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A debate was born upon the arrival of the second mass mailer (does mass make one think of norman?).

as George sTrolls You'll are setting a high bar for those of us that want to campaign for POTUS one month (having taken away individual congress contest), the biggest question concerning inclusion is term limits and how each of you feel on the subject. I have alwas wanted to at least make a presidential ballot and respect the work that went into getting the top parties to back your runs. I hope to get a friendly debate going (honestily mud slinging would make for a more popular article).

dmjohnston I certainly think that an active player should have every opportunity to run for President. I didn't get into eRep politics until about a year ago and still manged to get elected despite that. It goes to show that being active and involved is really the biggest part of political success.

As far as term limits go, I don't think there should be a hard and fast rule in regard to how many terms one person can serve. I don't believe we've had a President go more than two in a row (the time drain just isn't possible to maintain long term like that) but we've had people get elected for two seperate double-term streches. If that person is willing to do the work and get results, I don't have a problem with that, but I certainly encourage new people to try thier hand.

irule777 I actually entirely agree with DMJ. I think if a person can campaign and convince the nation they should be given another term and they're ready to put in the work, then they should be able to go as many terms as people will elect them to. I know Oblige did four in a row two years ago or so. I think that is the record so far.

I also agree that anyone who is active, has good ideas, and is willing to put in the work should be able to eventually run for President. I'd always recommend they get involved in a cabinet before then though.

as George sTrolls you guys are awesome, obviously willing to be inclusive and available! I think Oblige's fourth term eneded in impeachment though. Talking of cabinets, how much wheeling and dealing goes into picking of key posts, does the desire to wina primary of a certain party play into the picks?

irule777 Oblige was almost impeached, I think he survived a slim vote.

Honestly Pfeiffer and some others have accused me of really wheeling and dealing my cabinet, but I truly picked one that I thought would be the best. I of course tried to be fair in ensuring each party had some representation, but for the most part it was just who would do the best in which role and who was active enough.

dmjohnston For me it's entirely about who I think will do the best job. I'll admit I tried to spread the love, if you will, among the major parties, but it ultimately comes down to the people best suited for the job, and I certainly didn't stack for favor from a party. There are certainly people who do that, but I don't believe either of us did.

as George sTrolls Honestly, fluffer's ego does our game a lot of harm (imho)' my biggest problem he plays like an osterich' if you attempt to start a dialogue with him he merely hides his head. I am fine with his control, but that he won't play along with the troll... With that in mind, could either of you see the use of a loyal opposition that could troll the government in the press and maybe breath a little life into it? I stress loyal, those that like the eUS, but want to change it's course.

dmjohnston I think there's already quite a bit of opposition out there. I'm not sure that we need to add more to it just for the sake of having it.

It's virtually impossible to please everyone with every decision. In the end, it comes down to doing what you beliee is the right thing for eAmerica and committing to that desision and your reasoning.

An example is the rental agreement I reached with Cuba for this month. There was opposition in regard to renting something that we had already taken by force' but my position was and is that improving relations with a non-hostile neighboring country was the bigger issue and so I acted accordingly.

irule777 I think promoting more opposition is just asking for one that'd be more of an annoyance than helpful. If you're doing something wrong some form of opposition will present itself on it's own, no real need to probe for one.

as George sTrolls fair enough, and I can understand not wanting too pick on fluffer (he can be a bitch), butwhat I was trying to get at was a more active press and involvement. From my experience only a small precentage of players take part in meta-game forum primaries, easily turning over the election process to select few. I appreciate you'll participating and to end, is there anything I could get either of you to argue with the other over?

[irule777[/b] I think my batman's vioce is probably better than DMJ's. We could probably argue about that...

Parties handle their own primaries, most try to be as inclusive as possible and they usually do a good job on that.

dmjohnston Each party handles it's primary election in it's own way, so really, if that's a concern, it's bestaddressed at the party level.

As far as arguing, I try to keep things fairly civil.

the editor thanks the candidates and pionts out the readers that the above was not cut and paste, therefor may contain mistakes due to the editors fault

bonus question; who would you name Troll Czar if such a position was to be filled?