Campaign Manager
Overview
Your goal is simple, to win the Presidential election! Use a variety of advertising, volunteers, fund-raising, and campaign tactics to win the Presidential election!
Campaign Types
Television - This ad campaign is quite expensive, but reaches large amounts of voters on both sides of the political spectrum. Useful when you need to change a large amount of voters minds in a short time.
Radio - This is a cost effect ad campaign, but targets a smaller audience. Tends to be more effective in conservative states, or to reinforce a conservative base.
Internet - A medium cost ad campaign that reaches voters on both sides, but leans slightly liberal.
Ground - Expensive, but a great way to get undecided voters. Look at the Undecided (Und.) vote to see what percentage is left undecided, if the number is too small this won't be very effective.
Volunteers - Volunteer coordination costs money, but provides a constant small bump in the state. The more volunteers you have the more effective. Be sure to hire volunteers early on so you get the constant boost for the length of the whole campaign. You can also increase the effectiveness of volunteers by upgrading your Volunteer Coordinator in the Campaign menu.
Mood and Ad Style
You can tailor your ad style based on the Mood of a state. Positive styles are always a good choice because they can't backfire. If a state is already Hopeful, a positive style will match their mood and be more effective. Likewise if a state is Disgusted (maybe by political attacks or scare tactics) then a Positive style can be a breath of fresh air and be more effective.
Attack Ads, Scare Tactics, and Rebuttals can be extremely effective but always run a small risk of backfiring. They can especially backfire if a state is already Disgusted by what they've seen and you keep trying to smear your opponent or scare the voters.
Topics, Priorities, and Campaign Focus
Every state has a list of priorities they care about. All issues are important to them, but these 3 are critical to the state. Be sure to tailor your ads to match one of the issues they care about.
You also get to set a Campaign Focus, which is what you will emphasize across the entire nation. You will get an additional bonus if your Campaign Focus aligns with a states priority. So take a look at the battleground states and be sure to align your Campaign Focus with those states!
You also get to set a Campaign Focus, which is what you will emphasize across the entire nation. You will get an additional bonus if your Campaign Focus aligns with a states priority. So take a look at the battleground states and be sure to align your Campaign Focus with those states!
Events
Random events can occur throughout the campaign, such as disasters, scandals, or debates. You can make a choice on how to respond, and the effects can vary from increased polling to extra money. Each decision has a risk level.
Low Risk - 75% chance of success, but the rewards will be small. Likewise, if it fails the consequences will be small.
High Risk - 25% chance of success, but the rewards will be big. Likewise, if it fails the consequences will be worse.
No Risk - Ignore the event. There are no positive or negative consequences.
Tips
Understand that you can't win every state. Focus on critical states you need to get to 270.
Cut your loses if a state is refusing to budge or will require too much money to change.
Use the high risk option in events only if you really need some help, as it can backfire quite often
Hire volunteers early to maximize their effect over the whole campaign.
Upgrade your Fund Raisers early so you can maximize your income.
Make sure any campaigns end before voting day. If you start a TV campaign 2 days before the vote, it won't finish in time to make a difference.
Attributions
Sound Effects from freeSFX
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"Sixth Grade Space Exploration" Pictures from NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Additional sound effects by Eric Matyas - soundimage.org