a separate campaign account that starts empty. Leafleting and phone banks are paid for from the campaign account, and fundraising activities add to it. During a presidential general election, the campaign account also pays for state polls. Career Mode has no war chest. The size of the campaign account does not add votes by itself, and money only matters through the activities and polls it pays for.