monday DE

[alexiscartwheel]

Here in the US, it's President's Day today, and we're in the midst of the never-ending presidential campaign season, so...

Your character is running for President or some similar in-universe equivalent. Tell us about their campaign strategy, slogan, running mate, important political issues. Are they the frontrunner or the underdog? Party darling or upstart write in candidate?

Or maybe their response to being nominated is a big "hell, nah." Maybe they believe you really can wield supreme power because a watery tart threw a sword at you.

NB: don't feel obliged to answer all parts of the question, I'm just throwing out suggestions of things to think about!

Comments

[brobrobrobrobro]

VOTE FOR IVAN, BRO. OR WE SMASH YOUR FACE, BRO.

[ceitfianna]

My Ivan is just going, no, no, make them go away.

[harryhotspur]

Hotspur would happily go after power if he were convinced that a) he had a legitimate right to it and b) it would be the honorable (and glorious) thing to do. He'd use his battle cry as a slogan, of course: Esperance.

He'd have a lot of impassioned and completely sincere rhetoric that sounds absolutely amazing and probably wins him a large coalition of followers, but he can't really articulate any clear policy proposals, and it becomes pretty clear that if he were elected, his dad and uncle would be the ones calling the shots. They're probably canny enough to use this to make Harry seem not like a puppet candidate, but like he's open-minded and bolstering his inexperienced talent with wise advisors, so he could potentially pull off a win anyway.

[have_no_mercy]

Tess would be insulted to be nominated to such a limited position and she'd probably not campaign at all. That's Lex's baby and he can have it.

Kylo isn't really interested in being a political leader. He just wants to be the most powerful Force user.

[ceitfianna]

Will would nominate Robin and be an effective Chief of Staff.

Quentin is laughing because of spoiler reasons but he would put together a great staff with Walther leading all science questions and Tybalt as head of Security, Toby would be Department of Defense, May Secretary of State, Raj his VP.

Charles wouldn't wish to be president, not the kind of visibility he wants but he would love to be someone's chief of mutant affairs. Though if he ever thought it was the best way to help mutants, he would be incredibly dangerous as he has old money, all sorts of connections and would be good at crowds.

Ivan is going hell no but he would be a great Chief of Staff or campaign manager especially in terms of fundraising.

Moist would hear the question, nod politely and then end up running the campaign and raising far too much money then disappear. Or he would run and then suddenly just not be there. He should never be allowed near election politics.

William is going no, no, too many people, too much responsibility.

Jane would be fascinated by the world of elections, she would actually be a great election season journalist with her eye for social issues.

Demeter isn't interested, but she would work to get a politician on her side and her people's side.

Sameth would go hell no and offer Ellimere, she's the politician, make him a science/magic liaison.

Tumnus works in politics and would never want to be in charge but he'd be a wonderful person to have on your staff.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato has exactly zero interest in being leader of anything. He more or less accidentally fell into being second-in-command of the Chosen by virtue of being a good if-not-exactly-willing leader, and if Tri has shown us anything, it's that his automatic instinct is to follow Taichi and to panic/get angry/withdraw into his shell as much as possible when he can't do that. So if he was nominated for public office, he would laugh nervously, and then leave. Whether 'leave' in this scenario means the room, the city, the country, or the world is unclear.

Both diplomatic!Hawke and angry!Hawke express interest in getting involved in politics at various points (and if you side with the Templars, Hawke does become Viscount, very briefly), but silly!Hawke, the version I'm playing, never does. Hawke's a lot happier playing court mage and making changes from behind a throne rather than sitting on it. If someone nominated him for public office, he would very deliberately sabotage his chances with the most absurd public suggestions possible. He'd essentially be the Thedosian equivalent of the Monster Raving Loony Party, if the Monster Raving Loony Party had one member and not over a thousand.

Sherral is ambitious as all get out and already plans on becoming one of the most politically powerful people in the Empire. He'd never run for Senate, and god knows he wouldn't run for Emperor, partly because he's a soldier by nature, not a politician, and partly because the Emperor is restrained by the Senate, and any upstart member of the Senate will inevitably end up thrown out by the rest of them. Judge Magisters, though, have nobody but each other checking their power. So if nominated for public office, he'd turn it down - he already has his plans for personal power.

Yugo also wouldn't bother. He doesn't want power, after all, and he doesn't need it: Both he and Phoenix were born into power, and neither of them have much use for it, or much ambition to accrue any more.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee wouldn't want to run for president. Politics bores him. But if he were legitimately interested, he'd rather work behind the scenes, where the real power is. He might just be as effective as Eli Gold.

[genarti]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

No, okay. The list!

Enjolras, oh geez. Uh. Admittedly a democratic election is the only possible way he would seek political power! But he'd have to be talked into it at great length, and he'd have to genuinely believe that that was both the best way he could serve his country AND the best thing for his country, and he'd be constantly on the lookout for an indication that this was in fact an error, because Enjolras doesn't want personal power or leadership for its own sake. As a matter of fact he wants very very much to never be a person who seeks out power for its own sake, precisely because he'd be so good at being a charismatic leader if he wanted to.

I can't answer a lot of this without knowing what kind of set-up of personalities and political parties led to Enjolras actually running for President of (presumably) the French Republic, because it'd have to be very specific! But obviously his running mate and campaign advisers are deeply and utterly trusted BFFs, and his campaign is generally sort of terrifyingly earnest, and also has a lot of the same sort of YES WE CAN, TOGETHER kind of rhetoric that the first Obama campaign did.

...And then there's Cosette. Who does not want to be President. SHE'S SEVENTEEN. AND SPENT MOST OF HER LIFE IN A CONVENT. AND HAS A SECRET PAST MUCKRAKERS COULD TOTALLY DIG UP. WHY DO YOU WANT COSETTE TO BE PRESIDENT. Maybe in 20 years she could think about it, in an AU where that was ever going to happen, but... really, I can't see her ever wanting to accept. Thank you for thinking of her! What a funny joke -- wait, you're serious?!? Then thank you for thinking of her! You're very kind! She must decline, so sorry, also she has a prior engagement she'd forgotten about bye.

Thor... well, if you mean Asgard, he's spent all his life as the heir apparent. And then eventually he'll turn down the throne anyway (although who knows, maybe in a couple hundred years he'll be willing to reconsider, under the right circumstances.) But to campaign -- I mean, against who? His father? God, no, never. Loki? That's the root of a whole lot of their issues with each other, but I don't know that we can call "competing for their parents' approval" a campaign, as such. And public campaigning would be airing dirty laundry all over the place, it'd be a terrible political move as well as emotionally painful, and Thor would step aside rather than let it come to that. If it were another campaigner outside the family, in some sort of a more democratic set-up, it'd depend enormously on who and how and what kind of situation led to this even being a question. But a lot of his campaign would inevitably be based on I, ODIN'S SON, AM THE RIGHTFUL RULER, AND ALSO AN HONORABLE WARRIOR WHO HAS ALWAYS SERVED ASGARD TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITIES IN ALL WAYS. Plus charisma.

If you mean President of anywhere else, USA or Earth or whatever -- nope. He would step aside, and refuse to budge on that. It's not his place. Other realms should be governed by their own, not by him. (They can think he's awesome and listen to his counsel always, that's cool! But he would turn down any position of official power.)

Kazul is the leader of her people, in this case king of the Dragons. We see her campaign strategy in the first book, which is... uh... not actually any kind of campaign, because of how the dragons choose their leader. Her campaign strategy is apparently "get very sick days before, drag yourself to the choosing ceremony along with a present for whoever becomes king (it's the done thing), have the magic stone choose you to be able to carry it the required distance, be surprised but also rather self-satisfied by all of this."

If she actually had to run for something broader... I mean, she wouldn't. But my off the cuff answer is that her running mate would be her friend Morwen, an extremely sensible witch, and they'd go with "None of this nonsense, please" as their slogan since it's already posted over Morwen's front door. (Cimorene and Mendanbar are also excellent running mate candidates, but they're sort of busy.)

[inanhour]

What would Trowa do

[mnt_mike]

I think you'd want Raph for president only slightly less than you'd want Mike for president. Though, I think Mike would make a kick-ass VP or First Gent.

The very idea of Mike being the tie breaking vote in the senate makes me cackle.

I don't think Aang would be a very good governmental leader either. I mean...there's a reason he's not on the Republic City Council.

Bumi...heh. Heh. HAH.
Yeah. No.

Ida, on the other hand, would be amazing.

And...who's to say the Loompas aren't already President. I mean, we've never seen them AND Obama in the same room.
Is all I'm saying...

[alexiscartwheel]

I mean, we've never seen them AND Obama in the same room.

...

Fair. But frightening.

[wings_of_a_swan]

*snickers*

Combeferre, like Enjolras, would only ever seek power via a democratic election. And like Enjolras, though for somewhat different reasons, he would really need to be talked into running for president. Combeferre has a very intellectual, nuanced, borderline-indecisive bent. He would have a hard time using rhetoric he felt was untruthful in any way, or overstated the case. He would also have a very hard time with moral compromise. His campaign would be very earnest, very philosophical, very nerdy, and very idealistic--perhaps a campaign meant to draw attention to the issues and change the discourse more than actually win, though THAT would depend on the specific context. In some contexts he would definitely be running to win.

Jehan Prouvaire would most likely never run for president. If he ran, he wouldn't win, or even be trying to win. He'd try to draw attention to issues he felt were being ignored, and it would be a very poetic campaign, and also a weirdly well-informed one. He'd have a lot of politically active artsy types and also uber-nerdy policy wonk types working on his campaign. He'd have the best posters and viral videos and do pretty damn well in debates.

Brienne does not believe in presidents, she believes in kings. But if she ran for president, it would be on a platform of HONOR AND DUTY. She's not very good at soaring speeches or inspiring rhetoric, but she'd have a hell of a heroic record to point to, so she might actually win in the right context.

Fantine would not run for president at all. For one thing, she wouldn't want her entire life dragged out before the public's eye. Also, she doesn't really have a full-blown political agenda. She'd be likelier to run for community or local office than national office, I think--she has distinct opinions on how the things that affect her are connected to policies, but she doesn't really care about a larger scale than that.

[alexiscartwheel]

I think Mary is the most politically minded person on my roster, although she's been thinking more about being a politician's wife—Matthew isn't a Lord, but with her help, maybe he could be a cabinet minister. Given an opportunity to run for office, I think Mary just might do it. Sure, there's scandal in her past that might be exposed, but she's ambitious and morally flexible enough to work around that. Mary was raised to create a socially acceptable public facade; she's incredibly charming when she wants to be. She's quick-witted and would do at debates and fundraising events. (And it wouldn't help that her family is quite wealthy.)

She would lean a little more to the conservative side of the political spectrum, with more liberal leanings on issues like women's suffrage. She's definitely not a populist—she has no trouble with a government mainly composed of and elected by the middle and upper classes.

It's my personal headcanon that Stiles will one day run for office and be elected Sheriff of Beacon County. (Yes, quite the illustrious position.) If he were approached to run for higher office, he just might do it. And he'd hire Lydia Martin, the smartest, most socially manipulative person he knows to run his campaign. Stiles and Lydia both love to win and share a dubious connection with morality and truth, so if they set out to win an election, they just might do it.

Carol is too hot-headed to be President. She wouldn't want the job because she'd end up feeling trapped by her inability to just go punch the bad guys. Also that one time she hired a PR person to help craft her public image was a complete fail. She's not good at being anybody but who she is, terrible jokes and all.

May is 100% non-interested in pretending to be human full-time... or pretending to be straight, like, ever, both of which she'd have to be to get elected President. She doesn't really want to be a Fae leader either. Too much drama.

[clayforthedevil]

...Oh dear. Once they got over the excitement of getting to participate in open elections yes progress?

Joly-- no, why, who made Joly run for national office?!? He doesn't want national office, he wants a nice little medical practice with a quiet home life! But if he's pushed into it by popular demand, he'll do his best. He's going to run on a science- and education- heavy platform, with special emphasis on health care and safe public infrastructure. His campaign will be earnest and heavily fact checked and utterly hopeless, and he'll be so happy to announce he's dropping out of the race.


Bahorel would totally run for national office! He'd be an extreme fringe candidate, and play for drama and to keep people watching-- but he'd also seriously make a lot of surprisingly well-informed policy arguments , which...people would probably still think were intended as jokes.No one would think he'd get any support ever. He'd probably get more than sensible people would predict; he might well get more support than he was expecting himself. But ahahah he's not gonna win, and he'd make as much noise about the things he cared about while he was running especially because he'd be expecting not to win. He'll use the platform he can get!

[student_of_impossibility]

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

*dies in a corner again*

Lois does not want to run for office and would go Hell No. She has, however, been campaign manager for a Good Person Running For Office (TM). She wouldn't again, she's found her calling and it is not politics, but that's where she'd be if she were in office.

R2-D2 does not run for office or get nominated. He is the power behind the person in charge, and they probably don't even realize it.

Henry doesn't actually want to run for anything, or to be in charge. Besides, put power in his hands, and he'll ask very seriously if anyone should have it. If yes, it is probably not him. If no, he doesn't trust himself with it more than other people.

Eriond... mostly just wanders around being nice. He doesn't want power like a president has. He just has cosmic-scale abilities and is the One True God of his world and will basically slowly over time win over everyone with hearts and puppies and rainbows and ponies. Kind of not kidding.

Evelyn does not want to be nominated for anything, thank you kindly. It just will, one day, keep happening. At which point her strategy is quite accidentally "Here, work with us and this is why..." and if someone says no, "Work with us, my allies will kick your ass otherwise," and if someone still says no they're either neutral and just staying out of it, which is sometimes fine, or Evil and she burns them. Her entire platform is approximately "DO NOT WANT THE WORLD TO END. GOING TO FIX THE WORLD." Sadly this results in a lot of politicking she never intended to do. She also kind of ends up in charge by merit of "Yeah I have an ability no one else does and kick tons of ass with it." She is totally the underdog and write-in candidate, being written in basically by Cassandra and Solas (with some help from Leliana, Cullen, Josephine, and Varric--the rest of the party is just along for the ride, really).

Tavi's campaign strategy for acquiring nigh-absolute power in his world relied upon being born as sole heir into a hereditary imperial system and out-living or in one case personally killing any and all competition. He actually was the underdog and kind of popped into existence late in the political battle, but he out-lives everyone. If he'd actually had to play politics against Aquitaine for the Crown, it would have been based on a) being the legal heir, b) record proving he gets what's needed done, c) a lot of stirring rhetoric, and d) pointing out that Aquitaine repeatedly committed treason strictly for the goals of attaining the Crown illegally. The more interesting thing with Tavi, really, is how he'll push his agenda. That will come partly by ending slavery and enfranchising everyone, meaning sudden huge voting base that is grateful to him for giving them a say in their lives--plus he added other races and treats them as people so they support him, plus great social programs and stuff trying to take care of people in the aftermath of the apocalypse, so really, his entire strategy is "I'm Fixing The World, Back Me Up Or Be Fixed." ... also he has a military. Alera is most definitely a benevolent dictatorship.

Anakin is not the presidential nominee. He is the running mate. They are the party darlings who will actually undermine everything the party ever stood for but run the table by then. The platform is galactic domination. The campaign strategy is a) not his and b) ends with killing anyone who disagrees.