Electoral Reform: Another Round

Next up for the Senate is Senator Gabu's Electoral Reform Bill. Like recent forum affairs proposals (namely the secret ballot amendment and the forum affairs split), the Bill does not appear to have undergone much consultation. Either the Bill must undergo a lot of work in the coming days and weeks in the Senate, or it must reject the legislation, else it risks quite literally causing the sky to fall.

The full totality of the impact of the Bill would probably cause a good number of votes to be declared invalid (the Bill offers very little discretion to a voting booth administrator), and certainly many more than at present. One of the most poorly considered sections is Section 2:

To vote in an election, any eligible voter must make a copy of the ballot provided by the administrator, make some form of mark in one and only one of the spaces provided in clause 3 of section 1, and then post the completed ballot in the voting booth.

In a Presidential election with say the following tickets:
Porce/Q
John Ford/True Democrat
Ilikeverin/PBrunsel

The "usable ballot" described in §1, Clause 2 would look something like this:

[ ] - Porce/Q
[ ] - John Ford/True Democrat
[ ] - Ilikeverin/PBrunsel
[ ] - None of the Above
[ ] - Write-in: _____________________

A voter must then make one (and only one) mark in the spaces provided to the left. If the voter were to however cast a vote like this:

Ilikeverin/PBrunsel

The vote must be held as invalid by a simple construction of the Bill's operative clauses: When one says that the voter "must make a copy of the ballot provided", that leaves no discretion, and provides none for the administrator either. He would have to discount that vote. Given Atlasia's historic prevelance of voting in the second manner that I note above, the Bill presents a threat to a fair electoral process, potentially binding the SoFA to a ridiculous standard of counting votes.

Senate News Update

Nyman D.C.

The TVA Privatisation Bill was roundly defeated last night, with 9 Senators voting against it. The Bill had been widely criticised for being badly written, "butchered with ammendments"[sic] or simply making bad economic sense. In the end, an overriding sense that the short term impact of a $100 billion windfall could not outweigh the long term economic drawbacks such as loss of revenue. Whilst some might considered it 17 wasted days, it was good to see the body actually debate the issues for once.

The Species Act of 2005 has also been successfully amended, thus reducing the fines that it imposes on potential offenders. Passage was achieved without any significant controversy as much of the substance had been debated previously by the Senate.

With little debate, Senator Jake's Comprehensive Engergy Plan Bill has gone to a vote, which has already emerged as closer than might have been expected. Senators Texasgurl, CheeseWhiz and Bono have all opposed the legislation, with Senators Wixted and DanielX abstaining, without raising so much as a finger to signal their dissent when debate was open. If anything, the TVA debate showed that good debate could create informed consensus, hopefully the Senate will heed that lesson in future.

Presently on the floor is the Public Interest Amendment, proposed by Senator Al under the general auspisces of allowing the Senate to legislate on public interest grounds. However, it has no formal language as yet, and despite some suggestions offered by the editor of this paper, it looks likely to fall into abeyance, especially as Senator Al has indicated that he will soon retire from the Senate.

Republic Declines to Seek Re-election; Porce Enters Race

Dayton, OH and Charleston, SC

President Joe Republic declined to seek re-election to the Presidency yesterday in a move that will undoubtedly completely reshape the entire campaign. Citing a lack of time and energy to both run a campaign or the country, President Republic gracefully exitted a race that he never actually enterred.

The news was met with a mixed reaction: Governor John Ford, a Presidential hopeful, paid tribute to the President's service and expressed regret for a campaign that has taken on a very bitter personal note in recent days. A number of other citizens thanked the President for his service, whilst Senator Jake was his usual self, suggesting that Republic's exit from the race was simply a cover for the fact that he would lose heavily.

Shortly after Republic's announcement, the sitting Vice-President, Porce, declared his intention to seek the office of President, promising an agenda, and presumably a Vice-President of his own, in the coming days and weeks. He also took the opportunity to place himself firmly on forum affairs by immediately coming out in favour of the proposed FPTP-with-runoff voting system and highlighting his impeccable record in the Senate.

Whether any prominent Atlasians who had previously pledged themselves to Republic will use his exit from the race as a reason to start up their own campaign remains to be seen, however, it is expected that Porce will carry the majority of Joe Republic's supporters over to his own campaign.

National Governor's Alliance Proposed

Pacific Governor John Ford today proposed that a more formal setting for the Governors of Atlasia's five Regions to discuss matters of mutual national concern that fall outside the purview of the Senate.

Governor-Elect Afleitch, due to be sworn in today, and Governor Jas have both expressed strong interest in the group, as have all declared candidates for the Northeast and Southeast Senate races that occur within the next month. The structure of how such a group would operate will likely be fleshed out in the coming days and weeks.

Governor Ford has already expressed an interest in discussing both the minimum wage and sex crime legislation. Noting that the federal minimum wage was struck down in Bono v. Atlasia II, Ford called on all Regions to pass minimum wage legislation. Research indicates that three of the five Regions (Pacific, Mideast, Southeast) have minimum wage Laws on their books, whilst the Midwest has not yet considered the issue, and the Northeast rejected a minimum wage in September 2005.

Governor Ford also called for a mandatory minimum jail term for those convicted of sex crimes against those under 12 years old. He claims there is already a minimum 35 year jail term for the Pacific, but we have no way to actually check this given that there is no reliable source for Pacific statutes. The Mideast has instituted a maximum life term for crimes of this nature in the majority of circumstances; The Southeast statutes seem to indicate that conviction on two counts of this crime would result in a fifty year jail term. Research indicates that neither the Northeast nor the Midwest have considered similar initiatives.

Presidential Race: Hostilities Renewed

Those of you with better judgement have undoubtedly avoided this thread, which seems to articulate the bitterness of this campaign into one place. I thought reading the Presidential debates was painful, but obviously this reporter needs to work on his pain threshold.

To summarise the thread: It starts off with Supersoulty challenging President Joe Republic to declare his intention to run for re-election and debate Governor John Ford. Next comes perhaps the most intelligent reply in the thread from Philip: "Shut up, you're annoying."

The thread then descends downhill into backbitting exchanges between John Ford and Vice-President Porce, including what has to be one of the more entertaining conspiracy theories I have read in a while. Suffice to say, I know that it's total and utter garbage, but its fun reading nonetheless.

The most amusing thing about the entire charade is that the Republic announcement was imminent, and likely before the end of Thursday. Given that the Republic campaign cannot be seen as bowing to Supersoulty's political stunt, the announcement will have to be delayed.

John Ford continued to look like a man on a mission of trying to get elected - if he continues on like this, he probably will. If you throw enough mud it sticks after all, but if he vilifies the President continually, you can rest assured that many Republic supporters will simply slip away after the election or just refuse to play ball with him. Being the best candidate on forum affairs is one thing, but there has to be a forum left to apply those policies to.

Nobody came out of this exchange looking good: For the most part, Joe Republic refused to engage the debate, which was undoubtedly the best idea. Another undoubted beneficiary of this mess will be Ilikeverin/PBrunsel. This paper has now come to the opinion that they are the possibility of them making the last round is so strong that it will poll not only on a John Ford v. Joe Republic match-up, but also Verin v. Ford and Verin v. Republic in this coming weekend's polling.

Senate elections & News round-up

Nyman D.C.

The Senate appears to be returning to the efficiency of the days of old when Emsworth ran it. The Senate is making good progress on various bills, even if most are being rejected or withdrawn.

The Deregistration Bill passed unanimously into Law late on Tuesday, thus hopefully bringing some order to a situation that was rife with legal chaos. The Senate has also passed a supplemental appropriation to help deal with the aftermath of the Katrina tragedy.

The TVA Privatisation Bill continues to occupy a spot on the Senate floor, and considering that its been on the floor two weeks now, its somewhat disappointing to see that despite all the possible changes that have been suggested (e.g. part privatisation), none have actually seen a vote before the whole Senate. Debate continues to go back and forth, with no end in sight.

Several other bills have been quickly withdrawn by their sponsors in recent days, including two bills from Al that were in need of substantial work and another from CheeseWhiz that was criticised as unneeded. The Senate is making good progress on an amendment to the Species Act of 2005, and looks set to pass it before week's end.

Election Update
Cheyenne, WY

Midwest Lieutenant Govenor and Senate hopeful Everett dropped out of her race for the Midwest Senate seat today, citing a lack of forseeable time in which to be active. She had been leading in most polls commissioned in spite of a relatively quiet campaign. She endorsed Associate Justice Ernest for the seat, praising his experience and competence. She has declined to rule out a run in the future.

Today also saw the entry of our first candidate into the Pacific race. Jesus, a frequent candidate and the Jesus Christ Partys' only member, has declared for the seat after being courted by many Pacificians.

Republic has edge over Ford

Fort Wayne, IN

In the polling done for the Atlasian Observer over the past weekend, it has emerged that in a theoretical last round match-up between Joe Republic/Porce and John Ford/True Democrat that Joe Republic and Porce have the edge, leading by 22 votes to 18, a clear 10% advantage at this early stage in the campaign.

This is undoubtedly welcome news for the Republic campaign which has withstood a barrage of attacks in recent days from the Ford campaign.

When asked which tickets they were seriously considering for their highest preference, more voters are now replying both Republic/Porce and Ford/Democrat, with Republic/Porce up a whole 10 points over the last poll.

DanielX's support seems to have totally collapsed with the exit of his running mate (aka Casey Reese) from the race, dropping a whole ten points and shedding nearly half of his supporters. Unless he is able to shore up support with a strong Vice Presidential pick, he is finished in this campaign.

Speed of Sound's pick of EarlAW doesn't appear to have inspired much confidence with the voters, and he is now tied with Jesus, a frequent protest candidate, on 7.5%. This is another campaign in need of good news, otherwise, the end of the tunnel will approach sooner than 17 February.

The big surprise of the weekend's polling was the surging performance of Ilikeverin/PBrunsel, who polled just short of a third "strongly consider for top preference" votes. Campaigning on a platform of making Atlasia fun again, Verin and Brunsel appear to have captured the fun-loving side of the voters by offering a refreshing alternative to the back-biting attacks of the top contenders. How well this support will hold up remains to be seen.

In another interesting shift from the voters, voting reform appears to have dropped like a lead balloon in the voters minds, with economic affairs gaining traction. A massive 15 point jump for economic affairs might be attributed to renewed concerns over the use of finances in the "game", and the falling away of voting reform likely comes as a by-product of the Secret Ballot Amendment fading into memory. General Forum Affairs maintains its presence as the most important issue in the mid-40s.

Governor-elect afleitch

College Park, MD

Whilst official results are yet to be formally declared, it is now all over bar the shouting in the Mideast Gubernatorial election, and Afleitch, a Free Democrat from Wisconsin has won the Governorship. He revives the tradition of the centre-left in the Mideast, following in the footsteps of former Governors NickG and Peter Bell.

The provisional results appear to be the following:
Afleitch - 8
Liberty - 3
9iron - 2
Ben - 1

This result is likely to be certified as official once it has been confirmed that no secret ballots were received, which should occur soon.

Speaking exclusively to the Observer, afleitch described the election as "important for those who wished to preserve the regions proud history of social liberalism". He congratulated Liberty on a spirited campaign and wished Governor 9iron all the best in his future.

In the Lieutenant Governor's race, it appears that Ben, an Independent from Virginia has gained re-election in a near unanimous vote, however, discrepancies over the ballot may have lost him a couple of votes, though this will likely go unchallenged because his re-election has been assured.

Of the five initiatives up for consideration by the Mideast, four passed, whilst one, the RU-486 pill ban failed after a concerted campaign against it by prominent members of the centre-left.

The Secret Ballot Reconsideration Initiative was passed unanimously, demonstrating both the desire for reform of the present system and general opposition to the secret ballot amongst the citizenry.

The Human Cloning Ban Initiative and Labor Code Initiative both passed, as had been expected, though the margain by which the Labor Code Initiative passed may not have been as large as its supported might have hoped.

On the two abortion initiatives, the Mideast delivered differing verdicts. The RU-486 ban was defeated by a two-thirds majority, with even usually reliable pro-life votes from MHS2002 and Al Realpolitik abstaining after the case against it had been made. The Public Assistance in Abortion Ban Initiative saw passage, in part because the left divided on this matter, whereas it had united against RU-486.

Commenting on these meansures, both of which Governor-elect afleitch opposed, said:

"I am glad that the initiative to ban the RU-486 drug has failed. I think it is a good day for the MidEast's medical professionals, pharmacists and scientists that the drug will remain legal for use in further research against cancers and other life-threatening diseases."

He also expressed dismay at the passage of the Public assistance in abortion ban initiative, believing that its effect of privatising abortion would only drive it underground for the poor.

The Observer extends its congratulations to Governor-elect Afleitch and Lieutenant Governor Ben. They are due to be sworn in this Thursday assuming certification takes place speedily.

Pacific Senate: Anybody?

Portland, OR

If there's one thing that this weekends polling brought to the light of day, it was the lack of candidates in the Pacific. The polling results, gleaned from a mere 4 votes, were that the Region would like to vote liberal and some residents didn't like the generic nature of the poll. Who can blame them? We certainly don't like fielding generic polls.

The Pacific is comparatively small these days, with only 17 citizens, many of whom hold other offices, thus making them unavailable to run for the seat. The only vaguely plausible candidate who so far has not declined or likely to decline is Jesus. He has already been contacted in this matter, and is said to be hesitant, maybe because for once he actually has a strong chance to win.

Other names posited include Wildcard, WMS, Mr Hobbes, jfern and Aksaber, but all are either inactive or have declined. The only other option if Jesus declines will be for somebody to carpet-bag to the Pacific, or for Hughento to run on the ballot as he has already offerred, despite his apparent apathy with the game.

Other polling done for the Observer indicates that a generic liberal candidate could do well in the Mideast against incumbent MasterJedi. A posited candidate is likely to declare his candidacy before the end of the week.

The Northeast looks set for a close race this February, with Colin Wixted and Flyers2006 in a statistical tie on 4 votes. Whether Flyers intends to use his NARAL Pro-choice organisation to advance his campaign is as yet unclear.

Amidst allegations of foul play concerning the Southeast polls, Q appears to be holding a strong lead over incumbent Jake, though the notable move of Don away from supporting Q may have longer term implications for his candidacy.

Despite being the only candidate actually doing any campaigning, Ernest continues to trail in the Midwest Senate race. This is likely due to a strong PM campaign undertaken on Everett's behalf by the Christian Democratic Party.

Regional Senate elections begin on 17 February, and the last date for candidacy declarations for ballot access will be 9 February.

News Round Up

Ford clashes with Republic

After the publication of our last news story, in which we discussed the imminent failure of the Republic Cabinet Reforms (which incidentally have now officially failed), Presidential hopeful John Ford went on the offensive against the President, apparently trying to highlight the differences over the policy that exist between Republic and the Secretary of Forum Affairs, Q.

Before all the bits where it clearly started getting less about policy and more about just attacking the other guy, there was actually some reasonable substantive debate. Ford has openly questioned why Republic has not had the support of Q in the debate over cabinet reform, and has suggested that Q is being grossly disloyal in not supporting them, perhaps to the point that he needs to "update [his] resume".

Q responded by asserting that Republic was simply granting his cabinet the necessary freedom they need to carry out their jobs, instead of using them as a political tool, and sometimes this means public disagreement.

A Senator sitting in the chamber probably wouldn't agree, however. Imagine being presented with an administration policy - one of the first things you are told is that the relevant Secretary disagrees with the policy. Its not unreasonable to assume that the policy could therefore meet a wall of bureaucratic resistance as soon as it left the chamber, and as the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.

The administration has given no word as to whether it intends to re-introduce the policy after the re-write that was widely recommended.

Debates Begin

The Presidential debates have begun. Who cares?

Nobody. This reporter only read them because he had to.

My advice: Don't bother. At least not until Republic declares his intentions at any rate.

Senate Business

The President can finally claim one small victory. The creation of a fifth slot on the Senate debate schedule for forum affairs legislation was completed on Saturday. Hopefully it should allow for electoral reform legislation to be considered before we get too close to the February elections, though from this vantage point, it would appear unlikely.

The TVA privatisation bill furore has quietened down somewhat: It has emerged that the TVA is actually making the federal government money (to the tune of $800m a year). It automatically begs the question: Why the hell would we sell off a money making entity at a time of large budget deficits?

An attempt to amend the Species Act of 2005 to reduce the magnitude of the fines imposed has also reached the Senate floor after claims that they were excessive, perhaps to the degree of violating the Constitution's prohibition on excessive fines.

The Deregistration Bill continues on its merry way in the Senate, having now been unanimously amended to clear up an ambiguous point. Final passage is expected by the end of the week.

The Senate's latest argument, however, is over a supplemental appropriation to alleviate the carnage of Hurricane Katrina. Fiscal conservatives have suggested that the appropriation be made revenue neutral, i.e. savings to pay for it should be found elsewhere. Others have suggested that an informal commitment can be made to find the money in the next Senate session when budgetary matters are due to come under consideration again.

Tomorrow...

Mideast election results: Full Analysis
No news on other Regions' election results: Because we don't live there
National Polling: Senate and Presidential Races
Pacific Senate: Anybody?

Republic Cabinet Reforms Hit Sandbank

Nyman D.C.

Today, President Republic's reforms that would see the Forum Affairs Department split into a Federal Elections Department and a Census Bureau took a possibly fatal blow. Despite support from many quarters, the bill will likely die, not through lack of support, but because the President failed to offer amendments to rectify problems identified with it.

After debate on the bill opened, many Senators and onlookers pointed out problems with the bill, including a lack of definition of the responsibilities of the two departments, and also references in present statute requiring action by the Secretary of Forum Affairs. On 12 January, President Joe Republic acknowledged these problems and signalled his intention to draft an Amendment to rectify them.

Six days later, he hadn't indicated any action of any kind, and the PPT, Senator MasterJedi opened the vote on the whole bill anyway. So far, the bill has accrued 3 Nay votes and no supporters, and rightly so: A major reform of this kind without the statutory framework to support it is no reform at all, rather a recipe for disaster.

President Republic tried to salvage the situation by asking the Senator MasterJedi, PPT and the Vice President to override the SPR and cancel the vote to allow him time, because apparently six days wasn't enough, to write the amendments. MasterJedi declined after discussions with Porce on the matter, a decision borne out by the SPRs provisions on this matter.

In other news, the creation of the fifth debate slot in the Senate specifically for forum affairs legislation is set to pass having accrued 4 votes in favour, and a routine amendment to the SPR also passed late last night.

TVA Privatisation Bill Hotly Debated

Nyman D.C.

A proposal to privatise the Tennessee Valley Authority has been met with strong debate in the Senate, with opposition being led by former PPT, Senator Al. Criticism has been principally directed at the proposal to auction the Authority to the highest bidder, and also at the underlying theme of removing a public utility from public ownership.

Various comprimise proposals have been put forward, including allowing the Senate to pass judgement on whatever privatisation scheme emerges from the Secretary of the Treasury's negotiations with interested buyers. Also proposed is a scheme to only part privatise the TVA, allowing the government to maintain the dominant stake and therefore control, or to float parts of it on the stock market.

With heated words and extremely sour tones, Senators Al and Jake clashed quite directly, though Al seems to have come off the better, pointing out that the TVA had been self-financing since 1959, and that thus its effect on the defict in the long term would be effectively nil (of course, the windfall from the sale would help it short term).

There's no light at the end of this tunnel yet.

A True Vice-President?

Los Angeles, CA

Today, John Ford announced True Democrat as his choice for Vice President to run alongside him. True Democrat had supported Joe Republic in the last election, and this loss of a key supporter who was rewarded with high cabinet office, is likely to be a blow to the President.

So, what exactly are the implications of the choice of True Democrat for Veep?

From an electoral standpoint, it brings little to the ticket that it didn't already have: Democrat's hawkish views on defense were already possessed in spades by John Ford, and Ford was already considered a lock for the centre-right that Democrat occupies by many commentators.

However, True Democrat does bring another experienced Nyman operator to the ticket - like Ford, he's worked under multiple Presidents in the cabinet and sat as a Senator. He was also, of course, the accidental President, assuming that post when Lewis Trondheim declined the office. His presence on the ticket gives it greater credibility in a race that likely has more twists for us to see.

John Ford had been attempting to appeal to the centre-left, hoping to undermine Joe Republic's base, and had recently attacked Republic on the issue of forum affairs, in the hope of establishing himself as the forum affairs candidate and thus gaining the inevitable windfall amongst the voters. The choice of True Democrat is likely to undermine that effort however. His walk to the libertarian right and abandonment of the ILP did not sit well with prominent players on the centre left, and these same players continue to exert strong influence over who leftist organisations endorse - it is thought that this influence will be used to deny the ticket endorsements.

John Ford and True Democrat is one of four declared tickets running for President in February.

Ernest: The Quintessential Gentleman

Denver, CO

Last night I sat down in Denver to interview Senate hopeful and sitting Associate Justice Ernest, and as ever, I was most struck by the gentlemanly courtersy of the man. He demonstrated a knowledge of the Atlasian govenrment and our nation's politics that only a statesman can possess, and spoke with clarity and purpose about his plans if elected.

Despite his statesmans appeal, he is running in a difficult race - the Midwest has become well known for its libertarian activism of late, and has a sizeable socialist following also - nonetheless, he is sticking to his guns and to the centre, hoping to be "[thought of] as Benjamin Franklin did of the U.S. Constitution."

In his recent speeches, he has outlined a broad legislative programme of new ideas, that will doubtless give legislators much to think about and new scope for genuine debate should he be elected. Indeed, as he alluded to in our interview, his opponents, whilst possessing a vision of their Atlasia, have not presented any indication of how they hope to bring it to us if elected.

Ernest also took the opportunity to criticise the forum affairs obsession that has recently come over voters and candidates alike. He expressed his belief that whilst it was important to keep abreast of the issue, electing candidates solely on that basis might not be the wisest course believing it "rather pointless to elect a person to take care of tasks that should have already been accomplished by the time they take office."

Ernest is running for the Midwest Senate seat in February against Everett and Lewis Trondheim.

The Mideast's Choice This Weekend

College Park, MD

This weekend the citizens of the Mideast go to polls not only to elect a Governor and Lieutenant Governor, but also will pass their judgement on five initiatives: A proposal to ban human cloning, a labour law reform, a proposal to allow reconsideration of the secret ballot and most controversially, two abortion initiatives. Governor 9iron, much like the last election, has proposed nothing.

The human cloning ban was generally well received by the citizens of the Mideast when first proposed by Senator MasterJedi, however, it was opposed by Gubernatorial hopeful afleitch. To this paper, the arguments in favour seem quite powerful: Cloning is anything but a safe science presently - condemning a human being to a likely retarded existence and shortened lifespan is not something the State should be in the business of allowing to go on. Further, the scientific research community will not be affected by the initiative - stem cell research of all kinds is not prohibited, nor is continued research on animals.

The labor code initiative proposed by former Lieutenant Governor Dean also gained its ballot status with little controversy. It however is opposed by another Gubernatorial hopeful, Liberty. Once again, this paper lends its support to the initiative - whilst all of its provisions are not ideal in our mind, it nonetheless establishes definitively needed rights for employees such as the requirement of a safe workplace and to seek compensation for work-related injuries.

The secret ballot reconsideration initiative proposed by the editor of this gutter tabloid and former Governor, Peter Bell, also received ballot status without much incident. Whilst many within the Mideast remain in support of a secret ballot in principle, it has become clear from experience to all that the present arrangements are not satisfactory. The initiative will repeal the secret ballot procedure statute and calls for the Governor to lead a consultation to draft new arrangements and introduce legislation within two months.

The Public Assistance in Abortion initiative proposed by Senator MasterJedi has raised eyebrows among many, and is likely to see support from a coalition of pro-life activists and libertarians. At its core, it proposes to withdraw state funding for elective abortions from prospective mothers. Despite some opposition from afleitch and other pro-choice advocates, it will probably see support from some in the centre.

The RU-486 abortion pill ban, also proposed by MasterJedi, is also up for a vote and has been by far the most controversial initiative with this publication conducting polling on the subject, which saw it failing by 5 votes to 3. Our editor, Peter Bell, has been one of its most vocal detractors and has spoken at length about its probable impacts not only on necessary life-of-the-mother abortions, but also upon other medical research. On the other side, Liberty has used his gubernatorial campaign to speak in its favour, hoping to promote a general culture of life in the Mideast.

Voting opens this Friday at midnight EST in the Mideast.

Southeast: Mike Naso drops out, endorses Preston Caldwell

Memphis, TN

Former Senator Mike Naso dropped out of the Southeast Governor's race today and endorsed Christian Democrat Preston Caldwell. Caldwell is now in a two-horse race against incumbent Lieutenant Governor Bacon King. Sitting Governor TCash101 has declined to seek re-election, and is an oft-mentioned candidate for Vice President alongside John Ford.

Naso is a former Senator for District 3, which he won from Senator Nym90 nearly a year ago. He was forced to resign in disgrace after it was revealed he had been absent for the majority of vote in April 2005. His campaign for Governor has not been as visible as his campaign for Senator which was characterised by his garish ads that often featured him walking in slow motion into a room.

Naso's campaign for Governor included the following pledge:

Mass Highway Creation of the Southeast Region to only build better bridges to the future of the SE Region and all of Atlasia (source)

One has to question what exactly this means since it is in fact patent nonsense, and also whether it will rank alongside some of his other great policy articulations, including his plan to build a series of artificial lakes in the Midwest whilst simultaeneously cutting taxes, or legalising abortion except in cases of rape or incest.

Preston Caldwell is presently well ahead in most straw polls taken in the Southeast. Running for Lieutenant Governor is Ben Meyers, presently unopposed.

Senate Races taking shape

Nyman D.C.

The five February races for the Senate are taking shape with the Midwest having three candidates seeking office already. The February elections will elect Senators from the Regions.

In the Mideast, MasterJedi is presently running unopposed, however, rumours of a prominent liberal candidate enterring the race abound. Whilst the candidate has not yet allowed his name to see the light of day, it has been indicated that an announcement will be forthcoming after the resolution of the Mideast Gubernatorial elections this coming weekend.

The Midwest is faced with three choices: Ernest, Everett and Lewis Trondheim. Ernest is running under the banner of his Rally for the Republic Party, and is a sitting Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. He has tried to carve a niche for himself as a pragmatic centrist candidate. Everett is officially running as a Christian Democrat despite the fact that she's not a christian democrat at all, and is in fact a libertarian. Nonetheless, polling shows her leading by a comfortable margain. Lewis Trondheim, a former Senator for this seat, is also running for election, though in a Region with strong libertarian influences, is unlikely to make too much of a dent on the race. Incumbent DanielX is foregoing running for re-election to run for President.

The Northeast campaign has not seen much campaigning action, however former Senator Flyers has declared his candidacy for the seat against the incumbent Colin Wixted. Wixted has made no mention of whether or not he will seek re-election.

The Pacific campaign is doing even worse: it has no candidates. With Hughento stating that he would not seek re-election last week, new candidates will be required. Possible candidates include Jesus, a frequent candidate for various offices or Wildcard, the former Governor.

The Southeast sees sitting Secretary of Forum Affairs Q face off against incumbent Jake. According to sources close to the Observer, Q has already gained pledges of votes from at least half of the Southeast's citizens, and this is borne out by polling.

Mideast Gubernatorial Race Nearing End

College Park, MD

The race for the Governorship in the Mideast is nearing an end with voting due to open this Friday. The candidates have recently had the opportunity to participate in a debate before the whole Region, which has been moderated by former Lieutenant Governor Dean, and has been opened up to general questions from the public.

Whilst the participation of both Afleitch and Liberty, the Free Democrat and Originalist candidates respectively, has been consistent and thoughtful, the Atlasian Conservative Alliance candidate and incumbent Governor 9iron has been nearly non-existant in the debates. 9iron's term in office has been constantly dogged by accusations of inactivity and failure to implement any sort of legislative programme.

A recent poll conducted by this paper showed a large lead for Afleitch of 6 votes to 1 vote each for 9iron and Liberty. Afleitch has received the endorsements of both the Independent Liberal and Christian Democratic Parties. The endorsement of the ILP is thought to be crucial in this Region since they dominate party registrations. 9iron has been endorsed by the Atlasian Conservative Alliance.

Also up for a vote next week is the Lieutenant Governors position, to which Ben is running unopposed, and five ballot initiatives, including a controversial proposal to ban the RU-486 abortion pill and another that will repeal the Mideast's secret ballot statute to allow reconsideration of the issue. This paper will write in greater depth on these proposals midweek.

Senate considers two major forum affairs measures

Nyman D.C.

The Senate has begun consideration of two measures that were introduced by Senator Al at the behest of President Joe Republic.

The first of the measures proposes to split the Forum Affairs Department into two separate jurisdictions, the Department of Federal Elections and the Census Bureau. Initially needlessly proposed as a constitutional amendment, the proposal will now take the form of a simple bill.

The fundamental idea of the bill has received a mixed reception. Whilst it has been declared a fundamentally good idea by Chief Justice Peter Bell and Presidential hopeful John Ford, it has been less well received by those in the Chamber with Senators Colin Wixted, CheeseWhiz and MasterJedi all indicating their lack of support for the proposal. Also, in a blow to the President, his own Secretary of Forum Affairs broke ranks and declared his opposition to the proposal.

A counter proposal has been put forward by some Senators to specifically delegate some responsibilities of the SoFA to the Deputy SoFA. This paper, however, feels that it is entirely unnecessary for this to be legislated by the Senate because the reason for the existence of the Deputy SoFA is to provide assistance to the Secretary. I am sure that if the Secretary wishes to relieve his workload at a particular time that he would do it in a way that best fits whatever circumstances face him, rather than be handcuffed to a legislative scheme that cannot adapt to changing circumstances.

Whilst this paper, in line with its editor, supports the fundamental proposal, it feels that in its present form, it should not pass into law due to the undoubted impact it will have on other federal statute, and the lack of clarity in defining the responsibilities of the new posts.

The second proposal will create a fifth slot on the Senate floor for the consideration of legislation. Initially this was to be set aside for the President's legislation, however, the President had previously reached a deal with Senators to amend the proposal such that the slot was reserved for forum affairs and emergency legislation.

The proposal has run into problems with Game Moderator Sam Spade, a long term critic of the President's agenda, however the amendment that set in place the agreed deal was passed unanimously with 6 Senators in support. Further amendments to protect the provisions from abuse by the Presiding Officers are likely.

Next in line for consideration before the Senate is a Deregistration Bill that it is hoped will give finality to the various disputes surrounding the status of deregistration.