A generalized activity that includes town hall meetings, stump speeches, mixing, and rallies.
Charisma
A candidate attribute that gives a bonus/penalty in debates, ads, and fundraising (a bonus if your charisma is above 3, a penalty if below 3).
CPs limit how much you can do in a turn. Certain activities don’t take CPs, in particular making/running ads. A candidate Established attribute will affect how many CPs are available per turn. Unused CPs are not saved for the next turn. If the candidate can fundraise (they haven’t received a federal block grant at the beginning of the General Election), unused CPs are converted to fundraising.
Criticality Rating
Interviews have a Criticality Rating, which determines how critical the interviewer will be. The higher, the more critical. The more critical, the harder it is to have a successful interview which results in a positive news article (instead, you would have an unsuccessful interview with a negative news article).
Debating
A candidate attribute that gives a bonus/penalty in debates (a bonus if your debating skills are above 3, a penalty if below 3).
This is a general setting that advises on the state of the economy, which affects how successful barnstorming is for candidates from the incumbent party.
Economy
A game option that affects whether the state of the economy affects the candidate from the incumbent party. Turned on by default.
Energy Points (EPs)
Each candidate starts the game with 100 EPs. When the candidate does an activity (for example, Barnstorming), some EPs are used up. If a candidate does not do an activity that turn, EPs are gained back, based on the candidate’s Stamina attribute. If a candidate’s Energy goes too low, the candidate can start making extra gaffes. The candidate’s Energy also affects debate performance. If a player is using more CPs than are available, that player’s candidate will lose EPs every turn there is a CP deficit. Every 1 CP deficit takes 10 EPs.
Established
A candidate attribute that indicates how established a candidate’s campaign is on a national level. If the Established attribute is less than 5, a candidate receives penalties on virtually every activity.
Experience
A candidate attribute that sets up your initial perceived experience, which can give you a bonus or penalty if you campaign on the Experience issue. (See Leadership for an example.) Higher experience reduces the chance of gaffe.
Fog of War
A game option (that can be turned on the Select Scenario screen). If it is on, then public polls (the free ones) aren’t accurate (error of +- 3%). If it is off, then public polls are accurate (and the user can’t buy private polls, as there would be no point).
Integrity
A candidate attribute that sets up your initial perceived integrity, which can give you a bonus or penalty if you campaign on the Integrity issue. (See Leadership for an example.) Higher integrity makes it harder for opponents to research scandals.
Issue Familiarity
Issue Familiarity sets up your initial perceived issue familiarity, which can give you a bonus or penalty if you campaign on the Issue Familiarity issue. (See Leadership above for an example.) Issue familiarity also gives you a bonus/penalty in interviews and debates (a bonus if your issue familiarity is above 3, a penalty if below 3).
A candidate attribute that sets up your initial perceived leadership, which can give you a bonus or penalty if you campaign on the Leadership issue. For example, if you have Leadership 5, then you will gain +2 Power whenever you campaign on the Leadership issue, while if you have Leadership 1 will will have a penalty of –2 Power whenever you campaign on the Leadership issue.
Momentum Points
Momentum points indicate how public favor is shifting for a candidate. The higher the positive momentum in a region, the higher the likelihood that the candidate will gain percentage points from undecided voters. If momentum becomes negative, then there is a chance the candidate will lose leaning voters (they become undecideds). This is a simplified treatment. 1 Momentum point = 10% chance of gaining 0.5% of voters (or losing if momentum is negative) that turn.
Power
Power indicates the chance that an activity will give the player +0.5 percent and +1 momentum in a riding. 5 power means a 50% chance, 11 means a 100% chance and a 10% chance of an additional +0.5 percent and +1 momentum.
NOTE When attacking another candidate, it is more likely that the other candidate will lose a percent/momentum than that you will gain it.
Political Influence Points (PIPs)
Each candidate starts with a certain number of PIPs, and can use these on endorsers, crusaders, and offers to other players. If a candidate starts in the primaries, they gain PIPs if they win their party’s nomination.
Profile (issue)
The importance of an issue to the electorate. The more news stories there are on an issue, the higher that issue’s Profile Progress points go. Once its Profile Progress points reach 100, it increases to the new profile level. You can view an issue’s profile progress on right side of the Momentum screen.
Profile (news article)
The amount of press coverage an article is getting. Profile x spin (-1, 0, or 1) determines the news article’s Power. The Power in turn can create positive/negative momentum for a candidate.
Profile Rating
Indicates the profile of the news article that will result from an interview.
Spies
A game option that enables you to create spies to infiltrate other candidates’ headquarters. Turned on by default.
Stamina
A candidate receives Energy Points every day where they are resting or have no activity, based on the candidate’s Stamina. For example, a candidate gains Energy Points (when resting) equivalent to the Stamina rating, plus 0-5 extra Energy Points (so, a candidate with 3 Stamina would gain 3 Energy Points, plus an extra 0-5 Energy Points, every day they rest).