[bigMatt]

Okay, this is a really crazy one, but I wanted to try out the RFG. With my continued interest in politics, and for want of something better to occupy my time, I decided to work up a fictional boxing universe with this year's field of Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates.

Now before I begin the narrative, a couple of disclaimers. First, the universe is ENTIRELY FICTIONAL. Don't go to Vegas and bet on the winner of the General Election or any primary based on the results posted here, and by all means, don't use the information here to advise you on which candidate you should cast your vote!

I also want to add that the ratings, etc., are entirely random. I in no way influenced the ratings system, nor did I try to emulate any real life characteristics the actual candidates portray. Consequently, guys like Ron Paul and Mike Gravel are in the thick of things just as much as a John McCain or Barack Obama. And yes, Hillary is in there too. Anathema tho the idea of a woman and man in the same ring might be to many, I couldn't leave her on the sideline and have a true representation of the field, could I?

The rules, such as they are:

- The RFG was called upon to create a total of 14 fighters in two groups - 8 Democrats and 6 Republicans - with ratings from 8-11.

- I sorted each group of fictional fighters in alpha order and renamed them according to the candidates in alpha order, thus preserving the randomness of the contest.

- I set it up for each to run 10 fights against another fictional group called "Also Rans," rated 0-1. The aging system is to kick over to Prime at 10 fights, and stay Prime for the balance of the universe's existence. I don't want one of the candidates to go Post Prime in the middle of the General Election. That just wouldn't be sporting, even if John McCain is 71 years old.

- The primaries will be run in the same order as US primaries, and delegates assigned as they are in real life. So, for instance, the Iowa rumble is worth 28 points just as the Iowa primary is worth 28 delegates. And so forth.

- The primaries will follow the same schedule as in real life, meaning that some will happen singly, while others will happen simultaneously.

- For the Republicans, each contest will be a single elimination tourney, winner take all. This emulates the winner take all primaries of the GOP.

- For the Dems, each primary will be a round robin, with each candidate fighting every other candidate one time. The top 3 will divide the 28 delegates based on the percentage of performance points they earned against the total PP's of the top 3. So, for instance, let's say that 1-2-3 are Kucinich, Gravel and Edwards in Iowa. Kucinich has 5000 PPs, Gravel 2500 and Edwards 1000. Kucinich would receive 17 of the delegates, Gravel 8 and Edwards 3. Complex - yeah, but trying to come at least somewhat close to the Dems system for apportioning delegates. I'll no doubt regret this decision within half a dozen primaries.

- Each candidate starts out with $1 million dollars. Every state win adds another $1 million to the coffers. 2nd place in either party adds $500,000 (2nd place for the GOP is whoever lost the title fight in that primary). 3rd place gets $100,000 (GOP 3rd based on performance points).

- Participating in a primary costs $250,000. To "train" for that state battle cost double. This might come into play when a candidate is running out of money and chooses to essentially "bet it all" on a specific contest.

- Candidates can choose to opt out of specific primaries, but can do this with no more than 3 consecutive contests. Once a candidate's coffers drop below $250,000, they are out of the race entirely.

- Candidates will get the assignation of Hometown Favorite in states of their current residence. Only one state per candidate tho.

- Once a candidate has earned enough delegates to obtain nomination, he (or she) becomes the party's standard bearer in the General Election.

For the GE, I'll have a series of 50 matches. I'm still fine-tuning how I'll handle these fights, but I'm thinking that smaller states will be less rounds, and overall value of each contest will be weighted accordingly.

That's all I have for now. Would love to hear some feedback. I've rolled up the candidates, but I haven't started the RtWH 2008, so any suggestions for rules tweaking would be much appreciated.