#election1896

[azspot]

Bryan in 1896, just like Donald Trump today, generated enormous amounts of energy campaigning across the entire American continent on a scale and with an intensity that had never been seen before. More people voted for Bryan than for any other individual in US national history before him. Yet the soothing, easygoing McKinley who hardly ever ventured from his cozy front porch at home during the campaign, beat him legitimately by a margin of almost 5%.

The same pattern held when Bryan ran and lost a third time in 1908 against the literally mountainous (he weighed 330 pounds. or 150 kilograms) William Howard Taft. Yet Taft, who could hardly walk and allegedly got stuck in his own bath in the White House (the story has long been ridiculed but has the ring of truth), won easily too.

Then in 1920, Americans turned their backs on the endless talk, emotional energy and precious few achievements of the high-minded Progressive Era and elected quiet, reassuring conservative Republican Senator Warren Harding of Ohio by record margins. Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt had never enjoyed such a triumph, even though a young Franklin Roosevelt was the vice-presidential candidate on the doomed Democratic ticket.

FDR learned the lesson well himself. In 1932, he smiled a lot and gave vague and contradictory promises about everything to everyone throughout the campaign. So wooly and waffling was Roosevelt that he convinced even such outstanding observers as New York Herald Tribune columnist Walter Lippmann that he was a weak-minded nonentity.

But FDR knew how to smile: Just like Vice President Harris on Tuesday night.

Hapless incumbent President Herbert Hoover added to his woes in 1932 when he allowed his campaign to have as its theme song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime” – a heartbreaking tale of woe from the Great Depression. Franklin Roosevelt ran with “Happy Days Are Here Again.” And he won in a landslide.

In 1980, again in a time of great economic fear and uncertainty across America – though not remotely comparable to the Great Depression, earnest, serious incumbent President Jimmy Carter defended his honorable though inept record and tried to pin Republican candidate Ronald Reagan down on the key issues. However, Reagan – a veteran Hollywood movie star – as much despised by intellectuals then as conservatives sneer at Kamala Harris now – simply knew how to time his reaction lines. “There you go again ” he sighed – America roared with laughter. And that was the end of Carter.

[milleart]

“...As his last act as Mayor, Feducci had the mayoral residence exploded.”

shine on, feducci, you crazy goddamn diamond. shine on.

[failbettergames]

Election Returns to Fallen London

Election is a free festival open to all players. Starting Monday 18th June, players will have two weeks to bolster support for a candidate of their choosing.

The 1896 Election will see some slight structural changes in accordance with Mr Huffam's Second Revised Rules of Electioneering:

The candidates running will be announced at the beginning of the festival on the 18th of June

The first week of Election will focus on learning about the candidates and leveling up your political career through Reputation

Reputation will be gained through the main Election opportunity card. Trade items, Favours, and take part in particular political activities to gain Reputation in your chosen career

Certain Favours will correspond to different political careers (these will be announced when Election begins)

During week two, you'll be able to cast your vote (your progress for both weeks will count towards your vote), continue to advance your career to support your candidate, and even change your vote or career if someone else has won you over

We’ll also be polling people throughout Election and releasing the results via the main Election card. Much more information will be revealed once the festival begins. We look forward to seeing who you’ll choose, delicious friends.

If you’re interested to see how things fared in previous Elections, a Historical Account can be found on the Fallen London Wiki. 

[chocolatechipmarshmallowpizza]

Me: Hmm, as a person, I don't really like any of the candidates, but what's in it for me character.

The Captivating Princess: Bees.

Me: Bees?

The Captivating Princess: Bees!

Me: BEES!

[falkberg]

[hotshotblackburn]

An Entirely Unofficial Fallen London Post-Election Survey

Hello to all! In the wake of the recent 1896 mayoral election, we have seen the power of Huffam and his team of underpaid pollsters to gauge the attitudes of Fallen London's citizens toward various candidates. In a few weeks, we should be seeing some official statistics from Failbetter Games on the breakdown of voters's preferred candidates and roles during the election as we have for the past two years. There is also an unofficial survey floating around made by and for the community for similar purposes. As a whole, there have been many polls and surveys going around.

So here's another one!

This survey was created in response to questions over past candidates and why the FL playerbase, as a whole, voted for certain candidates and not others. While other surveys do a good job of informing us of how the community tended to vote statistically, they do not really inform us of *why* players voted as they did. How many voted for in-character reasons, versus out-of-character reasons? How many voted based on platform, and how many voted based on name recognition? Did the influence of new players shift the demographics of the voting population and thus change how candidates with similar platforms were received? The percentage of people who voted for the Jovial Contrarian versus the Captivating Princess or Mr. Slowcake alone could not help us with these questions. Thus...

An entirely unofficial and voluntary Fallen London Post-Election Survey, via Google Forms. 

This survey asks participants to disclose the candidates they voted for during the 1894, 1895, and/or 1896 Fallen London mayoral election events, but also asks their reasons for both choosing their preferred candidates and not choosing dis-preferred candidates. My hope is that with this we can start to identify common themes and reasons for voting or not-voting specific candidates among the greater FL community, rather than scouring across a series of discord servers, forum, tumblr archives, and more. Note that your responses to freeform questions will be made available to others who have taken survey, and that all responses are otherwise anonymous in terms of identification. This survey is in no way affiliated with or sponsored by Failbetter Games

If you have not responded I hope you will consider doing so, and if you have thank you for your time!

[sinistropteryx]

Hmm. I may have to switch to supporting the jovial contrarian from Slowcake. Loyalty is all well and good, but I like betting on the winning horse.

[marithehighpriestessofmoloch]

I can't believe I forgot about the fallen london election shit

[falkberg]

[falkberg]

[chocolatechipmarshmallowpizza]

While I’ve previously taken a stand that the Mayor of Fallen London must have a name, considering Mr. Slowcake doesn’t seem to actually exist, this year it seems that I will be unable to vote for anyone in perfect conscious.

[falkberg]

The rattling printing presses fill the streets again, the air is heavy with inky smoke. Through the streets echo the shouts of urchins and paperboys, spreading the news all around: The time for a New Election has come - 1897, the fate of London has to be decided!  Gather around, citizens and denizens of the Neath! Let the campaigning begin! 

[falkberg]